what's up softball players parents coaches i'm coach Dan Blewett in today's video
we're going to talk about softball specific workouts and if they're really a
thing.
so if you're new here i'm coach Dan I do tons of softball throwing videos strength training videos
arm care mental stuff mindset all that so if you're new here definitely subscribe hit the notification bell there's lots of resources including my throwing courses all that good stuff
in the video description below so in today's video we're gonna talk about softball pitcher workouts
and so here's the thing i owned a baseball and softball academy for nine years it's called
warbird academy it was located in illinois i sold it in 2019 and now i do most of my coaching online
i still have a strength program i do work with players and clinics all over so my thing with
with softball specific training is softball civic training is definitely a thing it's very good it's
very important that should be obvious to everyone like there's a very big difference between a
softball specific strength conditioning program and like a crossfit program or just a general
fitness program or a power lifters program or a basketball players program there's a big
difference in sport specificity between softball and baseball and other sports however once you
start getting into the nitty-gritty of different positions the difference becomes much more minutes
and a lot less important so let's explain why that's the case so again softball civic
is a thing it's very important and and basically in a softball specific strength training program
you're going to focus on rotation a lot because obviously you hit and you throw and you pitch and
all those are very heavy on core rotation right so being explosive also having good core stability
those are really important things for being good good softball players if you want to
throw harder hit the ball harder increasing your core rotational strength and your explosiveness
in rotational exercises like throwing medicine balls all that good stuff it's really important
also your lateral hips strengthening the the small glute medius and all those little the
little glute group in the side of your butt and your legs that's really important for helping
to protect your knees from acl injuries and meniscus injuries because your knees tend to
cave as a female athlete a little more than male athletes do because you tend to have wider hips
and that increases the q angle at your knees so having strong lateral hips is really good injury
prevention it's a really smart thing for female athletes in pretty much all sports so that's
another thing that makes it softball specific because you're cutting you're changing direction
a lot as an infielder outfielder especially as an infielder and so having that and again sports
specific if you're just a sprinter you don't need as much lateral hip work even though it's still
important you'll need as much as a player that plays soccer or softball where you're changing
direction a lot or basketball obviously so that's really important and that's again a piece of
softball specific training obviously your post to your chain which is the the back of your legs your
hamstrings your glutes those are really important for hitting the ball harder for pitching harder
for sprinting faster so posterior chain work is really important in a softball program
and again that's going to be important in most athletes programs but it's a definitely a big
focus in softball then the last two big things that make a program softball specific are grip
strength and rotator cuff strength so grip strength obviously because you're holding a
bat you're throwing a ball your forearms and your fingers that strength and that endurance
is important for helping to protect your elbow number one and for just i mean that's the last
thing on the ball when you throw it and your hands are on the bat when you swing it so there's
definitely a training effect there for getting stronger fingers forearms and grip strength
and then rotator cuff the group of muscles that controls your shoulder and keeps it strong and
stable that's obviously going to improve your performance and throwing it's going to keep you
healthier throwing it's going to help you know you can make it a long four game weekend
because you've got good stability and endurance in your shoulder whereas girls that are untrained
and have really weak shoulders where they have some instability issues they're going to have
arm pain crop up a lot faster than those who you know are well trained and have a really strong
stable rotator cuff so those are the big elements that make a softball player as a whole like any
position softball but that makes their program softball specific now when you start talking about
making a workout just catcher specific or just infielder specific or just picture specific which
is the focus here today there's not that much that's going to go beyond that and that's because
hitting is really important pitching is really important throwing is really important they're
all but they all have very similar actions so when you really start to break down a swing versus an
overhand throw they're very similar in the way the hips move and the way your you stride out using
your lateral hips you stride sideways right the way you produce power in a swing and an overhand
throw and an underhand windmill pitch they're all very very similar so when you start saying
like well what makes it pitcher's picture specific there's an extra focus on arm care so if you're a
pitcher and you're going to be pitching a hundred 200 innings in a season yeah we need to do more
arm care than maybe a shortstop wouldn't of course short stops are throwing a lot too they need it in
their program as well but we're definitely going to take a little more seriously when your picture
lateral explosiveness lateral hip strength again like the softball stride as a pitcher
is a really explosive sideways push right so we're going to probably spend more time on your lateral
hip strength and different exercises like that maybe some lateral jumping again probably more
so than we would an outfielder or a catcher and then obviously the one the prime movers
of increasing your pitching velocity as a fast pitch pitcher is comes from your lats
these big wing muscles in your back so we would probably focus a little more of our effort on back
strength specifically exercises that target your lats of course pretty much any rowing exercise
whether it's a chin up pull up horizontal all the different ways one arm two arm they're all going
to hit your lats but some exercises like chin ups are gonna hit your lats a little bit more and less
of your mid-back than like a horizontal seated row might so but here's again here's the big thing
and this is what this is the main point of this video specificity is mostly targeted at the sport
so again a softball players program is much different than a football players program
or a track stars program or a basketball players program but even then 80 percent probably that's
the number i've always put it at and i think most strength coaches will put it at eighty percent
of a basketball player's program is going to be the same as the softball players program eighty
percent of a softball player's program is going to be the same as the football players a boys program
the last 20 percent is what makes it specific so again here with softball the last 20
is rotational emphasis rotator cuff emphasis right lateral emphasis that kind of stuff but
again because hitting is so similar to throwing and pitching there's not that much of a difference
it's not like we really need to get granular down to the specifics of each individual pitching here
in each individual position so my takeaway here for you as a parent who's trying to get their
best for their kid or an athlete who's trying to figure out what's best for me
get it get a strength coach or use my program there's link links in the description below
to my early work strength program get a program that's softball specific it should have a lot of
rotational core work in it should have a lot of lateral hip stuff in it it should have a lot of
glutes and hamstrings in it should have some squats in it right should have some deadlift
variations and a lot of rowing and a lot of push-ups too uh but you don't need to get into the
nitty-gritty of it being like a pitcher-specific program in the vast majority of instances arm care
is what makes it very picture specific again a lot of lat exercises for your back and a lot of
lateral stuff but again those are all good for pretty much any position on the field sure as
a catcher there might be some special fun stuff some different conditioning you might do to make
it you know have a little bit more legs beneath you for a long game or long weekend catching
but again those are just like little tiny things especially if you're a young player if you're
between 12 and 18 you're not going to be well trained enough and strong and physical enough yet
to where you really need to worry about the last little details of your strength program
really you just need to be in the weight room two to four days a week really more
like three to four days a week and being on a quality program with quality coaching
and that's going to be the biggest bang for your buck worrying about that last little
bit that makes it position specific is really nothing that's going to be important all right
so hopefully this video helped again i'm coach dan i do tons of videos here on my snap softball
channel so definitely subscribe if you're new here hit the notification bell sign up for my
email list i send out a weekly email with new articles and videos and stuff like that
so i'd love to have you on that as well thanks for watching and i'll see you in the next video