Exercises to Help You Throw Harder

I get asked a lot about how to throw faster and some other exercises for softball. I have answered several Yahoo Answers that pertain to this so here is one of them.
One of the best things to do for arm strength in softball is simply to play catch. If you don't have anyone to play catch with, you can hang a blanket or a tarp or an old piece of carpet in a tree or on the fence or even in your garage. Then throw into the blanket. The blanket will stop the ball and you can throw as hard as you like. Remember to work on your technique and proper mechanics. If you are a pitcher, you can pitch into the blanket too.
Fastpitch softball is a very dynamic sport. It requires a lot of explosive movement to hit the ball, catch the ball, run the bases and especially to pitch the ball. There are a lot of really good excercises you can do. Exercises that strengthen your core are the best. Your core is your midsection, abs and upper body mostly. A strong core is essential to an elite fastpitch player.
Here is a good one, not an easy one though. Get on your stomach, then raise up on your elbows and hold your body off the floor. Try to hold that pose for 30 seconds, then rest and do it again. You will feel it in your abs, your arms, and your legs. Leg lifts and crunches are good as well. Squats to strengthen your legs are helpful. Check out a site called softballperformance.com , that guy has a lot of free videos and dvd's if you want to buy them. He knows what he is talking about. Just thought of another good site to look at: softballexcellence.com she has lots of go info too.
Check out www.BuyFastpitchGloves.com for other great softball stuff.

It's Christmas Eve

Today is a fun day for me. We will be finishing up the gift wrapping, listening to Christmas music, watching some TV, my kids will all be home at least for a while. We will be enjoying some good food, good company and time with my family.

I hope you are having as good a day. Tomorrow will be a travel day for us. We have family out of town so we will be going to see them. Hope the weather holds out for us. Supposed to be snowing heavily.

Tomorrow, for those of us who celebrate Christmas ; is a time for giving and receiving presents. It's also the perfect time to reflect on and be thankful for some of the gifts we may have taken for granted, the things that really matter in life.

So find some time to be alone and think about those things. Recognize how lucky you are to have them and how quickly they can be taken from you.

Take the day off from softball and enjoy your time with friends and family. You can pick up the ball and glove in a couple days and start the routine again for the new year. Remember to thank your parents and coaches for giving you this wonderful gift of softball.

OK, I think the cinnamon rolls are about done, I can smell them. A Christmas Story - with little Ralphy and his BB gun - is starting and there are still some little things to finish so have a great day.

High School at 43 feet!

There's been a lot of talk about moving the pitching distance back to 43 feet this next year. Currently most states are at 40 feet for high school age teams. Most of your tournaments were at 40 feet all summer as well. USSSA moved to 43 feet this fall for age groups 15 and over. So the 16A that we play fell in there. Our pitchers are pretty good so they had no problems making the adjustment. I noticed several teams in the tournament that were having issues.
I think it is a good move. These girls are mostly looking to play at the college level in a few years and making the adjustment now will help them a lot. It will also make the recruiting easier too. College coaches will be able to see what these kids can do now instead of hoping they can make the adjustment once they get to college. There are so many adjustments to make during your freshman year of college outside of softball, one less adjustment on the field is going to be a big help.
I know there are a lot of kids that don't really have any desire to play after high school, and that is cool. Most of the kids playing won't play college ball, either because they won't qualify or they just don't want to. Most of them still want to be able to say they can do it. So playing at the 43 feet gives them the opportunity.

So Lets Talk some Fastpitch

In my neck of the woods it is cold so there isn't much softball going on. The only fastpitch I know of is some indoor pitching and hitting clinics or practices. This is a great time to take a break from softball. Most of the kids have been hitting it pretty hard. With school, and now finals and a lot of kids are playing basketball now it doesn't leave much time for softball. So, take a break and come back hard after the holidays.
Keep up with your conditioning though. That is one thing that kind of needs to go year round, for anyone and especially athletes. If you stop working out and just sit around the house texting or surfing the web you will be hurting come January when its time to hit it hard again.
Just do some stretching, some running, some jumping and things like that. Pitchers need to keep those weighted ball flips going.
Enjoy the time off. Clear your minds of softball, enjoy the holidays with family and friends and concentrate on those finals.