Baseball Specific Training - Part 3

RT Staff Note: Today and next Wednesday and continuing for the next month or so, Jon Doyle,owner of Baseball Training Secrets, will contribute an article on pre-season and in-season Strength and Conditioning, as well as nutrition and supplements. Part one of this series ran last Friday...Enjoy Jons contribution to Rounding Third.

By Jon Doyle

In this 3 part expose, Jon Doyle will reveal the current state of baseball specific training, strength and conditioning information, explain what the baseball player needs and tell you how to get there…

Ok, now that you've learned why most baseball training programs are not designed properly in order to develop the athleticism and skills for drastically improving your game, I will take this time to explain how your workouts need to be structured in order to train optimally and get the results you desire.

The biggest mistake I see in the structure of baseball specific training programs (besides the wrong exercises and emphasis on "strengths") is how there's not a focus on building the complete athlete.

Most programs have a weak warm-up, then go straight into weight training and then throw some "abs" in at the end. That's it. No focus on baseball-specific movement patterns, joint angles or strength, speed and power that will transfer over to the field.

Well that's all about to change after you read these tips on what your baseball workouts need to look like…

1. Warm-up Dynamically with exercises such as hurdles, tumbling, spider lunges and inchworms.

2. Perform some type of active conditioning drills that will not only increase conditioning, but also develop coordination, balance, flexibility and baseball-specific endurance. Some examples of these drills are GPP, weighted GPP and speed ladder work.

3. Now it's time to move on to weight training. Rest time between sets should be very short, even in "strength" building phases. There's no point in sitting around. Force your body to replenish itself quickly and it will adapt. If you sit around for 2-5 minutes between sets you won't become a better athlete and you're probably using too much weight to begin with. There is rarely ever a need for the weight training portion of your workout to last more than 30 minutes. You can easily do 20-24 work sets in this time period.

Your weight training session should consist of large compound movements. We call these "Focus Lifts". Next, you should perform "supplemental Lifts" that focus on the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes and low back) as well as scapular and rotator cuff exercises.

4. Next "core" work should be done. Now this doesn't mean do a bunch of crunches. If you're familiar with my writings you know that crunches do very little for athletic development and core strength. Here is where you should perform movements from Unbreakable Abs and core postural holds such as planks, side planks, tables and bridges.

5. Finally, static stretching is done. Because your muscles are warm and your body temperature is elevated, static stretching is done to increase joint range of motion and facilitate recovery. This is the only time static stretching is effective.

So there you have it. How a world-class baseball specific training program should be structured. By following the above outline you will be able to perform extremely effective and efficient workouts. We get all of this done in just 45-50 minutes!

If you want to take all of the guesswork out of creating a program and have every single exercise, set, repetition, and structure laid out for you in a proven workout, check out my limited release Speed, Strength & Power baseball workout that has been used by my private youth, NCAA and MLB athletes.