Baseball Players Are Building Power Through Strength

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Baseball Players Are Building Power Through Strength
By Joseph Ross

What is strength in baseball?

Baseball strength training is necessary for players to develop the specialized skills needed to be competitive in the sport. Baseball has special requirements that other sports do not. Building strength for a baseball player is going to involve improving all of the areas below:

-Powerful Legs
-Powerful Core
-Flexibility
-Linear Speed
-Quick Reflexes
-Fast Feet
-Explosive Lateral Movement
-Great Hand-Eye Coordination

Baseball Strength Training: Core is Key

Your core consists of your hips, buttocks, lower back, and abdominal muscles. Developing a strong core is important for all athletes. The first action you do before you can move your body is to tighten your core. Only then you can move an extremity. In baseball this needs to be done at lightning speed. You need to train your body so that the core responds quickly and powerfully.

Baseball players need maximum speed of muscle contraction in order to have quick reflexes. There are different ways of training that will produce different results. You need to focus on producing quick explosive movements.

Strength Training Tips

I am here to show you ways that you can use baseball strength training to develop explosive power and speed from your workouts.

I have witnessed even a small increase in an athlete's power improve his performance in all areas.

Training sessions should focus on the areas of strength that a baseball player requires:

Muscle strength, Speed strength, Starting strength, Reactive strength

In order to be competitive in your sport you will need to find a balance in training all of those areas.

Think about not training muscles individually, but training your body to move. Exercise your body in patterns that you will be using on the field. To get the best effect train your body holistically.

As baseball players, your legs are going to need more that just lifting weights. They need to develop multi-joint strength and also anaerobic/sprint work while conditioning.

The purpose of your strength training is to develop over-all stability, strength, and power. To achieve this goal focus on complex movements that keep you in proper alignment. Maintain good posture throughout the exercise with core strength.

A few good exercises for this are front squats, overhead split squats, push ups, and pull ups, and medicine ball work.

Don't Over Train

Once your form is no longer what it should be it is time to stop the lift. Let your body recover, or lessen the weight. Never lift with bad form. You risk injury when your body is unable to maintain proper mechanics. It is important not to overtrain your body.

Baseball players require explosive force for most of their actions, like swinging a bat, throwing a ball, and running bases.

With proper training the body can produce this explosive force on its own during game conditions. That is what you are training for. Functional strength. It is the power needed for your sport. You must be quick, explosive, forceful, fast.

Speed and reactive strength can be taught to the body through your neuromuscular system. You can train your system to create large impulses in very short times. This is how you develop speed strength.

Important Guidelines to follow:

-Variety - Use freeweights, body weight exercises, medicine ball, kettlebells, and resistance bands.
-Protect against injury - Avoid shoulder complications by restricting pressing motions to light weights.
-Lower Body - Train with heavy weights.
-Upper Body - Train with light weights when your shoulder is involved. Emphasis forearm and grip work.
-Core - Don't neglect your core. It's crucial to explosive power.
-Rotator Cuff - use light, 3-5 lb weights to train this area.

Baseball Strength Training: Weight lifting

Finding the right lifting routine is crucial to a baseball player. Done improperly and you could have serious negative consequences.

One concern is lifting weights over your head. Many players use too much weight on their overhead lifts. I have seen several rotator cuffs damaged this way.

The rotator cuff is a very important muscle for baseball players. It helps keep the arm in the shoulder socket.

To avoid damaging this valuable muscle, don't lift heavy weights over your head.

Lower body exercises like the squat, dead lift, and leg press are great for building powerful legs. If you have a spotter it is OK to go heavy with these lifts. Always learn and practice the proper technique before lifting with heavy resistance.

The purpose of your strength training is to develop over-all stability, strength, and power. To achieve this goal focus on complex movements that keep you in proper alignment. Maintain good posture throughout the exercise with core strength.

If you would like to get more information about developing your competitive edge as a baseball player please visit http://www.strength-training-coach.com

Joe Ross

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