Softball Strength 101: Terms You Must Know!
Welcome! My name is Joe Bonyai, strength and conditioning specialist and co-founder of Fastpitch Power. I promise you will not find a better source of evidence-based skill, strength training, and injury prevention strategies for softball players than here on FastpitchPower.com. The initial posts on FP.com are a critical introduction to our language. It seems that too often, a language-barrier exists between coaches, trainers, and parents that ultimately only hurts the people we want to help the most: the athletes.
“Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
All of my contributions to FP.com will relate to strength and conditioning strategies for softball performance. I anticipate that the majority of readers will have little, if any, exercise science background so I will do my best to simplify the complex ideas and relate them to softball, much like I have to do while training athletes. When an idea or exercise is not clear, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT. It is communication that allowed Phil, Carly, and I to team up and create Fastpitch Power, and it will be communication between our team and you that allows FP to evolve.
Here is a list of terms that you will come across in my future posts. I feel like a teacher who is bombarding their class on the first day, meanwhile insisting “this will all make sense soon”. You can look forward to more articles, pictures, presentations that incorporate and explain each of these terms in detail. Thank you for your patience!
Mobility – The amount of movement at a joint, joint complex, network of joints, or throughout a movement pattern.
Stability – The amount of control at a joint, joint complex, network of joints, or throughout a movement pattern.
Motor Control – Stability during execution of single and multi-joint movements, governed by the nervous system.
Fundamental Movement Patterns – Foundational movements that are essential to the execution of complex athletic movements. Examples are squatting, lunging, and single leg balance.
Strength – The ability of a muscle or team of muscles to generate force to accelerate and decelerate the skeleton.
Speed Strength (Power) – The ability of a muscle or team of muscles to generate force rapidly to accelerate and decelerate the skeleton.
Elasticity – The capacity of a muscle or team of muscles to stretch rapidly and subsequently contract rapidly. Elasticity is governed not only by the stiffness and compliance of muscles, tendons, and ligaments, but also the nervous system.
Energy Systems Development – Otherwise known as “conditioning”. Three different energy systems contribute to meet the energy demands of sport: aerobic, anaerobic-alactic, and anaerobic lactic.
Recovery or Regeneration – Strategies to improve an athlete’s ability to positively adapt to the stress of training. Includes nutrition, sleep, stretching, massage, psychology, etc.
Self-myofascial Release (SMR) – Self-massage techniques that are used to temporarily calm trigger points, and reduce rigidity of muscles, tendons, and connective tissue (fascia).
“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Albert Einstein