I am a 14 y/o freshman catcher. I am looking for a book or list of exercises that will have the most benefit if performed till April. If someone can point in the direction of a website or book that is well regarded would be great. Any and all help is appriciated. Thanks
P.S. I lifted last year, nothing serious just working on low weights with better form. I'm 5'6" 142 lbs. of that helps.
Posts: 7 | Location: Toms River, NJ | Registered: September 19, 2007
I'm not selling anything, but you can find some of my basic programs at www.maxxtraining.com. Also, here is a link that will take you to the current program that I am using with my athletes--this program is not yet posted on my website:
As for a good book, I just picked up a copy of "Power Training" by Robert dos Remedios, who was named the National College Strength Coach of the Year last year. His book has a lot of good exercise illustrations and program templates. I was able to pre-order the book for $13 on Amazon, tho I think it regularly sells for $20.
While what I was aiming for was core and leg strength combined with flexiblity and back strength, those being the primary goals, next goals would be to strentgthen the arms and shoulder and chest. Now am I aiming for the right goals for a catcher? Also would it be benfecial to gain muscle through back/bi's and chest/tri's first and then rotational workouts in the 2nd half of the offseason. THanks for the great responses and sorry if this is not understandable, its hard to type what I'm thinking.
Posts: 7 | Location: Toms River, NJ | Registered: September 19, 2007
Personally, we don't use those splits that you had mentioned, back/bis, chest/tri's. Typically those splits are used for hypertrophy, or muscle enlargement. Our splits in pro baseball are typically movement based, training the body as a whole, where we teach muscle to fire in sequential patterns, meaning, if we are training a leg movement, it would typically result in upper body rotation, which is exactly what happens with hitting, pitching, etc.
The classic body builder splits you mention are slimmly relevant to our sport. Increasing arm strength has minimal carryover to baseball in terms of performance gains, since performance is usually enhanced by efficient movement of the whole body. This is where the core comes into play, being a bridge between the upper and lower body, if strengthened properly it will lead to better force transfer between the lower and upper body, which will allow for greater rotation.
I think you need to re-define the "why" behind your goals. Why do you want stronger arms? or a bigger chest? etc? Then the program design process will begin for you.
For baseball performance there really isn't any reason to do badypart split routines. And, even though many have tried, I have yet to hear an argument for them that made any sense.
3 days per week total body works great for 99% of amateur players. Do not confuse that with professional, as their athletic ability (hence recovery) is much greater than amatuer players and they have the resources and time to dedicate 100% effort to this.
One other method that works well is a "movement-split" routine.
Mon - Vertical push/pull, hip dominant Wed- Horizontal push/pull, quad dominant Fri - Vertical push/pull, hip dominant
You can, at times in the off-season, do this 4 days per week Mon.Tues, Thurs/Fri, but typically you must be recovery close to your capacity to make it happen.
also 3 times a week seemes to little to get that musch out of, four seems much better. Is that true?
Not true at all. The majority of my athletes are on a 3 day per week strength training program. Some even do twice per week and do great. More is not always better. The key is being effecient when you are there.
Whole I figured I had to do a little update. At the moment I have been working out consistently (4-5 times a week) for the last 4 months. I took all of the info you guys gave me, sat down with my dad and designed our regiment. Needless to say, the effects are very noticable. Right now I'm at 5' 7" 150 pounds, not ripped but lean/cut Everything just comes a lot easier now, also I have been running 1.5-2 miles about 4-5 days a week for the last 2 months and hitting as well as catching regularly. All I can say is I am confident for tryouts come March 7th and I want to thank you guys for getting me started with this.
Matt Schron
P.S. Just turned in my fastest 2 mile time, 11 mins, may not seem that fast but in the 40 degree weather, its a decent workout
Posts: 7 | Location: Toms River, NJ | Registered: September 19, 2007
Everything just comes a lot easier now, also I have been running 1.5-2 miles about 4-5 days a week for the last 2 months and hitting as well as catching regularly. All I can say is I am confident for tryouts come March 7th and I want to thank you guys for getting me started with this.
