Swing training is a highly specific hitting workout that is designed to improve swing mechanics, bat speed, quickness and power all at the same time.  How do we do that?

• dynamic warm-up activates predominant “swing muscles”
• movement skills isolate patterns and sequences of the swing
• overload-underload creates strength & speed (POWER) through full range of motion
• specific measurement gives direct feedback to speed up the learning process
• hitting drills that transfer improved physical capabilities to actual hitting skill
• conditioning to improve rate of force development, stamina and reinforce movement patterns

Check out a sample workout that we used to help a player improve his bat speed by 8 MPH in just 6 sessions:

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Over at the swing away instructional blog, a parent writes in with the question: Is it possible to have too much bat speed?

My short answer is no.  Is it possible to run too fast or throw too hard?  I don’t think so – it’s not possible to have too much physical ability, or “tools” in the baseball world.  But bat speed, foot speed and throwing velocity are measures of just that – physical ability.   More raw bat speed doesn’t correlate perfectly with a higher batting average or increased slugging percentage, but it sure gives you more ability to do those things.  It’s like adding horsepower to a race car – the car can go faster, but you still need to be a good driver! It’s important to take those raw tools and convert them into on-field performance.

Is this car too fast?

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Stack TV has a series of hitting, workout & training video clips featuring Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays.  These cover aspects of his baseball specific workouts in the weight room that target power development through the lower body and core muscles, as well as training the upper body for stability.  Just as important to the training, especially considering the daily repetition and long duration of the baseball season, is his mindset of taking quality reps in each area in order to maximize the training effect of his effort.

click for videos

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There’s a new piece of equipment to our Bat Speed Training program – the Swing Away Pro Model Swing Trainer:

Swing Away Bat Speed Training Station

We put this hitting system together over the weekend and been taking swings on it to test it out, and the initial response has been great.

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I will be at the NSCA Sport-Specific Training Conference in Orlando this weekend.  I have a short 20-minute “From the Field” presentation on Friday at 12:20, where I’ll talk about overload-underload training and drills for bat speed development.  Send me a message if you’ll be there…….

Below is another bat speed training research abstract.  This really was one of the best, if not the best, controlled research study that has been published regarding overload & underload training and its effects on bat swing velocity – and it was done all the way back in 1995! 

The basics are that 3 groups of 20 college players were trained 4 times per week for 12 weeks under the following conditions: batting practice group, dry swing group, control group.  The BP and dry swing group followed this swing training protocol using varied heavy and light weighted bats while the control group just dry swung with a regular weighted bat.

The results say that each group significantly imrpoved bat speed, but that’s a little misleading if you don’t read the whole study.  The batting practice group improved 10%, the dry swing group imroved 6%, and the control group improved 1%. 

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