Posted by: Kelvin (webmaster@speedtrainer.net) on Fri Sep 26 13:47:13 2003

To anybody who will help,
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> > I am 18 years old and was introduced to slowpitch softball this summer. My swing employs rotational mechanics and torque to the max. Due to this I can hit a ball further than most. The few who can hit it further are stronger than me. I know that you must have the mechanics down before you can go deep because there are muscle bound guys who can hit a lick. My question to you is once you have a perfect swing, is strength the only way to add distance to the ball? If this is so, how much difference does it make?
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> While strength does make a difference, I would say hitting the sweet spot every single time will give you more distance on average then gaining 10 lbs of muscle. Many bats are more forgiving, but if you hit the center of the ball with the center of the bat and x inches from the end (depending on what kind of bat you have) you will hit the ball to the max every time. It will make the difference between hitting a home run every 10 at bats in softball to hitting a home run every 5 at bats to some people being able to hit a home run more then every other at bat. Also, It will ultimately teach you to hit to an area to gain "golf like" accuracy. We played a team where 7 of the 10 people had batting averages that were over .750. The game literally went place hit, place hit, place hit, HR for the first two innings until they ran out of their 5 HR limit. We happened to be their "warm up" for nationals that summer.
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> So gain consistancy and pinpoint control of the bat. HR's will be easy after that. Average hitters can hit home runs on an average 280-290 ft softball fence if they hit the sweetspot all the time.

Strength is part of the equation but more importantly is increasing one's bat speed. That is what this website is called. It is not called bat strength for obvious reasons. Increasing bat speed is most important in hitting it farther.

As a case in point, can anyone imagine a powerlifter being able to hit home runs? He may be able to squat 800 pounds or bench press 400 pounds but how does that relate to swinging a 34 ounce bat 95 miles per hour? It's not likely or maybe impossible that he could swing as fast as Bonds or Griffey.