Warm-up with baseball bats of varying moments of inertia: effect on bat velocity and swing pattern.
The purpose of this study was to determine if warm-up with baseball bats of different moments of inertia has an effect on swing pattern and bat velocity. Ten experienced baseball players (ages 20-25 years) voluntarily participated in this study. Each participant was required to complete 10 dry swings (5 warm-up and 5 postwarm-up) at maximum effort within 3 different conditions. Post warm-up was always with a standard bat (I = .27 kgm2; 83.8 cm, 9.1 N). Warm-up for Condition 1 was with the standard bat. Condition 2 required participants to warm up with a standard bat plus a 6.1 N lead donut (I = .49 kgm2, 83.8 cm, 15.6 N). Condition 3 required participants to warm up with a hollow plastic bat (I = .08 kgm2; 83.8 cm, 3.34 N). Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that following warm-up with the weighted bat (largest moment of inertia), swing pattern was significantly altered, and post warm-up velocity was the lowest of the three conditions.
D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology*; D001484:Baseball / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004550:Elbow / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010806:Physical Education and Training / Q000379:methods*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D019876:Sports Equipment; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014953:Wrist / Q000502:physiology