Baseball strength conditioning is a sport-specific training program that increases bat speed, hitting power, pitching velocity, and prevents injury. It consists of four phases: off-season, early preseason, late preseason, and in-season. The program includes weight training, drills, and exercises to maintain peak performance.
Baseball strength conditioning is a sport-specific training program used to increase bat speed, hitting power, pitching velocity, and to prevent injury. It’s different from bodybuilding in that it’s a complete program with specific goals of improving performance on the baseball field, and the use of weights is only one part of it. Strength conditioning doesn’t always add bulk or create bulky muscles, rather it strengthens and refines muscle groups. A strength conditioning program for baseball typically consists of four different phases of training: off-season, early preseason, late preseason, and season.
The off-season phase, as the name suggests, takes place after the baseball season has ended. Although this workout gives the impression of specific conditioning exercises, the off-season portion of the program is actually downtime. During it, the baseball player tends to dietary needs by eating well-balanced meals, and generally incorporates light exercise, such as jogging, into his routine. It’s not really a regular training regimen.
Early preseason training marks the actual beginning of a baseball strength conditioning program, often taking place about six weeks before the start of the season. This phase will be a general workout, such as cardio, stretching, throwing, and hitting. The idea is to provide the player with a balanced conditioning base that gets his body back into the rhythm of baseball-specific movements and ready to undertake more intensive training. Conditioning in this phase will also be very gradual, using drills and drills that are not strenuous, but are instead designed to work on flexibility, movement of muscle groups, and general baseball pitching, hitting, and throwing skills.
Late preseason baseball strength conditioning is the most intense period of training before the start of the season. In the American major leagues, this is the part most fans identify with from exhibition games in Arizona and Florida. The player is generally at peak performance in this phase, and weight training is an important component, as the athlete will develop maximum strength through the use of weights. This strength will generally target the core region of the upper body and give the player better potential for quick reaction and movement speed. This is because the conditioned muscles respond quickly. The combination of strength and speed will turn into power, used for throwing, hitting, and running.
In-season baseball strength conditioning is generally focused on maintaining the player’s peak performance level achieved during late preseason training. The weight training component of conditioning continues throughout the season and is combined with drills designed to keep the player in shape for quick response time and explosive movements. While the weight training component is rarely seen by fans, response drills can be seen at baseball games, if fans show up early enough. Although players may act casually in pregame batting practice sessions, they are actually working to maintain response time and explosive power by removing batting practice from the live pitch, simulating base running and work on plays and defense on the field.
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