I've had lots of requests for weight training info as it relates to increased performance hitting a softball. I am a fanatic in the weight room! This is the first of a lot of articles on weight training!
First and foremost: If you go to weights to improve your batting power ... always remember - train like an ATHLETE not a BODYBUILDER!!!! What do I mean by that? Bodybuilders generally train with higher reps and increased sets to attain the look they are after. Their goal is the "look". I have the HIGHEST respect for these folks ... they train very hard and tons of discipline is required. But DON'T confuse this with the type of training a ball hitter needs to do. IT IS DIFFERENT!!!!
Hitters need to increase their explosive power - the ability to do work in a short period of time, ie: swinging a bat, running, throwing, etc. These are EXPLOSIVE movements. Increasing your explosive power will increase your bat speed, your hand speed, your ability to maintain bat speed as you contact and follow through the ball. All are critically important to a hitter!
Some general rules about this type of training: 1). You do high intesity training. That means maximum effort. You limit the amount of exercises you do ... 6 or 8 TOTAL exercises is ALL you need. 2). You do a particular exercise 2 times per week. NO MORE. I don't care what your local trainer tells you, training more frequently than this does NOT allow your body to ADAPT to the load, RECOVER and BUILD.If you do not allow sufficient time for recovery, you will be overtrained and TOTALLY WASTING YOUR TIME! Remember, you are not training to be a body builder. 3). Train using some form of Compensatory Acceleration! Say What??? Compensatory Acceleration is a method of training that is designed to increase your fast twitch muscle recruitment, training your nervous system to respond to your commands more effieciently, and increasing your explosive power.
How to do it? I highly recommend this program: let's use the dumbbell bench press as an example (I am a dummbell proponent, more range of motion, right side can't help your left side, requires balance and control ... in other words it requires more athletic talent than a barbell and we ARE training to be better athletes!),anyway you are going to do the bench press twice per week, let's say on Monday and Thursday. On Monday I would train for pure maximum power. This is my EXACT routine (the amount of weight is immaterial, plug in your own figures, but as a point of reference, I am including mine). Monday - 110lbs dumbells. 1 set of 8 reps. followed by a set of 6 reps. Go down to 100lb dumbells and go Almost to failure. Rest and go almost to failure again ( by that I mean the last rep is barely able to be performed). I have now completed four really hard sets that required desire and most importantly ... INTENSITY. I mean push yourself. I might even do another set. I want to challenge myself. To train in this manner means you go into the gym with a single minded purpose of blasting the weights up. You need to have bad intentions. Take out all your troubles on those stupid little dumbbells. BEAT THEM! That is high intensity training. That will be it until thursday for this exercise! DO NOT do it again until thursday, and maybe even friday. You need to recover, you need to build!! On thursday (or friday), you do the bench again. Get warmed up really well. This is the compensatory accleration day and is very productive when used with the 'monday' routine. Do this and you will be shocked at what hidden power lurks in YOU!!! Anyway, it is Thursday. Take 70 or 80% of your maximum weight you did on monday. In my case I did 110 dumbells, .80x110+ is 88lbs. Okay, I grab some 85's or 90's. I do 2 or 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps. However, and here's the important part, I explode with them. I try to move them as fast as possible from the first movement in the exercise to about three quarters of the way to the top at which time you need to slow down or send the weights thru the roof! In other words, accelerate the weights as fast as you can while STILL MAINTAINING CONTROL. You must have control. Let them down relatively slowly and accelerate back up. This is fatiguing training! YOU will move up in weight ONLY when your Monday numbers move up. This type of training is not for someone who is not in at least decent condition in the weight room. And use your head! Weight training as I've described is incredible! You will receive gains you won't believe. Future discussions will be on what exercises to do for hitters. You'll be suprised what I've found. STAY TUNED!