How To Improve Bat Speed
Step-by-step Instructions
Here is what you need to do...
Step 1
Avoid at all costs focusing on upper body strength. How many times have you seen or heard someone talk about using just pure strength to drive a ball out of the yard? Want to know the truth? Upper body strength actually has very little to do with pure power. Sure, it might help a little, but the real secret is how fast or quick your swing speed is, upper body muscle mass actually will slow down your bat speed because of the bulk.
Step 2
Work on stretching and lean muscle development for your upper body. A more elastic and lean muscle means you can whip the bat through the zone much quicker. Also, make sure you include good, solid wrist exercises to strengthen that area. Stronger wrists allow you to turn the bat over quicker, this improving your bat speed.
Step 3
Be careful with using resistance training. Resistance training became popular back in the 1990's, and has stuck around today. One method that I see many people doing is tying a parachute type device to the end of a bat and swinging it so the parachute inflates, causing resistance. However, this is a quick way to pull a muscle and teach you very poor mechanics of bringing the bat through the zone effectively.
Step 4
Put focus on swing consistency and repetition to help increase the speed you bring it through the zone. Even a slight increase in overall speed (think just 2 to 5 miles per hour increase) can give you up to 40 feet extra distance, and a ton more velocity when you square one up.
Special Attention
Difficulties people often experience or parts that need special attention to do it right.
Stuff You'll Need
| Brand | Product | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond Foam Baseball Size Practice Balls Dozen | $24.51 | |
| Mizuno GXT-1A Classic Pro Training Glove | $41.53 | |
| SKLZ Hit-A-Way Portable Training System | $93.41 | |
| Solo Sports Ultimate Baseball Trainer | $90.49 |
Suggested Further Reading
| Author | Title | Price |
|---|---|---|
| DynaFlex Big League Baseball Fundamentals Training 7 DVD Set | $29.95 |
This Student Author
This Student Author's Background
Funny or interesting story about this topic...
While in high school I would always put extra pressure on myself to increase my bat speed and I thought that I could achieve this by lifting heavily and doing a lot of forearm workouts. When I got into college I learned that the things that I was doing all through high school were wrong, I was then taught the proper way to increase my bat speed and I noticed a tremendous improvements.
When did you first do this & how did you get started?
I began at an early age trying to increase my bat speed because every coach that I had growing up would preach to us the importance of having a quick bat. With that aspect being taught to me at such a young age I have been able to apply certain things that worked for me and disregard others that did not work.