Dealing with Concussions: A Guide for Coaches and Parents

By Carly | January 28, 2013

This wasn’t exactly my original plan for article #2 in my coaching series, but with Colin Kaepernick leading the 49ers to the Superbowl in Alex Smith’s place, I’m reminded that we all need to talk about concussions—in fact, I don’t think we can really talk about concussion safety enough.

For any of you who don’t follow football, Alex Smith began this season as the 49ers starting quarterback, and was doing pretty darn well before suffering a concussion mid-season. He wasn’t out of commission for long, but Colin Kaepernick did so well in his place that Smith lost his job, for no reason other than that he got hurt. I could rant on and on about concussions in professional football and how having to worry about losing your job if you have one is not a good situation…but we’ll keep this about coaching and parenting young athletes.

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Repetitive Use Injury Prevention and Treatment

By Carly | January 14, 2013

As a softball player, you’re always at some risk for injury by sudden accident—getting hit by a pitch or a hit ball, sliding awkwardly, colliding with another player, etc.—and there usually isn’t anything you can do to prevent this type of injury. It’s just part of the game. However, as you probably know, that isn’t the only way you can get hurt. Repetitive use injuries, or sudden injuries that result from an inherent weakness in the body, affect a tremendous number of athletes across all sports. Today we’re going to discuss how they happen, how to avoid them, and how to deal with them if you get one.

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Critical Exercises for Female Athletes

By Joe Bonyai | January 9, 2013

Females tend to be more flexible than males which makes stability training an specific consideration for female strength and conditioning programs. In these videos, I explain and demonstrate stability exercises for a critical area of the body: the hips.

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Changes to Fastpitch Power In 2013 and 3 Core Training Videos

By Joe Bonyai | December 20, 2012 |

Over the past few weeks, many Fastpitch Power followers have demonstrated their support for our website. Knowing this, I’m still deciding to change the format of my posts in 2013. I explain exactly why in this week’s video and kick start this new style of content with three videos that reveal a VERY different perspective on core training.

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How To Avoid Getting Holes in Your Cleats

By Carly | December 3, 2012 |

The majority of windmill pitchers can probably relate to my annoyance on this subject: you buy a shiny new pair of softball cleats, and before ONE SEASON is even over, the field is tearing up your foot through the holes you’ve worn into your shoes. Well, fret no more! I’ve got some suggestions that will help you get a lot more mileage out of your cleats. Your feet (and your parents’ wallets) will be relieved!

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Online Strength Training Program Sample

By Joe Bonyai | November 28, 2012

This past Monday I received two emails asking for more information on our online strength training programs. For this week’s post I’ve decided to explain exactly how the program works and provide examples of exactly what you receive as an online client.

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If You Could Only Do One Exercise

By Joe Bonyai | November 14, 2012

One exercise can help you run faster, throw and swing harder, as well as keep your shoulder healthy. It’s not magic, it’s the traditional barbell deadlift. Overlooked and dismissed as a “football exercise” that can hurt your back, I explain why you should be learning it and show you a video how to do so safely.

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Lower Back Injury Prevention for Softball Players

By Joe Bonyai | November 7, 2012 |

In this week’s videos I provide an explanation of a common cause of back pain in softball players, how to assess whether your athlete is at risk for a back injury, and demonstrate stretches and core strength exercises that all players, and parents, should try out!

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Softball Full Workout Sheets and Videos

By Joe Bonyai | October 31, 2012

Not to many trainers are willing to post their actual training programs or videos of their clients training. This week I’m putting myself out there and doing both. My goal for this week’s post is to show you examples of how I arrange the training components such as a warm up, power, strength, and core training into a workout and even donate example sheets that my athletes follow.

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