Conditioning for Baseball

With winter upon us, it may seem that baseball is far away, but now is the time to start your conditioning program to be ready for the spring! I recommend the Triple Threat Baseball Conditioning Program available on DVD produced by Jeff Fourney (former strength and conditioning coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks). The 3-disc DVD set covers baseball-specific conditioning instruction for competitive baseball players, including the most important physical aspects of baseball...speed, power, and agility:

• Flexibility Training (16 min): covers proper warm up, dynamic and static flexibility drills, and exercises, to help improve full range of motion in baseball skill movements.
• Weight Training (27 min): learn to improve strength with baseball specific weight exercises. Learn proper lifting techniques to excel strength gains. Learn the secret of a strong man s game to help you rise above your competition.
• Medicine Ball Training (20 min): Functional and sport specific movements is what you will find with our Medicine Ball training system. A player who does not possess the specific explosive strength that baseball requires will find it difficult to climb the higher levels of baseball.
• Plyometric Training (16 min): plyometric training bridges the gap between strength and speed to create power.
• Speed Training (40 min): regardless how good your game already is, speed instantly raises it to another level and adds quality to your performance. Learn why the acceleration phase is the most important for a baseball player and how you can improve it to help every area of your game.
• Agility Training (23 min): improve your foot speed and balance. Reaction time and first step speed will improve with these exercises. Learn the mechanics of becoming an explosive base stealer and how to be more explosive out of the batters box to improve home to first base times.
• Advanced Speed and Power Suite Training (42 min): for enhanced take-off and jumps and specific base stealing techniques. Includes some of the most intense workouts from running drills that mimic the manner in which muscles fire and work in hitting, pitching, and all movements in the game.
• Advanced Power Cord Training (30 min): uses drills specific to baseball that apply explosive resistance through a full range of motion.

Rotational Hitting Mechanics

The baseball swing has undergone an amazing transformation in homerun and slugging power over the last few years. The modern professional hitter relies on rotational mechanics, in other words, hitting around a stationary axis with a circular hand path while utilizing physical torque to maximize bat speed and power. The technique of linear hitting with weight shift and extension is NOT used by the professional or top-collegiate hitter, because it simply does not generate the same bat speed and power as rotational hitting. Bat speed and power are generated by powerful hip rotation with the body and hands rotating in unison. Hand extension occurs only after contact with the ball is made, not before.

A terrific instructional video for understanding and implementing the principles of rotational hitting mechanics is the BATSPEED FINAL ARC DVD (second edition) produced and hosted by Jack Mankin. Running approximately one hour in length, the first half of the video covers theory of rotational mechanics (what it is and why all of the best pros use it), and the second half presents an A-Z drills program, so that you can learn and/or teach those mechanics. Whether you are hitting a baseball or softball, the same rotational mechanics are essential for consistent contact and power. The training program is for everyone from Little Leaguer to high school player to collegiate player to the professional. A player can never be too young or too old to learn rotational hitting mechanics! The batting principles and body mechanics presented in this training video are backed by scientific research and proven results from batters nationwide. Former professional baseball player and batting coach John Elliot is featured as trainer in the video, who demonstrates the mechanics behind bat speed and provides a professional hitter's perspective to the revolutionary approach. The $39.95 price for the FINAL ARC instructional hitting video will be the best investment you've ever made in hitting!