Softball Conditioning - Core Training is the Secret to More Power
- Author Marc Dagenais
We know that the trunk plays an important role in softball.
More specifically, the trunk and the muscles of the abdominal region are responsible for (1) generating rotational power and (2) stabilizing the trunk which necessary to transfer a maximum amount of power from the lower body muscles to the upper body (the trunk links the two). The power generated by the trunk and the lower body muscles (transmitted to the upper body through a stable trunk) are vital for actions such hitting, pitching, and throwing. (Continued below......)
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(Continued......)As you can see, it's very important for a softball player to have a stable, strong, and powerful abdominal region not only to be successful on the field, but also to prevent injuries.
This is why proper abdominal training is so important. However, too many softball players don't train their abdominal region properly. Too often, most of their abdominal training consists of leg raises and floor-based crunches and sit-ups. While these exercises help develop a "six-pack" and good-looking abs, they do very little to increase performance and prevent injuries.
The abdominal region is often referred to as the "core". However, the "core" is more than just the rectus abdominis (the "six-pack" muscle). According to many exercise specialists, the core can be defined as the lower trunk musculature. The major muscles of the lower trunk musculature are the rectus abdominis ("six-pack" muscle), the external and internal obliques, the transversus abdominis (deep internal abdominal muscle) and the erector spinae (lower back muscle). abs big Softball Conditioning Core Training is the Secret to More Power
Now, the problem with leg raises and floor-based crunches and sit-ups is that they mostly target one muscle: the rectus abdominis ("six-pack" muscle) and while it may help make you feel good about yourself by developing good-looking abs, this muscle doesn't contribute to the generation of rotational power or the stabilization of the trunk (transmission of power from the lower to the upper body).
In other words, it is a pretty useless muscle in softball. So, if your routine consists mostly of leg raises and floor-based crunches and sit-ups, you are pretty much shooting yourself in the foot!
Most of the influence in abdominal training comes from the bodybuilding field where the only goal is to make the abdominal muscles that you can see (mainly the "six-pack" muscle) bigger, more defined and good-looking. They really don’t care about performance but we do and that's why we need to do things differently.
To train your core properly, you must integrate into your routine exercises that will (a) involved many muscles of the core and (b) force the trunk to stabilize. The key is to target deeper abdominal muscles such as the transversus abdominis, a deep internal abdominal muscle that plays a key role in stabilizing the trunk and transferring power from the lower to the upper body. Any exercise that is not a leg raise or a floor-based crunch or sit-up (or a close variation of it) is likely to accomplish these two goals. Throw away that old-school and ineffective ab exercises and starts using innovative, highly effective core training exercises.
Marc Dagenais, MHK, CSCS, is a softball peak performance coach that helps players and teams hit with more power and be more dominant on the softball field.
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