Free Hitting Seminar for Coaches

HITTING SEMINAR FOR COACHES...

Are you a local coach who is interested in what I do or do you have players that come see me and want to know more about their process? I would love to connect, present my topic, and answer questions. I want to have an open communication line with as many coaches in the region as possible because I see so many players in Northern Colorado and Wyoming.

I have a number of thoughts and strategies that I feel can be really helpful for team settings so you can get the best out of your players. I have coached at the Division 1 college level, junior college level, and high school level and can understand the daily challenges of individualization for hitters. I would love to be a resource and at no charge! I will only be accepting 20 coaches so act as soon as possible. RSVP to me at 970-217-4604 with what team you coach, your email and contact info, and how you heard about the seminar. I’ll fill you in on the details!

Breathe into a Better Swing

Jordan Stouffer, CSCS, BMS

Have you ever thought about how your breathing affects your swing? Breathing has a powerful effect on the body because it can directly affect our oxygen levels, heart rate, posture, and contribute to anxiety or comfort in the batters box.

Check this quick video out and remember the following points:

• Breath in during the load, and breath out during the swing

• Breathing in deeply through the nose on deck for 5-7 seconds and filling the belly with air, followed by breathing out for roughly the same time can help to slow heart rate in the case of anxiety or nervousness (not mentioned in video)

• Breathing correctly can support core rigidity and thus help maintain spine posture and remove slack from the core muscles

Experimenting with Starting Posture

Proprioception- our awareness of our body in space. There are many ways to challenge and reinforce athletic movement, but challenging our proprioception by changing our starting posture can be a highly effective tool to stimulate learning.

Check this video out and see why. Thanks for watching!

Jordan Stouffer, CSCS, BMS

“Controllables” for Effective In-Game Adjustments

Are you using your time wisely between swings, pitches, and at-bats? Sometimes we get focused on the wrong things or things that are just too detailed for a game situation. Check out this video and ask yourself if you can “check the boxes” on these easily controllable aspects of hitting.

Dominating Your Hitting Preparation

Dominating Your Hitting Prep Time

The most overlooked part of training and games is preparation and warm up. Hitting is one of the most complex and least understood aspects in all of sport combined with a culture of coaching and instruction that is notably more conservative in its methods than most. 

My favorite sentiment is “a cheetah or wolf doesn’t warm up to chase prey.” This is correct in the sense that no organized calisthenics are taking place somewhere on the plains of Africa, but a wolf and cheetah actually does prepare and anticipate before attacking prey. They stalk and plan, and during that prep time numerous hormones are being released to help prepare their bodies to prime for attack. I might also add that no wild animals sit for 7 hours in a crappy desk with terrible posture prior to attacking prey. This is survival. Luckily baseball is a luxury and not survival. Tricking ourselves into thinking “survival” would surely improve overall intent, but let’s focus on how we can prepare body and mind to improve performance. This argument is great for the value of general warm-up, but what about priming the body to utilize roughly 640 muscle groups to deliver a 2-pound bat in under .15 seconds to a ball that is moving faster than most cars on your local highway. I think I am still on topic here. 

By understanding some basic biomechanics and kinematics, we can prepare our bodies to do damage to baseballs consistently. If we can get our bodies moving fast while also building confidence, what better scenario can there be to start a day of practice or play?

Here are some requirements for hitting and how we can replicate them in a dynamic warm-up specific to hitting:

The swing requires stability on one leg and weight transfer between legs

·     Lunging in the sagittal and frontal planes

·     Lunging with rotation

·     Adding a little bit of balance work

·     Favorite exercises:

o  “The greatest stretch in the world”

o  Lateral mobility lunge with overhead reach

o  Glider reach and coil (rear hip)

o  Split squat coiled holds

The swing requires optimal hip and ribcage posture

·     The spine should have a natural resting set of curves and this should be addressed in a training program if not already

·     Adding postural control to the warm up can improve swing posture over time, but is especially great in the youth populations where puberty and growth can affect stability and proprioception

·     The hips and thoracic spine need a good starting point to rotate optimally

·     Favorite exercises:

o  Perfect table pose

o  Bent over rotation

o  PVC pipe isolated turns with breathing

o  Paloff presses in varied stances

Note: The swing requires violent rotation to happen through the hips, spine, and shoulders. Are you preparing the body to rotate fast? Too much static stretching happens at the youth level and not enough athleticism building, stability, and overall movement efficiency during pre-game and pre-practice preparation. The swing is a set of movements and not so much isolated motions. Once a more general prep has taken place, we should add a few exercises that safely promote rotational speed and better swing patterns into the equation. 

The swing requires us to be ready to move fast. My favorite swing speed build-ups that promote speed but also better sequencing:

·     Hip swings

·     Any medicine ball swing or chest pass variation

·     Band rotations

The shoulder girdle is vitally important to controlling the barrel and managing the amount of speed and force created by prior segments in the chain of movement. 

·     Scapular movements during the swing are very similar to scapular movements in the throwing motion 

·     The shoulders internally and externally rotate during the swing phase

·     Severe contraindications through the shoulder regions can cause lack of an ability to path the barrel optimally through the zone (lordosis, stiff shoulders, asymmetry, flat back posture, etc.)

·     Often forgotten link in the process of generating bat-speed. The hips are bigger force producers but shoulders also need to be taught to rotate (in sequence) with speed.

·     Favorite hitting specific shoulder moves:

o  2 part scap flys

o  simple banded rows in lunge position

Are we blending some swing deficiency work into our prep? It’s a great way to make sure we feel our body moving well in a very swing-specific manner.

·     Slow motion swings with one or two hands

·     Hockey stick turns (split-grip)

·     Fungo toss

Can we (do we have time and focus) to prime vision and decision-making skills in our warm up prior to competition? (Check back for a following post on priming vision and decision making prior to competition).

Hopefully you enjoyed this post. Overall, we want to understand how the body works so we can better prepare it to work well under game conditions. Check out the video below for the some information about proper warm up. If you have feedback or are obsessed with hitting like me, holler at me by email or through any of my social media platforms. 

Thank you!

Jordan Stouffer, CSCS, BMS

Rounding Third Baseball Performance

Core Anatomy and its Function in the Swing

December 2018

Understanding some brief core anatomy basics can help coaches and players understand the loading and unloading process a lot better. Knowledge is power and having some knowledge of how our core creates force and manages energy in the transverse plane could be a game-changer.

We have multiple layers of core tissue that all work to stabilize and move the pelvis, spine and ribcage effectively. Because of the striations, shape, attachment and insertions, the muscles require certain actions to be primed in the best way possible. We are trying to potentiate speed in the transverse plane. In order to do that, we must first remove slack through a counter movement or pre-tension (slight coil, bat/barrel action, tempo-controlled full body movement). Once we’ve set ourselves in a posture that tells our system to anticipate some future movement, we can start to contract the muscles in the anterior core (ribcage towards hips in an angular fashion).

This initial loading movement now creates a rigid core that:

1. creates energy

2. helps manage optimal dynamic posture through pelvis and ribcage

3. manages energy so it can be released at the right time

Every body and every athlete will feel a different sensation, though the kinematics will be somewhat similar. The kinematics are much more complicated than I am covering. The main idea is that by loading by flexing the trunk and rotating, we allow for more energy to be released on-time, a better biomechanical sequence after loading, and a more adjustable mechanism overall.

Another concept not often covered in the idea of proper core loading, is that our braking systems (co-contractions in an effort to decelerate) can be most active when loading the core properly. The main idea being that we can stop our barrel from committing at a late moment because there is a natural delay of the shoulders and barrel behind the rest of the pelvis and trunk. The muscles will fire properly to stop all that forward moving force, thus making our swing more adjustable.

During the actual swing phase, our anterior core musculature is performing duties in the opposite manner that they were loaded in. Since the intent should be to move fast (much like a max effort jump), the anterior core is going to make a rapid change of direction. The better the fitness of this musculature, the better the athlete will be at “changing direction” for lack of a better term. The downswing and forward move are dependent on proper loading mechanics. We load to unload… with the intent to do damage!

I hope you enjoy the video above and be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel and follow my social media accounts.

Jordan Stouffer, CSCS, BMS

Coach Stouffer on Patrick Jones Baseball Podcast

Click below to be directed to the Patrick Jones Baseball Podcast to hear Coach Jordan Stouffer talk about college baseball, swing design, hitting training, and some of his experiences in playing and coaching.

Thanks for listening!

My favorite quote from Jordan in this episode: "you're 8-16 weeks away from transforming your career" . Jordan is a former college coach and is now the owner of Rounding Third Performance in Fort Collins, Colorado. He has his CSCS and is a Biomechanics specialist. If you love hitting you will love this episode.

A Day in the Life of a Hitter

Here is a quick look into an example day for a high school hitter at Rounding Third Baseball Performance. The hyper-individualized model produces results and ultimately helps hitters produce on the field.

Every drill you see this athlete performing is programmed for his needs and flaws. Taking a 10,000 foot view (or comprehensive viewpoint) is what allows change to happen. This hitting day is also accompanied by programmed strength training (not shown in video).

Thanks for watching!

Be sure to follow me on twitter and Instagram. Also follow my youtube channel for access to totally free content. The links are at the bottom of the page.

The Function of the Forearm in the Swing

The forearm and hand have a pivotal role in the function of the swing. They have a set of important movements as part of the sequence, provide stability, and are less commonly known to provide feedback and proprioception to the nervous system and motor cortex in our brains.

Watch the following video where I discuss brief anatomy, function, and some way we can better think about cueing and training the forearm in a baseball specific manner.

The Value of A Dynamic Warm-up for Hitting

This is just a quick video in my weekly series validating why you need to spend your prep time with the right exercises that address movement quality, mobility, stability, and rotational speed. This does not mean warming up for longer, but rather warming up smarter. Watch for a follow up blog article on my favorite exercises for all phases of a quality 15 minute dynamic warm-up. Thanks for watching.