In a previous post I mentioned using a sledgehammer in your baseball workouts for strength and speed. Eric Cressey from Cresey Performance has all his positional players do this drill. Not only does it work the same muscles that you use to swing a bat; it also is a tremendous core workout. Obviously increased core strength and stability carries over to all aspects of baseball.
Now on the surface swinging a sledgehammer in your baseball workouts seems like the same thing as using a donut in the on deck circle. Please don’t confuse the two. You have to keep your strength training seperate from your skill training. Sports Science tested the theory of the weighted bat; along with use a weighted golf club. In both instances the swing speed and performance were negatively affected. Call me a geek, but I love seeing the numbers. Seeing the science behind the sports we play fascinates me. The interesting part was that is wasn’t so much that swinging the weighted implement slowed down the swing, but that it threw off timing. All athletes know how important timing is. While swinging the weight did prime the slower twitch muscles, and decrease the speed of the swing…the end result was poor contact on the ball. And poor contact, negatively effects ball speed more than any other factor.
When you are training for baseball, always remember what your goal is. When you use sledgehammer swings in your baseball workouts you are trying to increase your muscular strength. This is the proper time to this. Do not take weights with you to the on deck circle, by the time it is game time you are as fast as you are going to be that day.
Read more information on: http://mammothstrength.com/
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