If you're a hitter - baseball, slow pitch, or fastpitch softball, you'll definitely find this to your liking!

     As you know, I'm a big proponent of appropriate strength & conditioning as a way of increasing GAME TIME performance. This includes generating maximal bat speed. Unfortunately, science says what most of you are doing in the on-deck circle just prior to stepping to the plate is hindering your bat speed and quickness right when you need it most.

     What are most of you doing in the on-deck circle? Swinging some type of heavy implement. Why is this wrong? I've summarized below the results of a study done in 1991 by Dr. Coop Derenne.* Results are ranked fastest to slowest by implement used. Bat velocity was measured by use of a photosensing computer timer. Players were college age; game bat weight was 30 oz:

1)  Wooden overloaded bat (34 oz)
2)  27 oz underloaded bat
3)  Standard 30 oz game bat
4)  25 oz underloaded bat
5)  Power swing (adds 32 oz to bat)
6)  23 oz underloaded bat
7)  Donut ring (adds 28 oz to bat)

     Notice that the WORST item was the standard heavy batting donut. Also, using UNDERload (light) bats produced better readings than heavier implements. Just swinging your game bat with no weight attached produced better readings than any of the heavier tools!

     The question you may be asking is WHY? Why, when you grab two or three bats or another heavy device, swing them vigorously, then grab your game bat (which now feels light as a feather) does this slow you down? You feel so much faster with your game bat after this, don't you? 

     What happens is simple fatigue of the fast twitch muscles you're depending on to perform at your best. At an imperceptible, neuromuscular level, all of this heavy work just before performing actually tires you out! So, right at the time you need to be your fastest, you've just slowed yourself down. It's sort of like a sprinter running a bunch of sprints or laps minutes before a race. Yes, he's warmed up, but he has also depleted too much of his energy, so he cannot perform at his peak.

     Notice that the two best times were with weights that were about 10% above & 10% below the game bat weight. Just enough weight (the 34 oz bat) for you to get warmed up and ready, but light enough to not affect swing mechanics.  The underload bat (27 oz) is noticeably lighter, allowing for an effective 
warm-up and priming the body to swing faster - overSPEED training.

     Don't confuse this on-deck performance with a regular workout using heavy implements to develop strength and power. During such a workout, you're not appearing at the plate facing perhaps a 90 mph fastball. Tiring the muscles during a workout is the point.

     However, this data underscores the fact that bat speed is most effectively developed by a combination of both heavy and light training. DO NOT NEGLECT OVERSPEED/UNDERLOAD TRAINING! If you only train slow and heavy, mechanics will be negatively affected (a real problem with a refined 'power skill' such as hitting) and you'll perform slow as well.

     So put down that heavy device in the on-deck circle and go light! Especially when you're facing serious gas! And slow pitch hitters who are not facing 'gas,' you too need to generate maximal bat speed to drive the ball hard/deep.

FYI, you can find 4 oz donuts in our web site store that will fit baseball, softball, and youth bats.

(C) 2004 Baseball Fit, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Steve Zawrotny's BASEBALL FIT  Hitting & Pitching Academy - www.BaseballFit.com

The information contained herein is the opinion of the author 
based on his personal observations and years of experience. 
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