The Effect of Hand Grip Strength and Trunk Rotation Strength on Throwing Ball Velocity

Abstract

Throwing ball velocity is one of the indicators that determine softball performance. However, most of the training on throwing only focused on the major muscles and they neglected the assisted muscles such as hand grip and trunk rotation muscles that also crucial in improving the throwing performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the effect of hand grip strength training, and trunk rotation strength training towards the throwing ball velocity among female collegiate softball players. 54 female collegiate softball players were equally divided into three training groups which are hand grip strength training group (HG), trunk rotation strength training group (TR), and basic strength training group (CG). All the groups performed the same basic strength training program with different additional strength training according to the group`s treatment. Each group trained 3 days per week for 6 weeks. Throwing ball velocity was assessed before (pretest) and after (posttest) the 6 weeks training program via one-way between groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare the mean gained score in throwing ball velocity between each group. The result shows that all group significantly differences in throwing ball velocity (p<.05). The post-hoc test indicates that all training group significantly differences to each other except for HG and TR group. This study demonstrates that additional training of HG and TR are able to increase the throwing ball velocity rather than performing the basic strength training only. However, both strength training provides a similar impact on throwing ball velocity, therefore, both of the training are considered important to improve the throwing performance.