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In the video below, Longoria talks about something very important – his hitting routine in the batting cage.  He specifically mentions how the cage is the place to pinpoint different mechanical aspects of the swing and he he uses the tee to do this.

When I got to see Evan play up close a couple years ago, I was amazed at how confident and relaxed he looked, and in pro baseball, a player’s hitting routine plays a big role in this.  As a player builds his routine to address the specific needs in his game, he not only improves the consistency of his swing, but he builds confidence in knowing that he is prepared to compete each and every night.  This is part of the reason why baseball players in particular are such creatures of habit.  Check out what Daniel Coyle of The Talent Code has to say about this:

Another general truth about top performers is that they love rituals. Whether Rafael Nadal prepping for a serve or Yo-Yo Ma prepping a sonata, a lot of top performers are addicted to idiosyncratic, persnickety rituals that seem, to the neutral observer, insanely detailed and RainMan-esque. They tie their sneakers just so, they place their violin case at a certain precise angle.  These behaviors are usually described as a superstition, but I think that misses the point: their ritual is their unique way of prepping themselves to deliver a performance.

A couple of the Stack videos show Longoria doing core exercises and medicine ball drills, which reminded me of another off-season video of Longoria working out at Athlete’s Performance in Tempe, Arizona:

Lots of good stuff mentioned here – hard work, movement training, hitting power via core strength, rotational movements & torso stability in order to transfer force.

I like some of the rotation exercises shown around the 1:40 mark, and if you pay attention at the end, you can see some of the tee work that was mentioned in the first video above.  Check out where the tee is placed and the direction he hit the ball…not easy to do!!

Enjoy

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.

Overall, the system is sturdier than what we’ve seen before from this type of device.  The bungee system does a nice job of getting the ball back to a stationary position quickly, and it stays in the same spot in the strike zone that was originally set up.  The bungee system also eliminates the need to pick up baseballs, which does have a convenience factor when you have a specific training goals and/or are fitting quality batting practice into limited amounts of time.

The ball itself gives good feedback regarding quality of contact.  In other words, you can tell if you hit the ball solidly or not.  Plus there is enough space that you can get an idea of the direction that you hit the ball.  For example, if you are set up to hit the ball up the middle, but you get around the ball with your swing a little, you can tell that you pulled it too much.  The hitting mat includes a home plate which helps alignment and set-up, and there is a red string that can be used as a target, which is a small detail, but is useful when you are using the directional feedback.

Something that is key, is that the machine still gives you feedback on quality and direction of contact, but lets you focus on something that is crucial in bat speed development – intent.  Especially with younger or less experienced players, it is hard to focus on bat speed or swing quickness when you are also asking them to hit a tossed or pitched ball.  That’s kind of like training for power and endurance at the same time – which one is really most important?  It depends on the needs of the individual.  This system makes it easier to separate goals and focus on specialized areas of swing mechanics development or bat speed training.

We’re looking forward to continued use of the Swing Away a part of our program.  If you’re in the Palm Beach – Palm Beach Gardens – Jupiter, FL area, see our instruction options and come check us out.  Otherwise, check back for more on how we use our training products for bat speed and hitting development…

Swingtraining.net has joined with Perfect Competition sports performance facility in order to provide comprehensive strength, speed, and hitting specific workout programs in the Southeast Florida area.  Perfect Competition already has a well established reputation for their MLB Performance Enhancement program, and now Swingtraining.net will add the most specific hitting training available.

Complete training programs will be available for players at various levels:

• Professional Baseball
• College Baseball or Softball
• High School Baseball or Softball

Perfect Competition has served as the off-season training home to Major League Baseball stars such as Manny Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Lowell, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Tejada, Javier Lopez, Raul Ibanez, and Jose Guillen (see list of MLB Alumni).

The Perfect Competition Performance Center offers the following:

•   20,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility
•   5000 sq. ft. multi level weight room
•   5,000 sq. ft. indoor turf area
•   60-yd outdoor track
•   1,500 sq. ft. cardiovascular / metabolic area
•   Video analysis room
•   Professional development center
•   Locker room’s and showers
•   Agent/player conference room
•   1,500 sq. ft. physical therapy / rehabilitative area
•   Outdoor multidirectional training surface
•   Outdoor grass fields and turf field

Performance Center

Workouts will include dynamic warm-up, joint mobility & stability, sequenced muscle activation, Swingtraining.net’s drills series, traditional hitting drills, strength, speed, and agility.  A truly baseball-specific program!

Contact Swingtraining.net to set up a meeting and begin your off-season workouts!

Facility Location

Pasted below is the abstract from a bat speed training article published by Chester Sergo and Douglas Boatwright in 1993.  The italics and red text are emphasis added by me.  Read the abstract, but I’ll summarize and make a few points:

 - 24 subjects averaged 19-20 years old and were college students practicing in the off-season

- All the training was done with just dry swings, during practice.  100 swings in sets of 20 performed 3x/week for 6 weeks

- Group 1 (regular bat only), Group 2 (62 oz. bat), Group 3 (alternated sets with 62 oz. & fungo bat)

- Each group improved bat speed 8-9%, with no statistically significant difference.  Group 1 (8.8%, highest), Group 2 (8.0% lowest), Group 3 (8.2 %)

- FYI the average bat speeds reported for these players began in the low 90′s and ended around 100 mph, measured by some light timing device made by the school’s engineering department

Overload-Underload Maple Training Bats

 

 

 

I’ll add these points:

1.) This type of training is relatively easy to implement for any player or team.  Even with just a regular bat and dry swings, players will improve if they set their focus on high intensity, quality swings.

2.) Heavy bats are not bad.  I tried to suggest this in the weighted warm-ups post.  Remember there is a difference between acute and chronic training effects.  I would not recommend the volume of swings with as heavy of a bat as used in this study, but both overload and underload training components are valuable within a suggested range (see swing training page).

3.) The study makes reference to an unpublished thesis from 1970 which concluded that swinging a heavy bat in conjunction with weight training significantly improves bat velocity, whereas weight training alone did not.

4.) It doesn’t take tons of hitting drills or fancy weight room exercises to improve bat speed.  Mechanics and strength training are important, but remember —> intent, specificity, feedback.

 

Training Methods Using Various Weighted Bats and the Effects on Bat Velocity

-Sergo, Chester; Boatwright, Douglas

The purpose of this study was to determine if baseball bat velocity could be improved as a result of training with both weighted and light bats as opposed to training with either bat alone. Subjects (N=24) from a collegiate baseball team were pretested for bat velocity and randomly assigned to one of three training groups (n=8). Each group dry-swung a bat 20 sets of five swings each with 20 seconds rest between sets, 3 days a week for 6 weeks. The control group used a legal bat of their choice. Group 2 used a 62-oz weighted bat. Group 3 alternated a 62-oz weighted bat and a light bat between each set.Subjects took their normal swing through a light timing device, using a 31-oz bat, as if hitting in a game situation. The average of the last five swings was used for data analysis. A 3 x 2 (Group x Time) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor was used for statistical analysis. The reliability for the testing procedure was determined by pooling the test-retest data from the pretest and posttest. Data analysis revealed no significant group effect, a significant time effect, and no Group x Time effect. The evidence suggests that swinging a bat of any weight under the training program’s guidelines would significantly improve bat velocity.

(C) 1993 National Strength and Conditioning Association

Something I think that was overlooked there was that the original NSCA article by Dr. David Szymanski also includes a simple protocol for increasing bat speed using overload/underload weighted implement training:

Expected results from implementing this type of program can be found in this post I made about the effect of overweighted forearm training devices on bat speed and batted ball velocity. 

In that study, the control group followed a similar type of resistance training program (minus the medicine ball work) and did only 315 dry swings per week (3 days x 105 swings/day).  This would be the most basic thing you could do to improve bat speed – just try to swing faster! 

Either add swings to the end of your workout or do some compound training (ie add a short set of swings after bench press or squat) and you’re moving in the right direction.  These dry swings alone lead to a 4.6% increase in bat speed for high school baseball players over the 12-week training period. 

Now add some weighted implement bats for overload-underload and some feedback and you’re on your way to serious bat speed improvement!

For the ballplayers, whose muscles can command multimillion-dollar contracts, the push for sound nutrition has more to do with performance and recovery than deflating a spare tire.

The article goes on to talk about how, despite the efforts to offer more nutritious foods, it is still a challange to get players to eat right.  Ultimately, it’s the player’s choice.

I am trying to use my larger muscles more when I swing and I thought perhaps you had some type of specific drill with a medicine ball or some weight that would help develop my rotational strength.

Check out this post I made on Resistance Training for Batspeed.  The article in there covers a lot of basics about general, special and specific training for bat speed.  Each of the protocols referenced there were used successfully with high school and college athletes.

The medicine ball exercises are basically standing rotation movements similar to a swing – just pick a couple basics, there’s not one magic one..  You can look for more exercises here (specifically abdominal and plyometric drills) and also refer to the recent post on texas rangers s&c exercises.  It’s a good idea to mix in some of the bridge exercises for stabilization, and if you’ve been swinging and working out already you are probably okay to move in to the other med ball stuff. 

Also add some weighted implement training to your hitting routine.  This is what is going to take your developing strength and transfer it into your actual swing.  If you’re still playing at this point (in-season) just mix it in on the tee or soft toss.  For more ideas for the off-season, see this post on off-season training.

I recommend that you go over these things with your local baseball coach and/or strength and conditioning coach.  Good luck!

Strength Exercises

• Squat
• Pull-up
• Bench press
• Lunge
• Step-up
• Dumbbells

Core Training and Medicine Ball Exercises

• Core Training
• Front Plank
• Side Plank
• Face-up Plank
• The X
• Big Circle
• Over the Top
• Bounce and Slam

Stretching

• Upper body
• Hamstrings
• Hip Flexors
• Groin area
• Calves and forearms
• Lower back