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Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Does Jose Abreu Use a Unique MLB Power Technique?

 

Jose Abreu Power Secret Found In Unlikely Place?

Jose Abreu photo courtesy: MLB.com

I received an email recently from a top-5 Shot Putter in the mid-80’s named Rob Suelflohn.  He threw for over 70 feet!  A pretty special feat.  CLICK HERE to see YouTube footage of Rob.

He contacted me after watching a couple of my analysis videos.  Shortly after, he purchased The Truth About Explosive Rotational Power course to refine his Shot Put technique, as he still competes in Masters Shot Put competitions.

Wait…a Shot Putter buying my course on hitting?!

What really struck him about my mechanical breakdown was that I was speaking his same language, even though I was discussing a completely different competitive human movement.

Or is hitting really that different than Shot Put?

This video compares Jose Abreu to Randy Barnes (holds world record in the Shot Put).  We’ll look at:

  • Methods v. Principles,
  • Top Secret Power: Springy ‘X’ Pattern
  • Jose Abreu v. Randy Barnes

 

Methods v. Principles

Randy Barnes Shot Putter 1996 Olympics

Randy Barnes 1996 Olympics (won gold) photo courtesy: PBS.org

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,

“As to the methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” 

In hitting, methods are the drills we do.  Just do a search for “baseball (or softball) hitting drills” on YouTube and you’ll find plenty.  Principals are human movement rules governing EVERY athlete in motion.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it,

“The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” 

What principles do rotational athletes like Jose Abreu and Randy Barnes have in common to efficiently create repeatable power?

 

Top Secret Power: Springy ‘X’ PatternSpringy 'X' Pattern

One of the principles they use is something I call the Springy ‘X’ Pattern.  Imagine a big ‘X’ on your chest connecting shoulder to opposite hip.  The same goes for the backside.  To load springy connective tissue, called fascia, shorten one leg of the ‘X’ while the other leg lengthens.

Springy fascia is (according to Thomas Myers in his book Anatomy Trains):

  • What the bones and muscles float in,
  • Gives muscles their shape,
  • A spider web or cotton candy-like material, and
  • Made of mostly springy collagen fibers.

 

Jose Abreu v. Randy Barnes

Returning to our original question of does Jose Abreu use a unique MLB power technique?  Nope.  He uses a unique power technique to human movement!  This is also why – according to Wikipedia – Randy Barnes qualified for the 2005 World Long Drive Championship in golf.  Golf!!  He’s mastered the principles of explosive rotational power.  CLICK HERE to put proven human movement science to work in YOUR swing today…