Trying Out Some Different Practice Ideas
So, I kept hearing this name, Dan Heefner, pop up when folks talked about baseball practice. Not really a big baseball guy myself, but the way they described his methods got me thinking. It wasn’t just about hitting balls over and over the same way.
What stuck out was this idea of making practice harder and weirder than the actual game. Like, using different weighted bats, or strange balls, or setting up drills that force you to react, not just repeat. Seemed kinda backwards at first, but also… interesting. Made me wonder if it could help with other stuff, not just baseball.
I figured, why not give something similar a shot? I do a bit of throwing, just messing around in the yard sometimes. Usually, I just try to throw straight and consistent. Pretty boring, honestly. So, I decided to mix it up, inspired by this Heefner approach.
My Little Experiment
First thing I did was gather some different objects to throw. Not just my usual ball.
- A slightly heavier ball
- A lighter, almost floaty ball
- An old, lopsided tennis ball
- Even tried a small beanbag
Then, instead of just standing there and throwing, I made myself move. Took throws right after jogging a bit, or tried throwing from an awkward stance, like halfway crouched down. The goal wasn’t perfect throws. It was just to see how my arm and body adjusted.
Man, it felt weird. The heavy ball made my arm feel slow. The light ball felt like it would fly away if I wasn’t careful. The lopsided tennis ball? Total crapshoot where that thing went. And throwing off-balance was just clumsy.
Didn’t feel like I was ‘practicing’ in the normal sense. Felt more like I was just… reacting. My body had to figure stuff out on the fly with each different throw. Couldn’t rely on muscle memory because the target (how to throw this object right now) kept changing.
What Happened?
After about 20 minutes of this weird practice, I picked up my regular ball again. Stood normally. Threw it.
And you know what? It felt… easier. Like my arm just knew what to do. It felt more controlled, even though I hadn’t practiced that specific throw at all during my little experiment. It’s like my body learned to adjust better, so the ‘normal’ throw felt simple by comparison.
It wasn’t about perfecting one motion. It seemed like the variety forced my system to become more adaptable. Hard to explain, but the feeling was definitely there.
So, yeah. This Dan Heefner guy, or at least the ideas I picked up, might be onto something. Making practice variable, even a bit chaotic, seemed to work better than just doing the same thing over and over. Definitely gonna try mixing things up more often, see how it goes. Felt like I actually learned something instead of just going through the motions.
