Conditioning

we are going to run alot more this offseason. not so much for physical conditioning, but a mental toughness thing. i think mentally is where it helps. i agree. our basketball coach does all the preseason conditioning with the basketball team. sprints, long distance, stadium steps, weights. he does everything. i think its a great idea if you can do it with them

Sometimes exercising with my athletes is the only exercise I get that day so keep it up. I believe it motivates your team to run with them especially if you challenge them to beat you with any of these workouts
Just as it is important to keep the students motivated to warm up, cool downs are essential to stay away from injury.

Nicholas I think it's a great idea that you are going to run with your team. I wish I could and have tried it with my football players but my knees just can't keep up. I totally agree that it can really help with mental toughness.

But they also need to realize that it doesn't matter how bad they hate to condition or if an "old" man might beat them. They have to realize that they are going to do it and keep their mouth shut about it or they can go home.

My last two or three years in Kentucky I had it great. I really never had to condition my guys. Only thing I did was tell them if we were doing sprints, distance or baserunning and they went out and did it. Not real sure what I did to help foster this in them but it made life easier. The older guys made sure the younger guys did the work the way it should too.

Get them to buy into the fact that the faster they are, the stronger they are, the quicker they are, they more athletic they are, the better player they will be and the better team they will be. I think its very important for players to understand the benefits of what they are doing. If I tell guys to run they will run. If I tell them to sprint they will sprint. But if I can get them to understand why and what the results can bring them they will do it with everything they have and will get the most out of it.

Its a game of inches. One more inch in your favor. One more inch by every player can make the difference many times.

here's my beef with lots of 'conditioning' that's done in baseball and other sports.
We normally use running; and some guys are good runners, it does not hurt or stretch them one bit to run.

If you want to condition guys you need to get a baseline of what they can perform... if they can run a 7.2 60 then they have to run 6 of them all under 7.5 or none of em count and they get to run 6 more all under 7.7.
I am against the long distance running during season unless you are running a boat load of sprints for speed work. The research shows if you want to run fast, then run fast.. if you want to run a marathon, run long and slow.

The group I have this year is willing to run their sprints but lazy when it comes to playing good catch. They want to play 'slop' catch. Drives me nuts. I am going to spend more time regimenting good, purposeful throw and catch... I find it more crucial to winning than guys being in good cardio.

Nicholas, here's my 2 cents on you running with them: They don't care. They don't care if you can run. They don't care if you can hit. They don't care if you were awesome. You are an adult, they just don't care. If you like to run go ahead but it's not going to inspire them.. if you were 75 or only had one leg maybe but come on; why shouldn't you be able to run... you are a healthy 30 yr old... and they just don't really care about what we can do; they care about what we can do for them.

And what we do for them is get them to (stealing from Coach May here) put money in the bank of baseball every day in the form of good baseball work. Then on game day you step up to the counter and make a withdrawal and the account has plenty in it cuz you filled it up. Next day it's back to work and making deposits till game day comes around.

just my ramblings....
good luck to all.... 3 inches of snow this morning ... sheeeesh

Most (serious) players would run for hours on end if they thought it would help them get better. The fact is though, most players today (me included)do not see the benefits of "conditioning" on the field. I'm talking of conditioning in the sense of cardiovascular endurance. I tend to think it's pretty useless because you never exert yourself on the field for an extended amount of time without rest.

Many coaches have brought up the mental toughness aspect...

While is see your argument and have sympathy for it, I do not believe that mental toughness that is instilled when pushing thought the pain of a workout applies in the game. In training, adversity is in the form of pain--you have to push through the pain to accomplish what the coach is asking. In the game, adversity comes in the form of nerves. When the last time you were "nervous" that you would fail in a work out? I've felt nervous in workouts before because I didn't know what would be asked of us next; but The "fear of failure" that creeps in during games is not replicated though "adversity training" or "mental toughness workouts" in my opinion.

excellent post Greenmachine. Thanks for your insights.

I am not a coach, just a 48yr old dad. I began running bleachers in December and have noticed that my legs are stronger and I have a more powerful "explosion" (it's all relative). Seems like this would help in running bases. Any of you have your players do this? Thanks.

Great thoughts by everyone and I would like to add another way to condition which does what everyone has said about making mental toughness and buying in. Make all your drills work them hard because now you're working out at the level you should be working out at during the game.

If you do a rundown period - it has to be full speed to get what you want accomplished.

If you do baserunning during BP - it has to be full speed to get what you accomplished.

If you do individual periods on defense - make them full speed to get it more game like.

After a practice like that then you shouldn't have to work as much on sprints or whatever.

Everything we do has a purpose. And that purpose is to help you become a better player. And if we can make you a better player we will be a better team. If we can get you one more inch to 1b and we can get 9 guys one more inch to first base we may beat out more bang bang plays at first. If we can get you one more inch of range at SS we may knock that ball down and keep it in the infield. We may cut that ball off from getting in the gap. We may beat that throw to home plate. We may drive that ball out of the park instead of it getting caught at the track. Its all about getting the individual better and that makes the team better.

When your in great physical condition and you know it you have more confidence in your ability to play. You have more confidence period. When you have been challenged and you succeed it gives you confidence to face any challenge. When the practices are tough the games are easy. When you put in situations where you have to go beyond where you thought you could go you gain confidence in being in those situations and finding success.

The key is getting players to understand that every inch they gain the team gains. Every inch their team mate gains their team gains. I always say "shrink the field." Shrink it with more speed, more power, more arm strength, more quickness, more athletic ability. Remember when you stepped on that LL field for the first time? If felt so big. By the time you stepped off of it for the last time it looked so small. Remember when you stepped on the regulation field for the first time? It felt so big. Shrink it so it becomes like your playing on a LL field again. You do that by gaining an inch every chance you can every way you can.

How many plays are bang bang at first base? How many throws to second just get the runner or just miss the runner? How many balls are just in the gap or just cut off at the gap? How many gb's just get through or almost get through? Work to hitter it harder, work to get there, work to gain once inch at a time.

Agility ladders, core work, speed training, dynamic stretching, learning better and proper angles, understanding the game goes a long way. Anticipation? I believe that every drill and every thing you do should work towards gaining a inch. Conditioning should be tailored to gaining an inch. Be it at the plate in developing more power or in the field developing more arm strenght or speed. All of your time and that includes conditioning should be done with this purpose in mind.

Again when a player is in great physical condition there is just as much of a mental plus as there is a physcial plus. Sorry for the long post.

Shrink the field is great terminology.

I buy in to all of that...

"shrink the field" by becoming more athletic and play your way into cardio shape by practicing hard game speed

All of the conditioning that my team does is related to the game (except our pitchers). For example, we get our sprints in but we do it while at first base reading balls in the dirt. Because we have limited time with our players I do not like to take time away from teaching the game to just do conditioning.