I mentioned previously that many college athletes, including softball players, are using P90X to whip themselves into better shape during the off season. At the time I didn’t know much about the program, but now that I’ve been doing it for 9 weeks, I have more to share about it.
1. Is it softball specific? Honestly, I’m no expert in that area. I’m not a certified trainer and I’m guessing that it’s probably not as softball specific as other programs are.
2. Can Softball Players Benefit from It? I believe they can. In addition to the college athletes using it, I found out that a youth team in Texas is using P90X. Their coach reports that after about 7 weeks, they’ve all lost weight AND inches! Right now, my 12 -year old daughter is doing the workouts with us. I’ve included a video of her doing the plyometric workout below.
Why did I have her start doing it? Truthfully, because I thought she would die and I just wanted to see her try. But she didn’t really die. At least, not as much as I was dying (and I had already been doing the workouts for a couple weeks!). Since then, she’s just always jumped in and joined us. She’s not really in season right now, so this is keeping her active. She’s happy because she’s putting on weight (even though her shorts a falling off). She’s always smaller than her teammates, so anything that helps her get a little closer to them makes her happy. In addition to that, I’m pretty sure I’m seeing results in her pitching too.
But I have to say, one of the things I love the most about this program is how much my flexibility has improved because of all the stretching that’s done EVERY day. No other training program I’ve even been on has ever given me that. Increased flexibility can help ANY athlete. Plus P90X incorporates Yoga, which I hear that even pro baseball players and semi-pro football players are starting to use. Most say it helps reduce injury and some even say that they’ve seen improvements in speed from Yoga. Now I’m not sure about the speed part, but it certainly helps strength AND flexibility for sure. I can see how it would help reduce injury.
While P90X may not be THE most softball-specific workout, right now, with my oldest daughter at only age 12, I’m for anything that makes my kids more ATHLETIC ~ and P90X certainly does that.
3. Does it work? The question everyone has is, does that actually work? What are your results? I want to see pictures! Well, my husband and I just took and posted our 60-day pictures. You can check them out HERE and see for yourself.
Now for the video of my daughter doing plyos…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIxrFZvG8fA
I also believe that P90x also has a great help to athletes since they need more energy on their activities. And by the way, you can check out my picture on my site!
P90X has done for us (team) what hill sprints, running, etc. couldn’t do. P90X helped to re-invent ourselves. This was a major overhaul to those girls who stuck-ed with the program. At the beginning of every week of P90X the team would write any negatives on paper,crumble it (no body read what each person wrote) and as a team watch all those negatives burn away on the Bar-B-Que Grill. This reinforced the sense of renewal in them!
My daughter who also pitches lost an incredible 9 pounds and 2 1/2 inches and put on some muscle. Her team mates lost about 6 pounds with inches and put on muscle as well.
This P90X Program requires commitment that has potential to become a life style.
Now when we do agility training the girls strive to compete against each other to see who is the fastest.
TX Young Guns
Great Vid
Im commenting from a conditioning coach point of view. For your question if it’s softball specific, this program focuses on weight loss and strength gain. The answer is a yes and no. If your objective to start of your conditioning is to lose weight, it’s yes. No, because the drills are not specific for softball. A complete conditioning program will start on building a conditioning base (that’s where this program can be used) then continue to sports specific drills, then to plyometrics, speed strength
The term plyometrics have often been abused by alot of instructors. I haven’t seen the video but I hope he explains what it is, the proper way of doing it and when someone can do it. You have to have good foundational strength to go into plyometrics (atleast you can carry your own body weight, and do squats) this strength is acquired during the 1st phase of your conditioning program.
I also would like to stress on safety, when plyometrics is done try to do it on a softer surface which may absorb your fall and make sure to wear proper footware to add with absorption of force or you may put too much stress on your knees.
I think the fitness and conditioning of P90X Could benefit anyone in any sport. It works just about every muscle in the body, an awesome program..