My girlfriend just told me that she wants to gain muscle mass and get stronger. Shocking I know, a girl that wants to pack on muscle. Her “goal” is to pack on around 15-20 pounds of muscle and have the strength to go with it. She’s a pitcher in softball, and the extra mass, according to her coach will help her throw faster. She’s already throwing 63 but wants to go way higher.
My question to you all is how would she go about training to be sport-specific, increase mass, and gain strength? Oh and just for an idea of her physique now, she’s 5’5" 125 pounds at 7% bodyfat. Thanks in advance for help.
i think when he said TTT it means To The Top meaning bump up the thread for people to read but yea CWs TTT program is a good thought i forgot about that article thanks man
“She’s a pitcher in softball, and the extra mass, according to her coach will help her throw faster. She’s already throwing 63 but wants to go way higher.”
1- way higher than 63? top female softball pitchers are about 70 mph
2- the extra mass will help her throw faster - very suspicious. Mass in itself won’t do much. too much bulk can slow you down. And any coach that thinks weight shift/momentum is the main thing is living in the stone age. It is rotational forces and development of the whip action in the arm that create speed.
Strength can help, but it must be power or speed-strength to be useful.
The most sport-specific (and there really is no such thing besides practicing your sport) to do is develop your posterior chain and learn to use it in your pitching mechanics.
Squats, GHR, GM etc. will pay the biggest dividends in terms of both performance and adding meaningful muscle mass.
Leg strength is also useful - lunges, box jumps, stepups, side lunges, etc.
Rotational exercises like Russian twists are very important. There are articles here on turbo training and rotational exercises. These can make a difference. Have to be done with speed in mind.
Upper body strength is a delicate area - too much bulk will slow down the whipping action. Some upper body work combined with medicine ball work and other ballistic stuff can be of benefit.
Follow Major Dan’s advice, he’s right on the money about the rotational forces, pitching a softball is a skill much like hitting a golf ball, its not about strength, focus on learning technique and proper mechanics.
Functional strength is important for balance and timing, let her know that every pitch in practice should have the purpose of trying to improve an area of mechanics such as rotation, balance position, timing, release point, etc.
Focus on these things and she will maximize her velocity potential.
Most importantly, don’t let too much focus on training take away from much needed practice time on the field.
sorry its been a while to respond but major dan yes she pitches 63 she was first team all state last yr as a junior in texas and he pitching coach not high school coach has told her extra mass will help her increase speed as long as technique isnt at expense…this coach also is responsible for producing many of the top pitchers in the state and has trained many at the college level so im going to take his word for it as for me saying 7 percent bodyfat thats what those hand help calipers said i know not entirely accurate but at the same time she is extremely shredded so i guess im saying she not your typical female she has way less than average bodyfat…what should i do to help her out on this i want to be the good boyfriend score some brownie points and help her out ya know
I absolutely refuse to help you out any further until you post pics of her.
But yea, the “transformation program” or the “bulgarian twist” by dan john either one is good shit.
Is mainly the muscles that you don’t see (posterior chain).
Though she could just add in some DE work westside style and maybe RE days instead of ME days. something like that.
I don’t know baseball/softball man so I can’t say. I’d listen to the dudes up top.
And if her coach is so good…why doesn’t he have a program to put her on to gain some mass? Sounds like she’ll get faster almost just naturally since she’s that good already…
But again, I don’t know a damn thing…and you need to post pictures.
her coach isnt into the whole aspects of weight training he told her he did not feel comfortable writing her a weight training program because he doesnt know a lot about it…he refered her to 3 of the “top” sports related trainers in Dallas, the town. only thing is she lives 3 hours from dallas and cant make the trip that often to train with them because shes busy with softball and would like to train more locally but there is no one in our hometown that knows 2 shits about training
Then I think she should have one of those trainer’s write her up a program. Or talk to Joe Defranco.
You know westside protocal fairly well if I remember correctly. That’s right up Joe’s alley. So if she can afford his services, deal with a trainer, and you just help her with any other ish she needs…be her training partner etc.
If you look through old Ask Joe’s I’m pretty sure he has written many quick templates for a Westside for Baseball Players. I know it wouldn’t be full, and I know it is softball, but surely it would give you a solid idea.
yea xen im pretty familiar with westside ive been doing the conjugate method for about 3 yrs now for wrestling maybe i can use this as a sneaky way to get her involved with powerlifting wouldnt that be awesome red thanks for advice im gonna go check that out what im thinking is im going to watch her pitch more often and figure out which lifts i can get her to do that accompany her style of pitching the one thing i know for sure is that im going to concentrate mainly on PC and core work
oh xen i forgot ill get a pic up for you sometime
[quote]chtdrmn wrote:
yea xen im pretty familiar with westside ive been doing the conjugate method for about 3 yrs now for wrestling maybe i can use this as a sneaky way to get her involved with powerlifting wouldnt that be awesome red thanks for advice im gonna go check that out what im thinking is im going to watch her pitch more often and figure out which lifts i can get her to do that accompany her style of pitching the one thing i know for sure is that im going to concentrate mainly on PC and core work
oh xen i forgot ill get a pic up for you sometime [/quote]
In addition to what Major dan said and what you said about watching her pitch is the best I’ve heard so far. As Martin Rooney once told me, break down the sport, build up the athlete.
I’d guess that if she’s at the junior level she’s reached her potential with her coaching.
I’ve been playing softball for 18years and coaching for 6, including women’s teams. I’m all for increased strength but I highly doubt it would directly translate to a higher top end. At her level that is a technique issue.
I agree with Major Dan’s advice, and would suggest she work on her rise and slider. 63 is pretty damned good, but it goes straight. The unique factor to softball is the rise, and I feel it is still underused.