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Using Weighted Balls for Training
WEIGHTED BALL ONLINE DISCUSSION:
From:
Jack Leonard
jll@jyc.com
Topic: Practice Balls Date:
Wednesday, December 11, 1996 11:29 AM
You can
make 11" or 12" weighted balls by driving large finishing nails in them BUT
what are you going to do with 14" & 16" BALLS ?
Jack
Leonard
From:
Bob Hale
(bhale@juliet.stfx.ca)
Topic: Practice Balls
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 1996 07:35 AM
I am
looking for practice balls - Weighted, 14 or 16 inch softballs. Does anyone
know where I can find them. By
the way, what is the weight of a 12 and 11 inch softball--generally
speaking. I have also purchased weighted softballs, a 9,10,11,& 12 ounce
ball. I have also added nails to an old ball to increase the weight, but
what does the typical softball weigh? I also would like to know some drills
to use with weighted balls.
Bob
Hale
bhale@stfx.ca
From:
Casey Clutch
jclutch@inetdirect.net
Topic: Practice Swings
Date: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 07:02 PM Denny Throneburg (Casey, IL)
in a pitching clinic I attended talk about the use of weighted balls and
underweight balls to develop pitchers and spoke of the under loading
principles. Can't say I have used it but there are people out there using it
and have been successful at it. It would make sense if it works for pitching
it should work for batting. :)
Our
association just bought several sets of weighted balls (1 lb and 2 lb) for
each of the age group teams.
I
wonder if I could have some advice on how to use them? Specifically:
- are
they safe for the younger pitchers (u12, u14..to u19)? (I worry about the
strain on young arms - especially doing the full circle windmill)
-
should they be used for full pitching motion or just pendulum or ??
- who
the devil is going to catch the 2 pound ball? (don't look at me.)
- any
other tips or drills (I do have Barry Sammons book but I don't recall if it
addressed the younger pitchers in the conditioning section.)
Thanks
...Wayne Wilson
Coach,
St. Albert Angels, Alberta, Canada.
From:
Jack Leonard
(internet:jll@jyc.com)
Topic:
New Bat Technology Rev 2
Date: Tuesday, January 07, 1997 08:26 AM
When
hit in the sweetspot (1" on a singlewall, 5"on a doublewall)it is the same.
How many players ALWAYS hit the sweetspot ? Have your daughter hit some new
balls with a TPS bat that has been scrubbed with a BRILLO pad and observe
where the new ball marks are.Have you ever noticed sometimes a girl will hit
a ball the same way she always hits but the ball takes off? It is because
the ball has hit the sweet spot. As I have stated earlier the doublewall bat
will make a girl with good bat speed THROUGH the ball a great hitter.The
Doublewalls are slighly more end weighted than the TPSs.
Jack
Leonard
Hi
Stella..
Check
the recent archives - I posted a question about weighted balls about a month
back - there were a couple of relevent replies (we fpf folk tend to get off
topic often.)
What
weight is your ball? The one's our association bought (I didn't ask for
them) are 1 lb. and 2 lb. In Barry Sammons book he talks of using weighted
balls - but he's talking about 9 or 10 oz balls.
I
think the 1 and 2 lb. balls are much to heavy for youth to use for any
pitching motion. My (18 yr old) daughter uses them for wrist strengthening
only (wrist flips) but she won't use them at all with the younger pitchers
she works with. When I want the u14 girls to work with added weight I just
give them a 12 inch ball (they play with 11").
Bottom
line: be careful - youth muscles and joints can be fragile while they're
developing. I'd only use a 1 to 3 oz extra weight at most.
...Wayne
Wilson
Coach,
St. Albert Angels, Alberta, Canada.
Wayne
Weighted
balls are great for strengthening the fingers/wrist, forearm, and biceps. A
hole drilled through a ball with a bungee chord attached does the same
thing, with less cost. The bungee isn't as much fun as seeing the ball go
out of the hand, but it doesn't require a catcher, just commitment and
dedication. We use the weighted ball, but only at close distances,
emphasizing the leverage from, and strengthening the fingers.
We
also stress throwing across the front (open), allowing the muscles to
support the joints. Be careful when throwing for distance with a weighted
ball. Excess distraction forces on the joints in one arena are frowned on.
And then in the other, exercises are promoted that increase it. Go figure.
With a
right handed pitcher, in my opinion, the movement of the arm, in an open
position, with the arm coming down and going across the front, from the
right side, to the left side, is in the most natural, and physically the
strongest path it can be in. This allows the muscles to support the action
more. The closer to the center the stronger the position of the arm is in.
And in this path it stays close to the center for the longest amount of
travel prior to the release.
John
Gay
My
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with instructions. In addition they have many other devices such as the
"spinner" which helps develop proper grip and release for the rise and drop
ball. That also come with instructions and videos. All his items are
inexpensive. His web site is:
http://www.infgen.com/howellto/
10%
discount if you mention the Renegades
Some
pictures of us using his stuff is located on our 16&U practice picture pages
at:
http://www.softballweb.com/renegades
San
Diego Renegades
There
is one universal truth in pitch speed, IMHO, and that is this.... The ball
can go no faster the last body part to touch it. The finger speed determines
ball speed. But the fingers are moved by the wrist, wrist by the forearm,
etc.. The point is that all these parts must work together correctly, thus
mechanics come before speed. It is also true that the fingers and hand move
faster when tension is reduced. A relaxed arm and wrist and fingers work
then like a whip rather than like a solid lever. These mechanics also work
to distribute the forces more evenly throughout the shoulders and arm,
reducing the likelihood of injury.
Once
the mechanics are sound, I have had the best success in developing speed by
having our pitchers throw into a net target from close range...5-10 ft,
concentrating on strong push, solid plant, and hip/knee closure. The use of
the net takes away any fear of wild throws, and lets the pitcher concentrate
on the power mechanics and wrist snap. This method also allows for rapid
repetitions by using 20-30 balls from a bucket. This drill also helps build
up fast twitch muscle fibers and helps on conditioning the muscles for more
work.
Careful
use of a weighted ball for wrist snap drills also helps is developing more
speed through stronger wrist snap. I do not use weighted balls for full or
even half speed throwing in full motion.
Mike
Oliver Olathe Ks L'Eagles 12A
Ken
Excellent
point concerning safety, especially with the live ball the colleges use now.
The
momentum and weight of the arm, plus the leverage applied to the ball (with
my students after they become fast and flexible, we use muscles to assist a
good motion) will bring the shoulder around, which will bring the upper body
around, which will bring the hips around, into a fielding position.
Even
if they don't come around, or stay open, they are:
1.
Already into the flow of the game, even before the ball is out of the hand
very far, pitchers will know where it will go in the strike zone. Being
aware of the location should bring them to attention faster than any one
else on the team if it is a fat pitch, or to the batters strength. (Usually
a fielder has to wait until the batter swings, then judging from the swing,
and pitchers speed, they will know how to react to the ball).
2. The
pitcher is a thinner target being sideways, glove is on the side to the
batter, and the pitcher only has to move the glove up or down to protect
themselves. She is not in a better fielding position. But she is in a safer
position. If she is sideways, she is not able to point her belly button to
the ball, so if she doesn't catch it with the mitt she can block the ball
with her body keeping the ball in front of her. (Good mechanics),(Ouch). If
she has slow reflexes she is in danger facing, or sideways.
IMHO a
lot of pitchers are side tracked away from their #1 job, to pitch the ball
as good as they can. Many times I have seen otherwise good pitchers coming
around too soon, taking away from the pitching leverage, by being more
concerned about fielding that pitching. Every pitch, is the most important
pitch, of the game. Approach each pitch with vigor and enthusiasm, one pitch
at a time. Then, after they have used all of their ability to pitch the
ball, their #1 job is to field the ball.
3. One
thing I picked up from Ron Boldon (I should have thought of it myself), is
to get the glove up and protect the face after the pitch. Especially with
the new live balls.
-
We
have a guy in our program
-
who
teaches the kids to stay in the
-
open
position, closing the
-
pivot
foot to the stride foot
I teach
to bring the knees together. The weight from the legs keeps you upright on
the landing as opposed to the knees being apart, acting as a counter weight
for a person that bends forward at the waist. Bringing the feet together
tends to stiffen the legs, and subtracts from the leverage applied when the
stride leg extends aggressively, or holds the body against a firm front
side, after the landing.
I use
the weighted ball for strengthening drills not to teach pitching motion.
John
Gay
http://www.pacifier.com/~johngay
Hey
y'all check out my sponsor. Tell them I sent you. Thanks.
http://www.ringor.com/
1/7/97
I agree
with Barry that pitching is an anaerobic activity (oxygen not used as an
energy source) and do recognize that aerobic conditioning assists a pitcher
keep her overall stamina throughout a game. It is also important to remember
that increased pitching power (or speed) is probably more easily attained by
improving mechanics than by attempting to improve the ability of the muscles
to produce force. Pitching by itself trains the muscles and in order for
further training to take place, overloading must take place.
I
would like to first go into further depth on anaerobic energy delivery and
then speculate on possible training drills which are specific to improving
this energy delivery process in the pitching motion.
There
are basically two types of anaerobic exercise. The basic difference between
the two is the length of time of the activities . Remember that anaerobic
activities are intense explosive activities. For short duration activities
(1-5 sec) the energy required for the activity comes from immediate energy
stores (ATP & CP) within the muscle cells itself. With adequate rest between
exercises, the muscles are able to fully recover without any fatigue
problems. This more or less describes the pitching motion. In contrast,
intense activities of longer duration (10-25 sec) require more energy than
can be delivered from ATP & CP within the muscle cells. Muscle glycogen is
used which results in the formation of lactic acid. Most people can relate
to the burning or heavy feeling in a muscle after prolonged intense
activity.
Training
the energy supply system for anaerobic activities requires repeated bouts of
intense activity which use the identical muscles of the activity being
trained for. Where lactic acid production is not a factor in the activity,
shorter bouts of activity should be used.
Therefore
when trying to train the energy supply system for the pitching motion, the
exercise should used the muscles used in the pitching motion (pitching
itself therefore makes the best sense) and it should be a short intense
explosive activity. The difficulty becomes providing resistance which can be
added to the normal pitching motion. Weighted balls come to mind in terms of
overloading the system. However, due to the increased centrifugal forces
applied to the shoulder, there is an increased risk of injury. In an older
pitching manual I have seen a drill where resistance is applied throughout
the pitching motion by holding onto both ends of a bat and having the non
pitching hand lead the motion and provide resistance. I feel this drill
would suffer due to a slower speed. I must admit the exercise which
theoretically shows the most promise to increase force which can be provided
by the pitching muscles is the Finch Windmill. I have never had the good
fortune to see or use the device but it appears to have the ability of
overloading the muscles without overly increasing strain forces at the
shoulder. I'll cut this discussion off, I'm running on.
Bill
Daub, Edmonton Warriors, U14, Alberta, Canada
11/16/99
Doug,
I
would like to send you my evaluation of the Finch Windmill. Feel free to
use this information in your advertising.
The
Finch Windmill is a well-constructed, well-designed piece of equipment. I
believe the Finch Windmill to be the best of all the devices available that
are used to train the shoulder muscles used in the windmill pitching
motion. While weighted balls may appear to offer similar benefits, they
have the disadvantage of adding centrifugal forces to the shoulder joint,
which increase the risk of rotator cuff injury. The Finch Windmill applies
forces, which only oppose the rotational pulling forces of the pitching
motion, thus minimizing the risk of training injury.
For
the same reasons, the Windmill is also a very useful device for training
the muscles used in the "over the top" overhand throwing motion. The arm
motion utilized in this throwing technique is closely mimicked by the Finch
Windmill which, as in the pitching motion, allows the muscles to be trained
with slightly increased resistance in the same coordinated movement.
Power,
a function of speed and strength, is of prime importance in pitching and
throwing. The Finch Windmill allows for high-speed training with increased
resistance and an ultimate increase in power, all under controlled
conditions.
It
would also appear that the Finch Windmill would be an excellent device use
with patients rehabilitating from shoulder problems. With its' infinitely
variable resistance, it could be used for both strengthening, even at very
low levels, and increasing range of motion.
Bill
Daub
Exercise Physiologist
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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