Tonight, while driving back from practice, I was listening to my voice messages on my cool new iPhone. One of the messages was from one of the elite members of my Softball Peak Performance Club. Since I had about 30 minutes of driving to do. I decided to call him back right away. Personal phone … Read more
Today was an interesting experience. I took my entire 16U team to a sports training facility in downtown Montreal to be assessed and screened by certified athletic trainers. It was not your traditional fitness testing. It was what we call a “functional assessment”. They are basically testing and screening the body to see if the … Read more
One of the things I am doing with my new 16U team this fall is put all of my athletes through a functional assessment. I hear you: “What the heck is a functional assessment?” Let me give you an analogy. When you intend to buy a used car, before you pay for it, you take … Read more
It’s the off-season. It’s time to: 1) Rest and recover from last season. 2) Heal injuries. 3) Do conditioning to get faster, stronger, more powerful, andprevent injuries. 4) Work on fundamentals. In other words, it’s time to get better for next season! Often, people wonder – what should I do more of? In an ideal … Read more
One of the many questions that I get from softball players doing dynamic warm-ups for the first time is: “Is it normal that I’m sweating and feel like I am working out?” My answer is always: “Yes and No. Yes, because you aren’t use to the exercises yet and it’s working the muscles that needs … Read more
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 was doing a hitting session with my team. I was teaching the “inside-out” concept. It’s a bit technical without being that complicated. After the “theory” and “dry swing” part of practice, we got into a circuit with stations. One of the stations was a tee station. And as I do usually, I walk … Read more
A few years ago, as a younger and less experienced coach, like most new coaches in softball, I wanted to win, win often, and win it all. That was at the recreational level and also in travel ball at the younger levels (12U, 14U, 16U). So my thinking was the following – practice super hard … 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