Strength Exercises

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Being a Pitcher can put a lot of strain on your arm and shoulder so being an active participant in the weight room is a very good idea. If any person does any type of strenuous activity in sports and does not have the sufficient amount of muscle to complete the act they will easily tear something. Some simple but very effective exercises to do in the weight room are as follows.

• Over the shoulder dumb bell lifts
• Single Arm Rows
• Side Shoulder Raises
• Upright Row with a weighted bar
• Bicep curls with a weighted bar
• One-Arm Dumbbell Triceps Curl
• Alternated Dumbbell Press

All of these exercises above vary in the spot on your body that you are training but it is also important to strengthen your core as well. Whether you are hitting, pitching, or playing in the field in the sport of softball or baseball, your core strength plays a huge factor. My advice would be to do a lot of sit ups and use a medicine ball. Always continue doing more sit ups every week. Being a pitcher is a lot of tough work but in the end all the hard work you put in will definitely pay off.

USA Olympic Softball Players Featured in ESPN's The Body Issue

Photo Courtesy of ESPN The Body Issue



At first glance many people may be very confused by this photo. It is not what you think, I promise! This photo is from ESPN's Annual magazine called The Body Issue. This magazine features athletes with little or no clothing at all. The purpose of this magazine is to try and break the mold of all the bodies we are used to seeing within the media. These women from the USA olympic softball team posed for the first issue in 2009. This magazine features not only lean in shape athletes but short stocky and heavy sumo wrestlers as well.

Jessica Mendoza is posing in this photo, she is the woman who is 8 months pregnant. When asked of her thoughts on the magazine and purpose of her being in the photo she said...

"I see this as almost groundbreaking and kind of changing the mold of what we see as beautiful," Mendoza said (you could hear her infant son burbling in the background).

"To be honest, I'm sick of working with young women, girls, teenagers, and they are constantly thinking they're too fat or too buff or too this. . . . They want to look like the Paris Hiltons of the world. It bothers me because it's so unrealistic. There are so many beautiful bodies out there. Athletes are not. And I just want every young girl to see their own body, or part of their body, in this issue."

Interview above courtesy of David Gibson, politicsdaily.com

Now it is up to you to decide whether you can appreciate what ESPN is doing with The Body Issue. Is it for the purpose they are portraying or are they just trying to make an extra buck by putting nude athletes in a magazine?

To have a Pitching Coach or not to....?

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There comes a time in every young girl's pitching career that she either thinks about getting a pitching coach or decides that she needs one. My best advice to give any girl out there is to make sure you have one. A pitching coach is a good tool to have but lessons with your pitching coach do not need to take place everyday. It would be great if both parties could contribute that much time but this would also get expensive. Having a pitching coach is a good idea because by having one you can allow yourself to grow as a pitcher. Your coach can see your habits and fix them, teach you new pitches, and also attend your games to see the different things you may do in a game compared to practice.

Some Tips to finding a good Pitching Coach are...

• Make sure they are a reliable credible person. It would be a good idea to have a girl instructing you that at least played college softball.
• Make sure they are friendly and like to engage with you.
• Also, if you feel they don't pay enough attention to your personal needs move on to someone else.