Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Baseball Bat Speed Program
Baseball Bat Speed Program
Baseball Bat Speed Program
Explosion Program
By Miles Noland
Table of Contents:
Bat Speed Report Outline
1. Introduction
2. Common mistakes in the swing that hurt bat speed and how to correct
them
a. getting long
b. poor back leg action
c. poor load
d. Drills to do to correct these problems
3. Strength and conditioning
a. exact sets/reps of each exercise
b. sample training program
c. inseason/offseason
4. Overload/Underload training
a. philosophy
b. exact number of sets and reps
c. inseason/offseason
d. 4 week bat speed solution
5. 4 and 8 week workout videos of exercises, hitting drill videos, PDF
downloads of workout programs, get this at
http://athletehitting.com/4weekbspro/
When you make contact later on in the swing it allows for more bat speed at the
point of contact. Have you ever beat out in front and missed or hit a weak pop?
Your arms were extended, and contrary to old-school beliefs, you have no power
in extension.
In terms of power, bat speed is the single most important factor in hitting for
distance.
For example, if you swing your bat 65 mph at a 60 mph pitch, hit it on the barrel,
and it can travel 400 ft. If you increase bat speed only 5mph to 70 mph on the
same 60 mph pitch, the ball will travel 425 ft.
Increasing the pitch speed 5 mph will only increase the hit 5 ft, not 25 ft (like
when increasing bat speed the same 5mph). So in summary, increasing bat speed
is much more important than increasing pitch velocity.
Bat speed is all about momentum, which is a product of mass X velocity.
For example, a 30oz bat has 6 times the amount of momentum as a 5oz ball,
which is why swing speed is much more important than pitch velocity.
The difference between a double and the ball getting caught, or a ball on the
warning track and a home run, can be only .5mph in increased bat speed.
So every little bit you increase your bat speed the farther the balls you hit will
travel.
Have you ever seen a small kid (or maybe a big kid) with not much bat speed
struggle to hit the ball out of the infield?
He has no chance to hit well because his margin of error is so small.
I have coached guys with so much bat speed that when they got fooled they hit a
single. When they didnt get fooled, it was a home run. Guys like this have a
huge margin for error, and this is the type of hitter you want to be.
Now you understand the importance of bat speed and how it is the key for your
success as a hitter, lets get to the good stuff.
But wait, not only is it important to have great bat speed, it is very important to
hit the ball on the barrel of the bat. The great benefit of these bat speed drills is
they also promote hitting the ball on the barrel.
You must hit the ball on the barrel and have bat speed to be a great hitter, and
what we do here is teach you to do both.
In this situation, however, you are going to hit the ball on a line directly
over the second basemans head. Impossible? Not really.
If you keep your hands in the track tight to your body, the shaft of the
bat will be tight to your back shoulder, and your bat will be quick to the
ball.
The barrel of your bat will also stay flat through the zone for a long
period of time as well, increasing your chances of hitting the ball on the
barrel.
This drill is often very frustrating for hitters that have a long swing,
because they will struggle keeping their hands tight to their body
throughout the track.
This is because they are so used to getting early hand separation from
their body to go around the ball. However frustrating, this drill when
consistently done will help hitters feel the track their hands should be
in when attacking the baseball.
This drill is also great because it gives instant feedback. If you got long
you will immediately know it, because you will pull the ball. Good
hitters get jammed, REMEMBER THAT.
Hitters that are always early (like I was when I played) are always out.
This is drill is very powerful because getting your hands in the tight
track forces your bat to stay flat through the zone for a very long time,
swing.
The forward movement helps your body understand rhythm and
keeping your body moving in a straight line.
You cannot be stiff and unathletic with this drill, and if you are, this drill
will help you improve.
All of these drills with help your bat speed because great bat speed
requires good mechanics, being loose and athletic, and being explosive.
These drills work on all of these traits without any useless verbal cues
that the hitter doesnt understand.
5.) Back heel to sky: So many hitters are taught squash the bug. The
basis of energy starts with the lower half, and then moves upward.
That is why we have a huge problem if we squash the bug, because
this starts our energy flow moving in a circle.
Yes, hitting is a rotational movement, but in our brain, we need to
think of it in a linear way.
Our whole goal in hitting is to hit the ball on the barrel. To give
ourselves the best chance of hitting the ball on the barrel we must
keep the barrel flat through the zone for as long as possible.
To keep the barrel flat through the zone as long as possible we must
first drive our back knee toward the pitcher in a straight line, and this
causes the back heel to go to the sky.
Doing this we gain ground toward the pitcher, and our energy flow is
going toward where the ball is coming from, in a straight line.
If we start off squashing the bug, our energy flow starts off
moving in a circle, which causes our bat to be in and out of the zone
quickly, creating less margin for error.
Squashing the bug is hard habit to break, but as a hitter we must
understand the feeling of driving our backside forward, and
specifically back knee to the pitcher.
This is the difference between hitting above the ground, and
hitting in the ground. We want to hit in the ground, because this
gives us a firm base and allows to create more kinetic energy, which
produces more bat speed.
A great drill to work on this is the Back Knee Through Drill. Put a ball
on a tee, take your normal stance and load, and then swing.
The same time you normally would get your back heel to the sky, you
drive the back leg up off the ground and land it on the front side in
front of your front foot.
This will feel very strange and most hitters will have trouble doing
this successfully when they first try.
However, to do this correctly, hitters must hold the flex in the back
knee (another good habit reinforced), and aggressively drive the back
knee forward (exactly what we want).
This exaggeration/overcorrect will help the hitter understand the
feeling of what his back leg should be doing, and this will allow him
get closer to the proper back foot/leg action in his swing. In other
words, this will help him the habit that we want.
Refer to http://athletehitting.com/4weekbspro/ to access all of the training
videos and downloads associated with this product.
See the document download page for a complete chart of sets and reps of each
exercise for the entire 4 weeks. I have included two sprint workouts that are
to be done two days a week, which will accelerate your explosiveness and
athletic ability.
Each workout has been put in a video showing you exactly how to do the
exercises. The exercises in the video are in the exact order listed on the
workout program. You can access all of these documents at
http://athletehitting.com/4weekbspro/
Be sure to watch the videos of each exercise and perform them correctly. Form is
very important to get the most benefit. Performing exercises with poor form can
result in injury.
Coop DeRenne, Barton P. Buxton, Ronald K. Hetzler and Kwok W. Ho. 1995:
Effects of Weighted Bat Implement Training on Bat Swing Velocity. The
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 247250.
Coop DeRenne, Barton P. Buxton, Ronald K. Hetzler and Kwok W. Ho. 1994:
Effects of Under- and Overweighted Implement Training on Pitching Velocity.
The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 247250.
Is Overload-Underload Training safe, especially for younger kids?
Overload-Underload Training is completely safe as long as the athlete is
prepared for it.
Being prepared means that the athlete is ready to make 50 80 swings at
maximal speed. Younger athletes can definitely gain benefits from OverloadUnderload training.
How much can I realistically gain in 4 weeks?
It is nearly impossible to predict how much improvement players will make
on an individual basis. A professional hitter with a barrel velocity of 82 mph
will have a lot less room to improve than, say, a high school freshman
swinging 50 mph.
The bottom line is all players will gain velocity (peak) or average, and most
likely both. Most players should be able to make gains of 4 8 mph easily;
however, that will again depend on age and skill level.
The phrase "practice makes perfect" is often used by coaches, but in reality
only perfect practice makes perfect.
That means someone wishing to increase his bat speed must take each
practice swing with perfect technique at game speed in order to have the
hope of making noticeable improvements.
To become fast and explosive, you must train to be fast and explosive. Quality
always wins over quantity. A quick example would be looking at a marathon
runner vs. a sprinter.
A marathon runner runs for miles at a time in training. A sprinter runs a few
short sprints. They are both running but the differences lie in a) intensity, b)
volume of training, and c) rest intervals. Changing those 3 variables makes
the outcome of the training drastically different.
The take-home message is: if you want to throw faster, you need to practice
throwing FAST.
If you want to increase your bat speed, you have to practice swinging as fast as
possible with perfect mechanics.
Information above on underload/overload training is referenced from my
good friend and bat speed expert, Jon Davis.
1. So we know underload/overload training works, now how can we
implement it?
a.) Grab your game bat
Conclusion
It is important going forward to have an action plan.
All the great information in the world wont matter if you do not take action.
In the offseason I would recommend:
1. Working on your bat speed 3 times a week. Each workout would consist of:
a.) Recommended (in provided Excel sheet) overload-underload swings first
b.) Pick one drill and do 3 sets of 8 reps
2. Workout out 3 times a week:
a.) Use the provided workout program and do exactly what it says
b.) Limit fast food and eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, lean meats, and
other protein sources. Eat healthier carb sources (whole wheat pasta,
bread, sweet potatoes) if you want to gain weight.
You can hit and workout on the same day, but I would recommend hitting before
you workout, so your workout fatigue doesnt affect your hitting.
If you put this program to use, I guarantee you will increase your bat speed and
improve your game.
Be sure to email me with your success story!
Be the best,
Coach Miles
Info.athletebaseball@gmail.com