Softball players want to develop their throwing arm strength need to consider using weighted softballs as a training aid. Underloading and overloading training techniques have been shown in several scientific studies to increase your throwing velocity by 4 to 6 mph when used consistently during a 10 week training period. Weighted balls, when used correctly, can develop a player's arm without incurring either short term or long term damage and, in fact, it has worked better than the traditional "long toss" method previously used. Here is how I worked this technique into softball practices.
Overload and Underload Explosiveness Training
Overload and underload training, also called explosive resistance game training, is to develop maximal strength and then convert those gains into explosive power and increased game speed. This is accomplished through using sport specific movements with the muscles under heavier and/or lighter loads. Previous examples of explosiveness training are provided in Increasing Your Bat Speed and Throwing Weighted Baseball to Increase Throwing Velocity.
Whether it is weight training or strength and conditioning, a player's strength and endurance cannot be increased unless the muscles are stressed beyond their normal workload. A player can increase the workload by increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of the exercise program.
Specifically for softball, the heavy ball and light ball develop throwing velocity in two different ways. The overweight ball develops arm strength while the underweight ball develops arm speed. To effectively and safely increase throwing velocity, intensity is increase by using +/- 20% regulation ball weight, duration is increased gradually by increasing the number of throws and the distance, and the frequency is increased by the number of days of throwing workouts.
Is Using Underweight and Overweight Softballs Safe
In the last few years, several baseball studies have concluded that not only is throwing underweight and overweight balls safe, but that when used correctly they do actually increase a players throwing velocity. One example study published in the April 2000 issue of American Journal of Sports Medicine[1] had this to say:
The purpose of this review is to determine how throwing overweight and underweight baseballs affects baseball throwing velocity and accuracy. Two studies examined how a warm-up with overweight baseballs affected throwing velocity and accuracy of 5oz regulation baseballs. ... Data from these training studies strongly support the practice of training with overweight and underweight baseballs to increase throwing velocity of regulation baseballs. Since no injuries were reported throughout the training studies, throwing overweight and underweight baseballs may not be more stressful to the throwing arm compared to throwing regulation baseballs.
This study and others below lead me to develop a warm-up routine that used both underweight and overweight softballs as part of the team's regular warm-up. The recommended ideal weight for explosiveness conditioning and performance enhancement is to use underload and overload softballs that are +/- 20% the weight of a regulation softball. Regulation softball weights 6.8 oz. This restricts the weighted softball's from 5 oz to 8 oz, which being conservative when dealing with a player's health is well within most parents and coaches comfort level.
Warm-Up Softball Drill
After the players have initially warmed up their throwing arms at the beginning of practice, they move into the weighted ball drill. The players line up on the third baseline with their partners in the base path between first and second (60 feet apart) and do the following with good throwing mechanics and a crow hop, if necessary.
- Ten throws with the heavy softball (8oz) at 75% of maximum effort
- Ten throws with the light softball (5oz) at 100% maximum effort
- Ten throws with a regulation softball (6.8oz)
- Repeat steps 1 to 3 three more times (total of 4 repetitions)
- After completing the 4 repetitions, take a quick break or a light jog to give the players a moment to refresh their throwing arm.
After a three practices, instead of increasing the ball weight, the team would increase the number of throws per ball from 10 to 20 to 30. After the team reaches 30 throws, then we would increase the distance the players throw from 60 feet to 75 feet and then to about 90 feet (a little more than the distance from home to second). With each increase in distance, we would restart back at 10 throws per stage. If you practice two or three times per week, the players throwing velocity will be noticeable faster after one month (or about 10 practices). At these distances, players can maintain good throwing mechanics and still receive the velocity benefits.
For off-season training, the intensity of this drill can be increased since the players will not also be throwing during regular infield and outfield practice. For off-season training the number of throws can be increased in increments of 10 up to 50 heavy ball, regulation ball, and light ball throws.
Summary
Underweight and overweight softballs are typically not sold at the standard retail sporting outlets but can be purchased from Amazon (weighted softballs search).
By using underweight and overweight softballs in the manner this post described, the players are able to increase there throwing velocity. Safety is a key concern of any parent and coach. By keeping the variation of the ball weight within +/- 20% of a regulation softball and gradually building up frequency and duration, athletes can be closely monitor for proper throwing form and development.
Photo Credit: StuSeeger
Sources:
[1] Effects of Throwing Overweight and Underweight Baseballs on Throwing Velocity and Accuracy, American Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 29, Number 4, April 2000 , pp. 259-272(14) by Escamilla, Fleisig, Barrentine, Andrews, Speer
[2] Effects of Under- and Overweighted Implement Training on Pitching Velocity, The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 8, No. 4, November 1994, pp. 247–250 by DeRenne, Hetzler, Ho
[3] Effects of General, Special, and Specific Resistance Training on Throwing Velocity in Baseball, The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 15, No. 1, 2001, pp. 148–156 by DeRenne, Ho, Murphy
[4] Power Baseball by Dr. Coop DeRenne and Dr. Tom House, 1993
[5] The Winning Pitcher by Dr. Tom House, 1988
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