Baseball conditioning: It All Begins With The Right Information and Facts
No doubt with the season right around the corner you’re looking to take the field with the optimal baseball conditioning so you can be fast, powerful and stay healthy the entire year. With all the bogus baseball training information being thrown around the Internet like fish in Seattle, I was asked to pen an article that would clear the air once and for all about baseball training.
I’m not going to throw fancy physiology words at you so you think I’m smart. I think we’ve all dealt with science textbooks before and you certainly don’t need me reciting them. So I’ll keep this bad bay simple and to the point. And, when you’re done with this article, you’ll have a plan of attack for your baseball conditioning.
Most people think of steady-state, long distance running when they hear the word conditioning. Whether its 1 mile or more, people seem to think to get in shape they have to go for a job. As promised, I’m not going to pull any punches, so if that’s your idea of conditioning, you’re grossly misinformed.
Baseball players don’t need to run long distances. Now, I’m not saying they don’t need to be in good shape, they do. But when has any baseball player ran for 5 minutes or more without stopping? I’ve never seen it. And if it ever did happen they weren’t playing baseball.
Rather baseball training needs to consist of high bursts of energy followed by lower outputs of energy, or no movement at all. More than any other movement, sprinting needs to be done as part of your baseball training plan. This may seem basic, yet how many kids on their own go down to the track or local ball field and do a set of ten 60 yard sprints? Not many that I know of. So start off by sprinting.
Next, on days you don’t sprint perform some General Physical Preparation, or GPP. This is an amazing (and unbelievably simple) way to get into killer shape and run circle around your opponents. In addition, it requires no equipment, just your bodyweight and can be done virtually anywhere.
Simply do the following 4 exercises for 30 second each without any rest in between: Jumping Jacks, Side to Side Jumps, Burpees and Mountain Climbers. Each "circuit" takes 2 minutes. How many can you do?
baseball fitness is all about effort and desire. It doesn’t take talent or money. It’s simply mind over matter. Now, get off your butt and go do some sprints along with GPP!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention sprints and GPP are anabolic and develop fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are critical to optimal baseball performance. Long distance running actually develops slow-twitch muscle fibers. So it’s your choice what kind of athlete you will morph into over the next few months. The choice is yours!
It’s amazing how the myth that long distance running improve baseball performance simply won’t die. I guarantee the players "in the know" that are sprinting their butts off and mixing in some GPP, don’t mind that everyone is still in the stone age! Especially for coaches dealing with youth baseball training, it’s even more important to adopt the new training knowledge of nowadays.
There you have it: simple, yet effective baseball conditioning baseball conditioning strategies.
Tags: baseball conditioning | baseball training | baseball coaching | baseball coaching | baseball