Can anyone recommend a good, online strength training program for baseball players? I'm looking for something video based that can be done at home. Thanks!!!!
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90MPH formula by Dr.Heenan, BRX Performance and Driveline is what I would go with
@2025prospect posted:90MPH formula by Dr.Heenan, BRX Performance and Driveline is what I would go with
Thanks! Are those programs just for pitchers? I'm looking for a position player, and more comprehensive than just throwing harder. Thanks again!
@playhard314 posted:Thanks! Are those programs just for pitchers? I'm looking for a position player, and more comprehensive than just throwing harder. Thanks again!
No, they’re for position players too. Check them out on Instagram and Twitter, all three have good results.
Cressey has virtual options as well.
Tread athletics has a program. My son is a catcher.
@22and25 posted:Cressey has virtual options as well.
I was looking on his website and couldn't find anything other than his books and what looked like 3 hours of video recordings. Do you mean he has something other than that?
@playhard314 posted:Thanks! Are those programs just for pitchers? I'm looking for a position player, and more comprehensive than just throwing harder. Thanks again!
RipkenFan son is using their program during the off-season. He actually goes the the facility locally (Advanced Therapy and Performance ), so he's not on a remote program. Son is a position player (Middle Infield). Great results so far. He has become stronger, hitting for more power, while maintaining his foot speed.
@playhard314 posted:I was looking on his website and couldn't find anything other than his books and what looked like 3 hours of video recordings. Do you mean he has something other than that?
Yes, a large percent of their business is remote athlete training. Traditionally they start with an in person assessment and a couple of days of in person training to get going. You leave with a program and links to the video library for all of the movements in the program. Each month you get updated (progressive) new programming. Since COVID they have waived the in person assessments. Best to call one of the locations and talk live with them.
You also need to ask whether he needs supervision with the movements.
If he already has good technique for the lifts he could just as well download a freely available program.
However if he is not skilled he at least regularly needs to send video to make sure he is not hurting himself.
An individualized program based on a screening for strengths and weaknesses is nice but he still can do the lifts wrong, especially under higher loads.
Thus most younger players will need a person who supervises the lifts regularly (video might work).
is Dr Heenan legit? I've seen a ton of his posts and things on social media and I like what he posts about building your body to be ready to perform (throw 90 is his bench mark) but i'm not a biomechanics expert so I don't know how valid his ideas are.
I find his content sound and my son did a short stint of remote training with them (~6 weeks) until he joined his HS track & field shotput team and it forced him to another lifting program. I personally believe all remote programs will improve metrics if the player fully commits to it. My son is pretty good but like most teenagers he needed to be spot checked for performing the lifts correctly and that may be difficult for parents. I must mention the proper nutrition and sleep component and maintaining school excellence. Also with Heenan, he has not published his 90mph formula yet and not fully disclosed the studies to his claims, so it is anecdotal however I do find it reasonable.
@2022NYC posted:I find his content sound and my son did a short stint of remote training with them (~6 weeks) until he joined his HS track & field shotput team and it forced him to another lifting program. I personally believe all remote programs will improve metrics if the player fully commits to it. My son is pretty good but like most teenagers he needed to be spot checked for performing the lifts correctly and that may be difficult for parents. I must mention the proper nutrition and sleep component and maintaining school excellence. Also with Heenan, he has not published his 90mph formula yet and not fully disclosed the studies to his claims, so it is anecdotal however I do find it reasonable.
that's the part that makes me hesitant. as an ex athlete/somewhat informed parent, his ideas sound good but as a scientist by trade, I'm looking for that final validation to fully buy in.
There are plenty of quality programs available using sound exercise science with a track record of results. Waiting for the next internet guru to discover the fountain of velo is a pipe dream. Not everyone who deadlifts 2.5x their body weight can throw 90 and everyone throwing 90 can’t deadlift 2.5x their body weight.
Training the body to throw as close to one’s genetic potential as possible boils down to a few key elements. Strength, mobility and movement patterns tailored to an individuals physiology. Some guys are twitchy, some guys are stretchy and some guys are brutes. Find out which one you are and train with a program tailored to you.
@22and25 posted:There are plenty of quality programs available using sound exercise science with a track record of results. Waiting for the next internet guru to discover the fountain of velo is a pipe dream. Not everyone who deadlifts 2.5x their body weight can throw 90 and everyone throwing 90 can’t deadlift 2.5x their body weight.
Training the body to throw as close to one’s genetic potential as possible boils down to a few key elements. Strength, mobility and movement patterns tailored to an individuals physiology. Some guys are twitchy, some guys are stretchy and some guys are brutes. Find out which one you are and train with a program tailored to you.
this is the part that got me interested, actually. if I read it right, he's saying that you can throw "90" if you can't hit the metrics and that you can hit the metrics and not be able to throw "90", but that hitting the metrics prepares your body to throw that number safely. I like that he takes this approach (on the face of it, at least) and stresses building the machine over making the machine work beyond its capabilities.
@mattys posted:this is the part that got me interested, actually. if I read it right, he's saying that you can throw "90" if you can't hit the metrics and that you can hit the metrics and not be able to throw "90", but that hitting the metrics prepares your body to throw that number safely. I like that he takes this approach (on the face of it, at least) and stresses building the machine over making the machine work beyond its capabilities.
The problem with this line of thinking is that it assumes every machine is the same....aka cookie cutter approach. Randy Johnson and Marcus Stroman don’t throw the same way, place different demands on their bodies and have different training needs.
He does state you need mechanical efficiency. The physical metrics will provide the force needed. I've seen enough <170lb who can sling 90+ but can't do a 250lb pull up or a 200 lb pull up. They do have efficient mechanics
@mattys posted:is Dr Heenan legit? I've seen a ton of his posts and things on social media and I like what he posts about building your body to be ready to perform (throw 90 is his bench mark) but i'm not a biomechanics expert so I don't know how valid his ideas are.
Great question.
Like a lot of people on social media he puts out some good information that can help people. Only problem is, there's also a lot of bullshit that goes with it. For example, a recent post of his on insta about recovery says one should improve diet, prioritize sleep, and limit alcohol. All good advice. However, while the 90MPH thing he touts sounds great. It's not as perfect as that. Saying things like if you don't reverse lunge 1.5bw your likelihood of having UCL surgery has increased by 98% has no published data behind it. In fact we don't have a lot of metrics in the sport world that says, "IF you squat 2x bw you won't have x injury!" because injury is multifactorial.
If you're familiar with hurricanes, you know there's a lot of things that will be studied from the genesis to being a full-blown hurricane, and along the entire way they're constantly looking at surface temperatures, wind speed, wind direction, and many other things because these will influence how strong or how weak it will get, and the direction it goes in. The same can be said about injury. Say XFactor develops shoulder pain after an outing on 1/22. Perhaps instead of given a normal time to warm up, XFactor had to rush. Maybe XFactor hasn't been sleeping well lately, maybe XFactor bf or gf broke up recently, or maybe grades just came back and XFactor is worried about that. Maybe XFactor did a few extra sets than normal the day before in the gym because they were feeling really good that day, then XFactor decided to stay out extra late before the game. Maybe all of those things happened, maybe none, maybe some. That is not an exhaustive list by any means. The point being is that each may influence the probability of shoulder pain on that specific 1/22 outing. It's possible half of those things didn't happen, and no pain developed after that 1/22 outing. This would be non-linear dynamic systems theory.
So when you read the above it can suddenly become clear that if you can reverse lunge 1.5bw and 2x deadlift and 13 bw chin ups you'll reduce your injury by 562952845% is not as cut and dry as it is made to believe.
Should you get strong if you're playing sports, such as baseball, and you're a pitcher? Absolutely. You should be ready for the demands of the sport. Strength, power, speed, tissue capacity, being built up in the weight room and not neglecting throwing intensity and volume. Should people work single leg exercises such as lunges? Absolutely. But it's not the end-all-be-all.