I am wondering what muscles you use most when hitting to make sure I am strengthening those muscles.

Basically the entire body is involved, but the midsection down to your toes play the largest role.

It is not only about "strength", but the ability to generate force which will give you the raw abilities to become a better hitter. This is often overlooked, but really the key in hitting, or throwing for that matter.

quote:

Basically the entire body is involved, but the midsection down to your toes play the largest role.

It is not only about "strength", but the ability to generate force which will give you the raw abilities to become a better hitter. This is often overlooked, but really the key in hitting, or throwing for that matter.

Jon,

Couldn't agree more. Core strength is essential to power at the plate and on the mound.

i've been looking for this answer myself the straight up answer is you want to foucs on your full body power but the main muslces are shoulders most important next probably arms then abs very important some muslces you can strenghen by weights but rather just doing then over and over i suggest swinging the bat and try to hit the ball with the sweet stop i have recently started weight training and last yr i couldnt hit a pop up like **** but i would hit grounders now i hit line drives and pop ups and i hit it in the outfield pretty much every time

Jon is right on with his anwser.

3.9 I would like 2 disagree becasue the shoulders in a swing are used to lead connect the hands leading the way to the ball to your posterior chain (core) and allow you to creat power. Also, the shoulders are used for a timing device for you load and unload and to keep your weight back until you swing so they have maxium force in your swing.

Imo, by devolping maxium core strength (lower and middle of you back, abs, obliques, ******, hamstrings, and quadriceps) you will create the greatest power your body can.

Correct me if I am wrong please.

The core or abs and mid section certainly produce the most energy in the body. I am not a doctor, but have listened to a few on hitting muscles. The mid-core, the inner thigh and the glutes are where hitting strength are coming from. For a heels hitter, strength will come from shoulders and back muscles. According to the Dr's, Thats not where it should come from.

Yes you whole body needs to be developed. But you must strengthen the hands (forearms).

Forearms are certainly important, but legs and trunk are priority number 1.

But just as in the swing, the entire body works together. If you perform the correct exercises for the legs and trunk, the forearms are also trained properly.

I know you've all heard it before but you are going to be limited by your weakest link. It all starts from the ground and goes up from there but if there is a weak link between your feet and hands, you can't produce more force that that weak link can handle.

Mike Griffin
No Excuses Baseball
www.noexcusesbaseball.com

For the most part Id say Quadriceps and Hamstrings do the majority of the power work.Your midsection must be following through as well.

Forearms help alot on the inside pitch also

The real question isn't which muscles need strengthened, it is how to strengthen them. Baseball isn't about muscle mass or moving a lot of weight. it is about EXPLOSIVE power. Find any information you can on plyometrics and start there. Strengthen your core and legs first.

One key mistake most athletes make is that they think of stetching as a waste of time instead of a huge part of your program. Look at how flexible hitters like Griffey and Ichiro are. They can coil and uncoil there bodies and create tremendous amounts of betspeed.

I am wondering who is teaching workout with weights for your forearms, shoulders, arms and back to make someone a better hitter.... that is silly... sure you want a strong core/legs, but big does not mean a better hitter... if it did, the WWF guys would be in the 50/50 club....

oddly enough 42 of the top 50 HR hitters are all-time are under 190 pounds.

weights (muscle mass) will never outperform physics and correct mechanics.

quote:

Originally posted by Coachric:
The core or abs and mid section certainly produce the most energy in the body.

Abdominal musculature has two functions:

Mobilization (the ability to cause movement) and stabilization (the ability to stabilize or prevent movement)

Neither is associated with movement directly.
Movements require the highest energy producers.
Movements are produced around joints.
Find the muscles involved in articulation about the joints
You will find the highest energy producers.

quote:

Imo, by devolping maxium core strength (lower and middle of you back, abs, obliques, ******, hamstrings, and quadriceps) you will create the greatest power your body can.

Correct me if I am wrong please.

Strength has many definitions.
One repitition?
Many repititions?
One muscle?
multiple muscles?
Doing what body action?

The core now includes the upper leg musculature?
But not the upper chest and lumbar/thoracics?

The greatest power is determined by the greatest ability to link movements.

Which is why skinny-legged basketball players often jump impressive heights.

quote:

Originally posted by spinedoc:
One key mistake most athletes make is that they think of stetching as a waste of time instead of a huge part of your program. Look at how flexible hitters like Griffey and Ichiro are. They can coil and uncoil there bodies and create tremendous amounts of betspeed.

Unless there is an issue of injury or disability, stretching will be fully accomplished within, not separatly from, a well written strength/power training program. Lift, pwer lift, there is the stretching.

quote:

Originally posted by Jon Doyle:
Basically the entire body is involved, but the midsection down to your toes play the largest role.

It is not only about "strength", but the ability to generate force which will give you the raw abilities to become a better hitter. This is often overlooked, but really the key in hitting, or throwing for that matter.

How do you best in a strength training program learn to generate force?

From personal experience, I believe a person needs to be not only as strong as possible (pounds for pound) as they can, but they also need to do exercises that improve their strength through their range of motion. Being able to squat 2 times your body weight is important, but if a player does not have good core flexibility, the person will not be able to generate the kind of torque needed to play the game.

I know many players that became stronger, but lost their explosiveness (both hitting and throwing) vs. players that focused on becoming stronger while increasing their range of motion whether it be hitting or throwing.