One of the things that is considered important when it comes to playing softball is the speed of the softball player’s swing. Pitchers who are good at what they do will be able to throw the ball upwards up to a certain speed and if the swing of softball players are always slow and lacking, they would not stand a chance.
If you know that your skills need to be improved then do not fret because there are different things that you can do that will surely improve your bat speed. Are you already curious to know what tips you ought to follow to improve your bat speed skill? Read on to find out more details.
Do training that will help you improve your ability to swing quickly
One of your main goals is to be able to swing quickly and it will be hard for you to achieve this without proper training. A quick toss is a simple training activity that you can do with a partner. What your partner must is to toss two balls one after the other. What you must do on the other hand is make sure that you will be able to hit the first ball, get into position and hit the second ball just the same way that you have hit the first.
You will notice that if you would do the quick toss that it will be nearly impossible to do what you are required to do immediately. It will take time and ultimately, you will realize that you should not just rely on your arms in order to make the swing to hit the ball. You also need to use your hips so that you will be quicker. Once you feel that you are already getting good at it, you can instruct your partner to throw three balls in succession. You may increase the number of balls as you see fit for your training.
Another type of training that you can do is called the lightweight front toss. This training has acquired its name because of the use of lightweight balls usually made out of foam that you will be required to hit. In order to hit the ball, you may have to be faster than usual because these balls are very light. You need to know how to solidly hit the balls. You may do this on your own but having a partner will also help. You also need to do this everyday for about two weeks before you see the results.
Build up your muscles
One of the greatest misconceptions that people may have about building muscles is that muscles can make them move slower than usual. This is not always true. In some forms of sports, having too much muscles can make you heavier and slower but for softball, you may be required to have some muscles in order to swing the bat faster than the average person.
There are certain muscles that you have to work on namely the muscles that you have on your shoulders, arms and hips. If you are having trouble figuring out which muscle groups you should work on first, hiring the right trainer can give a lot of benefits. There are also some exercises that you can do at home that will help improve your muscles like dumbbell training.
Use a weighted bat
You may find this unnecessary because you feel that by the time comes that you would use your usual bat, the feel will be different and you may under perform but if your main goal is to make sure that you will have more speed in doing your bat swings then doing this actually makes a lot of sense. When you get used to swinging with a weighted bat, using a normal bat will then allow you to swing faster because you already know how much effort you should place in a swing.
You have the choice to choose a bat that is similar to the bat that you use but in a heavier setting or you may also choose to have a “torpedo” bat. If in case you are not familiar with this, this is a type of bat that is skinny enough but the sweet spot is big so you will know if you have hit the ball solidly the moment that you hit it. Aside from making you swing faster, this will also allow you to increase other skills that you may need to become a good softball player.
Some people are naturally born with skills that will make them good at playing softball while others would have to work harder at it. Skills are not enough to make it far in the game. Having perseverance and undergoing proper training however will make a lot of difference.
