2 Drills For Power
2 Drills for Power
It's not a secret that power hitting is what makes softball and baseball so exciting. People want to see the big homeruns, the doubles, the walk-offs. I was always more of a speedster growing up. I stole a lot of bases, I slapped, and primarily got on base with the single. I was this type of hitter through my freshman year of college and then Coach Murphy told me I needed to hit for more power because that is what the team was going to need from me the next season.
I took that into my offseason and made gaining power my goal. It worked. It is still working even into my career now and I'm going to share with you the two things that made my power numbers shoot up.
1. Lunges. I totally psyched you out because you thought this was going to be a hitting drill. I could make the argument that weightroom exercises should be considered sport specific drill work but I'll save that for another day. The commitment to lifting weights really added to my power numbers immediately. I gained 20 pounds of muscle my sophomore year of college and no exercise helped me more than lunges. Power comes from our lower half and particularly our back leg when we swing. The lunge directly targets the exact muscles we use in the lower half in our load and in our coil. If you want some extra power, pair a heavy lunge with an explosive split jump. We include these for our athletes in our weightroom all the time and the benefits are outrageous. If you don't know where to start in the weightroom, let us train you remotely.
2. Flamingo Drill. This is the main hitting drill that helped me in the power department. It is a simple drill I use off the tee and front toss that allows me to activate and load my back leg as much as possible to get that momentum through the ball. Start by bringing your front leg up to a 90 degree angle and freezing while balancing on your back leg. Squeeze the back butt cheek and keep a soft bend in your knee. Hold this position for 2-3 seconds and then swing. You should feel some extra pop on the ball and feel what a proper load should feel like.
Lift Weights. Hit Dingers.
--Halo
