Mon, did your coach give you a list of the things that she thought you needed to improve upon in order to make the team? Those are the things I would be working on. And to be honest, playing slowpitch rec softball is in no way going to help you make a junior college softball team. All of my graduating seniors who have signed to play at the college level are playing on competitive 23U or 18U travel teams in order to improve their skills.....
slowpitch rec softball helps me with the outfield and getting confidence and also reading the ball off the bat better and react faster. It helped me a lot.. I am also doing asa adult fastpitch on weekends if that counts as preparing for the college level because its fastpitch and a lot of girls who have played college are playing. its competitive.
I am not really doing slowpitch for the offense. I do it for the defense and the confidence. On one of the teams I play on during the week, I was put in the infield 3rd base (already outfielders for the team) and I did well. I have a good arm and I can get grounders well. On the other days, I play outfield (left center) and I have made no errors and I have thrown people out trying to gain an extra base on me and thinking I can't throw them out because I am a female. I also have caught balls right at the fence as well. Slowpitch is a lot harder defensivly than fastpitch because the ball his hit higher, harder, and faster because of the men. Most of the guys are really good hitters.
slowpitch rec softball helps me with the outfield and getting confidence and also reading the ball off the bat better and react faster. It helped me a lot.. I am also doing asa adult fastpitch on weekends if that counts as preparing for the college level because its fastpitch and a lot of girls who have played college are playing. its competitive.
I've never played, but just watching the two, slow pitch is not going to help your batting for fast pitch.
Remember also, Mon, that there's NON-EXERCISE factors to consider. What else has changed since you stopped lifting? Did classes finish? Are you getting more sleep? More rest? Are you less stressed?
There's a lot of factors in life and all are gonna have some sort of impact on every part of your life, whether you count them or not. This is why we're sure that it's not the lifting that "made you slower"... because it could be any number of factors, and likely more than just one or 2. A LOT of things affect your performance. Not usually just one (injury might be an example of just one, but then usually the factors that led to the injury...).
Take good stock in your situation and experiment to see what different things, nutrition, rest, stress, exercise (and type) do to you and go from there.
We understand you want to be the best you can be and perform and improve and that's great. But there is no best way. There are bad ways, there are good ways. There are things that will work for you and things that won't. You're the one that needs to figure it out. We don't know you well enough.
I have a job now (work in mornings usually starting at 8am), so my sleep time is actually less than it was during school. I average about 6-8 hours a night now. Eversince I started working, my sleep has been better and I don't oversleep or anything like I used to or wake up a bunch of times in the middle of the night like I used to. This could be a factor of why it happened due to too much sleep, being on the computer a lot, and not conditioning enough days (too much recovery time between lifting and conditioning/activity/game, etc.). Now that you got me thinking, maybe it was the "sleep trouble" that did it.
Do you think anything has to do with nutrition as well? I eat pasta a lot (lunch and dinner), but I am also planning to change it up. I am planning to follow this: Attention: Foods to Eat to Boost Brain Power
I already eat cereal in the morning (cornflakes) and have been doing that all my life (used to be cheerios a long time ago). Lunch is the only thing I probably need to change up. No more mac and cheese or any kind of pasta or starch food at lunch time. I could eat chicken (ralphs chicken is so good, so I have that once a week), salad with salmon and veggies, etc. For dinner, it could stay the same (pasta). Good idea? My goal is to be more alert, day dream less, and pay attention 100% to everything I do and not hesitate. I hesitate listening and sometimes speaking, etc. I am not very fast at picking up things, so maybe its too much pasta (slows your brain power down according to this site) that got me responding slow. I need to boost up my brain power, so I can respond fast and normally like everyone else. I want to be a good listener and good at responding to things (sport wise or communication wise or anything).
Seems like you eat a lot of carbs, even if you eat less of it at lunch. Do you ever track your food and your macros? You're not getting much protein at breakfast or dinner, from what you've typed... And veggies? Macronutrients? If you eat lots of empty calories (white pasta, corn flakes) that could account for feeling sluggish. Diet is a MAJOR part of performance.
Seems like you eat a lot of carbs, even if you eat less of it at lunch. Do you ever track your food and your macros? You're not getting much protein at breakfast or dinner, from what you've typed... And veggies? Macronutrients? If you eat lots of empty calories (white pasta, corn flakes) that could account for feeling sluggish. Diet is a MAJOR part of performance.
To be honest, I have never really looked into nutrition, but I am willing to now. I need to get more alartness, be able to pay attention easier (naturally all the time instead of always thinking about it, so I wont make any mistakes and missunderstand things), and not hesitate with anything (slow response). Lack of nutrition may be the only factor for this, but if there can be something else, let me know and I'll look into that as well and work on it.
and your saying I am not getting much protein at breakfast or dinner. What if I get a lot at lunch? Salad, veggies, chicken, salmon, tunafish, beans, etc...has protein right? I hardly know anything about the nutrition stuff, but I read whats on the label and can follow that..or is there more to learn than that? During my breaks at work, I eat mostly fruits (either a banana, yogurt (has protein in it), watermellon, or Dole Manderin Oranges (in a little contaner and a bunch of little orange thingies with the juice on the outside). I am also planning to look around in the grocery store after work sometimes and see what they have that I can also eat for snacks too during my 10 minute breaks. I work at a grocery store by the way (bagger).
Mon, you are asking everyone here to tell you what to do... why don't you go pick up a book and educate yourself? Better yet, read the diet and nutrition sub-forum here. Learn something while you're at it. No one here has time to spoon feed you. There's plenty of information, you just have to go look for it and put it together in an appropriate way for YOU.
There are plenty of roads to take. Guess what? It's your call.
Tina is right - there are SO many places to educate yourself. Lots of people here do very low-carb diets like TNT - that may not be the place for you to start, as it'd be pretty extreme coming from your current diet. What I'm suggesting is find a balanced plan (like NROLW and also Body for Life and Zone suggest: around 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat - but there are lots of other options too). Try getting protein at EVERY meal, not just once/day. It'll stabilize your blood sugar and your body can utilize the nutrients. Don't go extreme with low fat - healthy fats are important. Find foods that have a lot of bang for the buck - learn what healthy foods are (the less processing, the shorter the ingredient list, the better).
You seem like you can get the info you need if you set your mind to it. There's no one "right" way for everyone to eat, but it seems like your calories are mostly processed and "empty". You can make the choice - an extreme example is 2 people who eat 2000 kcal / day. One eats 2000 kcal of gummy bears and pixie stix, the other east 2000 kcal of chicken, fish, eggs, veggies, fruit, whole grains. Who is healthier and who feels better and PERFORMS better?
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