Softball, Hydration, Squats, And Glute Bridges

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate! But Why?

Have you ever wondered how much water you should drink and why it matters so much? If you aren't collapsing from dehydration, then how does being hydrated affect your performance? Did you know that dehydration decreases your cardiovascular fitness by 5%? It takes 4-6 weeks of intense training to gain 5% of your VO2 max, which is the measure of cardiovascular fitness. This means that by being dehydrated, you lose 4-6 weeks of your training.

You might be wondering how water affects your fitness. Water helps your blood circulate easier, so your body can get more nutrients and recover faster, making it stronger for a longer period of time. I would argue that staying hydrated is the single easiest thing you can do to help maximize your performance on the field.

So, how much water should you drink as an athlete? The recommended amount is about 75% of your body weight in ounces. So, if you weigh 100 lbs, you should be drinking about 75 oz of water in a 24-hour period. If you stay hydrated, you don't have to worry about crushing water before you play because your body is already hydrated and ready to go.

I encourage all the girls in the program to measure their water intake. Carry around a water bottle and look at the ounces to know how many of those water bottles you have to drink during the course of the day. If you're like me and don't like to carry around water, fill up water bottle stations at places around the house with your measured water intake, and make sure you deplete all the water in the water bottles during the course of the day.

Why Proper Squat Form Matters for Hitting a Few Extra Bombs

We've talked a lot about proper squat form, but what does it have to do with hitting? Well, if you can't squat correctly, you will be limited in using that exercise to help gain backside power, which is where most of our home runs come from. So, if you go to the gym and improve that squat form, it gives you a much better chance of strengthening through that squat and using that exercise to hit a few more home runs this season. This picture might give you a visual for why that squat is important in gaining backside power for our swing.

There's a difference between physical limitations and technique limitations. This athlete above will not be able to fix her squat technique until she addresses her physical limitations of her ankle mobility problem.

We can have underlying physical limitations that limit our softball technique, and no matter how much we try to address that swing, it's physically impossible to fix until we fix our physical limitations. This athlete's physical limitations that show up in her squat not only limit her ability to gain backside power but will also change the way she runs and hits.

If you notice that you don't look quite right when you squat, or you don't feel right when you squat, maybe you feel it in your low back, watch this video. It will get you started on ironing out that squat so that you can use it to hit a few extra bombs this year.

Double Leg Glute Bridge

And now, on to that double leg glute bridge. Why do so many of us feel that in our quads rather than our glutes?

Well, here's what a double leg glute bridge should look like.

When you do it, how does it look? But what's more important is where do you feel it? When you do this exercise, do you feel it in your glutes and hamstrings? If not, you might have those same ugly physical limitations limiting your ability to effectively do this exercise.  Even if you look great doing it, it’s not right if you don’t feel it in the right place.  This video will help get you started in fixing that double leg glute bridge.