Exercises to Increase Fast Pitch Softball Pitching Speed

Exercises to Increase Fast Pitch Softball Pitching Speed
By guest author: Marc Dagenais


Pitching speed is something you can never have too much of as a pitcher. It's true that pitching wins championships and you always want to throw with fire at your opposition. Softball pitching drills that increase speed are usually the fastball type of drills and in this article are several of those. So, if you want to become a flame thrower then work with these following drills and you will see that the amount of speed on your pitches is certainly becoming a lot higher.

Drill 1 - Arm-Speed Development

Purpose: To learn the feeling of arm speed and to develop acceleration through the arm circle.

Procedure: The pitcher works alone on her arm circle. The drill has two parts.

- The pitcher stands in a sideways pitching position with the stride leg forward and the pitching arm above the head at the top of the circle. She moves the arm around in a perfect circle as fast as she can to get the feel of high arm speed. She keeps the arm totally relaxed, as loose as a noodle.

- The pitcher then focuses on building acceleration through the circle. Still sideways, she begins with the pitching arm at waist level. The pitcher focuses on lifting the arm in a relaxed manner and increasing the speed of the arm by accelerating on the downswing with a whip-like action. The arm is extended (elbow relaxed) to create the biggest arc and lever possible. The longer the lever, the more force it can produce.

Drill 2 - No Stride

Purpose: To promote proper ball release and speed.

Procedure: The pitcher delivers a ball to a partner without using a forward stride. The partner can be another pitcher, so this is a good warm-up drill. The stride foot is even with the pivot foot. The pitcher pitches the ball using good hip rotation, a strong snap of the wrist, and a good follow-through, focusing on proper hip and arm mechanics. Pitchers should be aware of the danger of not rotating the hips and then throwing only with the arm.

Drill 3 - Speed Pitching

Purpose: To develop speed while throwing to a catcher.

Procedure: The pitcher works with a catcher, concentrating on exploding off the mound and attempting to throw each pitch a little harder.

Drill 4 - Wall Pitching

Purpose: To develop speed without worrying about accuracy

Procedure: The pitcher stands 10 to 15 feet from a wall and throws hard, focusing on mechanics and the feeling of throwing the ball hard. The repeated impact will soften a ball before long, so the pitcher should use the same ball. Don't use a rubber ball that lacks seams because the pitcher must be able to grip the ball properly. An advantage of this kind of practice is that pitchers can do it on their own at any time,

Marc Dagenais is a softball peak performance coach that provides softball tips, softball drills, and information on techniques for hitting, pitching, coaching, and training through his blog at http://www.softballperformance.com/blog

He also helps softball players and coaches improves their game by sharing with them the tips and strategies used by the world's best softball players and coaches to achieve extraordinary performances. You can sign-up to get his FREE Softball Tips at http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-tips.html. Go Sign-up Now!

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