Over-weighting involves adding extra weight to a device, such as a racquet or club, or to the hands or body when an athlete is performing a basic sporting skill such as hitting, throwing, or stroking.
The short answer is no, not ever. There are good reasons not to do it.
No two individuals produce force in exactly the same way though the pattern may appear very similar. Each body possesses a unique set of physical tools that the brain uses to construct movement skills. The length and weight of the arms and legs, hands and feet have specific values in the program that drives the skill. If we artificially change any of these values, the program becomes contaminated with false information and possibly corrupted. Additionally, the strength of joint structures is a function of the normal loads they are subjected to. Sudden increases in leverage, by holding a heavier than normal object, causes large increases in stress on structures that stabilise the limb concerned. Back injuries in sport are common examples of structures subjected to inappropriate loads.
Why is over-weighting done? The premise is that we want to make muscles stronger and there is no more specific a conditioning target than the basic skills themselves. There is, however, an important difference between conditioning a system in it's natural state and one with an artificial value somewhere in the chain. Strength is a basic resource or tool. Muscles or joints that are not as strong as we would like them to be can and should be strengthened but we do this by targeting at a level 'below the desired outcome'. This is a truism in all of biology as well as sport. Runners train at varying distances/ intensities but never carrying heavy packs or objects because to do so reduces efficiency and corrupts their movement. Ditto swimmers.
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