5 Easy Softball Pitching Grip Strength Drills

5 Easy Softball Pitching Grip Strength Drills
By guest author: Brad Henks


Pitching in Fastpitch Softball takes a lot of raw talent,skill, knowledge of the game, practice and strength to be an elite pitcher. Many pitchers have the raw talent, they can gain the skills and the game knowledge from practice. To rise from an average pitcher to one that makes the riseball "pop" takes more than just practice, it takes a strong grip. And now a strong grip can be gained easily at home with these 5 easy steps.

This article will give you some simple drills that you can do at home. Most of the items mentioned can be found in your pantry or garage. Just ask your parents to help you find them. These 5 simple drills can help you go from an average fastpitch softball pitcher to a great one.

Drill 1:

Grab a can of soup or vegetables from the pantry. A small 2 lb weight is also good for this. Any small weight you can fit in your hand.

Hold the can in your hand with palms down. Then raise your wrists up and down 15-20 times. (Increase the weight if you don't feel it in your forearm on top.) Rest 1 minute, then repeat this for 3-5 sets.

Drill 2:

This is a modification of the first drill. Simply hold the can with palms up and raise your wrists up and down 15-20 times until you feel it. Then do one more. Rest 1 minute, then repeat 3-5 reps.

(Drills 1 and 2 can be done using a weighted ball just as well.)

Drill 3:

This drill requires a rod about 15 inches long, a length of rope or cord about 24 inches long, a heavy weight aprx 5 lbs.. ( an empty milk jug filled with water works great)

Tie the weight to one end of the rope, then tie the other end to the center of the rod.

Hold the rod with your palms facing down and equally spaced on the rod.

Begin to roll the rod and raise the weight all the way to the rod. Hold it for 3 seconds, then slowly unroll until it is all the way down again.

Repeat this rolling up and down 15 times. Rest 1 minute and repeat for 3 reps. You should really feel this in your upper forearms and hands. Increase the weight until 12-15 raises is all you can do.

Drill 4:

Use the same contraption used in Drill 3. This time turn your hands palms up and roll the weight all the way up and then slowly down 15 times. Rest 1 minute and repeat for 3 reps. Increase the weight until 12-15 raises is all you can do.

Drill 5:

This one is a little different. Take a 2 liter soda bottle filled about half way with water. Hold it by the top and flip it up and catch bottom end in your hand. Grab again by the top and repeat the flips 15 times. Repeat with the other hand. Do 3 reps.

Do these drills 3 times a week and in the off season you will notice a huge increase in grip strength. When fastpitch softball season comes your spins will be significantly faster and it will be easier to grip the ball.

BONUS DRILLS

Do you want to find more bonus drills? You can increase your spin rate dramatically by following these and more. Find pitching grip strength drills that college and pro players use. Some of these are pretty intense, so if you are serious about softball pitching click the link below now.

Even More Pitching Strength Drills

Fastpitch Softball pitchers that want to increase their spin rate or just need to get stronger. Find more articles and bonus drills and videos about pitching grip strength by clicking the links below. Also find lots of good information about fastpitch softball gloves.

http://www.BuyFastpitchGloves.com/articles.html
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Fastpitch Softball Pitching Takes a Lot of Work

Fastpitch Softball Pitching Takes a Lot of Work
By guest author: Gregory Covey

Fastpitch softball pitching is much harder than people think. Proper mechanics will make all the difference in the world for accuracy and speed. It must be a natural motion.

My daughter has been a softball pitcher since she first began the game. She has progressed each year but it has not come without a lot of time and effort.

When I talk about mechanics I am speaking about the motion the softball pitcher will go through as they deliver the ball to the plate.

There are some different beliefs as to which motion works best but I will speak to the one she uses since I believe it has worked very well for her, while at the same time not doing any harm to her back, arm, or shoulder since she has been softball pitching.

I am speaking from the perspective of a right handed softball pitcher, since that is what she is.

The first and most important thing is to stand almost straight up with your right foot on the mound and the left foot just behind the mound.

Your left foot big toe should be at the heel of the right foot at shoulder width apart.

This particular element of the softball pitching delivery will save on your daughters back. Many softball pitchers will lean way forward as they prepare to deliver the softball. The pitcher should have their nose just behind their hip. Leaning forward does not help with speed or accuracy. It is simply a bad habit that needs to be corrected.

One law of physics is that any action will have an equal or opposite reaction.

So every motion that your daughter has in her delivery needs to be evaluated so that you are not making unnecessary motions.

The next motion should be to present the ball to the batter. This is in the ASA Softball rules.

Next she raises her hands together with the right hand holding the ball inside the glove hand as if she is praying. They are now up against her chest together.

Then she moves her arms straight out still holding the ball inside the glove hand. The hands are straight out in front at shoulder height. A good way to tell if she is doing this correctly is that it should be blocking her view of the batter and catcher. Read more.

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Check out these coaching articles at the Softball Coaching Digest:
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• Articles from the Youth Softball Coaching Clinic Blog
• Articles from the Coaching Fastpitch Softball Pitchers Blog
• Articles from the Coaching Fastpitch Softball Hitters Blog
• Articles from the Tips for Fastpitch Softball Coaches Blog
• The Fastpitch Softball Training Equipment Blog

Fastpitch Hitting - Swing Like "the Best in the World"

Fastpitch Hitting - Swing Like "the Best in the World"
By guest author: Joe M White

Many people who follow fastpitch softball consider Jessica Mendoza to be the best all-around player, and best overall hitter in the world over the past several years.

Mendoza can do it all at the plate. She is a great bunter, a very effective slap hitter, and hits away for a very high batting average and with terrific power. In fact, baseball fans can compare Mendoza side-by-side with most any major league baseball hall-of-famer, and see that they swing the way she does.

Although Mendoza isn't the first fastpitch player to adopt a Rotational swing, she does it at least as well as anyone who's ever played. More and more fastpitch players are turning to her method of hitting. Increasingly, Division 1 college coaches are converting their players to Rotational hitting (for example, Mike Candera, Head Coach at the University of Arizona, whose teams have won 6 College World Series National Championships, is teaching a peculiar variation of Rotational hitting).

While softball players can continue to have success using the Linear method of hitting, there are reasons for the shift to Rotational.

A Very Short History

Many in the fastpitch community are under the impression that Rotational is relatively new, and that Linear hitting has always been the norm. Actually, Rotational hitting was introduced to Major League Baseball by Shoeless Joe Jackson in the early 20th century, and after Babe Ruth copied Jackson's method, it became the swing of about 95% of Major Leaguers until the introduction of synthetic turf on many Major League fields from the 1960's to the 1990's.

Those early synthetic turf fields were nearly as hard as concrete. Major League batting coaches quickly realized that ground balls hit on it moved so fast, that many balls that were routine ground outs on natural fields were hits on 'turf. Many that would have been outfield singles bounced so hard they became doubles or even triples. So many began to teach Linear hitting to their weaker hitters. And in many cases it worked.

(Most of the Big Leaguers who hit over.300 in those years, and nearly all the RBI and Home Run leaders, continued to be Rotational hitters. As synthetic turf disappeared from the Major Leagues, so did Linear hitting. There are very few nowadays, and although many still use Linear terms to describe their swing, they actually use Rotational swings.)

The increasing use of Linear hitting in MLB coincided with the introduction of lightweight aluminum and composite bats. These bats were not only much lighter than wood -- and so could be swung much faster -- they also had more "pop." The ball came off the bat harder and faster, so grounders hit with metal or composite bats got past infielders more often than with the old wood bats.

While MLB rejected Non-wood bats, they were quickly adopted by youth baseball leagues, middle and high schools, and the NCAA. Along with the bats, coaches at all these levels began to teach Linear hitting. Boys and young men who might have struggled with heavy wood bats became good or even above average hitters by using aluminum/composite bats and Linear hitting.

During all this, fastpitch softball experienced a rebirth as a game for women and girls. Fastpitch softball was originally played with wood bats, and Rotational hitting was the dominant method for both women and men playing the game. In fact, relatively few women played fastpitch until the 1970's.

As young ladies took up the game, they used aluminum and composite bats, for the same reason their male counterparts were. Most of their coaches were men -- dads -- who were enthusiastically embracing the cutting-edge Linear hitting movement. So most ladies learned Linear hitting, which tends to create more grounders as we'll see.

Linear Versus Rotational

So what's the difference between Linear and Rotational hitting? Andy Collins has a pretty good definition of Linear hitting: "Linear hitting is a hitting style that has been used for many years in fast pitch softball and by many little league coaches, some high school, college, and even minor league baseball coaches who still prefer this method of hitting instruction.Read more.

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Check out these coaching articles at the Softball Coaching Digest:
SoftballCoachingDigest.com
• Articles from the Youth Softball Coaching Clinic Blog
• Articles from the Coaching Fastpitch Softball Pitchers Blog
• Articles from the Coaching Fastpitch Softball Hitters Blog
• Articles from the Tips for Fastpitch Softball Coaches Blog
• The Fastpitch Softball Training Equipment Blog