As we spend time looking at sports, each sport has its own set of physical, mental, and skill demands. For years and years, soccer has been the gold standard when comparisons begin to be made regarding the general athletic need to play, as well as the general physical demand. For this very reason, there are so many young athletes, as well as older athletes, who are integrating lifting techniques from soccer, as well as conditioning techniques into sports like baseball.
In the past, when I would hear and see this happen, the excessive growling, yelling, and weight handling would cringe at me. But, after taking a deeper look at what’s really going on, it turns out that there’s a lot of hard work and inner drive and personal limit. Exercise selection and form aside, this type of higher intensity training is achieving an often overlooked quality: fitness.
Because baseball is a sport that has very low metabolic and physical demands, athletes learn to adapt to their sport. Some athletes even play baseball because it is very physically demanding. Over time, this will lead to athletes becoming very competent and sport-specific skills such as hitting and throwing, but health and fitness levels are often very poor. When these fitness levels begin to fall short, injuries often result from the high speeds and torques required to execute sport-specific skills. Throwing a baseball is one of the most explosive full-body actions in all of sports, yet many pitchers are overweight and inherently lazy.
If as coaches and athletes we really stop and analyze this situation, can you say that you and your team are honestly doing enough to stay lean? Over the years, I’ve heard of coaches directing their athletes with excessive distance running, and again it made me sick to my stomach. Although distance running is not a baseball-specific protocol, it will certainly work to increase calorie burn, leading to the loss of excessive body mass. I still wouldn’t recommend binge running every day, but it would require some form of conditioning every day. I would also recommend that these circuits be primarily cardio rather than strictly weightlifting oriented. These circuits could include medicine balls, bodyweight training, shape running, jump rope, plyometrics, band work, core work, etc.
The big advantage of a circuit is that they work very well for the teams. Circuit training allows you to create multiple stations, each containing a different exercise and accommodating multiple athletes, as well as providing a good amount of variety. Circuits can be done for repetitions or for time. After that athlete achieves the specified repetitions, or the allotted time, they will proceed to the next station. When choosing stations, just like when designing an overall program, you must have a goal. If your goal is strength, then your circuit will be primarily geared toward weight training. If your goal is cardio/endurance and strength, you should select a variety of exercises that contain cardio, strength, or both.
I have become a big proponent of in-season circuits because they are time efficient, will work to maintain and hopefully increase the body’s work capacity, and are fun.
Although the physical demands of baseball are extremely low, athletes who spend time increasing their work capacity have a huge advantage in recovery time, as well as decreased time on the disabled list. The increased work capacity will allow pitchers to throw deeper into games, while keeping position players strong during the rigors of everyday play. The gold standard of Major League Baseball training has been Roger Clemens and his legendary SEAL Program. This program is basically one giant circuit. This program is not extremely focused on circuit weight training, but rather on increasing conditioning levels. This program is a combination of distance and sprint work, as well as lateral work with baseballs.
Take a lesson from the Rocket, don’t be the typical lazy baseball player who just gets by due to the low demand for the sport, but learn to exceed the demands of the sport and you will be rewarded with health, efficiency, and most significantly increased performance.