Need HELP Training

Be sure to do stretching and warmups before your running activities. You need to keep maximum flexibility for baseball. Bulk without flexibility and agility would actually be detrimental. My son is a college player who is a weight workout fanatic and is the strongest guy on his team even though he only weighs 175 lbs. A lot of his strength comes from explosiveness and and always doing preworkout warmups and stretching. Good Luck!!

One more thing I will add. To get the most out of your weight workouts, vary the excercises you do for different bodyparts. This allows for the specific bodypart to be trained at slightly different angles and in different ways and keeps it more interesting for you too. There are many different chest specific lifts as well as bicep and tricep workouts. Change things up once in a while. The main thing too is to work on things that are baseball specific to improve your game.

Baller,

Go to the strength and conditioning forum and do some searches on "workouts", weight, training, baseball, etc and you should find some advice for a program for you. What I see is too much bench and curls for baseball. If you are getting ready for the summer then you have time to start with a sequenced program that is designed first to gain strength and mass and then transitions into a more explosive and athletic lifts as you get closer to your "season".
I assume you are not a pitcher based on the bat part of your post, but there are significant differences between a position player and a pitchers program.

I would not run sprints every other day but probably go every third day. Long distance running does nothing for baseball other than make you slower.

A baseball program should be focused on legs and core first and foremost and then if you are a position player forearms, and then mixed in some upper body work. When I get a chance I will dig around and see if I can send you some stuff via a PM.

BOF- Good post. I agree with everything. I'd add more explosive lower body workouts as well...single leg squats, dead lifts, hang cleans, etc.

I especially agree with the comment about long distance. Plain and simple, DON'T run long distance. It serves no purpose whatsoever in the game. Baseball is an explosive sport, exercises need to be explosive.

Baller- I like your enthusiasm and the fact that you're coming here and willing to learn. There are a lot of resources here and elsewhere in the baseball world. I hope you stick around.

Throwing: Mix in long toss and buy a set of bands. Use the bands daily. Long toss twice a week.

Running: Back off on long runs and focus on sprint work and agility. Long runs are good for pitchers who do not need speed.

Hitting: Tee work is good, but also mix in live BP also. You want to work on timing and seeing the ball.

Lefty

Thank you all so much,
This has been a big help.
Also, @Sdlefty, what do you mean bands? Explain. Also, I live in the middle of town, and a buddy of mine are going to use the school batting cage that is open to the public quite a bit this offseason, for sure.
@Bof yes I am a position player(third base), but I also do pitch. I really want to concentrate on third however. Do you know any core excercises I could be doing? And how do I train legs without a squat rack?
@J H, do you think I should back off the long distance running and start running sprints instead starting next week?

THANKS to everyone, this site has proved to be a big help

Bands: http://www.jaegersports.com/home.php

In terms of running, high intensity interval training is ideal. I wouldn't advise any baseball player, regardless of position, to EVER run any long distance. In terms of overall health and fitness long distance running is perfectly healthy. But it has no positive bearing on the game of baseball whatsoever, and science has proven many times over that it actually has a negative effect on the explosiveness of a player. If you'd like, I can provide numerous resources citing such research. I would highly advise you to not run long distance and begin a program of sprint intervals.

@JH man those are sweet, and look like they really work from the videos. Definetly gonna put that on my christmas list! Also, what do you mean by high intensity interval training?

I've had a pair for a while now, they are very useful. Alan Jaeger, the man who invented them in 1991, was interviewed for a radio show we run here on the HSBBWeb. If you'd be interested in listening to what he had to say, here is the link to the interview: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/c...11/12/05/alan-jaeger

Honestly Wikipedia does a much better job of describing high intensity interval training than I could. Its very accurate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...ty_interval_training

Baller,

Love your attitude.

I know that it’s fun to work with cool equipment, but low-tech can work for you too, and you won’t have to wait until Christmas. Physical Therapists will usually give out Thera-Band exercise bands like candy. Do you know anyone doing any PT? You can also find some inexpensive variety packs on-line (different colors for different resistance). Try doing safe squats while gripping plates or holding a dumbbell at your chest. JH also suggested single-leg squats; those are killer. Just google any of the many suggestions for pictures and video.

Plank is also fantastic for core work. Give that a try.

I also suggest that you check out http://danblewett.com/. Dan is currently recovering from his 2nd TJ surgery, and is chronicling his recovery. He plays minor league ball, runs a training center, and is a workout fanatic. Lots of cool baseball specific videos there.

If you ever need some encouragement, be sure to post in the Strength & Conditioning forum and I’m sure you’ll get plenty of support.

Baller,
I would throw away your program and start over.
Go to the Eric Cressey website and you can find all you need for free.

Sorryfor the tough love, but I believe its what you need to hear

As I'm learning more and more, I'm shedding the therabands. I am waiting to take a webinar on using kettlebells for shoulder rehabilitation. It's led by Mike Reinold who is an athletic trainer/physical therapist with the Boston Red Sox.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog 19:
As I'm learning more and more, I'm shedding the therabands. ...

Can you elaborate?

cabbagedad, for a long time the thought has been "strengthen the rotator cuff" and we were instructed to use theraband or similar products to complete motions such as internal and external rotations of the shoulder. If you ask a kinesiology professor, they're going to tell you that the rotator cuff is responsible for internal and external rotation of the shoulder. Some muscles do internal rotation and some do external. Great, so why not work those muscles in that fashion?

The role of the rotator cuff in a throwing motion is not to concentrically pull the shoulder either direction. Its job is to stabilize the shoulder and really to prevent excessive motion.

So often do we train to push and pull with our muscles regardless of what their true responsibilities are. Perfect example: abdominal work. What do most people consider an "excellent abdominal exercise?" The crunch. In that movement, you are flexing and extending your trunk and spine over and over and over again. Yes, you may "build those ab muscles" and "get that 6 pack." But you have done NOTHING to functionally strengthen those muscles in a way that when you need them, they are ready to work correctly for you.

More later...