Posted by: Scott B (baseball@integritycorp.com) on Sun Jul 7 22:11:40 2002

Can lifting weights affect the speed of your swing in a bad way? I am 13 and have bulked up my arms alot since lifting. Could this be the reason of my suddenly great to mediocre hitting?
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Generally speaking, upper body bulk isn't a great thing for ball players. Ballplayers need lower body strength, i.e. abdominal and leg muscles, more than upperbody strength. Secondly, "bulking up" reduces flexibility, and flexibility is the key to speed in all areas (i.e. batspeed, running, arm speed, etc.). Considering your age, if you're in weight training at all, you ought to be using high repetition, lower weight sets, e.g. curls, 4 sets of 15 to 20 reps each. If you can't do all the reps, drop the weight. Don't do "reduction sets" at all until you're at least 15 or 16 years old. (Reduction: Going heavier each set, with fewer reps, until you can only do a few reps.) If you are doing any type of weight training, you need someone to teach you how to stretch properly. Your "weight training" schedule should be about half weight training, and half running and pre and post stretching routines. Stretching = flexibility, and flexibility = speed.

The training theory I've been reading has been almost universal in the idea of "training as you play". In other words, using rubber band training, weighted balls, and long toss for arm strength/speed, and medicine ball training, heavy bats, and lots and lots of reps for batspeed, and overspeed training for running. It makes a lot of sense to me, and guys who are proponents (such as Tom House) seem to coach athletes who have fewer injuries.

All that said, and to answer your question, I doubt that at 13 you could have bulked up to the point where it has affected your bat speed. Check yourself with video, review Jack's material, and see if you're hitting with proper mechanics.

Regards.. Scott