WebBall thanks Rick Church and Ron Wolforth of the Can-Am Baseball/Softball Academy in Houston, Texas for suggesting this different training approach. They've come up with some interesting ways to teach new skills, and slo-mo and stop-action, with feedback clues, is just one of them. (At the time this technique was suggested, Rick had competed his Masters in Kinesiology and was working on his Doctorate at Texas A&M. Ron also operates Pitching Central and the new Texas Baseball Ranch.)


Tai Chi is an ancient oriental technique for disciplined control over body dynamics. It's perfect as a stop-action tool for breaking down the fluid moves of baseball into their proper sequence.

A reminder: stop-action is a teaching tool not a throwing style - the actual full throws or swings in practices or in games should not have any pauses in them.

Here's how you use it.
In each baseball event - swinging at the ball, picking up a grounder, throwing to a base - there's a certain rhythm and sequence. During the event, certain muscles are brought into play; certain leg, body and arm angles work best.

With the tai chi approach...

• You stop the action at each critical point.
• You check your angles.
• You feel which muscles are pulling or pushing in the right direction.
• You adjust if necessary.
• Then you move to the next check point.

It's important to check visually - maybe with a mirror - and to check muscle forces (like isometric training).

That gives you about a 3-second stop-action at each point. Once you have the tai chi points in your muscle memory, move on to the next technique...


Once you have the stop action down...

make the sequence fluid, but at 1/4th speed. This helps you discover if the steps give you dynamic balance - control while in motion. Repeat several times before going to full speed.

Remember: Stop Action and Slo-Mo are suggested as a training techniques only - to observe the checkpoints. The new mechanics WebBall recommends place an emphasis on continuous motion throughout the entire sequence.

Once in a game situation, you can't stop - you must stay dynamic. So always complete the final phase of any practice session by going full tilt. And if you want to ramp the speed up even more,  experienced players should look into overspeed and overload training.


One of the new ways to learn is to spend more time on the key point of the action - release of throw, bat hitting ball - and then work backwards by adding the step before and the step before that. It's sometimes called backshaping or backward chaining.


As a final tip - to get your timing right - try to create 'feedback' opportunities - balance check points.

Example...

At the start of a fielding throw or bat swing, you should be on the inside balls of your feet. A little heel tap (both heels) will give you proper feedback.