Does strength training help hitters hit for more power?

[Maxx]

Agree or disagree with this video? I will give my opinion later. Been a long time since I checked in.....

Hitting/Strength video

[clayadams]

Care to post a youtube vid? I don't care to sign up on someone's site and get added to their spam list just to watch a vid.

[dominik]

I would think it helps but you have to do it right.
there is a guy named eric cressey who has a lot of baseball strength stuff. he mainly works with pitchers though.

I do a strength training consisting of the classic lifts, along with plyometric rotational training like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrYzhL4KTpQ
and also do some overload and underload swings. with that training I got my batspeed up from the high 60s to low 80s last winter (I have a swing speed radar).

this winter my goal is to get to 90 although I'm not sure I'm genetically capable to do that. But I will try.

[tg643]

Power comes from bat speed not strength. Strength can improve bat speed. I've seen some kids lift too much and lose bat speed because they muscled up. Whats needed is a balance of strength and quickness.

[Encinitas]

Mechanics not strength. Strength will aid anyone, especially those with good mechanics but how many times do we see the 6'2" 225 OG who plays football and hits a few doubles and homers push the bat with the muscles in his chest? Yet there are smallish, thinish kids on the team hitting balls just as hard most of the time who can't bench within 125 lbs of the beast. Those kids are more whippy, whereas the brute is more rigid and muscled up in approach. He does hit a few a country mile, but the whippy kid does it more often.

Also bat speed is not everything, some of these guys who move their arms really fast have tremendous bat speed, but they've lost any kind of power that the body might help provide, by pushing their hands with tremendous force. For instance, I would think Doc's Yeager's guys rate well on bat speed, but since their hands have pushed across the body (down through the nipple) so early in the swing it takes the perfect pitch for them to hit one out.

[omg]

Mechanics not strength. Strength will aid anyone, especially those with good mechanics but how many times do we see the 6'2" 225 OG who plays football and hits a few doubles and homers push the bat with the muscles in his chest? Yet there are smallish, thinish kids on the team hitting balls just as hard most of the time who can't bench within 125 lbs of the beast. Those kids are more whippy, whereas the brute is more rigid and muscled up in approach. He does hit a few a country mile, but the whippy kid does it more often.

Also bat speed is not everything, some of these guys who move their arms really fast have tremendous bat speed, but they've lost any kind of power that the body might help provide, by pushing their hands with tremendous force. For instance, I would think Doc's Yeager's guys rate well on bat speed, but since their hands have pushed across the body (down through the nipple) so early in the swing it takes the perfect pitch for them to hit one out.

Okay, how about this. Generally speaking, what would you advise a teenager to do if a choice had to be made. Just for the sake of argument. would it be better to do 6 week strength training program or a 6 week hitting clinic going over hitting mechanics? Not both. Generally speaking, which would get better results? High quality programs in either case.

[shake-n-bake]

As my son has gotten stronger I see him hitting more pitches harder. By that I mean the pitch doesn't have to be center cut or in his preferred area of the plate for him to cream it.

[omg]

As my son has gotten stronger I see him hitting more pitches harder. By that I mean the pitch doesn't have to be center cut or in his preferred area of the plate for him to cream it.

Yes, I think the benefits of weight training outweigh the benefits of the mechanical instruction. Of course it depends on the level of the player,etc, etc, and obviously it doesn't have to be an either/or thing. But I see a lot of hitters with functional swings whose flaw is that they are weak. And I've seen weight training make poor into average, average into good, good into outstanding.

[Encinitas]

Okay, how about this. Generally speaking, what would you advise a teenager to do if a choice had to be made. Just for the sake of argument. would it be better to do 6 week strength training program or a 6 week hitting clinic going over hitting mechanics? Not both. Generally speaking, which would get better results? High quality programs in either case.

Well given that a lot of hitting clinics don't help out all that much, I'd say go for the strength training. However if there was a hot instructor in your area, the benefits of learning a good pattern will take you farther. My oldest is a brute, but raised his BA to over .400 in BBCOR year 1 (from barely .215 BESR maybe in 10th grade) without adding much additional strength. The mechanical difference was the key.

[kimbercarry]

I believe both have their part and especially in the off season you have to work on both. With my son I've opted for workouts with medicine balls, plyo box work, jump rope, etc. At age 13 I prefer to stay away from the weights in general for a few more years. We focus on legs and his core section. I feel free ranging movements will benefit him better than just pure traditonal free weight stuff like I did at his age. We hit 3 times per week with around 50-70 balls each time (I don't believe in hitting till he's exhausted). This is our 4th off season doing this and this year we've upped the gym workouts from the previous year. We've seen consistent improvement each season in regards to his hitting, especially power, and even more improvement with speed and quickness which has been really positive given his size (big slow kid). I really believe the gym work he's done has played a big role in his progress.

[shake-n-bake]

There's value in becoming stronger and there's value in making mechanical adjustments. There's also value in developing the mental part of the game.

One of the things that I've stressed to my son and a couple of his friends at times is that so often the ball will dictate how you hit it, where you field it, what you do with it, and reveal (or expose) how prepared you really are. You practice routine baseball. Your training in the off season makes you "that" guy in the spring. And your willingness to invest more than most gives you the legit right to expect more than most.

That's one thing that's way, way, way overlooked. I went to a HS whose mascot was the Hornets. We ran a conditioning drill called the "Hornet-maker." Every school, every sport, every coach has their version. It's nasty. And it's not just for conditioning. It's making the declaration that you are all in. Your "will" is now ready to give fate the middle finger and be ready to back it up. That time in the weight room does a lot for a young man's head as well as his body.

[kimbercarry]

I have to know what the "Hornet Maker" drill is. Can you give me some details?

There's value in becoming stronger and there's value in making mechanical adjustments. There's also value in developing the mental part of the game.

One of the things that I've stressed to my son and a couple of his friends at times is that so often the ball will dictate how you hit it, where you field it, what you do with it, and reveal (or expose) how prepared you really are. You practice routine baseball. Your training in the off season makes you "that" guy in the spring. And your willingness to invest more than most gives you the legit right to expect more than most.

That's one thing that's way, way, way overlooked. I went to a HS whose mascot was the Hornets. We ran a conditioning drill called the "Hornet-maker." Every school, every sport, every coach has their version. It's nasty. And it's not just for conditioning. It's making the declaration that you are all in. Your "will" is now ready to give fate the middle finger and be ready to back it up. That time in the weight room does a lot for a young man's head as well as his body.

[shake-n-bake]

I have to know what the "Hornet Maker" drill is. Can you give me some details?

Well I remember it started out with a run through the country that included part of the route being down Short Road. Short Road is sort of like when they call a 6'8" 350 pound guy "Tiny." Had the road been actually named for it's true characteristics it wouldn't have been "Long Road" though. It would have been named High-Low Road.

When we arrived at the school coaches hosed us down. We never really stopped. There was a trough with the old sprinkler style water dispensers. You sort of jogged the length of it getting your drink of water. Then there was a hellish course that included pushing sleds, running through a tunnel, carrying sand bags, and a bunch of other stuff - probably some up-downs and bear crawls. Helmets on. Half-racking it. Lots of puking.

My son's school has one drill they call 6-6-6 Running with the Devil. It's suicides, sprints, and stairs.

Reminds me of the military. "Will you quit?" That's what it's about. Will you quit? And, how bad do you want it? But really its investing. And the more invested, the more fight there's going to be to succeed.

[dominik]

There's value in becoming stronger and there's value in making mechanical adjustments. There's also value in developing the mental part of the game.

One of the things that I've stressed to my son and a couple of his friends at times is that so often the ball will dictate how you hit it, where you field it, what you do with it, and reveal (or expose) how prepared you really are. You practice routine baseball. Your training in the off season makes you "that" guy in the spring. And your willingness to invest more than most gives you the legit right to expect more than most.

That's one thing that's way, way, way overlooked. I went to a HS whose mascot was the Hornets. We ran a conditioning drill called the "Hornet-maker." Every school, every sport, every coach has their version. It's nasty. And it's not just for conditioning. It's making the declaration that you are all in. Your "will" is now ready to give fate the middle finger and be ready to back it up. That time in the weight room does a lot for a young man's head as well as his body.

a lot of modern conditioning coaches (like cressey) are against doing those kind of stuff. it might be good to create general conditioning and willipower but it mostly trains strength endurance and lactate tolerance (anarobic training).

however baseball is more like 3-5 second effort full power followed by 20-30 seconds rest. some believe that pattern should followed in training too. I have read a citation by a famous cycling coach (which unlike baseball is an endurance sport!) who said that most guys are too intense during "recovery ride periods" an not intense enough during the actual speed intervals (because they are still banged up from the "recovery").

doing a block of basic endurance is great but I believe most of the training should be in the anaerobic-alactic (1-6 seconds at full power) zone which is what baseball is mostly about. doing 30 consecutive minutes of subthreshold to threshold effort or 2 minute intervals will not be very baseball specific. it looks cool to have the kids hustle for two hours without a break but MLB baseball is 90% lollygagging and 10% at maximum intensity.

[StanTheMan]

Does strength help.


Certainly.

All other things being equal... i.e. a player making solid contact on a 90 mph pitch one season results in the ball travelling _____ distance. A stronger player, making the SAME contact with the same pitch the next season WILL hit the ball harder and farther. Again... I'm talking the SAME contact. Nothing to do with being TOO big, hampering mechanics, or things like that.