Ron Wolforth from the Texas Baseball Ranch (www.TexasBaseballRanch.com):
I am asked every single week as to the secret of our success in enhancing and developing velocity in our pitchers. It may be instructive to note that we have produced 83-90 mph throwers since 2003. One of the secrets to our success is that we don’t just train the muscles…we set out to affect the neuro-muscular system. Our goal is to modify fiber recruitment, neural recruitment, and improve neuromuscular synchronization and coordination. And the number one tool we use to affect this change is the SpeedChains. From my perspective, you can keep your weight rack and much of the traditional weight room…just leave me my SpeedChains. One of the keys to throwing harder is improving the efficiency of your movements…and for that…the Speed Chains delivers in spades. If you are a serious developer of power and speed, the SpeedChains is a must-have in your tool box in my opinion.
Perry Husband — Hitting Professional and Baseball Researcher from Guessworks (California) — Author of the Hitting Is A Guess DVD Series and the Downright Filthy Pitching Series; (www.hittingisaguess.com; www.effectivevelocity.com):
When I first saw the NOS SpeedChain, I was very skeptical but after working with several students and filming swings with the NOS, it was obvious there were many, many benefits in using this tool that showed up in slow motion footage but hard to see with the naked eye. Players loved working with it as well as the Bat Speed and TorsoBurner SpeedChains. I subsequently developed a training regiment centered on SpeedChains.
Before electing to promote the use of SpeedChains, I worked with an outstanding Junior College program in Southern California under the command of Joey Arnold, long time hitting coach and now head coach of Pierce Junior College. We tested players to get their baseline swing speeds with both live and tee swings. We then put the players through a three week training regiment using the SpeedChains. The results were nothing short of astonishing. We started with one player at 100 MPH live pitch exit speed and we ended up with 10. Top exit speeds went up 3% on average with some going as high as 12% in just three weeks. This was due partly to the strength benefit as well as the ‘feel’ of certain movements that are very difficult to obtain any other way. While mechanical diagnosis played a big role in this trial, SpeedChains were the integral part of this experiment’s success. The ten swing average exit speeds went up 22% on average with some players reaching 55% increases in their ten ball average exit speeds.
I have spent the past 20 years testing old ideas of instructional training methods as well as mechanical and philosophical concepts in baseball and softball swings. The goal was to see what methods work and which ones simply do not. Along the way, I have tried many workout methods and instructional ideas by testing them to see which produced the most consistent contact and the most powerful contact. Concurrently, I have been testing players with simple and complex tests around the country at all age levels. Through this research, I have developed the HITS (Hitter Interactive Testing & Training System) using SpeedChains that is designed to test, identify and teach key functional movements that have been proven to help hitters increase swing speed and make more consistent contact. The HITS method uses testing to identify inefficient movements and then prescribes drills that focus on these movements specifically. This method has shown positive results in every player tested to date. Some, such as the National Leader of our 2009 graduating class, Addison Dunn from Jamestown, NY, have increased dramatically. Addison topped out at 108 MPH off the tee, about an 8% increase in less than three months.
The training portion of HITS is a series of 7 Stations that are designed to tackle inefficient movement patterns. Station 1 uses the Bat Speed Chain and the TorsoBurner SpeedChains. These SpeedChains help strengthen “Swing Specific” muscles and at the same time teach hitters the proper movement patterns by default. The chains push hitters to make the right movements by teaching them to sync up body parts to create a more explosive swing. Through learning to control the chains, their timing and overall awareness is enhanced. Through the variable resistance provided by the chains, the hitters become more explosive immediately.
The second station of the 7 Functional Stations of the HITS system is dedicated to timing and pitch recognition. The NOS SpeedChain is a key tool in this station promoting “Sweet Spot Awareness” as well as timing and bat lag. The unique design of the NOS SpeedChain has a profound effect on hitters’ ability to hold the bat lag angle longer by a strange phenomenon. The golf ball on the end of the chain acts a sweet spot for timing (using the foam XLR8 Training Balls) and also tends to pull the bat head early causing the bat lag angle to get worse. On the surface, this would seem to be counterproductive but the opposite is really what happens. The ball on the chain pulls the end of the NOS into a “Casting” motion that the hands resist against. When a regular bat is used after swinging the NOS, the hitter has a noticeable improvement in bat lag angle. The NOS is a valuable tool in one of the most important stations in our system.
The benefits of SpeedChains are many and I have numbers that speak for themselves; players increased their Line Drive Consistency as well as their Power through the use of a complete testing and training program that included the SpeedChains. I highly recommend this product line to anyone serious about training hitters to reach their max levels of efficiency.
Hunter Hoy from Hanover High School (Virginia):
First, I would like to thank you for bringing the SpeedChains product and ropes to my attention last summer. Your products are great and have helped us tremendously over the last 5 years. Please pass this note along to any coach or parent interested in the SpeedChains: If you are thinking about purchasing the SpeedChain products, I highly recommend that you do so. We have been using the TorsoBurner, Rotator Cuff, and swing SpeedChains for about 6 months. Our players have been giving us very positive feedback since the inception of their use in our training regimen. We really like how the variety of exercises you can implement works to develop their core strength and improve the kinetic chain in their movements. And let me tell you, going all out for 6 to 8 seconds per repetition with the TorsoBurner will flat wear you out. I thought at first it may be because I am an over-the-hill 45 year old, but after the first workout with them this off-season, and seeing how many of our kids were basically laid out for a few minutes after finishing the routine, I knew my age had nothing to do with it.
We had our players evaluated at a local PT office a couple of weeks ago (we do this once a year) and the trainers informed us that in general, our players had very good core strength, flexibility, and scapular strength. All but two of our returning players from last year, both JV and Varsity, “scored” better after this year’s off-season program. The primary additions to our program have been the use of the chains, ropes, kettle bell and slosh pipes.
Tim Campos from Gallup High School (New Mexico)
SpeedChains have been an integral part of our training program at Naa’taanii Baseball Academy and Gallup High School for the past 6 months. In that time we have players that have increased their 10yd shuttle time by as much as 1 full second and decreased their 60yd dash time from 7.6 sec to 7.0 sec flat, and from 8.6 sec to 7.6 sec. The chains not only work agility but provide that explosive response that we as coaches look for and players want. There are so many uses of the chains that will allow a coach with any form of a creative mind to use the chains to pinpoint important movement patterns and help that player become more explosive in that particular movement pattern. They just flat out get results…
Gary Hatch from Sehome High School (Washington)
I have implemented SpeedChains in my Physical Education classes as well as our baseball strength and conditioning sessions after school in preparation for the upcoming spring season. The kids tell me that the speed chain protocol is finding muscles they never knew existed–total body, but significantly in the core area. For a quick, energetic and total-body stimulus, the speed chain is one of the most dynamic neuro-muscular exercises we do. The beauty of the training modality is it exhausts the athlete in a quick period of time. It flat gets after ’em and has become one of our top 5 explosive exercises in our training program.
Marty Rubinoff from Riverside Community College (California)
The effect of SpeedChains on my hitters in my training program is that they can certainly “feel” a quickened effect in their rotational movement pattern. This is due to the SpeedChains effect of pre-stretching the muscles in the load to firing the muscle in the movement pattern from rotation to the point of contact. The SpeedChains have improved my training program from warm-up preparation to game time performance.
Al Barber from Tulsa (Oklahoma)
SpeedChain Training is one of the most unique ways for a baseball pitcher to increase his speed. By using the chains, an athlete will cause his fast twitch fibers to be maximized thus gaining power, endurance and overall speed. My 12 year old son gained 3 mph in his pitching speed using the TorsoBurner in just a two week period. I am truly expecting to see tremendous gains in his pitching speed in the future.
Mike Ryan from Fastball USA Training Centers (Illinois) www.fastballusa.com/:
The chains are awesome! The chain workouts are absolutely one of the best investments I have ever made in our training center, here at Fastball USA-Chicago. I love that my best athletes can feel challenged and get benefits as well as beginning athletes. Our students look forward to the chain workouts which is refreshing.
The feedback from our students is that they feel the chains are challenging and beneficial. The variety of exercises we use with the torso burners also keeps the workouts from getting stale.
The explosiveness that goes with these workouts very closely relates the power and quickness required in specific sports, especially baseball. The bottom line is the chains are a great core workout and provides strength and quickness especially for those who need rotational power.
I look forward to adding additional chains to our program in the future!