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Secrets of Speed and Quickness Training
A collection of articles
by Dr. Larry Van Such - Vol. 3
Baseball players who want more bat speed...
Does your hitting coach have you training your superior and inferior gemellus muscles?
If so, beware some baseball strength training programs can actually lower bat speed and power.
SAY WHAT? That's right, you heard correctly. You may think you are improving your bat speed, but if you aren't correctly training these and seven other muscles collectively known as the lateral rotators of the hips, then your bat speed, hitting distance, and, yes, your pitching/throwing speed will be significantly affected!
Baseball bat speed and power is generated first of all from muscles that control the hips
Every major league coach and trainer knows that your bat speed and power originate in your hips. But not every major league coach and trainer knows the specific muscles involved as well as how to effectively target and train those muscles to make them contract with speed and acceleration.
There are nine lateral rotators of the hips muscles located on each side of your body for a total of 18. Collectively, as a group, these muscles are among the strongest in the body. They are responsible for performing such basic functions as rotating the hips laterally to the left and right, controlling posture, walking and running. Ironically, in spite of their incredible inherent strength, they are still found to be severely under-developed in most athletes, including professionals. This is simply because many people, perhaps like yourself, are unaware of their importance and function. Ask yourself this question, "When was the last time I trained my superior and inferior gemellus muscles?" See what I mean!
Weak hip rotators reduce hitting distance
Your lateral rotators of the hips initiate your stride or forward swing. If you are weak and slow at the beginning of this movement, then you can understand why your bat speed, hitting distance and, yes, your pitching speed will also be very weak and slow.
But don't worry if you haven't been training these and other unknown muscles. The SWING FASTER with Isometric Training program from AthleticQuickness.com identifies all of the major muscle groups involved in your baseball swing and pitching motion, including the lateral rotators of the hips, lateral rotators of the spine, primary movers of the arms, forearms, wrists and shoulders.
Some repetitive strength exercises can actually cause your bat speed to become slower!
But, you may say, we already train these muscles with strength training routines by using weighted bats, resistance bands, weights with pulleys, etc. So, how is your program different?
Good question. All of these training techniques are good for one thing and one thing only -- STRENGTH. That's it. These routines will never, ever make you quicker in your hitting and pitching skills no matter how fast you perform them. In fact, the faster you try to perform these skills with these techniques, the slower you will become! Here's why: Any training program/technique that requires you to perform repetitions where the lengths of your muscles are constantly changing will only help increase your strength and endurance to perform these skill longer, not faster. Repetitions always, always, always bypasses your fast twitch muscles fibers. Don't ever forget that!
Strength and endurance are, of course, crucial for a baseball player to performance at their best, and I encourage all players to include strength training as part of their baseball workout program. However every baseball player will also need quicker bat speed, throwing speed, and faster running speed. The thing to remember is that strength training with repetitions will not get your muscles to be faster, and may cause them to actually become slower.
The secret to quicker muscles in the hips is isometrics with resistance bands
The only guaranteed way to increase your fast twitch muscle response is with isometric training using the resistance band at predetermined muscle positions. The SWING FASTER training program shows you exactly how to correctly train your fast twitch muscle fibers in your spine and hips as well as the arms and wrists, perhaps for the first time ever! This will mean faster bat speed and longer drives.
Dr. Larry Van Such
P.S. If you have never trained these muscles before, you can expect to start seeing results in your hitting in 14 days or even less! Yes, this means softball bat speed as well as baseball.
P.P.S. It’s always a thrill when you see the outfielder playing you too shallow and you know you can slam it over his head!
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