Name: Playbook - Jordan Verdon - ESB: Week 1, Day 2
Uploaded: 2024-01-09T19:41:14.100Z
Duration: 75 min
Description: ESB: Week 1, Day 2

Day 2 of each week will focus on moving from the middle of your body and using your core and pelvis properly (feet anchored, front leg stability, and how you impact the baseball). Watch videos attached for cues/feels to be recreating during workout. 

Each workout will be focused on more than just hitting. A complete warmup and med ball/lower body stability routine are REQUIRED before starting the swing routine. The initial warm up and med ball/stability routine helps your swing more than you know. If you have the tools PLEASE take advantage of that part of the program. If not, I understand and do as much as you can with what you have available.

- Keep back flat on the ground
- Extend arms straight over head and bring knees up to 90 degrees 
- Take right arm and left leg and extend them over head and straight out in front (respectively) while keeping other two limbs locked into place 
- Alternate arms and legs until reps are compete 

- 8 REPS EACH SIDE (R/L- L/R)

Dead Bugs

- Lying flat on your back, bring your feet close to your butt 
- Keeping your shoulder blades flat on the ground, raise you hips into the air while keeping your feet planted in the ground 
- Drive from your hips and glutes

Glute Bridge

- Rotate towards the leg that is up, following that hand with you eyes as far as you can go 
- Keep your knee straight ahead and foot anchored into the ground 

8 REPS EACH SIDE

Half kneeling Rotations

- Start with hands on PVC pipe. 
- thinking about keeping your chest still while only moving from your pelvis. 
- Gain control over this movement to increase hip/shoulder separation
- Elite throwers and hitters have amazing hip/shoulder separation

PVC Hip Rotations

- The ability to hinge your hips (sitting butt back but keeping tight core and vertical shins) is the number 1 thing that most hitters lack the ability to do. 
- The hinge of the hips allows space for our arms to move during the swing. 
- Start with vertical shins and sit your hips back while keeping the PVC on three points of contact (head, upper back, glutes)

PVC Hip Hinge

- Lunge to each side keeping foot that isn’t lunging on the ground 
- After you get to your end range of the lunge, reach the MB straight out in front of you
- Press into the ground and repeat the process 

5 EACH LEG

Lateral lunge with MB Reach

- Execute a reverse lunge and as you are in the bottom of the lunge reach the medball overhead before coming back to the top 

5 REPS EACH LEG

Reverse Lunge w/ MB overhead reach

- Skip forward, lifting your lead knee to waist height
- Keeping your back leg straight as you come off your toe
- Continue moving forward alternating legs

A skips

- Shuffle to the side while swinging your hands over head like you’re doing a moving jumping jack

Lateral shuffle with arm swing

- Keeping legs stiff, rapidly hop up and down without resting in between each jump 
- This is designed to wake up the Central Nervous System and tell the body to start moving fast

Pogos

- Take small hops from side to side 
- Create athletic rhythm and when you feel ready, hop into the back leg, sitting into back hip and fire the ball through the wall keeping good hitting posture and staying behind front leg

- 5 REPS EACH LEG… YES EVEN THE SIDE YOU DON’T HIT FROM

Hot Feet Scoop Throw

- This is an ankle stability drill 
- Lift one foot off the ground, balancing on the other 
- Pass the KB or whatever weight you have at home through (getting progressively bigger pass throughs the better stability you gain) 
- Works most effectively bare foot or in flat training shoes as we want our toes and whole foot gripping the ground 

- 10 REPS EACH LEG (Each pass is one rep)

Kettle Bell Pass Throughs

- Start in a staggered stance keeping most of your weight in your front leg 
- Keep the front foot planted in the ground 
- Rotate backwards from your torso rather than just your arms going back
- Fire the ball forward, while keeping your balance and holding your posture (chest over the plate) and palm up towards the pitcher feeling

- 5 REPS EACH LEG… YES EVEN THE SIDE YOU DON’T HIT FROM

Anti Rotation Scoop Toss

- Start with top hand on the top of your bat and your bottom hand on the handle like usual 
- Punch the top hand to the pitcher while keeping your chest over the plate and your top hand palm pointing up to the sky
- Move your top hand down to the middle of the bat and repeat the same feeling
- Lastly, go all the way down the bat to a normal game like grip and take swings trying to find the same feeling you had in the previous swings

Stay Through/Posture Flow

- Execute the same feel as the “hit the catcher on the head” drill (Hand pivot). 
- Take the PVC overhead and all you do is the same hand pivot except now you can add in a small turn of the body. 
- Walk your hands to the bottom of the PVC so there is a lot of resistance while you make this move. 
- Keep the hands overhead while making this move so that you do not have the urge to push your hands forward. 
- If done correctly you will feel the move happening solely from your core and nothing else. This is the feeling we want when we swing the bat. 
- Not letting our hands and arms take over but connecting our swing to our big, most powerful muscles (core and back)

Helicopter

- Only difference between this drill and full swings with bat between the feet is you’re either doing the half swing drill (stop at contact) or the 3/4 swing where you stop at extension
- Another version of feet anchored 
- This drill is for players who land with their front foot pointed at the pitcher and get their stability from their knee joint rather than the hip joint
- Start by keeping pressure on both sides of the bat with your feet
- When you swing, don’t let your feet lose contact with the bat 
- Works in stability, anchoring of feet, and posture over the plate because I’m taking the rotational aspect of your swing away

Bat Between Legs (1/2 or 3/4 swing)

- Another version of feet anchored 
- This drill is for players who land with their front foot pointed at the pitcher and get their stability from their knee joint rather than the hip joint
- Start by keeping pressure on both sides of the bat with your feet
- When you swing, don’t let your feet lose contact with the bat 
- Works in stability, anchoring of feet, and posture over the plate because I’m taking the rotational aspect of your swing away

Bat Between Legs (Full Swing)

- Keeping the feet glued to the ground work on finding where true center is in the swing 
- Helps hitters swing from their middle (core/pelvis) rather than arms/hands pushing bc the anchoring of the feet takes the over rotational aspect of the swing out of the picture 
- Also great for working on a hitters launch position 
- Feel the swing firing from back hip/core rather than hands/shoulders trying to deliver the barrel

Feet Anchored (on ground)

This drill is designed for guys who squish the bug. 
Drive the knee down, so that the back leg becomes unweighted when we swing. 
Squishing the bug is a power and posture killer!!!!

Don’t squish the bug

- Go get yourself a farm board 
- They are great for helping hitters who jump forward and can’t control their back leg 
- The board takes the stability out of the ground so you have to create stability without letting the board slide around
- Focus in creating vertical force down into the ground and not letting the board slide around early 
- CAUTION - VERY DIFFICULT

Farm Board (back leg loading)

Heavy bat regular swings

- Enough messing around. 
- Blend the feels and drills you’ve been working on and backspin line drives up the middle and in the air. 
- When loading don’t stare at the tee. Envision the pitcher throwing you the ball and look up at where he’d be standing and slowly move your eyes to the ball on the tee as you load, then swing! Helps keep your posture set up the middle rather than turned towards the tee.

Game like Swings

- Controlled underhand flips are a great tool to add movement to the pitch in a controlled environment while working on new swing changes and feels. 
- At this point of the workout, I want you to try a couple (or all if you’re feeling up for it) of the tee drills you were working on on the first few round or two of flips. 
- After the feels and mechanics round, go to closer to your game swing and set up/load while keeping in mind the feels you just created in previous drills. 
- REMEMBER- the goal is to get better at game like swings. Don’t get too caught up on the drills and try and use them to blend into your game swing! 💪🏼

Underhand Flips

- Time to compete!! 
- Game like mentality
- Game like loading and approach
- GOAL- Hit doubles and low line drives while blending in the new swing mechanics or feels you’re working on.

ESB: Week 1, Day 2

More workouts from Jordan Verdon