Baseball Conditioning

I have received some question regarding baseball conditioning. Let me preface this with the comment THAT I AM NO EXPERT in either the conditioning that is best for baseball or any conditioning for that matter. But here are the thoughts I have based on old wives tales, dugout lore and personal folk medical training.

My take on it all is that there are certain do's and don'ts for baseball players.

My biggest belief is that if weights are involved you want light wieghts/many reps. Rather that lift something that you strain to do five times, lift something that you can do 15 or 20 reps. You want long lean muscles, not Hulk Hogan like muscles.

Traits needed for baseball are strength in hands, torso and speed. Aerobic and endurance are helpful (more so for pitchers) but not really a prime goal when one is thinking specifically of baseball.

Do's
Areas of the body that are key to develop for baseball
Grip - wrist, forearms and hands
Torso - abs, hips and chest
Legs - quads, hamstrings and calves

Exercises that develop these areas are good keys to work on.

Goals that you are looking for in training are
Increase in balance
Strength of hands
Core strength
Quickness of motion

Don'ts
I have always been told, and am a big believer in AVOIDING exercises in which one is pushing up with weights from the shoulder, i.e. military press or anything with weights going above the head.

The shoulder need strengthening but this should be done with VERY light weights and massive repetitions. I like surgical tubing and lightweight medicine balls tossed against a wall, ala soccer throw ins.


Simple things that ANYONE can do
Grip
Squeezing balls
Light weights (cans) on a rope on a dowel; roll the weight up, roll the weight down
Torso
There are a million things out there for the abs, unfortunately most involve crunches,
sit-ups and all those things we hate - but there are tons of web sited devoted to the abs
Quickness
Wind sprints
Jumping up and down to a step - ply-o-metrics
Dots on the ground - quick step routines
Cannot beat 52 pick-up - will demonstrate at the next practice
-great for quick feet and developing perfect fielding position for ground balls