Question about SwiftStik Drills

[jbolt_2000]

I recently purchased the SwiftStik to work with my 9-10 LL team. I was looking over the DVD and it seems to be a bad disc or corrupted or something. It keeps skipping and the DVD player can't read it half the time. I get through half of the DVD and it dies on me.

Bottom line I guess, is that I want to know what drills they have on the DVD.

I know some of the basics and watched the part about Epstein using golf ball sized wiffles, but what are the other drills that are used? Any interesting ones? Or are they all pretty basic (i.e. soft toss, lob toss, tee work, etc.)?
I did see part of the one with 5 players circled around the coach, but it died on me before I could get any details.

[Lady_Knights]

I just recently watched this video, to see if there were any drills, I had forgot about. What you got to see on the video is about all you get. There are no special drills, just the idea of hitting a small ball with a little stick, thats it. You didn't miss anything.

[jbolt_2000]

I just recently watched this video, to see if there were any drills, I had forgot about. What you got to see on the video is about all you get. There are no special drills, just the idea of hitting a small ball with a little stick, thats it. You didn't miss anything.

That stinks! I was really hoping to see some good drills that would validate my reasoning for spending $30 bucks on a yellow stick :rofl:

[Kupuna]

Grandson uses the swift stick to do a lot of dry swings and to hit golf ball sized wiffle balls. It is a good tool to develop a grooved swing since you can make hundreds of swings without getting tired.

[ralanprod]

One drawback to using the swiftstick is that if you are using it practice making contact that you also do a good bit of hitting with real balls as well.

My son spent a good deal of time this off season hitting plastic as opposed to real balls, and I think it has hurt his power a little. He seemed to be slapping as opposed to driving the ball. Very quick swing that didn't translate to actual power when I put a real bat in his hands.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it can be part of, but shouldn't be the focus of your hitting work.

[jbolt_2000]

One drawback to using the swiftstick is that if you are using it practice making contact that you also do a good bit of hitting with real balls as well.

My son spent a good deal of time this off season hitting plastic as opposed to real balls, and I think it has hurt his power a little. He seemed to be slapping as opposed to driving the ball. Very quick swing that didn't translate to actual power when I put a real bat in his hands.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it can be part of, but shouldn't be the focus of your hitting work.

Definitely. From what I gather, it seems to be for use with seeing the ball better. I think one of their slogans is something like "If you can hit this little golf ball sized wiffle ball, then you will be able to his a baseball with a normal bat." Not an exact quote but something along those lines.

I plan on using it in station work. Have the players use the swiftstik, then move on to tee work or soft toss with real bats and then live hitting. Something like that.

[Kupuna]

Epstein certified instructors use the swiftstick for the torque drill. It is a lot easier to use the swiftstick than a bat to make the number of swings necessary to develop the muscle memory for a rotational swing. During a one hour session with the instructor my grandson normally made 200-300 swings. On days when the wiffle golf ball pitching machine was used, grandson made about 500 swings. I don't think using the swiftstick has slowed down his bat speed. He is one of the smaller players but can hit the ball as far as anyone on his travel or JV team.

[Go Cardinals]

One drawback to using the swiftstick is that if you are using it practice making contact that you also do a good bit of hitting with real balls as well.

My son spent a good deal of time this off season hitting plastic as opposed to real balls, and I think it has hurt his power a little. He seemed to be slapping as opposed to driving the ball. Very quick swing that didn't translate to actual power when I put a real bat in his hands.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it can be part of, but shouldn't be the focus of your hitting work.

Are we talking about your 9 year old like that?

I hope your not pushing the poor guy too much...

Also, how do you know the slapping is because of the stick and not because of mechanics. You did have him make a significant change... from natural swing to epstein...

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa173/xvue84/new/joshbeforeafter.gif

[siritchy]

Are we talking about your 9 year old like that?

I hope your not pushing the poor guy too much...

Also, how do you know the slapping is because of the stick and not because of mechanics. You did have him make a significant change... from natural swing to epstein...


That sounds like a leap that he is pushing to hard? Maybe his son is driven to improve by himself with his fathers help? You are young and try to improve yourself correct?
It could be correct that a light stick does not recruit as many muscle fibers therefore does not translate to the correct muscle memory as swinging a real bat. Possibly?

[Go Cardinals]

That sounds like a leap that he is pushing to hard? Maybe his son is driven to improve by himself with his fathers help? You are young and try to improve yourself correct?
It could be correct that a light stick does not recruit as many muscle fibers therefore does not translate to the correct muscle memory as swinging a real bat. Possibly?

I was worried. Yes, it was a leap, but I just don't want any kid to be pushed to hard.

Lets hope you are correct. You never know these days.

Just read here: http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=73902

[ralanprod]

Are we talking about your 9 year old like that?

I hope your not pushing the poor guy too much...

Also, how do you know the slapping is because of the stick and not because of mechanics. You did have him make a significant change... from natural swing to epstein...

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa173/xvue84/new/joshbeforeafter.gif

No, not pushing him at all. It's just an observation I made about his hitting over the past couple of months.

His swing looks good, he is loading more than he was in the "after" clip, but isn't wrapping the bat as much as he was in the before clip. More of a load of the entire upper half rather than just the arms. It's an adjustment he made himself once he saw that his hits didn't seem to be carrying very far.

As for my observation regarding the swiftstick... if you look at the second clip, you see bat speed that he cannot really duplicate with an actual bat - at least not yet at his age/size.

He had to actually have a real bat in his hands to realize that he couldn't get away with an "armsy" swing.

I guess it's silly to be talking about "muscle building" with a 9 year old, but I think overusing the swiftstick kept him from developing the "strength" needed to swing an actual bat properly(or the proper technique perhaps). This probably isn't as much of an issue with more developed kids.

[Go Cardinals]

No, not pushing him at all. It's just an observation I made about his hitting over the past couple of months.

His swing looks good, he is loading more than he was in the "after" clip, but isn't wrapping the bat as much as he was in the before clip. More of a load of the entire upper half rather than just the arms. It's an adjustment he made himself once he saw that his hits didn't seem to be carrying very far.

As for my observation regarding the swiftstick... if you look at the second clip, you see bat speed that he cannot really duplicate with an actual bat - at least not yet at his age/size.

He had to actually have a real bat in his hands to realize that he couldn't get away with an "armsy" swing.

Where's his armsy swing? The first one is better! His upper body and lower body is all around better! No lower body or upper body running start. The second swing is robotic and is not natural nor good. There is no early bat blur as there was in the first swing.

http://hittingillustrated.com/library/Bondsantipcr.gif

Dead hands too:
http://hittingillustrated.com/library/CLee1.gif


I guess it's silly to be talking about "muscle building" with a 9 year old, but I think overusing the swiftstick kept him from developing the "strength" needed to swing an actual bat properly(or the proper technique perhaps). This probably isn't as much of an issue with more developed kids.

I agree with this

[jbolt_2000]

I guess it's silly to be talking about "muscle building" with a 9 year old, but I think overusing the swiftstick kept him from developing the "strength" needed to swing an actual bat properly(or the proper technique perhaps). This probably isn't as much of an issue with more developed kids.

I plan on practicing in hitting stations. For the beginning of the season we will have probably three stations - 1) tee work into a net (working on loading, rotation, etc) 2) swiftstik work (working on hand/eye coordination, proper mechanics) 3) live hitting or soft toss (practice seeing the ball live and putting the other drills into a live scenario.

I was just looking for other drills for the swiftstik, rather than just tossing a wiffle to them. But it looks like that is really it, aside from off a tee or soft toss.

swiftstik work would be very limited for the kids as I also believe any of the drills can jurt the swing if over used.

[ralanprod]

Where's his armsy swing? The first one is better! His upper body and lower body is all around better! No lower body or upper body running start. The second swing is robotic and is not natural nor good. There is no early bat blur as there was in the first swing.


I meant the "after" clip when I said "armsy".... That's what his swing became after using the Swiftstick rather than a real bat. He looks more like the first clip now, but much better balanced.

In the way jbolt is planning on using it, the Swiftstik should be fine. It's when it is overused that it becomes an issue.

[Go Cardinals]

I meant the "after" clip when I said "armsy".... That's what his swing became after using the Swiftstick rather than a real bat. He looks more like the first clip now, but much better balanced.

In the way jbolt is planning on using it, the Swiftstik should be fine. It's when it is overused that it becomes an issue.

Its not the stick that is making him armsy, its the mechanics.

[siritchy]

I guess it's silly to be talking about "muscle building" with a 9 year old, but I think overusing the swiftstick kept him from developing the "strength" needed to swing an actual bat properly(or the proper technique perhaps). This probably isn't as much of an issue with more developed kids.

I just wanted to clarify if I was misunderstood. Muscle memory and muscle building are two different topics. Essentially, when you send a signal to complete a task your brain sends an analog-like signal to the muscle. The strength of that signal triggers the amount of muscle groups to contract. If you wanted to lift a pencil your brain fires a signal that only recruits a few muscle cells. If you lift a heavier object more muscle cells are recruited. If you are holding a light stick, it fires less of a signal.

Muscle memory is building the neural connections to carry that signal more efficiently. That is why repeating the same sequence becomes more natural and less choppy. You would want the signal to fire as many fibers as possible for the explosiveness of a baseball swing.

I think younger people actually have an easier time building these neural pathways. When they grow muscles later in puberty, muscle fibers grow more chains rather than more cells, but the pathway can already be there.

That is why I would say that using a lighter stick may not translate directly to a normal bat, so a mix of the two would be advised.

[Jake Patterson]

Its not the stick that is making him armsy, its the mechanics.

A heavy stick could cause bat lag. I do agree with the spirit of your post.

[callyjr]

That stinks! I was really hoping to see some good drills that would validate my reasoning for spending $30 bucks on a yellow stick :rofl:

try taking a 34/31 bat and go swing it 300 times and tell me when your swing mechanics break down, then follow up the next day with the swiftstick and tell me when your swing mechanics break down. Teaching muscle memory is only done through reps, you cannot swing a normal bat and get 300 swings a day without the swing mechanics falling apart.

Cally

[callyjr]

Its not the stick that is making him armsy, its the mechanics.
thus coming from a 16yr old kid. I wouldn't worry about his mechanics too much. he is 9 right. Let him hit some balls and have fun. If you want to show him a video of himself and the pros then do it, but you have 4 more years before its gonna matter at all. Have fun with it.

Cally