Yesterday, I was telling you that I did a phone consultation with the coach of one of the best 18U Gold team in the USA. And during our discussion, we talked about the fact that doing home workout videos isn’t ideal for softball players. Following yesterday’s email, many reacted and sent us comments about the … Read more
Most coaches and athletes recognize that getting in shape plays a key role in achieving top performances at the elite level. For most, conditioning is conditioning. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you sweat a bit and get some muscle burn, you’re getting in shape and that’s all good! While it’s better … Read more
Yesterday, I told you that if you want to get faster, you need to get stronger. Let me tell you why. Muscles do produce forces. When you apply forces to the ground with strong and powerful steps, the ground gives you back that energy. Basic principle of physics. Think of it this way. If you … Read more
Even though I consider myself very knowleable in the area of speed, agility and quickness (probably more than 98% of people in the softball world), I took my team to see a top speed and agility coach. The guy who own that facility is considered by many in the sports conditioning and fitness field to … Read more
Most softball players are now in the off-season. What should you with that time? 1) You recover and regenerate for a few weeks; heal all injuries and recharge the batteries (mentally and physically). Don’t jump right away into heavy training if at all possible. Give yourself some time off. 2) Work on the fundamentals – … Read more
This weekend, I spent part of it at the ballpark watching games since it was the playoffs of the local elite girls fastpitch league. There’s a coach that I’ve known quite a few years who reads my emails that came up to me to tell me that all the hype around all that “dynamic stuff” … Read more
Last year, I went to see the Phillys play in Philadelphia. Since the Expos left Montreal for Washington, I haven’t had the chance to watch a lot of pro baseball games live. I got there early. I wanted to obverse. Have you ever watched major league players prepare for a game? It’s a beauty to … Read more
This morning, I was giving a lecture to a group of young college students on how to work out. I started by talking about warm-ups. I asked them: “Why do you need to warm-up?” I got answers like… “Not to get injured” “To make your body warm” and many of the variations of both answers … Read more
You see it everywhere. It’s been done for years thinking it was good for them. It’s still being thought by many to be what the thing to do despite all of evidence pointing to the contrary. Softball is an “old-school” sport. It’s a very conservative sport. Things change slowwwwwwwwwwwly unlike other sports like track and … Read more
Do you “still” run around forever or do hours and hours of “slow-go” cardio on treadmills or stationary bikes? May I tell you something… we are in the 21st century! These practices are out of date for softball. They are what we call “old school” stuff that has since been replaced by much better practices. … Read more