By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
Whether we’re talking about throwing velocity on the mound or exit velocity at the plate, improving and better utilizing ground reaction forces with the lead leg is paramount. Training the lead leg to both produce and accept force will help to create a stable base and facilitate hip and torso rotation up the chain. Continue reading “3 Ways to Create A Better Lead Leg Block”
By Evan Klugerman (BA, Director of Hitting at RPP)
There are many ways to skin a cat, however, often one is the most efficient. Although each player’s swing looks different, great hitters achieve the same goal by putting their body in the best position to hit. Given the complex nature of hitting and its many co-dependent variables, an efficient move will make it easier to recreate a consistent motor pattern. Consistency is the name of the game as it separates a high school player from a college player, and college players from a professional. Continue reading “Swing Design… 3 Drills to Pattern an Efficient Swing”
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
The world of hitting is changing and it’s changing fast. As new technology is working its way into the world of baseball at break-neck speed, the information becoming available is opening the eyes of both baseball coaches and strength coaches alike and across multiple avenues as well. But once again as in pitching, this extremely explosive sport, leads us back to anatomy and the body’s ability to move through space quickly. So explosive in fact, that we are looking at microsecond movements only measurable by motion capture technology. Continue reading “K-Motion, a Game Changer for Assessing and Training Baseball Players”
By Nunzio Signore and Bahram Shirazi
(Images: Courtesy of Qualisys Motion Capture)
We are very excited to announce that after many months of research and study we are taking another big step forward in providing the best for our pitchers and ball players. Beginning in late spring, we will be installing a Qualisys biomechanics motion capture system at RPP. Continue reading “RPP Baseball Investing in Qualisys Motion Capture System”
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
Hitting an MLB fastball requires the application of a huge amount of energy in the blink of an eye- roughly 130ms to be exact. That’s about a 1/8th of a second. Only through a coordinated series of contractions involving not only muscles but joints and connective tissue traveling up the kinetic chain into the hands and ultimately the bat/ball can we achieve adequate bat speed and quickness to hit a baseball traveling at speeds north of 90 mph.
This article is meant to familiarize many of you with the 12 positions in hitting mechanics that we look at when analyzing video at RPP (it’s not a “how-to” blog on analyzing mechanics).
Hitting mechanics (much like pitching), can be broken down into 2 distinct Phases. Continue reading “12 Steps to Analyzing Hitting Mechanics”
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
In review, the swing cycle is broken down into 2 phases:
In Parts 1 and 2 we broke down the linear phase into 7 patterns/positions that I use as a point of reference when looking at mechanics. Today, we’ll finish up this 3-part series by taking a look at the Swing Phase (rotational).
Continue reading “The Swing Cycle… The Rotational Phase (Part 3)”
By Evan Klugerman (BA, Director of Hitting at RPP) and Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS)
In this series of short articles and video analyses, as a part of assessing our hitters, I will be going over different components of a players’ swing, while Nunzio will help highlight potential issues and correctives both inside and outside the nets. Today’s topic is “Sway” and it starts at stance and set up… Continue reading “Video Analysis: What is Sway and How Can you Address it?”
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CPT, NASM, PES, FMS), Evan Klugerman (BA, Director of Hitting at RPP) and Bahram Shirazi (BSEE, MBA)
As an athlete, you are not able to move efficiently if your body isn’t in a position to do so. Incorporating assessments, strength training and data analytics into how we train players is a bit of an art. Since each and every player is different in every way, the key is to parse through the information and determine which pieces are relevant for each player. Below is a typical testing day for position players at our facility and it’s broken up into several sections:
Let’s review these with some specificity… Continue reading “Assessing Hitters at RPP on Day One”
By Evan Klugerman (BA, Director of Hitting at RPP)
HITTING IS HARD! Fortunately, technologies such as K-Motion, Blast and Rapsodo allow us to measure many metrics and movements, thus, giving the hitter a better chance to succeed. Unless you can understand and incorporate data into your training the value of data would be meaningless. I should also add that it is easy for hitters to get lost in the numbers unless the collective data is properly incorporated into their training.
As an athlete, you are not able to move efficiently if your body isn’t in a position to do so. In terms of timing, if your lower half isn’t in a strong stable position to efficiently transfer energy and allow the upper half to move, then you will have a tough time hitting at any level.
It is important to understand how the lower body is behaving and how it should behave when a player is “on time”. Here are 3 questions to ask when analyzing timing through the Pelvis of a Kinematic Sequence as measured by the K-Vest: Continue reading “3 Questions to Ask When Analyzing a Kinematic Sequence”
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
The Swing Cycle is broken down into 2 Phases:
In Part 1 we began breaking down the linear phase into 8 patterns/positions that I use as a point of reference when looking at mechanics. We covered positions 1 through 4 and they can be viewed here. Today, we’ll talk a bit about positions 5 through 8 before moving on to the rotation phase: Continue reading “The Swing Cycle… The Linear Phase (Part 2)”
