Swing Prep for Hitters

Read time: 3 minutes

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The best hitters and hitting coaches are always looking for a small edge to get better.

The higher you get, the less obvious those advantages are. 

In today’s edition of The Hitting Chronicle, we will discuss swing prep. 

‘Warm up to swing, not swing to warm up.’

Pitchers don’t throw to warm up, they warm up to throw. 

We often see them throw plyo balls, Jaeger bands, and various movements before they pick up a ball.  

It would make sense for hitters to do something similar. 

Swing prep can develop hitters for several reasons. 

1. Improve movement patterns 

2. Prime the body for speed 

3. Decrease injuries

Here are a few of my favorite swing prep exercises I’ve been doing with players lately. 

Single leg balance (Eyes Closed) 

Single Leg-Balance: 

Being able to stand on one leg for some time. 

If your leg starts to shake, your brain begins to ‘panic’ and wants the other leg to get back on the ground. 

Sight helps you stabilize balance. So, to make it more challenging, you can have the hitter close their eyes.

Balance is neurological; it’s all about the brain being comfortable with the hitter standing on one leg. 

Try having your hitters practice standing on one leg with their eyes closed for 30 seconds.

Here is the full video

Waterbag Slapshot

Directions

1. Grab the bag with both handles 

2. Get into a hitting stance 

3. Arms go straight back like you’re doing a medicine ball scoop toss 

4. Stop the bag right outside your front foot. 

This helps fire up the core and teaches hitters to decelerate (stop) their body.

Here is the full video

1 leg side plank 

For a hitter to do this, it requires a good amount of hip and core stability. 

It’s great to do before they start hitting because it fires up their inner thighs, core, and shoulders. 

I'd recommend 5-10 seconds on each side.

If you have several players at once and don't have access to put top leg on surface, here is another way to work around it. 

* Raise the top leg off the ground.

Here is the full video

It’s harder than it looks, lol. 

A low-hanging fruit for your hitters is priming their bodies to hit. 

Try these 3 swing prep exercises and let me know if they helped!

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