MLB All-Star 1B Adrian Gonzalez discusses the training that powers his opposite-field power and makes him one of the most feared hitters in the league.
About the Video
Adrian Gonzalez works on endurance and strength as well as dynamic movement in his off season workouts. Adrian is focusing on upper body strength in this workout with his trainer Tom Green.
Adrian Gonzalez: I'm blessed with a great father and he really allowed me to progress and always get better. One of the ways was to higher personal trainers and really continue to develop my strength part of the game. My abilities have always been at a pretty good level. For me it was more of a factor of allowing me to get stronger, have
balance, have coordination, footwork, all those things that you need outside of just the ability of playing the game.
So in high school my training was more hand eye coordination, balance, a lot more dynamic, less weight, just really learned how to control the body type of exercises. And then I went into a phase where I was heavy lifting, power lifting, lifting a lot of
weights but not a lot of power movement stuff. And then I started working with some guys that really focus on professional type of training, the type of stuff we do now.
One of my goals for the off season is to get strong and have as much endurance as possible and I plan on accomplishing them by working hard, putting in the work and really preparing. Today was more of an
upper body emphasis workout. Upper body, you want to hit a lot of core, shoulder, chest, all the small muscles that help the shoulder and the back area and a lot of plank type workouts where you're moving in a plank position. You're working the shoulders, you're working the back and just build up that endurance and that explosiveness. I go into it with a mindset that I'm going to work as hard as I can for two hours, push myself to the limit and do the best that I can and come out of it a stronger, faster more explosive person.
Tom Green: He's very, very dedicated to what he's doing. He's very focused, always on time and very prompt. Having that type of mindset is very important when you're at that level and that translates into his workouts. He's a very gifted athlete so I create a lot of different exercises and different things for him to push him, to get him ready for his baseball season. It's fun for me because I'm able to do a lot of interesting workouts with him that would be impossible with other people.
Adrain Gonzalez: It's all about knowing how to work. It's not about just doing bench press or pressing as much as you can, or squatting as much as you can. You've got stretch you've got to get your dynamic movements, you've got to get you're explosiveness and everything else that it takes to be able to play any sport.
