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:

Don’t forget to visit and subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Had to make a quick post with the Albert Pujols home run from the NLCS game 2 against Milwaukee…

I was just impressed with the way Pujols was able to maintain his hitting position and pull his hands in without rolling over (aka keeping it fair).

Pretty much looks like this:

Here’s a nice video clip of Justin Upton’s swing from the 2011 postseason.  He crushes a 3-1 fastball to deep left field and the clip shows a couple replays from the center field and side views for a good look at his hitting mechanics (and bat flipping style!):

One of the things I like about Upton’s swing is that he generates tons of power but doesn’t have a lot of “noise”.  Specifically, he doesn’t get far away from a good swing plane.  Here is an illustration of what I mean, just before Upton unloads his swing:

Justin Upton swing plane

Lots of bat speed + consistent swing path = power AND consistency!

This is a nice little video from Golf Channel’s Playing Lessons with the Pros where 3-time major golf champion, Padraig Harrington, talks about creating power in his swing.  Obviously, the baseball and golf swings are different, but basic principles of movement apply to both – things like stability (on the back leg), rotation, connection (although I typically think or talk about it in the forward swing for baseball rather than the back swing) and the kinetic link.

The good stuff starts around the 13:10 mark…

the Happy Gilmore drill

Read more…

Hanley Ramirez is a guy that I’ve always enjoyed watching.  To have his combination of size, speed and power is rare and impressive.

Here’s a look at El Nino’s swing in several different slow motion views…

click for videos

Read more…

Here are a couple of links that explain how Jose Bautista changed seemingly overnight from a baseball journeyman (5 teams in one year!) to today’s best hitter.

In this video, Bautista talks about how he changed his hitting mechanics, and his explanation is fairly simple.  He started his swing earlier so he wasn’t late so often.

For a more complete picture, check out this article about Jose Baustista’s transformation.  One of the things I found most interesting was the insight into Baustista’s mindset:

In his free time, Bautista reads books on exceptionality. “I’m trying to understand why mediocre people become good at what they do,” he says, “and why good people become the best.” So he mixes other players’ post-career musings on success with real mental protein.