David Donatucci is the inventor of the Ballistic Ball and the Owner and Director of The Florida Institute of Performancein Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where he consults with national and collegiate teams and trains professional, collegiate, and high school athletes. He is also an adjunct faculty member for the PGA of America. He wrote and teaches the PGA Professional Golf Management Program for fitness.
Prior to his stint at PGA of America, David was the Director of Performance for the International Performance Institute at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida. At IMG, he was responsible for the training and conditioning programs for all academy athletes from amateur to professional athletes training for NFL, MLB, and NHL camps and combines. He previously spent time at the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Athletic Performance, where he worked with several of Cleveland’s professional sports teams in various roles.
Donatucci has a master’s degree in exercise science from Cleveland State University and a B.S. from the University of Dayton. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
David discusses the commonalities and differences in training for rotational sports such as baseball and golf. He also talks about how to most effectively train the various components of medicine ball training to be specific to sport skills with medicine balls and how to select proper weight and velocity. Additionally, he shares insights into the Ballistic Ball and its uses.
In this podcast, David Donatucci and Joel discuss:
- Using a front leg block in training to differentiate golf and baseball rotational patterns.
- Variance of medicine ball training from sport to sport.
- Importance of correct launch angle in medicine ball training.
- Back leg mechanics of efficient medicine ball throws.
- The correct body sequence of efficient medicine ball training.
- The importance of the preloading phase and how to achieve it.
Podcast total run time is 53:40.
Keywords: medicine ball, rotational training, power development, golf
