Skills vs. strength
🚨Parents of Baseball and Softball athletes🚨
Do you want to get an edge on the competition? Do you want to help your child take their game to the next level? Worried about them not earning a starting spot or possibly getting cut?
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Then cancel their next hitting lesson and get them set up with a quality strength training program (like Build Performance 😃) for the next 8 weeks. They will go into their season faster, stronger and more powerful, which will unlock loads of new skill potential. Now ideally there would be the opportunity to do both skill work and physical preparation. But the trend of prioritizing skill work has to stop if you want your athlete to reach their full potential. I hate to be the one to break the bad news but your batting technique and bat to ball skills aren’t going to mean much if your swing speed is sub-par.
If we imagine the athlete as a house then physical preparation would be the foundation. The quality of the foundation dictates the potential of the rest of the house. No matter how nice the cabinets, flooring or appliances are, without a solid foundation that house will crumble. Without proper strength, speed and power the athlete won’t be able to fully express the skill work being put in. Also many technique issues or inability to execute skill cues are a result of lack of coordination, body awareness and relative strength.
At Build Performance, in addition to building a strength base through fundamental movements we utilize many specific exercises to target rotational power for our Baseball/Softball athletes. My top five med ball exercises for rotational power are:
Med Ball Shotput Throw
Med Ball Rotational Scoop Throw
Partner Rotational Catch and Throw
Med Ball Shot Put with Lateral Pulses
Rotational Med Ball Slam
We also prioritize many arm and shoulder exercises to strengthen and help prevent injury during the throwing motion. Five of my favorite movements to use are:
YTI’s
Overhead plate raise
Shrugs
Chin-ups/Deadhangs
Face Pulls
Now if you are the parent of a younger athlete and access to a Strength and Conditioning facility is not an option I have 5 movement to start implementing at home with no equipment right away!
Chin-ups/Deadhangs
Lunges
Pogo jumps
Push-ups
Max effort sprints