Baseball season is finally in full swing at all levels. While games should be the focal point of a baseball player’s routine, it is critical to maintain a training schedule. These concepts can be applied to any sport, but baseball has the most games and longest season making in season workouts more imperative.
This is mainly geared towards high school athletes as most college programs (hopefully) allow for time in the weight room during the season. Professional baseball players have a game every day for 6 or 7 months. Do you really think they don’t touch a weight for over half a year?
Also, a younger athlete is more likely to undergo detraining more quickly. For an athlete that is completely physically developed (20 yr +), noticeable detraining effects occur after 4 weeks of not working out. High school athletes are more likely to notice detraining effects around 2 weeks of no training. Also, the high school athletes will lose more of the gains made during the off season.
A maintenance program can go a long way to ensure the athlete stays at peak performance through the season and won’t have to start over once the season is over.
Most of the hesitation to lifting or doing any kind of workout during the season is due to the fear of soreness. Luckily, soreness can be avoided by remembering a few simple tips:
1. Avoid heavy eccentric movements- The eccentric (lengthening of the muscle) phase of the lift is where the trauma to the muscle occurs that allows for it to grow back stronger, which is why soreness occurs (NOT from lactic acid).
2. Don’t change the exercises- Choose exercises that you have used in the off season and stick with those throughout the entire season. This way, your body won’t have to constantly adjust to new stresses.
3. Keep the workouts short- Make sure to include the multi-joint lifts that hit the major muscle groups. Auxiliary work isn’t necessary in season, and for baseball players this usually just includes curls. Sorry, but huge biceps don’t help you hit the ball any further, Dan Uggla being the exception. Forearm work is acceptable.
4. Include movement work- As many reps as you take in baseball on one side of your body, it’s easy to get jacked up very quickly. Implementing a dynamic warm up appropriate to dealing with these asymmetries can help “reset” your body. Scap/Thoracic spine, hip, and ankle mobility should be the general focal points here, but each person will be different.
A maintenance program is just that- doing enough to help you maintain throughout the season. Basic periodization should still be applied, including getting up to 85% or greater of your 1RM. Just make sure to keep the volume low and build up to it and no soreness will occur.
Something as little as 3 multi-joint exercises twice a week can go a long way in helping you keep strength and power throughout the season. That will allow you to include your movement work and still keep the workouts around 30-45 minutes.
Barrett Stover 