You know warm-ups are important. I see two major mistakes being done all the time in softball regarding warm-ups.
MISTAKE #1 – Using An Old School, Traditional Warm-Up
You see, traditional (or “old school”) warm-ups, you know the warm-ups where you run a lap or two around the field and then you sit down in a circle to stretch your muscles – are ineffective to prevent injuries
and they actually decrease speed and power!
And guess what? Softball requires a lot of speed and power. That means that traditional warm-ups hurt your performance on the field.
Both thing have been clearly demonstrated in scientific studies.
Ditch the old school, traditional warm-up and pick up a good dynamic warm-up routine which have been shown to be a lot more effective in preventing injuries and preparing the body for superior performances.
MISTAKE #2 – Dynamic Warm-Ups Aren’t Softball-Specific
Over the last few years, I’ve seen more and more softball teams, coaches and athletes use some form of dynamic warm-ups in their preparation and that’s good news.
However, the big problem is that most of the dynamic warm-ups being performed are not softball-specific!
You see, most dynamic warm-ups being taught out there by trainers were developed for sports with a heavy emphasis on running and the lower body (track, football, soccer, basketball, and so on).
So just about every dynamic warm-up protocol does a really good job of warming up the lower body but totally forgets the trunk and the upper body!
Well, the problem is that in softball, we also rely extensively on the trunk and the upper body to throw, catch, and hit. So, you definitely need to warm-up the upper body as well and most dynamic warm-ups fail to properly do so!
So, you must make sure that your dynamic warm-up protocol does include several upper body and trunk exercises to prepare the body adequately for softball.