3 Common In-Season Baseball Training Mistakes
In-season baseball training is a tricky balancing act. If you stop training altogether, your body will break down and you’ll forfeit the gains you made during the off-season. Train the incorrect way, and you’ll waste energy and destroy the muscles you worked so hard to develop. Improve your in-season training by avoiding these top three mistakes baseball players make during the season.
Performing Too Many Explosiveness Drills
Although sprints, jumps and med ball throws are all crucial components of off-season training, they should be strictly limited during the season. These drills train the same muscles you use during games. By performing explosiveness drills, you work those muscles again and again, and they don’t have sufficient time to rest, recover and rebuild.
The best way to build explosiveness and speed during the season is through sport-specific drills like hitting, fielding and base running. Nothing’s more explosive than actually playing baseball, so extra explosiveness drills end up being overkill.
Running Too Much
Endurance running doesn’t belong in a baseball player’s in-season training, because it is not explosive like the game of baseball. Running long distances during the season will waste your energy, build up lactic acid and increase fatigue.
Running proponents argue that long-distance running helps baseball players build an aerobic base to maintain muscle heat between innings. Although it’s true that baseball players need a strong aerobic base, there are better ways to develop aerobic capacity during the season than endurance runs—such as running the bases. (Develop “usable speed” for baseball.)
Training Overused Muscles
The throwing motion does a number on your shoulder throughout the course of a season. Why compound the problem by performing Overhead Presses in the gym? Avoid exercises that work the joints and muscles that are already taking a beating on the field.
You should have two goals for in-season training: preparing for games and staying healthy. Training muscles you’re already overusing is counterproductive to both.
I have put together a 12-week In-Season Baseball Training Program designed to help you get stronger as the season goes on and peak properly for the most important games of the year. Get more out of your in-season training by downloading the program.
Photo: wikimedia.org
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
MOST POPULAR
3 Common In-Season Baseball Training Mistakes
In-season baseball training is a tricky balancing act. If you stop training altogether, your body will break down and you’ll forfeit the gains you made during the off-season. Train the incorrect way, and you’ll waste energy and destroy the muscles you worked so hard to develop. Improve your in-season training by avoiding these top three mistakes baseball players make during the season.
Performing Too Many Explosiveness Drills
Although sprints, jumps and med ball throws are all crucial components of off-season training, they should be strictly limited during the season. These drills train the same muscles you use during games. By performing explosiveness drills, you work those muscles again and again, and they don’t have sufficient time to rest, recover and rebuild.
The best way to build explosiveness and speed during the season is through sport-specific drills like hitting, fielding and base running. Nothing’s more explosive than actually playing baseball, so extra explosiveness drills end up being overkill.
Running Too Much
Endurance running doesn’t belong in a baseball player’s in-season training, because it is not explosive like the game of baseball. Running long distances during the season will waste your energy, build up lactic acid and increase fatigue.
Running proponents argue that long-distance running helps baseball players build an aerobic base to maintain muscle heat between innings. Although it’s true that baseball players need a strong aerobic base, there are better ways to develop aerobic capacity during the season than endurance runs—such as running the bases. (Develop “usable speed” for baseball.)
Training Overused Muscles
The throwing motion does a number on your shoulder throughout the course of a season. Why compound the problem by performing Overhead Presses in the gym? Avoid exercises that work the joints and muscles that are already taking a beating on the field.
You should have two goals for in-season training: preparing for games and staying healthy. Training muscles you’re already overusing is counterproductive to both.
I have put together a 12-week In-Season Baseball Training Program designed to help you get stronger as the season goes on and peak properly for the most important games of the year. Get more out of your in-season training by downloading the program.
Photo: wikimedia.org