asked:




I get asked quite often what kind of exercises to do to get in shape for softball. There are a lot of kids out there that want to play the game but have never played. I think this is great. Fastpitch Softball is one of the most exciting sports there is.

I see some kids that want to start at the high school level. Again, this is awesome. It may be a little tough if you have never played softball before to make your high school team though. It depends on several things, like how many kids are going out, how many teams your school has – Varsity, JV, C team, Freshman team, etc.

Some high schools are only able to field enough players for a varsity. Others only have a Varsity and JV. So in those cases it is hard to say, you may have a better chance there because they really need the players.

So, what kind of workouts are good to get in shape for the upcoming season? Well, you want to get some conditioning started now. If your season is 3-6 months away you have plenty of time to get into good shape. If you only have a couple months well, you better get going strong now.

There are several areas of strength and speed needed to play this game of Fastpitch Softball at an elite level. Probably the area you need to work on the most is your Core. That means work on your midsection, your upper body, your legs, your arm strength. Kind of sounds like your whole body doesn’t it. It kind of is.

You will also need to get your throwing arm into throwing shape and get the mechanics sound. A strong, and mechanically sound throwing arm will keep you playing and off the injured reserve list.

Always start your workout with some good dynamic warmups. Stretching is fine but that is really what you should be doing at home and after practice to cool down. Dynamic warmups are moving basically stretches. You want to get your muscles warm before you stretch them or do any hard workout.

Warm muscles will be loose muscles and loose muscles will be quick, strong and healthy muscles.     There are many resources available to find more information about dynamic warmups. I may write about that another time. Just do a search and you will find some good exercises to do.

Here are some good ones to get you started.

Arm Circles: Stand with your arms out to the side and make small circles, then medium, then large circles doing about 10 of each size, then reverse and go back down to small.

Torso Twist: Stand with arms out to side, and twist side to side about 10 times to warm up your lower back. Your back gets a lot of work playing softball.

Butt Kicks: Slowly jog forward kicking your feet up to your butt. Go about 20 feet, turn around and do them back to where you started.

how to play softball