Mental Training for Explosive Hitting

[softballninja]

At the place where I take hitting lessons, there is another player who works out there as well, and she is a fantastic hitter. Every time she swings, it is full-speed and 100% and the ball flies off the bat. As a player, I know that I have a tendency to think and analyze too much when I hit, but over the years I am now able to turn my mind off when I hit. Now I want to bring it to the next level and find out how I can let my mind just let go so that my body will go full-speed every swing, and that my mind isn't causing my body to be hesitant. Some way to let myself be calm and relaxed until the moment I have to start moving the bat towards the ball and then its a quick and explosive movement.

Any sports psychologists on the forum?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

how I can let my mind just let go

Spend a few hours on the "hitting technical" side. Those guys let their minds go all the time.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Practice time is the time to work on and think about your swing. Thinking about your swing during an at bat can easily lead to paralysis by analysis. The more you practice, the more confident you will become that you do not need to think about your swing during game situations. Game time is reaction time - the only conscious decision that you need to make is NOT to swing (in the case of a bad pitch) because you should be starting to swing at EVERY pitch.

You might enjoy reading The Talent Code, which explores the concept of deep practice and how elite athlete/writers/chess players/performers employ this method to master the complexities of their respective fields. Use the DFP search function to see more opinions about this book.

 

[redhotcoach]

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[redhotcoach]

 

[softballphreak]

At the place where I take hitting lessons, there is another player who works out there as well, and she is a fantastic hitter. Every time she swings, it is full-speed and 100% and the ball flies off the bat. As a player, I know that I have a tendency to think and analyze too much when I hit, but over the years I am now able to turn my mind off when I hit. Now I want to bring it to the next level and find out how I can let my mind just let go so that my body will go full-speed every swing, and that my mind isn't causing my body to be hesitant. Some way to let myself be calm and relaxed until the moment I have to start moving the bat towards the ball and then its a quick and explosive movement.

Any sports psychologists on the forum?

In addition to the mental aspect, you must practice full-speed swings. One way to achieve a full-speed swing is to practice over-swnging. That means swinging faster than you think you can. Eventually that over-swing will become your full-speed swing. I don't see this being practiced nearly enough.

As has been mentioned, don't think during the pitch—react. See the ball, hit the ball.

PS: Relax the front shoulder and everything else will relax.

 

[Westwind]

Good post, great topic ninja!

Very good replies, could not agree more.

I cringe when dads even mention striking out, worst thing you can do to a kid is put the thought in their head that "not striking out" is their goal at the plate and that striking out is a bad thing. It's going to happen. How we react to it as players and parents is what is important