Swingtraining.net Blog

LSU-Shreveport Conference Presentation

JAlbert — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:50:23 GMT

This Friday, February 22nd, I will be giving a brief poster presentation at the LSU-Shreveport campus for their 6th Annual National Conference on Girls' & Women's Health, Physical Activity, and Sport.

The abstract and poster is based on research I did with the Tech softball team for my independent research study. What we basically tried to do was look for any and all relationships between physiological and performance variables in division I softball players. For example, we tested for hang clean, squat, bench press, grip, bat velocity, throwing velocity, speed, agility, etc. 19 variables all together.

Title of the abstract/poster is:

Relationship between physiological characteristics and softball-specific variables of NCAA division I softball players

What I may do is post my abstract after the conference...

If you happen to be interested in attending, here is the information that I have been provided - LSU-S Conference

Special thanks to the Tech Softball team and coaches, s&c staff and all of the people who helped during the testing!

"Strength and Conditioning Practices of Major League Baseball..."

JAlbert — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:57:50 GMT

The following abstract is from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning. It gives a results summary of a survey given to MLB strength coaches...

Strength and Conditioning Practices of Major League Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches

William P. Ebben, Marilyn J. Hintz, and Christopher J. Simenz

Department of Physical Therapy, Program in Exercise Science, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

ABSTRACT

Ebben, W.P., M.J. Hintz, and C.J. Simenz. Strength and conditioning practices of Major League Baseball strength and conditioning coaches. J. Strength Cond. Res. 19(3):538–546. 2005.—This study describes the results of a survey of the practices of Major League Baseball strength and conditioning (MLB S&C) coaches. The response rate was 70.0% (21 of 30). This survey examines (a) background information, (b) physical testing, (c) flexibility development, (d) speed development, (e) plyometrics, (f) strength/power development, (g) unique aspects, and (h) comments. Results indicate, in part, that coaches assess an average of 3.6 parameters of fitness, with body composition testing being the most commonly assessed parameter. All coaches use a variety of flexibility development strategies. All coaches use speed development strategies, with form running drills being the most common. Twenty of 21 (95.2%) coaches employ plyometric exercises with their athletes. Eighteen of 21 (85.7%) of MLB S&C coaches follow a periodization model (PM). Five of 21 coaches (23.8%) indicated that their athletes use Olympic-style lifts. The squat and its variations and the lunge and its variations were most frequently identified as the first and second most important exercises used to train the athletes. This survey provides detailed information about strength and conditioning practices at the most competitive level of baseball and serves as a review, as well as a source of applied information and new ideas.

Playing my way out...

JAlbert — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:33:36 GMT

Towards the end of the 2007 season in Shreveport, I walked into the clubhouse after throwing our BP in El Paso, and our manager made a quick joke. Something about needing to me to sign and become an active player for the remainder of the season (about 10 days)...

Only he wasn't joking. The 3b had a knee injury and the LF was heading back to school, which left us with exactly 9 position players. We were approaching the last day that clubs could sign players for the season, and I just happened to be the guy. Suit up, take some BP, chew some seeds...no problem.

Really, I had no desire to actually play again, but we needed an extra guy (just in case) and I was in good shape from working out all summer so I was up for it. All I had to do was sit there, or maybe save one of pitchers from having to pinch run and immediately get picked off second base (which happened!)

But as you may have seen on my front page for a while, I actually got some AB's:

Launch in external player

That was our last home game and my wife just happened to be there with our digital camera. I hadn't seen a live pitch in over 2 years, so I was a bit nervous. Check swing for strike one, miraculously laid of a slider (why would he throw me a slider??) to get to 1-1, and then hit a hard line drive that was caught by the 1b. So close to hitting a double!

What is funnier about that game is that I was put in at 3rd base:

And our pitcher was working on a complete game shutout. I thought I was in the clear with 2 outs and 2 left pull hitters coming up in the 9th, but they singled and walked which loaded the bases. Of course, the next guy up hit me a ground ball. After a quick bobble, I rushed a throw to first and he dug it out of the dirt to finish the game. Thanks, Hump (nickname of the 1b).

To finish it up, I got the start in our last game of the season at Pensacola. It was a TV game, and there were a handful of messages on my phone afterwards asking me how the heck I got myself out there. But I managed to resemble something of a pro - two pop-ups, a 6-3 and a hard line drive to CF that was run down and ended up a sac fly (another almost double!). Then, in dramatic fashion, I walked on 4 pithes during my last time up. Everyone gave me a hard time for not swinging 3-0, but the pitch wasn't too close. At least I got on base, gotta love those walks.

I'm still trying to get the tape of the game...I want to see the ball I hit to center. After a couple of years, the ball really did look like an aspirin, but it was nice to know I could still turn around a fastball. Most of all, it was fun to get out there one last time.

Book Review: Underground Secrets to Faster Running

JAlbert — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:37:30 GMT

I've been meaning to do this (start some quick reviews) for a while and I thought this would be a good way to start....

A few years ago, I was directed to an article entitled: The Holy Grail in Speed Training by author Barry Ross.

I found the article very interesting, contacted Mr. Ross and got going on the workout. I was "retired" at the time and figured I'd give it a shot.....what I found (my personal experience) was quite interesting. Within a couple of months, my deadlift improved from the mid-200's to near 420 pounds while my body weight stayed the same. For sprint work, I did 10 yard starts from a base-stealing position using an electronic timer. Over that winter, I decreased my 10 yard time by .2 seconds. And on the first 40 that I had timed, which was the first sprint I had run over 10 yards, my time was over .2 seconds faster than I had ever run. Pretty cool.

It didn't take long for Barry Ross, who is a seasoned track & field and strength coach, to open his own site and release his book: Underground Secrets to Faster Running

The book outlines the concept of mass specific force, and sites some nice research studies to back up the claims. The workout is incredibly easy from an equipment, execution and planning standpoint, but not so easy in terms of the load/intensity used! Basically you have to lift heavy! With all the talk of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, this method gets right to the point of muscle fiber recruitment and training for strength. It is a fast, simple read that goes through mass specific force, physiology, exercise selection and workout design in a logical fashion. Theory and application.

In addition to the lifting and running, I was hitting and throwing with a pair of minor league players and I noticed that my bat speed and throwing velocity were improving above what I had achieved in college. Also pretty cool. Although not excatly common-place, strength training for the posterior chain and specific swing/throw training appeared to be a great combination.

Check out Barry's web site for more information --- Bearpowered.com

Cal Ripken Jr. on weight shift

JAlbert — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:04:11 GMT

Cal Ripken Jr. shares his take on weight shift during the swing...

A-Rod: Creating a compact swing

JAlbert — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:44:13 GMT

Back in August, Kevin Long (Yankees hitting coach) described how he worked with Alex Rodriguez to create a more compact swing. He gave a description of using the "net" or "fence" drill:

"You take a stance parallel to a net only a bat-length away from you. You hold the knob of the bat to your stomach to measure the distance. Then, your coach flips balls to you and you hit them -- without the bat touching the net. That's how you know your swing is more compact. The drill forces you to pull your hands towards your body as you swing -- it gets you in the proper position to turn on those inside pitches."

If you watch the video closely, you can see A-Rod taking one of these swings in his recent piece with 60 minutes:

Tony Gwynn video on Hitting

JAlbert — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:06:26 GMT

When does bat speed "happen"?

JAlbert — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:36:33 GMT

Many already have a grasp on the concept of the kinetic link. The photo below gives a brief summary:

So the principle really suggests that, in terms of the swing, the bat is going to be the last thing to come around and its velocity is going to be determined by the summation of forces that have been generated by the body and transferred to the bat. Nothing new there...

Here is some more information to illustrate the timing of when the bat actually comes around, or when bat speed "happens":

This graph, from Adair's Physics of Baseball, shows the velocity relationship between the hands and the bat. What you see really is that the hands and bat travel very near the same speed during the time when the body is rotating. From the kinetic chain principle, we know that one segment speeds up when the previous segment slows down, so the bat is going to take off (increase velocity) when the rotation of the body has stopped and the hands change the direction of the know of the bat. You can see that this happens towards the end of the swing process.

Adair's book, along with plenty of other sources (including biomechanics studies in golf) indicate that the wrist uncock passively as the time for contact approaches, which again suggests that the hands are not doing much if anything to apply force to the bat during the early portions of the swing.

It would make sense to think that maximal bat speed should be achieved immediately prior to contact, and this has been shown to be so, with values for maximal linear bat speed occuring around 0.015 seconds before contact. Looks like this:

Of course each segment in the chain is important. Based on the evidence at this point, is appears that the importantce of the lower extremities and torso is to produce the force and the importance of the arms and hands is to be in the right place at the right time to make sure it all gets transferred to the bat just before contact.

Mailbag #2 - A couple of comments

JAlbert — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:28:52 GMT

There are a couple of recent comments that I'd like to pull up here to the big board:

#1 - A comment from Mr. JP Francoeur of JP Fitness

JP's comment stated the need for sufficient strength in order to maintain correct sequence patterns.

The following was part of my initial response response:

"I understand your position about strength deficit, but I still feel like mechanics/technique plays a role (maybe or maybe not specific to Jeff Francoeur).
For example, weight distribution at the time of stride foot plant will effect how rotation takes place.

Flexibility may also be an issue. Here is a question: is it possible for a hitter to be too flexible across the 'serape' muscles of the torso? Just like too much laxity in the shoulder joint opens the door to injury. Torso flexibility may be great for golf, but not to the same extent for baseball due to time contraints."

Given a time constraint, as in baseball batting, I would imagine that an optimal load/stretch is a necessary part of the basic compromise between mutually exclusive ends of maximal bat speed and maximal swing quickness.

On top of that, I'd agree with JP in a case such as Francoeur that a possible plan of attack would be to focus on concentric strength in diagonal rotation patterns in order to improve swing quickness. Assuming a player can 'get away with' more separation, it could be a good thing --- just have to make sure the swing is executed in the given time period.

I'll also mention again, if you have not checked out the JP Fitness Forum, it is worth a visit.

#2 - anonymous comment goes like this:

"I was wondering if you had an opinion on the benefits of a longer stride when batting."

In my personal experience measuring bat speed for myself and other players, I would say that the stride contributes about 10% to maximal bat velocity. This is an example of what I mean: Player A has 100 mph maximum bat speed using his stride. Player A also achieved a maxmimum bat speed of 90 mph without using the stride. This was what I generally saw with college and minor league level players.

I have to add there that those not experience taking swing without a stride had a bigger difference. Similar to my comments on my biomechanics project. This was mainly because they heavily relied on thier arms, dragging the bat, etc. to create bat speed. Over time, they learned to use their body more efficiently to produce bat speed and quickness.

Research wise, the only number I can reference specifically is from a golf biomechanics study that quantified a 10% contribution from lateral movement/shift prior to launching the swing.

Baseball studies show weight bearing on the front foot to be greater than 100% of body weight at the time the stride foot lands, which suggests the need to get the weight shifted to the front leg. Actual picking up of the foot is really a matter of preference, comfortability (ie. golfers have the same shift without the actual stride).

My word of caution about trying to create too much bat speed by way of the stride is this - while a biomechanics study on ground reaction forces in pitching did show a correlation between total ground forces produces and linear wrist velocity (speed of the throwing hand moving toward it's target at release), GRF that peaked too soon showed a negative correlation to the same wrist velocity.

My interpretation of that is basically if you push (forcefull extension of back leg) too soon, then you're in troube. Rather, you're looking for a controlled build up of momentum leading to forceful, late rotation as the stride foot begin to land.

Personally, I usually focus on reaching good athletic positions, instead of a set idea of stide length. Especially with objective feedback, players tend to figure out which positions are good and not so good.

Brad Lidge

JAlbert — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 23:14:11 GMT

Ok I don't know how many more of these MLB analysis pieces are going to come out, but this is an interesting one.

Here is the full article at Baseball Analysts. It takes into account some sports psychology in addition to mechanics and looks at some statistical changes over the past couple of years.

Launch in external player

Opinions

JAlbert — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:03:58 GMT

There is no shortage of opinions on the internet these days, and in a general sense, there is nothing wrong with that at all. In my experience, however, it takes a god deal of willingness and persistance to do some actual research in order to support your opinion. Many times - too many times - opinions get stated as fact when there is not all that much (if anything) too back it up.

That said, I came across a rather appropriate book - Sports: Is it All B.S.?

To quote the author, Dr. Yessis...

"The bottom line is that if you cannot show it or prove it, then it is probably B.S. Opinions are fine when they are based on fact or substantiated data, but when opinion lacks substantiation, they are feeding us bull." (emphasis added!)

Mailbag #1 - Do it yourself video analysis

JAlbert — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:23:18 GMT

One of the questions I get a lot is about how to do video analysis. Believe it or not, I don't have any fancy video equipment - just an old mini-dv camcorder and computer programs that were either free or hand-me-downs.

Last week I received the following:

"What program do you use to sync the videos when comparing swings? I am giving hitting lessons and would like to show my hitters not only before and after but compare their swings to others"

My first piece of advice is to go to this site and download the free version of V1 Home.

If you have figured out how to log on to a computer and use email, you should be able to figure this out without a problem. It's about the easiest program I've found to use - especially for free.

Plug your camcorder into your computer and you can run live video, capture and show your players instantly....give your bit of instruction, and moments later you can show a split screen comparison to see improvements or not. It has different slo-mo speeds and frame by frame, forward and backward.

This is the type of thing I did often with players while working in Atlanta. See softball 1 for an example.

If you're into drawing all sorts of confusing lines and shapes, you can do that with the program also. Have fun.

Myspace Me!

JAlbert — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:48:49 GMT

I've had a Myspace account for a while but not really done too much with it.

Feel free to add me if you have an account!

Support Swingtraining.net

JAlbert — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:13:13 GMT

I appreciate a number of emails I've received since I began Swingtraining.net that count this site as a valuable resource for baseball and softball training information. This is what I intend for the site to be. As mentioned in several of those emails, all of the information provided to this point is FREE! For the most part I share a lot of the experiences and insights that I come across as I'm beginning my career in the area of peformance enhancement of baseball/softball players.

What I would like to do is continue operating this site as I have been, but keep adding more information about various existing resources. This is where I need some help...

By resources, I mean books, articles, training products (ie. medicine balls, weighted bats, etc.). I already have several items of which I plan to begin writing brief reviews and giving my recommendations for tools that have been valuable to me along my journey. When applicable, I will also try to make these resources available to you through this website.

You may have noticed on the main pages of the site that there are a number of new links on the far right hand side of the page. I've chosen these because I have found them to be reliable in obtaining pertinent baseball/softball items.

Amazon, Alibris and Dragon Door have been great sources for books and I've also had good experiences with Baseball Express when ordered all kinds of equipment (bats, gloves, batting gloves, balls, nets, etc.).

As I come along more opportunities like these, I will add them.

This opportunity is one that should be a win-win for visitors of this site and myself. In my experience, the serious baseball/player parent is usually looking for products and information in order to improve, so these items are likely to be acquired one way or another.

And now by simply clicking on those links from Swingtraining.net before your order, you will help me maintain the site and can report additional information.

_________________________________________________________________________________
In short: every time you make a purchase from one of these sites after linking over from swingtrainging.net, you can indirectly support this website!
__________________________________________________________________

*use code GARCIAMARQUEZ until 11/25/07 for a $3 coupon on alibris

Mailbag

JAlbert — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:33:34 GMT

I've been getting a few more emails of late and I try to get back to everyone when I get the chance. Sometimes emails fall through the cracks though because they get forwaded to another address and sometimes don't make it. I have also been getting more spam type emails and comments so I have to do a lot of deleting.

What I would like to do is begin a "Mailbag" section where I try to answer particularly good questions or general types of things that I get asked on a regular basis. So I would encourage you all to continue sending emails and/or asking questions in the comments section. If I happen to miss one, don't be shy about asking again (I know I have been very annoying to a lot of people when trying to make contacts and/or get information!)

P.S. I will do everything possible to generalize the origin of the question (ie. remove names, locations, etc.) when appropriate or requested. In other words - make them anonymous unless otherwise specified.

Biomechanics Project: GRF in Expert vs Novice Batters

JAlbert — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:41:01 GMT

Steve Englishbey got me going a few weeks ago on the topic of Ground Reaction Forces in batting. While there isn't a ton of stuff directly pertaining to baseball, I have managed to dig up a couple of studies specifically directed at baseball/softball batting, and there are others as well that deal with other sports (like golf).

I mentioned last spring that we (myself and a couple classmates) were doing a biomechanics project on the difference between GRF in expert and novice batters, and at the time I didn't want to bother putting up our results. The main reason was that it was our first time using the equipment - a force plate and Peak Motus 2-D analysis system - but it is a little more interesting now that I look back at it. I will be the first to say, however, that this is not something I'd believe to be publishable or anything to that degree. Just a class project designed to get us familar with the equipment. Moral of the story: don't read into it too much!

OK here goes:

1.) This first graph shows the amount of VERTICAL GRF created by both expert and novice grouns under two conditions - stride and no stride. The only significant difference was in the stride condition where the novice group, 3 college students in our department, had a much higher vertical GRF.

What threw me off a little was that the expert group, three college hitters, actually had a lower GRF in the no-stride condition. My only explanation for that, from an observational standpoint, is that their no-stride condition swings seemed closer to what their natural swings would be. For example, in the stride condition, I literally had to remind them that they needed to lift their front foot off the ground.

2.) The second one simply shows the correlation of bat velocity to GRF. In both conditions, the novice group showed a high correlation to GRF produced and bat velocity. Simply put, the more GRF they had, the more bat speed they had.

This was not the case in the expert group. They showed minimal correlation in both conditions. What this suggests is that they are relying much less on weight shift in the direction of the pitcher for bat speed production. I believe the golf study I have (left it at home today, unfortunately) attributed just 10% of club head speed in experts to weight shift, and this would agree with the results here. In other words, the experts are relying on other means, namely summation of forces from the sequential rotation of body parts - aka kinetic link - to develop bat velocity.

Jhonny Peralta

JAlbert — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:28:49 GMT

I have only been able to catch bits and pieces of the playoffs, but if does seem like every time I turn on the Cleveland Indians, Jhonny Peralta is getting an extra-base hit. Bloop double a few nights ago, and HR's in the past two games.

Peralta's swing caught my attention when I first saw him in 2005 and this is why

After an outstanding May, I thought Peralta was going to make me look like a genius based on a piece I did on him over the off-season. Basically just seemed like his swings were consistent but had a vision problem. He did bounce back this year from 2006, but not quite as studly as 2005. But he is still 25 and plenty of potential to continue developing...gotta love that opposite field power.

On that note, a big thumbs up to Cleveland hitting coach, Derek Shelton. According to the description given:

"As Hitting Coordinator he streamlined the entire Indians minor league organization from the Dominican League to Triple A with all new terminology and approach to hitting"

Mr. Shelton is doing something quite well. I'd love to talk to him about that "terminology" and find out what their philosophy is all about.

And there's also a recent article on Peralta at Baseball America and they forsee a shift to 3rd base for him. Good, less glovey, more smashy. Looking forward to it.

A close look at hip rotation - literally

JAlbert — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:41:47 GMT

came across this very good close-up of hip rotation. I hope you can all figure out who the hitter is.

Keep your eye on the ball...

JAlbert — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:53:39 GMT

...sort of

Nice article on David Ortiz

JAlbert — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:41:11 GMT

Just saw this and it's worth a read.

Apparantly, Ortiz isn't shy about using video between ab's