Baseball players have steadily shown evidence of increased strength and power equating to improved performance on the field. The need to maintain flexibility and agility is critical to a player’s skill set. Implementing a training program for baseball players that improves each of these physical components is the objective.
Core Strength
An important place for any training program to begin is with core development. A pitcher’s body momentum and the torque of a hitter’s swing center on their core. Developing strong abdominal and oblique muscles will increase body control.
Since injuries to this part of the body can be debilitating to a baseball player, this is the place to begin building a program. Core strengthening exercises can be done on a daily basis. However, always stress core flexibility to equally counter strength
…show more content…
exercises. A Powerful Lower Base Even though many baseball moves use the upper body, everything benefits from strong leg muscles. Building a powerful base is critical for pitchers and hitters. Pitchers, who have a weak lower body structure, inherently experience a higher risk of arm injuries. Good hitters appreciate that the torque in their lower body initiates the power in their swing. Lower body development for baseball players, especially pitchers, is enhanced by running.
Sprints build speed and leg power. Strength exercises to build the quads, hamstrings and calf muscles helps improve lower body power. As with core exercise programs, it‘s critical that a baseball player’s leg training program include rigorous stretching.
Upper Body Training
Baseball players often forego upper body training. There isn’t the same need for brute upper body strength in baseball like there is in other more physical sports. However, baseball players who properly add arm, chest and shoulder training can dramatically improve their game.
The most important cautionary recommendation is to never lift before a game or practice. Lifting weights, or other types of strength exercises, are helpful to build muscular power. Problems can occur when joints are tired from lifting, then baseball moves are performed.
Players should never weight train on pitching days. This can weaken the structure around the shoulder and elbow creating a higher risk of injury. While brute strength is as important to baseball players, having extra power can be
helpful. A blend of weight lifting and exercises that use a player’s body weight are excellent ways to supplement a training program. Since hitters benefit from full arm extension when connecting with the ball and pitchers suffer from bulky arm muscles, intense stretching of the upper body post training sessions is critical. A training program for baseball players can benefit from strength building exercises. It is best to focus on core development first, and then make sure a powerful base is established. Even upper body power can improve performance on the field. Above all else, remember that joint and muscle flexibility is critical for playing baseball. Augment every training program with flexibility and agility work.
... pitcher in the league. Baseball is one of the best sports to play to keep you active and sharpen your reflexes. Everyone should try playing baseball at least once in their life. Or maybe even learn to just throw a few different kinds of pitches like curveball and knuckleball, incase their children grow up playing baseball.
Many baseball athletes believe steroids will give them an edge on the game by making themselves stronger. This is true in the respect that it makes the athlete stronger and more superior but they also cause more problems then they solve.
Torque is another key ingredient to a good power hitter, or even a good hitter. Torque is the result of two forces being applied to an object in opposite directions. In this case the two forces are being applied from the hands and wrists onto the bat. As you start your swing, instead of moving your hands directly at the ball, you want your hands to start a rotation. The top hand begins to move backwards while the lead arm drives the end of the bat towards the ball. The torque invloved is created around the point of the bat that lies between your hands. This torque greatly accelerates the head of the bat which will have act with a greater force when (or if ) it comes into contact with the ball.
Every pitcher has mechanics; mechanics is a good name for it for the mechanical motion which is gone through generates force. “The pitcher’s arm acts as a lever which gives him mechanical advantage, increasing the force.”(1) Let’s look at the transfer of force through the wind-up. A good pitcher hits what is known as the power triangle, this power triangle looks like this: “The lead or glove arm is up at shoulder height and the shoulder is closed. The lead foot has landed on or slightly across the mid-line, the throwing arm is in the high cocked or L-position with the ball facing back toward the shortstop and the head is level and in the top center of the triangle formed by the two feet.”(2)
Baseball is not a difficult game to comprehend, but it can a very long time to achieve a high level of performance. Usually one starts playing this game at a very young age and the first thing they start out with is throwing. Throwing a baseball involves exploiting all major muscle groups in the body to generate a large torque on the arm that will in turn create a high potential for speed when it is released.
Support: One session I was in a slump and I was having a hard time making contact with the ball but when i did it would go far, they called players like me power hitters. So what I did was practice more and go to the batting cages more often.
Through college Eric Davis was a baseball player who was forever looking for a way to improve his pitch, or how he could train better for longer without consequences to his body. “I was constantly looking for new ways to improve my body, or the way I did things. I was always interested in finding how much I could do without causing injury.” (Davis)
Hitting a baseball is a task that is learned through trial and error, which makes changing a batter’s swing extremely difficult. Once that batter finds their comfort zone and makes contact they will do the same thing until it fails them once again. Perfecting the mechanics of that swing won’t create an exceptional hitter, but it will create a swing that consistently incr...
Baseball is one of the hardest sports to play. Baseball, unlike every other sport, does not have a certain location to bring the ball to or a goal to put the ball in. The team, not only one player, has to work together to win every single game. On average every player has an at-bat three
The main muscles used in soccer are the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus muscles, gastrocnemius and soleus. To improve your power in soccer, these muscles need to be targeted as part of your training (Dawn, 2013).
Can throwing a baseball affect your arm and how can you prevent it? Baseball players injure their arms because of overuse, incorrect form, and not enough recovery time to prevent their arms from getting injured. They need to take it serious and know what their doing while knowing that they can hurt or damage their arm any time and that the injury can be permanent.
First, during the off-season baseball, players should be encouraged to improve the aerobic training to maintain the body weight, and avoid the increment of body fat and muscle atrophy; obviously, they will need to perform some light sport related activities such as hitting, base running, light bullpen sessions, and defensive drills to maintain the skills and abilities levels.
Use proper form for lifting weights. Always maintain a straight back, do not lock your elbows or strain your neck...
any workouts that will enhance your upper body strength or help you stay balanced is good at improving
In the IPL edition 2014, we have watched players leaping in and out of the boundary lines to convert maximum hits into wickets and upset the equation of opponents. Chris Lynn’s game changing catch, or for that matter a catch by Pollard and even Mitchell Starc’s blinder in the deep have raised the bar in fielding. These were not only about catching skills but strength, agility, flexibility and power, too. This is where proper planning and fitness figure in. Not the 'run-into-the-ground' type of fitness, but the type that stops injury by strengthening muscles and ligaments, which improves functional power and makes players run faster.