Softball Conditioning - 20 Reasons Why You Must Do It

The summer season has been over for a few weeks now. Tryouts are done or will soon be done.

Just like A LOT of people at this time of the year, you might be thinking that getting fitter should be something you should do in the next few months.

Yes, you definitely should.

I've been designing softball-specific strength and conditioning programs for teams and individual athletes for over 10 years now.

Let me tell you that while proper skills execution is the most important performance factor in our sport, developing more strength, speed, and power can really help support the execution of these skills and improve a player's game significantly.

While most players and coaches are aware of that, many still don't take seriously enough.

They know that getting in good shape by doing softball conditioning would help their game but somehow they don't give it enough importance or focus.

Why is that? I believe that it's mostly a mix of lack of timeand motivation but also not believing softball conditioning is important enough and not knowing enough about it to realize the difference it can make.

In other words, I think people know it can help them but aren't really conscious of all the great benefits it can really bring to their game.

Here is a list of 20 reasons why you MUST make softball conditioning an important part of your training if you want to become the best you can be and dominate on the softball field.

When you follow a well-designed softball-specific conditioning program that uses advanced training techniques and the best exercises for softball, you will…

1. Pitch faster and throw harder

2. Swing the bat harder and hit the ball further

3. Steal more bases

4. Get better jumps off the bases

5. Explode out of the batter's box

6. Run down more balls in the field

7. Reach, stretch and get more of those "oh-so-close" balls

8. React faster

9. Have more stamina for long games and tournaments

10. Stay healthy and avoid injuries

11. Tolerate heat better and perform when it's really hot

12. Practice longer without being tired or losing your focus

13. Be much more consistent and have less "ups and downs"

14. Get it faster when learning or refining a skill because
of increased body awareness

15. Be much more confident and feel stronger

16. Be mentally tougher

17. Get more extra bases when running

18. Develop an athletic body

19. Recover faster between innings and games

20. Be more dominant in all aspects of the game

Is that a good enough list to include some form of softball-specific conditioning as part of your training?

It used to be that being in shape for softball was an edge on your opponents but it isn't true anymore.

Today, you have to be in great softball-specific shape to compete at the highest level. If you are out of shape, you are now at a disadvantage.

Softball conditioning is now an integral part of what serious and committed softball players and teams do to get themselves ready to compete.

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