Are your off-season baseball workouts clean?
December 8, 2011 by Coach McCreary
Filed under Off-Season
Part of what makes a player successful in baseball is their ability to be very efficient with their skills. Over time, they have been able, through training or just their natural abilities, to eliminate most of the unnecessary movements that prevent others from keeping up with the pace of the game as they get older. It is a constant process for any player to constantly seek better, more efficient ways to perform baseball tasks.
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| Whether it’s lifting, pitching, hitting, or fielding, your workouts should be efficient and clean. |
Much of this work needs to occur during the off-season. Although many kids at the little league level are enjoying time off from baseball and maybe into basketball, wrestling, or other winter sports, those baseball players at the high school level need to be using this time of the year a bit differently. If they have aspirations of playing beyond high school, they have to realize a couple things.
- First, they are competing against thousands of other high school players who want the same thing. Many of these kids are working very hard, many times in warmer climates and better facilities, and realize the competitive nature of all this. You need to as well.
- Second, there is no time like the present to start making some small changes.
Each player should start by asking themselves this simple question. How “clean” are my workouts? Another way of asking this is how much time do I waste during my practice or workout? When I have watch players work out during the off-season, especially in the weight room, I notice that very few are actually “present.” They are all there physically but not all are there mentally. Many chit-chat too much in-between sets. Often groups of a few kids form and a full conversation starts. I’ve even seen players talking in the middle of doing an exercise!
Making your workouts “clean” involve getting rid of any unnecessary steps or time you are taking. As all coaches know, the players who take all this seriously in the weight room, batting cages, and practice fields are the same players who perfrom better when it’s crunch time.
Those are the players college coaches and scouts want. If you are not one of them, you’d better start becoming one.
I'm not really into watching baseball, but I will admit that those guys have to be pretty in shape. I wouldn't mind trying out some baseball workouts to help with my overall fitness. I really like the advice you have in your post about making the workouts clean!