Genius Hour Week #2

This week for my Genius hour I continued my workout for strengthening arms and core. Additionally, I received tips from one of my friends, Margaret, who plays baseball at a competitive level. So the question is what have I learned this week?

My theory that building arm and core muscles will improve my swings was a good initial thought. According to Callaway (2013), "A regular routine of sit-ups, push-ups, hanging leg raises and forearm planks will help you develop strong core muscles, which are crucial to transferring power into your swing" (p.2). I now understand that strengthening my arms and core will enable me to hit the ball with more power. As for my progress in my workouts, I have almost doubled where I was last week in the number of reps; as of this moment my arm and core workout has increased to the following:

Core: 20 sit-ups, 20 reverse crunches, 40 bicycle crunches, 40 Russian twists, and 40 second plank.

Arms: 15 push-ups, 20 dips, 40 arm curls, 45 seconds punching. I have also added the addition of 10 wrist curls.

I have added wrist curls into my workout, because according to Margaret, you roll your wrists to enable yourself to follow through with your swing. In order to feel more comfortable doing so, I was encouraged to build wrist strength.

When it comes to my technique I received a numerous amount of tips to help me improve.

Grip: When it comes to my grip Margaret told me to hold the bat by making a fist near the base of the bat with my left hand. My right hand should only be considered a push on the bat. Her advice was to practice holding the bat with my left hand, and in my swing push the bat out with my right hand. Once I get use to following through, she said a way to work on rolling my wrists to get that extra push of power, is to align my knuckles when gripping the bat. Additionally, I was told that I should not have too tight of a grip on the bat, because your grip is too tight it prevents you from rolling your wrists, and takes the whip out of the bat.

Arms: When standing in the batter’s box, Margaret told me not to lift the bat too much off my shoulders, because this will just tire out my arms while waiting for the pitch. She said to rest my bat on my shoulder, while I set myself in the box and when I’m ready to lift my bat slightly off my shoulders, and only move when I start my swing. This will save energy in my arms, and therefore provide more strength in my swing.

Legs: When standing in the batter’s box there are many different things to consider. First of all, you need to stand at an appropriate distance from the plate, according to the individual batter's stride. By this mean, I have to stand somewhere that I can open enough to hit inside pitches without getting jammed, and the same time, I need to be able to step towards the plate to hit outside pitches. Additionally, I need to work on transferring my weight, from my back leg to my front leg. By bending my back leg by 45 degrees, this will force my weight forward, and therefore add more power into my swing.

Contact: Contact is about timing. Margaret watched my video from last week’s post, and told me that I am swinging late, which is why I foul a lot of my balls back towards the catcher. When making contact on an inside pitch, I have step open and hit the ball early in order to extend my arms fully, and have full power, this will result in me pulling the ball. For pitches down the middle, I have to step towards the pitcher, and attack the ball in front on the plate. Finally, for outside pitches, I have to step towards the plate extend my arms, which can allow me to push the ball opposite field.  

This is a lot to consider when moving into my next step of taking dry swings (swings without a pitch). Over the next week I will work on all these different tips by doing 30-40 dry swings a night to build my muscle memory of these changes.  I hope that by next weekend I will be able to get outside and do some practice swings, or find a place to practice inside, and record my progress.

Reference

Callaway, C. (2013). How to Hit a Softball With Power. Livestrong.com. Retrieved from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/496255-how-to-hit-a-softball-with-power/