Volume 22, Number 1

Final Issue - Baseball/Softball We celebrate this final issue with our salute and thanks to Professional Major and Minor League Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches. They have made over 200 contributions to this publication. We also wish to recognize the encouraging support of the Professional Baseball Society Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society (PBSCCS) who became our official partner 15 years ago.  Over the past 22 Great Years we have published 854 articles, almost 25% done by Professional Major and Minor League Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches. How PBSCCS Support Started - A Look Back The thanks goes out to all members of the PBSCCS and their board of directors. Strength and conditioning for professional baseball has gone through many advancements with technology leading the way. I can confidently say this. "Without the PBSCCS's support, this publication would not exist today." Enjoy this issue dedicated to professional baseball strength and conditioning and the PBSCCS. - Ken Kontor, Publisher   Founding Fathers: From Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society Progress Report, Tim Maxey, Volume 7 Number 2 Here is Tim's prospective: "The Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society was establish in 1995 under the direction of our first president, Fernando Montes, the former strength and conditioning coach of the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers. Other founding members who established this organization include Steve Odgers, Tim Lang, Bob Alejo and Dr. Gene Coleman. Without the efforts of these pioneering individuals, PBSCCS would not exist today. To them I’m sincerely grateful for their foresightedness and hard work to get this organization established. My only hope is to be able to build on the foundation these individuals have laid. The following is an update to the readers of Performance Conditioning Baseball/Softball as to where we have been and future directions."   Special Thank you Gift- 2 Insta-kits a $19.95 value FREE Here is what you get: Instant Pitching Performance Kit (Baseball) Multiple Authors • 8 articles This kit will focus on improving your baseball pitching performance and prevent injury. Included are strength/stability training, conditioning and throwing programs all explained in day to day detail. All programs can be done right on the field with minimum equipment for easy administration and cost savings. Also featured are favorite exercises of two of the rising star pitchers in the game today! Includes an index of each article and how you can use it to establish your program.   Article #1: Long Toss Training Progression for Arm Strength Development Article #2: Tubing Routine for Balance and Stability for Pitchers Article #3: Weekly Throwing and Conditioning In-season Program Article #4: In-Season Conditioning for Starting Pitchers with 4 Days Rest Article #5: In-season Simulated Game Conditioning Program for Pitchers Article #6: Improving Finger and Hand Actions for Pitching Article #7: Favorite Exercise of the Stars- Balance Board Pitching Routine Article #8: Favorite Exercise of the Stars- Squat/Power Step up Complex Click HERE to Read Now! Instant Hitting Performance Kit Multiple Authors • 8 articles This kit will focus on improved hitting performance through proper conditioning through the development of position, balance/stability, power and the transfer of these athletic skills to hitting skills. Detailed are how-to exercises to develop your own program. Also presented are concepts in imagery and how to improve vision skills.  Includes an index of each article and how you can use it to establish your program.   Article #1: Science of Hitting- Using the Needs Analysis to Improve Bat Speed Article #2: Improving Bat Speed- Part One Article #3: Improving Bat Speed- Part Two The Power Phase Article #4: Improving Bat Speed- Part Three, Transforming Power to Hitting Skills Article #5: Imagery Training for Pitch Recognition to Improve Batting Performance Article #6: Contact Zone Focus: A New Visual Approach to Successful Hitting  Article #7: Favorite Exercise of the Stars- Pregame core warm-up series Article #8: Favorite Exercise of the Stars- Medicine ball core power series Click HERE to Read Now! This issue provides articles from current and former Professional Major and Minor League Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches. We feature our Fit to a T-7 System of Program Design from our library.  We define conditioning as: Planned, Measured, Progressive Overload, Based on the Rules of the Sport.  Enjoy!

Ken Kontor Publisher

As a young 23 year old sitting in the weight room office of Pirate City in the early morning, just before spring training was about to start, I spotted a yellow paper that said Performance Conditioning (Baseball/Softball) on it. I was a new strength coach. I was a new strength coach that knew nothing about S&C, but loved baseball. All of the information that I had just studied at my college was great...but none of it was about baseball. Spotting that folded up yellow piece of paper could have been one of the most important aspects of my growth in my career as a strength coach. Month after month an envelope would show up at Pirate City with 10 separate sheets for our staff. Month after month I read every articles top to bottom and every sheet front to back. Gene Coleman, Jose Vaszuez, Matt Krause, Tim Maxey, Frank Velasquez and many others were in every article, and it gave me hope to one day be a Major League Strength Coach. It also gave me a ton of insight into the principles and methods of some of the greatest strength coaches of our game, well before I was fortunate enough to work with them through the PBSCCS.   I personally will miss reading the monthly articles. More importantly, all of us at the PBSCCS are very grateful for all of the work that Ken and his group have put in over the years to provide some of the best S&C knowledge in the game of baseball to all of our former, current and future members. All the best in retirement Ken! We thank you for all of your work and efforts.     Brandon McDaniel President, PBSCCS

What is “Fit to a T”? No two conditioning programs are alike. If something "fits to a T" then it's perfect for your purpose and no one else. We have come up with a 7-T system to fit you to your T to get your athletes fit to perform at their best.  T1 Training Age/History This T is to avoid doing too much or the wrong thing. All too often advanced programs are prescribed to young, developing athletes.  All information presented is assigned a training age beginning, intermediate and advanced. Training history is the summary of training age experience.  Also history should include injuries and the response to rehabilitation.    T2 Time Time has two factors: A. Time of year B. Time available on a daily basis.  Start with a calendar and mark your off-season, pre-season, in-seasons. Be sure to include and how much time you can devote to conditioning.  T3 Tools The type of equipment you have to condition with is unique. It will determine if you use a weight room, the diamond or a combination of the two.  T4 Teaching The exercises you select must be taught using perfect technique whether you teach it or have outside assistance.  T5 Testing Find out where your athletes are at and what they need to develop. T6 Total Workload Determine your Total Workload to insure your athletes develop in a progressive fashion with adequate recovery by controlling practice/competition work with conditioning work.              T7 Team Position The training needs of a catcher are different than the pitcher. The basic strength/power program is basically the same for all positions but variance occurs in movement patterns and the conditioning demands.

Total Workload  Misunderstanding of Training for Power in Baseball/Softball, Bob Alejo   Before Doing Power Training: Must Knows The first and most important point is that the athlete has to be strong. Only this way can s/he reap the benefits of power training. Get athletes strong enough to gain the benefits of power training without the risk of injury. A Strength base training allows athletes to endure or have durability.   Also-Bob Alejo defines the concepts of maximum, heavy strength training and determining protocol   Click HERE to Read Now!

Time Off-Season Strength & Conditioning Overview of the Professional Baseball Player, Brian Jordan Learn the 4 Phases of Off-season Phase 1-Hypertrophy/Mobility - October 28th-November 26th (4 weeks & 2 days) Weekends off Focus/Purpose: Beginning workouts/higher volume/short recovery. Only 2-3 times a week. Thanksgiving Break - Nov. 27th-Dec. 1st Focus/Purpose: Allow the body to catch-up and the mind to shift to the next stage of off-season development. Phase 2-Strength - December 2nd-December 24th (3 weeks & 2 days) Weekends off Focus/Purpose: The hardest strength development phase. Trying to increase weights of exercises each week with reps dropping lower and rest times increasing in order to apply more tension. Holiday Break - Dec. 25th-Jan. 1st Focus/Purpose: Let the body catch-up again from a hard training block before shifting to increases in skill and power development. Phase 3-Power/Specific Sport Conditioning Development - Jan. 2nd-Jan.24th (3 weeks 2 days) Weekends off Focus/Purpose: Power & Sport Specific Conditioning and Development Phase. Taking the force generation increases and applying it now to increase power. Phase 4-Spring Training Transition - Jan. 27th-Feb. 7th (2 weeks and weekends not off) Focus/Purpose: Spring Training Transition Phase. Introducing workouts that will be done during Spring Train­ing while maintaining strength and increasing skill and conditioning. Break/Transition Phase - Feb. 8th-Spring Training Report Focus/Purpose: This is an individual balance of mental and physical break before the start while still prepar­ing. Click HERE to Read Now!

Tools Pirates Junk Yard Training for Baseball/Softball, Frank Velasquez, Major League Conditioning Coordinator, Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club   I first got the idea of using Kettle bells, sledge hammers, tire flips, Battle ropes and the Tabata interval system from some of my colleagues while I was visiting them at their facilities. After asking questions and picking their brains I decided after the 2010 season to come up with a fresh approach to conditioning our players and taking our winter program to the next level. Who Is This For? Before purchasing junk yard equipment, there are some things to consider. First, I believe that coaches should teach their athletes how to move and how to train movement. This includes skipping, shuffling, back pedaling, bear crawling, squatting, lunging, jumping and sprinting; all body weight exercises and progressing to selectorized machines, then to dumbbells and barbells to build strength and stability. Then it’s time to introduce the junk yard activities. In my opinion this type of training is very advanced, at least the way we do it. Even on the collegiate level it’s very important to have a strength and conditioning coach schooled in these methods to teach it.   Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload The Durability Triangle: Building Baseball/Softball Player Long-Term Durability, Frank Velasquez, Major League Conditioning Coordinator, Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club In professional baseball the role of strength and conditioning coach shifts the day spring training starts from a strength coach to a recovery coach. The objective is not only to keep the players strong, durable and on the field but also to help maintain their biomechanics so that performance doesn’t diminish. Learn - The Durability Triangle for Baseball/Softball The foundation is: Skeletal alignment (posture) Athleticism (movement) Flexibility (in the right places) Anaerobic fitness Core stability Wellness (nutrition/hydration/rest) Vision The next level of the Triangle is Strength Training and at the top is the Sport-Specific Skill work.   Click HERE to Read Now!

Training Age & Time Strength Training for Baseball In-Season High School Program, Joey Greany, MS, CSCS, RSCC, PES; Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Kansas City Royals Learn: It is well documented that today's young baseball players specialize in only one sport (baseball) from an early age. Gone are the days of mutli-sport play and the opportunity to develop athleticism from the demands of these various sports. Sports, such as soccer and basketball, provide opportunities for deceleration movement, something that is important in developing young athletes, but is missing from baseball. Approach: We want our guys to become strong and powerful. In order to do this, they must be able to generate a great amount of force into the ground; this is a basic principle of strength training. We train for max strength in lifts, such as the dead lift; the ability to pull a heavy weight off the ground. Then, we do plyometric-type speed training. This combination of heavy lifting (strength) and plyos (explosive movement) gives us an overall, powerful athlete.  High School In-Season Program Here are two training days for the high school baseball player. They are simple, yet intense and efficient workouts can be done before or after school, before practices or games, or with practices. Coaches must create good relationships and trust with the players so they can do the program in a quality setting. This is done a step at a time - not all at once. The most important thing is to get comfortable with the movement before increasing the load. It is all done on an individual basis, working with one player at their own pace and trust level.  Selected How-to Exercise Techniques-Provided Click HERE to Read Now!

Tools Low Rep Cable Core Exercises for Baseball, Allen Thomas, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Chicago White Sox  Learn: The program presented is based on our three-phased periodization: strength phase, power phase and endurance phase.  Cable Core Progression Strength Phase Program The athlete warms up first. Exercise 1: High-Low Chop Exercise 2: Neutrals Rotations Exercise 3: Opposite Chop Exercise 4: Neutral Chop Exercise 5: Neutral Half Rotations Exercise 6: Low Neutral-to-High Chop Exercise 7: Stabilization Walk Outs Click HERE to Read Now!

Time & Team Position In-season Conditioning Template for the Relief Pitchers, John Rewolinski Learn:  The in-season program is based on several principles that I developed. These principles are based on short duration, sport specific movements that work opposing muscles at controlled speed rather than ballistic explosive work. The core and torso receive special attention. The major league baseball season is long in duration with keeping the player on the field and healthy a top priority.  This template can be modified for the collegiate or high school player.   Principles: A. Specificity of movement B. Antagonist contractions during in-season C. Angles and tension at controlled speed D. Brief, consistent, specific workouts E. Core/Torso strength program with variation Presented in Detail: 5-DAY CONDITIONING PRGRAM FOR STARTING PITCHERS with Exercises Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Overtraining in Baseball, Brian Grapes Learn:  One of the advantages of playing collegiate baseball is that the players get Monday and Thursday off. Monday off is a good lift day for the players. This luxury is not found in professional baseball. At the major league level there may be a period of 14 days before a day off. The field players are expected to play at a high level everyday. Because of this players need to know and understand their bodies and what they are going through. In baseball we have what is called the maintenance phase. But this is a misconception when it comes to strength training. The idea is always to gain strength. Whether the load lifted is going up or not the players are still gaining strength because the real goal is to stay strong for the whole season. Considerations: Making Gains in the Season: The Constant Overload System As the season progresses, the players, especially position players, are faced with a constant overload situation. The body needs time to recover to repair muscles. Working with Overachievers There are players who you have to kick out of the weight room. They want to do more for fear of losing strength. The approach we use is to look at the situation in terms of total volume. Season Adjustments The off-season is the time when most of the “traditional” strength and conditioning program takes place. At this time baseball skills play only a small part of the entire training process, so the focus is strength and conditioning development. When spring training rolls around the focus shifts almost exclusively to baseball skills, which is the start of overtraining. Injury Prevention The final aspect of avoiding overtraining is to make sure that injury is taken out of the training equation. Research has shown that a well-trained muscle is one that is resistant to injury. If a muscle is well trained and in balance it will be able to handle stress better and avoid injury; however, injury is part of the game. Click HERE to Read Now!

Time Getting Back Baseball Legs – the Transition from Off-Season Training, Joe Kessler Learn:  We have a basic philosophy, to create an environment of movement efficiency by addressing movement pattern deficiency. This all starts in spring training. We want to get the player’s baseball legs underneath him. It is a priority while “re-integrating” strength and conditioning into their daily routine. Presented: Coming From Off-Season Training            When players arrive in the spring they came from an off-season of heavy and extensive training. The volume of strength and conditioning work must compliment their baseball work until they can reorient themselves to the routine of baseball or get their baseball legs back under them.   Program considerations—the all-important first ten days            We treat position players different than pitchers. This is especially true in the first ten days. We get the jump on pitchers and catchers because they report earlier.  The Role of Good Communications and Asking Questions            We work closely with our training staff during this process. When a player has general soreness or fatigue, it becomes a discussion. It is a planned process not only with trainers. but also with position coaches and baseball staff.  Working it into Baseball            It is important and we are fortunate in the fact that we work closely with the position player baseball staff in this process. We are always very aware of managing fatigue as a strength and conditioning staff.   Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Applying Basis Strength and Conditioning Principles to a League Professional Baseball, Dax Fiore Learn: Based on my strength and conditioning principles I start with a focused attack on building the player from the inside out. I believe that building a strong and stable core is essential in a sport where a large amount of success is based on rotational force that can be created and decelerated in a safe and repetitive manner. Based on this belief I aim to train the Core up 5-6 days a week in some manner be it an endurance, plyometric, strength, or flexibility movement. Usually it’s a combination of all four.       Presented: Bring It Together—Teaching and Motivating   Since Baseball is a global game and players arrive with many different conditioning backgrounds. It is essential from an organizational standpoint that we get everyone on the same page with our conditioning program and its approach to player development.   Building-Ground Up- Inside Out   My team this year will play 141 games in 150 days. This is in addition to batting practice, infield-outfield work, bull-pens sessions, base running drills, the preventative maintenance they do in the training room and their strength and conditioning program.  Click HERE to Read Now!

Time In-Season Simulated Base Running Drills, Gene Coleman, Ed. D.   Presented:  Speed, especially speed on the bases, is one of the five tools that scouts, coaches and management look for when evaluating talent, but how do you work on it once the season starts.   Learn: Timed 10-yard starts.  30-yard sprints. Curve runs (1B to 3B). Curve runs (Home to 2B). Get Back (Pick off at 1B).     Pick off at 1B – Over Throw (1B to 2B). Pick off at 1B – Run Down (1B to 2B Get up and Run to 2B. Head First Slide into 2B, Get up and Run to 3B. Feet First Slide into 2B, Get up and Run to 3B.   Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching The Carry: An Underutilized Effective Exercise for Rotational Athletes, Cory Ritter   Learn: Strength coaches hear it from players all the time. “What can I do to get abs?” “What should I do for my core?”            While the actual answer is both nutrition and exercise related, the player typically puts all their effort into various abdominal exercises done in circuit fashion. And although we have tried our best to remove the crunch from our programs, it still remains a “go-to” exercise when players catch the bug and want to do extra core work. With all the research available and work done by people like Stuart McGill, we need a better alternative when the question is asked. We need an exercise more efficient, more effective and possible to do in all situations.   Presented: Why It Fits in Baseball The loaded carry can be such a great tool for rotational athletes because it allows you to train a fundamental movement while stabilizing the midsection. When you have an opportunity to train shoulder and hip stability while performing a fundamental movement of life. Farmers Walks – 2 dumbbells/2 kettlebells/2 sandbags Suitcase Carry – 1 dumbbell/1 kettlebell/1 sandbag (one side only).  Offset Farmer Walk – 2 dumbbells of different weights or 2 kettlebells of different weight Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload The Importance of Muscle Development in Baseball, Chris Joyner   Questions Asked: Why is muscle important to baseball performance? What about build mass that is usually associated with building strength? Is it realistic to expect muscle maintenance, let alone development, during the season? What are the challenges? What are some indicators that the fine line has been crossed? T1 Training Age – How does what you do change from young rookies to seasoned veterans? What changes or adaptations must you make? T2 Time – How do you fit it, in and what are the time limitations? How does what you do with muscle-building in-season transition into the off-season? T3 Tools – Does being on the road create any equipment challenges? T4 Teaching – What exercises gives you your biggest "bang for the buck?” T5 Testing – How do you eyeball the athlete and adjust the program accordingly? T6 Total Workload – What are your loading, sets and reps strategies? Do you do split routine or total body? How does recovery work in? T7 Team Position – What are the considerations for pitchers as opposed to field players? Is there anything you want to add? What is a pitcher attitude toward building muscle? Click HERE to Read Now!

Time & Teaching Pre-game Movement Prep, Nate Shaw Learn: Baseball is incredibly complex and training for it is like training for a decathlon. Fatigue is difficult to predict, there are many options for warming up, over-doing it is a common risk and there is an immense variety of ideas and techniques that can be successful. Recovery and efficiency are high value targets. Experienced coaches know when to push and when to back off and are able to understand proper function better because they have observed more dysfunction. Whatever a coach decides to do, he needs to insure that there is proper rationale to back it up. The warm up/general prep concepts mentioned here make a great place to start. Presented: With our movement prep, we set out to accomplish three things: facilitate the glutes reposition the ribcage facilitate the diaphragm. Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Arm/Shoulder/Elbow Health and Injury Prevention - A Strength and Conditioning Coach's Perspective, Carl Kochan Questions Answered: Strength and conditioning involves the integration, not isolation, of the muscles of the body to achieve improved performance and prevent injury. How does this integration work in arm injury prevention for the pitcher, more specifically, avoiding UCL tears? From a strength and conditioning perspective, what do you feel contributes to an UCL injury in young players? These are excellent holistic considerations. It starts with mechanics, which is the pitching coach’s domain. How do you see the strength coach interacting and communicating with the pitching coach to prevent injury? Let's talk about the role of good posture and avoiding muscle compensation that result from poor posture and muscle function. How do you see the relationship of good posture and good pitching mechanics and where do you start? Let's talk about volume of pitching, implementing a strength and conditioning program and their relationship. How does it fit? Let's talk about what we call T-6 Total Work Load, which combines all activity on the field, in the gym and other sports, private lessons and training. What are the considerations here? What would be basic exercises you would select for young athletes, and how do they fit in? This is T-1 Training Age in our "Fit-to-a-T" program design model. Let's talk about our T-2 Time. How would you fit these in based on a periodization model, annual to weekly? How can the parent have the confidence that their child is doing the exercise right and that it is taught correctly, T-4 Teaching of our "Fit-to-a-T" program design model? This means that the exercises are done correctly when they are loaded. How do these exercises fit into T-6 Total Work Load, and how can more advanced exercises be introduced as the athlete matures? Click HERE to Read Now!

Training Age Lesson For Youth Baseball: Introducing Young Players to Strength Training, Rachel Balkovec   Questions Answered: What is your overview to introducing young high school players to strength training? Let's talk about the mentality of loading. For the male baseball player, weight training is a “macho” activity. Adding load is one of the biggest reasons for technique breakdown in the weight room, which can eventually cause injury. How do you approach this issue? I believe in the percentile of improvement, not how much as been done. A people may vertically jump 40 inches and get rewarded as being the best. Or you can reward percentage of improvement—10%, for example. The reward goes to the 10% improvement, not the 40” max. What is your opinion of this method? I would like to follow up on something you said in a previous article. Many athletes coming into the major league farm system lack basic movement skills. These individuals are not allowed to strength train until they are proficient at movement skill, then they can come into the weight room, start lifting, and learn proper exercise techniques before they begin to load. How do you handle a kid with this approach? How do you deal with selling strength training, but doing it correctly? When should I start strength training a young athlete? Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Baseball/Softball Conditioning—The 100% Intensity Solution, Bob Alejo Learn: “Fatigue is volume based not intensity based.” To start a discussion on conditioning for baseball/softball it’s important to understand conditioning. For pro baseball and 200 games between March 1st and October 31st (potentially) is a lot different than a high school baseball/softball schedule which has 18 to 20 games during a school year and maybe 30-50 games during the summer. Baseball/softball are not considered metabolic sports so the question becomes what is the role or importance of conditioning? Presented: Intensity and Injury Prevention In my many years in baseball one of the things that I’m convinced of is that players train enough (volume) but not hard enough (intensity). This holds true not only for conditioning on the field but in the weight room as well and also on bikes and other apparatus.   Sprinting and Striding Each of these activities is done at 100 percent but the speed of the stride is only 75 to 80 percent. The reason for this difference is that the stride is an elongated sprint stride even though total effort is there. Overextension of the stride dictates that maximum speed cannot be reached.  Recovery from High Intensity Training Many coaches feel that by going at full speed in training may make the players tired for the game or may lead to some form of overtraining, especially considering the volume of games played at the MLB level. A good balance of intensity and recovery is something I’ve learned through experience of almost 30 years conditioning athletes.  Program Considerations A typical program might be one intense day with a day off conditioning every other day.  Strength Training Considerations The key here is individualization of the workout and again, low volume. We don’t do conditioning and strength training back to back.  Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching Olympic Lift Movements for Baseball: A Basic Overview of Considerations and Variations for Baseball Performance, Lauren Green   Learn: What are Olympic Lifts? What is The Sport of Weight Lifting? In recent years, a lot of attention has been called to the sport of weightlifting and its practice as a tool for sports performance enhancement. Although the sport of weightlifting has been around over a century, its use as a sports performance training modality is relatively new and still debated among sports performance professionals. In my opinion, the debate over Olympic lifts lies within its risk-reward ratio not its ability to improve specific athletic qualities. There is a large amount of research that shows measurable improvements in performance qualities from Olympic lifts, such as: countermovement jump height, max force output, rate of force development, muscle activation sequencing (coordination). In this article I am going to discuss some of the known adaptations from Olympic lifts and their variations, and how they can be used to improve on-field baseball performance.   Presented: What are the Benefits Considerations for the Youth & Amateur Athlete Biomechanical/Anatomical Limitations of Baseball 6 Stages of Progressing Your Athlete Variations to Benefit and Maximize Baseball Performance Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching & Total Workload Training for Speed in the Absence of Speed: The Four Block System of Speed Training Progression for Baseball, Rance Terry   Learn: We have a four-block progression. The first progression is build-ups, the second is acceleration, the third is ins and outs or gears, and the fourth is flying sprints. Each block is about three to four weeks, depending on the athlete’s level—we have 18- to 24-year-olds in baseball who we separate into groups. The program takes about 20 minutes for an entire team. The big thing we want our athletes to do is relax while running to the point that their cheeks completely bounce.   Presented: Progression Block One: Build Ups Progression Block Two: Accelerations Progression Block Three: Ins and Outs or Gears Progression Block Four: Flying Sprints Seasonal Considerations High School Setting Fitting in Strength Training Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching Developing First Step Quickness and Short Acceleration for Base running and Field Play, Steve Odgers   Learn: This article outlines the steps to developing first step quickness and short acceleration for baseball and softball. The key areas to develop are fundamental movement skills, reaction, speed acceleration skills, strength and conditioning. I will outline training progressions in each of these categories and integrate them into a training plan.   Developing sound fundamental movement skill is a key component to developing first step quickness. The coach must teach good starting positions for both defensive and offensive first step movements of the game.   Presented: Acceleration Warm-up Agility Warm-up Speed Acceleration Drills   Training Progressions Reaction Start Lateral Speed and Agility Fundamental Movement Skills Recommended Lower Extremity Strength Exercises Sample Training Plan Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching Beginning Baseball Balance, Tim Bishop, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Baltimore Orioles   Learn:  Balance is an essential and often overlooked aspect (especially in pitching) in the conditioning of baseball as well as softball players. Balance is important for another reason for baseball players. Baseball is a one side dominant sport. A player throws right-handed and swings from the right side—this is a right side dominant player. However, to be a better player, one less susceptible to injury, balance needs to be developed left to right, front to back, and right/left rotational. Injury situations can occur if a player continually overloads one side of the body while neglecting the other.   Presented: Balance in Hitting Balance Progression Beginning Balance Program-No Movement Menu of Exercises More Advanced Adding Movement Introducing the Plyo Ladder Instruction for Patterns Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Anticipating Strength Conditioning Challenges of the World Baseball Classic, Jeff Mangold   Presented: Gene Monahan, the long-time Yankees athletic trainer, asked me if I would be interested in being involved in the upcoming 2013 World Baseball Classic. The manager, Joe Torre, asked Gene to put together a sports medicine staff and he thought of me for the strength and conditioning coaching job. This is an honor and challenge for me. The challenge is that for the first time in the history of WBC, there will be a strength and conditioning coach for the United States team.    Learn:  Preparation Challenges The first issue that I face is the strength and conditioning modalities I will have at my disposal.   Getting Everyone on the Same Page The next challenge is bringing in players from 16 different teams.    Program Considerations        My goal is to do strength and conditioning after skill work three times a week, doing a full-body workout. There is no time to do a split routine, which is the norm for MLB players in-season.    Program Basics We do a total body workout for the position player. The basics are a major leg movement followed by a supplemental leg movement (a barbell squat, lunge, leg press or step ups follow by a supplemental activity such as a Romanian Dead Lift or hamstring leg curl).  Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching The Range of Motion and Length/Tension Relationship: A New Way to Look at Flexibility and Dysfunction in Baseball and Softball Athletes, Nate Shaw, ATC, CSCS   Learn: The term flexibility is vastly misunderstood in sports. In the past the term flexibility was a catchall term to identify the way a person could move based on a specific sport.   Flexibility conjures up all different types of concepts and ideas. For example, it is generally accepted that if one can touch his toes, he is flexible; however, what does this really mean? The athlete’s hamstrings might be flexible if he can touch his toes, when in fact the athlete might have a tight hamstrings and a tremendously flexible lumbar region. For baseball and softball, a program’s focus is on the length/tension relationship and how the agonist and antagonist interact, which is much more important than how “flexible” or “inflexible” a player is. Muscles cross joints and have a specific action they perform.   Presented: Key Length/Tension Relationships In baseball and softball the shoulder is the most critical joint and one that players can do a lot to damage it, or do a lot to strengthen and make the area injury resilient. Course of Action Based on Right Arm/Left Arm Internal/External Range of Motion It is relatively easy to make a course of action when comparing bilateral range of motion. Motion will either be the same, or motion will be less.   Length/Tension Relationships in the Hips Our population does not escape with only one major hot spot for injury. In spring training I screen all of our athletes for length tension discrepancies.  Dysfunction Beyond Length/Tension Relationships The body can respond to dysfunction in many ways and dysfunction can be manifested in many different ways in the sports of baseball and softball. It could be bad nutrition, excessive travel, overload by playing/training everyday, not enough sleep, etc. Program Considerations In writing exercise prescriptions and training plans one must be sure to understand volume and recovery. This year we had a rainout so we played a double header and then five games in a row, that’s six games in five days. The question became what can I do to help these athletes in a weight room?  Click HERE to Read Now!

Training Age The Coordinated Conditioning of the Latin American Baseball Player- Developing the Intangibles Through Strength and Conditioning, Rachel Balkovec Questions Answered: What are your responsibilities of this position as the Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator for the Houston Astros?  What is the geographic make-up of the three teams?  What is the first step you will take in organizing the program?  Expand on your personal coaching philosophy. How do intangible coaching principles relate to the physical side of strength and conditioning?  What else do you focus on with the young athletes?  Talk about your role as coordinator and getting everyone on the same page. How do you accomplish this?  How do you create buy-in with the strength coaches? Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching Lean and Clean: A Long-Term, Comprehensive Approach to Developing Young Baseball Players-Leg Circuit, Brian Grapes   Learn: Leg Circuit For young baseball athletes, heavy loading is a concern especially in the lower body area. Joints, tendons and ligaments need to be fully developed before maximum loading is introduced with performance of the barbell back squat. Leg strength is vital for young developing players and this is why I recommend a leg circuit in lieu of heavy squats for this age group. The leg circuit possesses a great deal of versatility. Besides strength development it works multiple directions, which is baseball specific. With the addition of a weighted vest, overload can be added safely. Presented: a sample six week program BACK LUNGE STEP-UPCROSSOVER LUNGE FRONT BOX JUMPS FRONT LUNGE ONE FOOT FRONT BACK HOP ONE FOOT SIDE-TO-SIDE HOP POWER SIDE BOX STEP-UP PRISONER SQUAT REPLACEMENTS SIDE BOX HOP SIDE SKATER SPLIT JUMP SIDE LUNGE TWO FEET SIDE-TO-SIDE HOP TWO FEET FRONT-BACK HOP TUCK JUMP Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching Lean and Clean: The Long-Term, Comprehensive Approach to Developing Young Baseball Players- Core Control: Where it all Begins, Frank Velasquez   Learn: For young athletes to establish sound conditioning practices for the long term it’s important to understand some basic concepts that are practiced at the professional level. One of the basic principles of conditioning is that in a power sport such as baseball, force is generated from the ground up. As a result, training starts with the legs and core then to the extremities. As a conditioning coach for baseball, our areas of focus are sound nutrition and hydration practices plus a good base of flexibility. Other things we emphasize as well are safety and creating a safe environment in which to train. Presented: Downloading Professional Baseball Conditioning Principles to Young Players For young baseball players conditioning becomes a matter of priorities. As the saying goes, “you can’t build an engine on a cracked block.” For us, the block is the area between the thighs and ribs. Anatomically, this is the transversus abdominis, multifidus or the core and inner muscles of the core. Most people equate the core with the muscle you can see, mainly the rectus abdominis and obliques; however, it’s really the muscles you can’t see—the ones that attach to the lumbar spine and hips is our engine block. The block must be sound and steady before we build on top of it. Starting at the Base Core Control Strength Exercises Beyond Core Control Strength Baseball Movement Exercises Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching The High Performance Model in Baseball and the Structure of the Toronto Blue Jays, Chris Joyner Questions Answered: Can you tell us how this model works in the Blue Jay organization? What is the role of the strength coach? In many instances, the strength coach is the person who spends the most time with the athlete. So how is recovery handled in this model because it is such an important part of professional baseball? What is your relationship with the director? Do you do anything with measuring the total workload? Strength and conditioning coaches today face varying degrees of data collection and interpretation; it can be overwhelming. The activity level in baseball can vary, so is technology a good way to measure baseball workload? What dictates progress? How do you adjust for the HRV based on all the factors and variables? How do you sell this to the athletes, and how do you gain feedback? Every athlete recovers at their own rate; it is the principle of individualization. How do you manage this over time? How long does it take to get meaningful evidence-based data on an individual? Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Parental Roles and Responsibilities in Managing Total Workload and Finding the Right Strength Coach, Sean Marohn   Learn: In the past we have heard from Sean about the role of strength and conditioning coaching in young players’ development into the professional ranks. But do parents know where to find a good strength coach? Do they know what questions to ask?   As a parent, Sean knows the importance of protecting our children and providing them with the best we can offer. If our child has a certain skill set, we want to give them all available resources. The strength coach is a resource most parents do not know anything about. The parents who Sean talks to do not hire individuals who are educated in the abilities and skills that can move their child from amateur to professional status. Sean always gets asked, "Where do I go?" Here is his take on this important issue.   Questions Answered: You mentioned that you separate parents from their kids at strength and conditioning clinics that you put on to allow 30 minutes for the parents to ask you questions. Can you share some of these questions?  How can you instruct the parent to talk to the baseball coach about this? Is this appropriate, even though the parent has the ultimate control?  I have learned that baseball periodization is done on the fly. The most important question the strength coach asks the athlete is how they feel every day. How can the parent turn to the strength coach to mediate all this with the log you just mentioned?  Let's talk about finding reliable resources for the parent to find the right strength coach to fit their needs. That strength coach is an athletic development coach who enhances baseball skills. Since you mentioned in our earlier conversation a network of baseball strength coaches, how can this network take shape to help the parent?  A parent goes into a gym and meets a potential strength coach. What questions should they ask? Should you ask them about their willingness to communicate with the baseball coach?  Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Physical Factors That Can Influence Player Development, Gene Coleman   Learn: Research indicates that professional baseball players experience an increase in body weight, % body fat, lean body weight, power (vertical jump), strength (grip strength), speed (10-yard time) and lateral speed and agility (pro-agility run) from Rookie ball until they arrive at the Major League level. Some of these improvements are the result of maturation, others, especially the measures of physical ability are also influenced by training. An important goal of player development should be to continue to subject each player to comprehensive conditioning and sports nutrition programs that will ensure that he makes consistent and appropriate improvements above those expected as a result of maturation in both anthropometric and performance variables.   Presented: Offensive Performance (HR, Total bases and Slugging Percentage) Offensive Performance (Stolen Bases). Defensive Performance (Fielding Performance – UZR/150) How can this information be utilized by the strength and conditioning and player development staffs?   Click HERE to Read Now!

Teaching Creating a Culture of Movement: Lessons from the Dominican Republic, Mike Myers Learn: One of the most formidable experiences in my short career thus far was at Stanford University. The staff there stood out from the others because of their high standards for both performance and movement. I had interned several places before Stanford, but no one viewed exercise as something more than just sets and repetitions as they did in Palo Alto. At times, strength coaches simply aim to implement training methods—no questions asked. But Stanford fortified their program with quality. It was a culture in which even the players would hold each other accountable for doing the exercises correctly. Presented: Defining Strength: A New Definition We define strength not by how much force an athlete can produce, but also, how efficiently that force is being produced. Striving for Objective Movement Testing and Creating a Movement-Based Culture The basis for creating this culture is to hold athletes accountable to the correct way in strength training. Accountability: The Importance of Assessments If we want a true change to occur, we have to shape an environment in which athletes will change.  Staff Considerations: Coaching Buy-In Leads to Athlete Buy-In It is important to work for an organization with which your values align. How to Deliver This Information in the Most Effective Way Be the change!   Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload The Dynamics of a Philosophy Change in Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning, Dwayne Peterson`   Questions Asked: I would like to focus on your philosophy transition. What prompted you to make these changes from the philosophy you already had? Where does this fit in the seasonal model of off-, pre-, and in-seasons? Where are you headed with your shift in philosophy? There is a tendency in strength and conditioning to continually add to a program. But the reality is that if you add, you must subtract something because you only have so much time. How do you approach this? Can you tell us a little more about the Westside Barbell speed program? Click HERE to Read Now!

Total Workload Philosophical to Physical – A Fresh Perspective to Strength and Conditioning, Mike Myers`   Learn - The Environment Shapes our Behavior: The macro environment that modern generations and athletes experience massively undervalues the need for physical activity. It is impossible to ignore that the environment is a powerful element that shapes human behavior.  Behavior or actions ultimately lead to outcomes or consequences that are most commonly perceived as positive/negative or healthy/unhealthy.   Presented: Athletes are Humans First We are all humans and we all desire a strong physical nature and the variables (endurance, strength, power, and mobility) that are associated with physical health.   The Force of Nature Nature is tough and often times unrelenting. Nature forces humans to constantly adapt to their surroundings.    Atmosphere is Everything Mindset Culture Variation   Movement: Evaluating State of Readiness “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”   Training Training is a form of specialization and specialization is an area that I would argue, strength coaches are very good at achieving. Specialization is defined as the process of concentrating on and becoming an expert in a particular subject or skill. Click HERE to Read Now!