SPORT SPECIFIC cated: We want to develop all the athletic qualities important to baseball success, and create players who are fully prepared for every situation that might occur in a game. That simple approach guides every decision we make in our strength and conditioning program. Baseball is primarily a power sport. Each pitch is an exercise in acceleration and strength. Each swing of the bat combines generated power with skill in an attempt to put the ball in play, and most swings attempt to generate maximum force. The infield and outfield players anticipate and react explosively in order to field hits, make throws, and prevent runners from advancing. Everything involves short bursts of intense effort, as the ball is rarely in play for more than a few seconds at one time. Taking these specific needs into account, our program focuses on improving strength and power, speed and agility, and flexibility. While doing so, we need to beware of overtraining, since the NCAA Division I baseball season typically exceeds 60 games, and most players follow that up with summer league play for another two months. Although the game has a slow pace with frequent “downtime,” this grueling com-
petition schedule takes its toll on players both physically and mentally. For that reason, we always strive for maximum efficiency in our workouts. Most players enter our program with some general knowledge of foundational exercises—they might have played high school baseball for a coach who prioritized conditioning, or played a second sport that required strength training. But we leave nothing to chance and always assume we’re working with a blank slate when we welcome a player to our program. Every responsible strength coach knows that improper technique in the weightroom is an easy way for an athlete to end up injured, so we begin each year with an emphasis on evaluation and teaching good form. When we perform initial evaluations, we look for any movement flaws or functional weaknesses, then work with athletes individually to correct them before increasing resistance or load. For example, the majority of our incoming players suffer from tight hamstrings and back muscles and overdeveloped front-side muscles in the chest, anterior shoulders, and biceps. We test for totalbody mobility by having them perform an overhead squat using a wooden stick. As
the athlete moves through a full range of motion, we can observe movement flaws in all major joints, and this helps us pinpoint specific areas to address through individualized training protocols. EARLY FALL Our program follows the basic principles of overload, progression, and specificity. We rely heavily on multi-joint, multi-directional, and ground-based exercises along with core training, because we know these activities transfer to the field and help us accomplish several training goals at once. The structure of the college baseball calendar makes steady improvement a challenge, so we have to plan our schedule very deliberately. In the fall we have 12 weeks, but must work around the fall baseball practice season (five to six weeks), fall break, and Thanksgiving break. To promote reliable progress despite these interruptions, we break our fall training into specific cycles, each with its own primary goal. The first three weeks consist of general physical preparation. Whether they’re freshmen who took the summer off from baseball, or returning players who spent June and July in a summer
STRENGTH SESSION This is a sample workout that we use in the fall to develop the types of strength and power most essential to baseball success.
Dumbbell hang clean and split jerk combination: 4 x 5 each Back squat: 4 x 5 Dumbbell lunge forward step: 2 x 8 each leg
Warmup: Jump rope (3-4 sets of 50 jumps): two feet, one foot, shuffle, high knee, or crossover steps. Hurdle walks (five hurdles set at 30 inches high, three feet apart): two sets each forward, backward, and sideways. Medicine ball rotations (3-4 kg. ball, 10 reps each):
Dumbbell lunge side step: 1 x 8 each leg Dumbbell single-leg RDL: 2 x 8 each leg Squat jump: 3 x 10, 1 min. rest between sets Dumbbell bench press: 3 x 8 Lat pull-down: 3 x 8
Standing twist
Shoulder combination: Dumbbell side raise, cross in front, upper cut, and front raise, 2 x 6 each way
Vertical chop
Dumbbell row: 3 x 8
Diagonal chop
Bar reverse curl: 3 x 10
Figure-8 pattern
Stretch band standing rotation: 2 x 10 each side
Full circle swing
Hanging knee raise: 2 x 15 Medicine ball (3 kg.) pull-over sit-up: 2 x 20
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T&C DECEMBER 2008
TR AINING-CONDITIONING.COM