Many of my clients wonder why it is that I have studied martial artists, musicians, and athletes in other sports as well as baseball players and their mechanics. Quite honestly I’m not that interested in many things outside of baseball however my interest in these other pursuits are what I use to learn about skill and the development of skill. The people involved in these other areas have done much more research on the development of skills then we have done in baseball over the last 100 years. Martial artists have been developing amazing athletes for centuries and it doesn’t appear as that is going to slow down anytime soon. Yet in baseball we cling to the natural talent theory and yet ability in baseball isn’t about natural ability, size, or strength which so many people inside the game would have you believe. It’s a skill sport, a sport where the best athletes execute proper skills more often then athletes of lesser ability. Like martial arts the skills it takes to become great can be learned. Unfortunately most people involved in baseball over the years have lead the rest of us to believe that baseball is a sport where you either have it or you don’t. Primarily because the people in charge of baseball development were either too lacking in the knowledge it took to improve the athletes with which they worked or they were just too lazy to try. Either way it became much easier to focus on the more advanced athlete and throw everyone else out the window because they “just weren’t born with it”.
Adding to this theory is that most athletes don’t know what they need to do to develop the skills they need to be successful or they don’t have the patience or drive to perform the mundane drills and exercises necessary to develop these skills. It’s fairly common for me to get rolled eyes or slumped shoulders when I start my athletes with body drills and slow motion work. As a result of our addition to instantaneous gratification many athletes simply jump in a cage and hit off a machine or get their Dad or buddy to throw to them or jump on the mound and start with a bullpen because it’s far more enjoyable then standing in front of a mirror by yourself going through your mechanics in slow motion making sure each movement is correct while you are trying to program your nervous system. But make no mistake about it, hitting, throwing, or pitching a baseball is a skill and these skills can be learned. You may be in a different place developmentally then another athlete and it may take you longer to get where you desire to be however that doesn’t mean that skill development and ultimate skill mastery is impossible. If you truly want to reach the levels of performance that you desire to reach then it’s imperative that you take the time to learn about and employ the steps necessary to develop the skills you need to be successful. Think of it this way, you’ve already learned and mastered the most difficult skills you’ll ever learn. Learning to walk, write, type, all take much more skill then to swing a bat but the difference is you learned these skills at a younger age, long before you had the ability to decide that learning these skills took too much time and were too much work. You don’t need a thousand swings a day but rather consistent, detail oriented, focused work. Move slowly at first and then gradually increase the speed of the skill you’re trying to execute. Over time you will achieve a level of mastery over that skill and you will be able to have the success you desire to have. Keep in mind that everyone is different. For some it takes more time to master the skill. Just keep at it, and remember the Japanese theory of Kaizen, which stands for never ending daily improvement.
Success in baseball is no mystery. Your overall success is based on your ability to execute proper mechanics consistently. Everything from you mental and emotional state, to your training, to the thoughts you consistently think effect your ability to do this. Don’t let anyone tell you that you just weren’t born good enough. The fact is you just need more time to develop the skills you need to be successful. It’s not a matter of genetics or natural selection it’s a matter of programing movement patterns into your nervous system and subconscious mind. It may take time, it may take some effort, however with patience and consistent practice these skills can be learned and mastered.
“Training for skill is purely a matter of forming proper connections in the nervous system through precision practice.”
~Bruce Lee
Tao of Jeet Kune Do
One of my favorite things to see as a hitting instructor is when an athlete begins to produce far more power then they ever have with very little effort. The look on their face when they hardly swing and yet crush the ball is absolutely priceless. They can hardly believe that for all these years they have been trying much harder and getting much less of a result. As I’ve discussed in the past elevated effort level effect us both mentally and physically as effort comes from doubt or our ego neither of which isn’t a good place to be mentally and physically it creates added muscular tension which doesn’t allow the body to execute the mechanics properly and it slows the athlete down. However most athletes are stuck in the believe that increased effort equals increased speed and power. One way to look at it is increased effort doesn’t give you increased speed but rather it increases your output of energy essentially giving you the sense that your working harder which you interpret as moving faster.
