Build the Perfect Body for Softball Performance

A few posts back, I reviewed the primary physical contributors to softball pitching velocity, as suggested by research. In retrospect, the write up was too dense with science and I’m assuming many readers skipped to the videos once they were forced to read about “eccentric muscle action”. If you are interested in the research behind my ideas, the blog is a fantastic resource and I provided references so you can further investigate softball-science for yourself.

Today, I want to redeem myself and clarify any confusion that the was caused by the technical vocabulary. I’m going to explain how the architecture and performance of the body contributes to pitching velocity, this time using a very simple analogy:

The body is a bullwhip. The pitching sequence is essentially the cracking of the whip.

That’s a bullwhip. Examine the architecture and you will notice two main pieces. For our purpose, I will call them the handle and the tail. The handle of the whip is thicker and heavier than the tail. The diameter of the tail decreases from its junction at the handle to the tip. The handle is also much stiffer than the tail. From the picture above, it also appears that the tail becomes more flexible as its diameter decreases.

I’m no cowboy, but I’ll try to explain how a bullwhip is “cracked”. Basically, you sling the handle forward, which looks similar to casting a fishing line. You extend your elbow, snap your wrist and abruptly stop the handle. The tail follows until it fully extends and creates the sound of the crack. The momentum of the handle increases as you speed it up. As you bring the handle to a halt, that momentum is conserved and transferred into the tail of the whip. Momentum is the product of an object’s mass and speed. As the mass of the whip decreases along the length of the tail, its speed increases. Conservation of momentum.

Producing the “crack” ultimately depends on the velocity of the tip of tail. In order to crack a whip, you must 1) accelerate the handle rapidly and 2) decelerate the handle rapidly. The whip must have a heavy, stiff handle, and a tail that is free of stiffness or weakness that inhibits the transfer of energy through it.

At this point, you might want to reread this post, in which I conclude pitching velocity is directly related to 1) how rapidly you accelerate away from the rubber and 2) how rapidly you decelerate following stride foot contact. The muscles primarily responsible for starting and stopping speed are your hip (glutes) and lower trunk (abdominals, low back), collectively. This makes your hips and lower core the handle of the whip.

Your softball strength training program should be designed PRIMARILY to improve the structure and function of your “handle”. This means using exercises that promote development of the leg muscles and STIFFNESS of the lower core that will promote transfer of energy into your upper body, which represents the tail of the whip. As I mentioned, the tail must be free of stiffness or weakness. What would happen if you tied a knot in the tail of a whip? It probably wouldn’t crack. This is similar to water trying to flow though a kink in a hose. What happens if a segment in the tail was frayed or had a tear? It probably wouldn’t crack. The effect here is like trying to sip water through a broken straw. Energy leaks out. Therefore, softball players must build an upper body that is STRONG enough for energy to pass through it without breaking down, yet FLEXIBLE enough not to defer the transmission of energy.

Respect the Whip

Have you ever watched an AWESOME athlete and thought “Wow, it looks like they’re not even trying”? Or have you seen a pitcher who looks completely relaxed even though she’s delivering a 65mph fastball? I’m sure you’ve seen athletes, or even experienced this yourself, who try harder only to have worse results. I know, as a baseball player, competitive golfer and weightlifter, that trying to “unleash the beast” rarely works. Speeding up the wrong segments of the body, out of sequence, while creating more tension often leads to inefficient energy transmission and weaker performance.

I hope this analogy clarifies my perspective on the windmill pitching sequence and also supports my philosophy on how to train for optimal pitching performance. For more articles, exercises, and video demonstrations on training the body specifically for softball performance, please go back and reread my previous contributions on Fastpitchpower.com and stay tuned for more exercise info to come in the future!

JB