Progress!

March 4: Unfortunately, spin class did not work out on Thursday since there were not enough bikes.  Instead, I decided that I would be utterly psychotic and do a workout that involved interval training and core work.  It went something like this: leg lifts, two minutes intense cardio, spiderman pushups, intense cardio, assisted pullups, intense cardio, etc. etc.  So, in essence, I did an upper body and core workout with bursts of cardio in between.  I will admit I am loath to do this kind of a workout because it is utterly exhausting  and it is hard to motivate oneself into the kind of frenzy it takes to complete that workout.  Nevertheless, I finished and followed it up with some organic chocolate milk (good for muscle recovery).  Though I finished successfully, I realized around seven o'clock (a few hours before my last lesson was over) that this kind of workout on a day with lots of lessons was a very, very bad idea.  Deliriously tired would be a good way to describe the sensation I was feeling at the time.  Astonishingly, I wasn't very sore Friday and pitched my heart out.
March 5: Friday I rolled out all my muscles prior to pitching to make sure that I was very loose.  I did a ton of  snap drills to make my range of motion really sharp.  I worked really hard on leg drive and spent most of my full motion doing power work to great effect.  I think I gained about two miles an hour with all that extra work.  Not wanting to overdo it, I just did fastball, drop and curve.  Spin pitches were actually a little more difficult with the extra speed, but I will adjust.  I threw for about an hour total and finished by working lefty again.   I am also finding that all of this extra pitching is making me a better instructor.  It has been a long time since I had to work so hard to get speed and I am really empathizing with my wonderful athletes.  Ice is a miracle worker.  I iced both my right and my left arm and my soreness has been minimal.  

Continuing on our warm-up discussion, it has been brought to my attention that some coaches feel it is best to avoid doing the most infamous progression in fastpitch: snaps, twelve o'clock (power position), circle, superman and then full motion.  Many people ask my opinion on the matter.  I think that snaps are an integral part of every warm-up since effectiveness is utterly contingent upon tight spin.  To quote Hannah's dad: "it's all about the spin" (it really is!).  As far as twelve o'clock is concerned, this is sometimes a very good positioning for beginners to get the sense of swinging the arm to create a "whip," but not always necessary for girls who are already comfortable doing this.  I think that throwing from circle is also incredibly important.  We need to create and reinforce that perfect circle, but we also need to warm up the arm appropriately.  This is typically a good intermediary step before going to full motion.  Superman can sometimes be good, depending on the needs of the individual athlete.  That is pretty much the key to every good warm up and every good technique: one must take into account the unique needs of every athlete.  If a girl has a crooked circle in one specific warm up position, but not under other circumstances, you can bet we will avoid that position like the plague.  Some girls also take a little longer to warm up physiologically and that is fine.  I have one girl who goes from directly from snaps into a slow full motion and then gets progressively faster.  This can also work, but only if you have a very good awareness of how fast you are moving.  You don't want to stay slow once you are warm and you don't want to be too explosive before your body is ready.

Finally, some of our athletes are up on Youtube.  Check out the links!