Posted by: nick () on Wed Apr 3 00:20:15 2002

Do you believe you can learn to swing 1600 ounces 40 times a day with perfect mechanics and ideal bathead trajectories? How effective do you believe you can be after 5 months of training when you return to 33 ounces?

Welcome to the Swingbuilder's world of great bat speed. Here is where 180 lbs. hitters swinging 33 ounce wood bats develop 95MPH bat speed and hit 1 hr/12-15 AB in the big leagues.

How does the Swingbuilder work?

The Swingbuilder removes a 31-inch segment from a fastball plane and duplicates a swing on that plane.
The entire 31-inch swing is locked on that plane, creating the ideal bathead trajectory.
The height, length and angle of the swing is adjustable to accommodate all hitters and coaching philosophies.
A 26-inch swing level to the ground produces line drives. A 31-inch swing on the plane of the fastball puts the ball in the air for distance.
Perfect mechanics are mandated by the machine in order to swing with an ideal trajectory.
Start by loosening up with a 33-ounce wood bat until you can make a few hard, fast swings.
This is Mike Perini, a young 6'2" 212 lbs. centerfielder going through a typical in-season maintenance workout.

We begin to train the swing at 5 lbs. and increase in 5 lbs. increments.
At about 35 lbs., most swings are defeated since very few hitters can tap their great power in their larger, more powerful lower body muscles.
At that point, a right-hander begins to learn to nudge the weight forward by communicating with his right hip, tapping his great lower body strength (the left hip for left-handers). We gradually progress to 55 or 60 lbs. the first day in 5 lb. increments.
At the end of the workout, 30 minutes later, we give them a 33-ounce wooden bat to swing. It has now become virtually weightless. In a few weeks, they will progress to swing 100 lbs. Six weeks later, their hands will be fast and powerful from the 1600 ounce training. However, the lower body is generating the bat speed. The hands, now faster and more powerful, are completely free for tension-free timing and directional duties. The end result is a fast, powerful, tension-free swing with perfect mechanics and ideal bathead trajectories.

Here you can see the mechanical keys the Swingbuilder forces you to develop that are mandatory for a great swing. The left hip is the power engine that drives the train. It is the key to unleashing the tremendous power lying dormant in the lower body. The lower body need not be large and powerful. It only needs to be fully incorporated into the swing. Thin lower bodies work well because they are fast and flexible. The left (rear) hip must be able to fully open and face the pitcher while the front shoulder remains aligned so that the hands can travel the ideal trajectory to the pitch location. It is precisely these flawlessly perfect mechanics that allows the lower body to deliver the batspeed and power while the tension-free upper body delivers the timing. It is the decreased tension on the swing with increased batspeed that causes batting averages to rise substantially. The machine forces the hands to stay inside the pitch. The arms are locked in a power V as he explodes into the springs (ball). The head is still, down and focused. The machine forces a perfect, powerful follow-through 12-14 inches straight through the ball.

As you build strength and great bat speed with less effort and tension, your capacity to take batting practice doubles.

You can never max out on the Swingbuilder because swinging 100 lbs. 31 inches in .350 seconds is a totally different animal than doing so in .550 seconds. Then again, there is always .250 seconds if you want a long-term challenge.

I hope you have enjoyed our film. I know you will enjoy our bat speed, and the statistical improvement that flows from the great bat speed can be very rewarding. We routinely produce 1 hr/15 ab which is extremely valuable. Keep swinging!

jack what do you think of this drill for improving strength