Dynamic Stretching For Baseball Players

By Benno Huch

A proper warm-up loosens muscles and tendons to increase range of motion of joints, and, of course, to literally, warm up the body by increasing body heat and blood flow. This is because warm muscles and enlarged i.e. dilated blood vessels use oxygen from the blood and burn fuel stored in the muscles more efficiently.

A proper warm-up should have two components: light jogging exercise and dynamic stretching exercise. Jogging should start at a very easy pace (about 40% of maximum heart rate), increasing to 60%, followed by a 5-minute recovery period. This first portion of the warm-up should neither be performed too early, as warming up and then sitting next the baseball stadium for 30 minutes may leave the player stiffer than they were before, nor too intensely.

If the aerobic exercise is too vigorous, the player will end up too tired. The second part of a warm-up regimen for baseball players, to be performed immediately after the aerobic warm-up and as soon as possible before a practice or match, involves dynamic stretching of muscles while moving.

Get rid of the old stretching routine since research has shown that the kind of stretching routine most of us have been doing since we were school-goers (holding a stretch for 20 or 30 seconds, supposedly to prepare muscles for exercise, or static stretching) not only fails to do what it is supposed to do but may actually weaken muscles and be harmful. Bring in the new stretching routine since research has shown that the new way of dynamic stretching increases power, flexibility and range of motion, and may reduce traumatic injuries.

In order to get a sense of a typical dynamic warm-up for baseball playing, it might be helpful to have an example workout that can be used for your own players of this traditional game. The 8-step workout, listed below, has been implemented in baseball camps at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California.

For setup purposes place cones at starting line and at ten yards. Players line up five across per line at the starting line and perform each exercise down to the ten yard mark unless otherwise noted.

1. Jog forward (down) highlighting pocket-chest arm movement with a good knee punch; backpedal (back) with the same emphasis, then repeat.
2. Walk forward pulling knee to armpit every other stride.
3. Walk forward reaching down, placing heel on ground and grabbing toes pulling back every third stride.
4. Walk forward lunging with square shoulders placing elbow to ground planting opposite hand.
5. Side to side stretch with two infielder shuffles in between; again everyone down, everyone back.
6. Run forward highlighting knee lift, pocket chest arm movement, and forward lean.
7. Run forward highlighting putting feet up and down as fast as possible.
8. Run forward from crossover start highlighting staying low, stride length, and chewing up ground.

Studies have found that static stretching weakened muscle strength by as much as 30% and that stretching the leg muscles in one leg reduced strength in the other leg for up to 30 minutes after stretching. While a baseball player may think that static stretching increases flexibility, what is actually happening is that the stretching has simply increased the athlete's mental tolerance for the discomfort of the stretch, while the muscle itself is actually weaker! So, to soar your stadium performances go in for baseball-specific dynamic stretching as fast and as soon as possible.

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If You Are a Baseball Player Are Your Priorities in Order During the Off-Season?

By Brandon Richey

If you are a serious baseball player then you should improve your game year after year just like any other athlete. Now I have talked about my frustrations involving misconceptions on training towards other athletes and trainees, but for the sake of this article I am addressing baseball players. It amazes me that in this day and age that a lot of baseball players still have an incorrect mindset when it comes to their off-season training. Note that I did not say "all" baseball players, just a lot of them!

You see the one thing that amazes me is that several baseball players do not generally put a lot of emphasis on strength and conditioning. With the MOST successful athletes it is known that their off-season strength programs are fierce. The goal should be to get bigger, faster, and stronger. If a baseball player is not concentrating on these elements, which several don't, their training is flawed and their priorities are mixed up. You see here are the facts. The batting averages for the entire major league baseball ranged from .292 on the low end and .364 on the high end. These averages were gathered from all of major league baseball statistics in 2008. Now why am I showing you these? Well, whether or not you are a little league player, high school, collegiate, or in the majors more than likely you will not obtain an average better than .364 and I don't care how many hours you devote inside the batting cage. Realistically you won't even hit around .290 consistently. So knowing this and knowing that baseball is a multi-skilled game why do so many baseball players spend so much time in the cage?

The problem is in a false mindset. I have trained many athletes for years including baseball players and I have always had to battle this old mindset. You see the truth is that a committed baseball player will retain the necessary skills of hitting, throwing, and catching by practicing on a consistent basis, but the real way to improve these is to become a better athlete! Athleticism is underrated in baseball. Many of the players that I trained for an extended few months prior to the season went out the next year and had record numbers. Many other studies have been done to prove the effectiveness of strength training and athletic performance training in baseball players among other athletes as well. Yes, getting bigger, faster, and stronger does apply to baseball players. If you don't believe me then look at Barry Bond's numbers. Oh, and don't give me the whole spill about him being on steroids. He may or may not have used a performance enhancing substance, but if he did and did not apply the proper training it wouldn't have made a difference. Trust me, had he used an anabolic steroid and spent the majority of his time in the "batting cage" he wouldn't have gotten a bit stronger.

I would like to close by saying that if you are a baseball player young or old then you should be working in an athletic performance program in the off-season. If you are a mom and dad that is currently throwing a lot of money out the window for batting cage time then that is your choice, but if you want your kid to have a break out year then I would recommend that you take that money and use it on getting him professional help to get stronger and faster! Strength means he'll have greater bat speed and speed means that he'll be better able to chase down a fly ball or beat out a throw to get a base hit instead of an out. That's the difference!

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at: http://www.efandps.comTo be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at:
http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.htmlI'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

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