Staying Strong, All Season Long

Baseball season is almost here. Spring training, college baseball games and high school practice all have started up. This is the time where we completely focus on getting better on the field and neglect the weight room right? I mean we will be putting hours upon hours of work on the field, we don't need the weight room anymore; the workouts we did in the offseason were made to last us a full season so we don't need to lift.

These are all the thoughts I had in the past. I thought if I worked hard enough in the offseason then it would carry me throughout the season.  So once we hit early February in high school I would say goodbye to the weight room and hello the the baseball field. Then I would wonder why each and every summer I would come up with an injury. Something nagging me, a strain here and there. Not until I got into college did I finally realize what was causing these injuries.

The work you do in the offseason definitely gives you the strength you will use in-season. I believe we should use the offseason to get as strong as we can, experience the soreness and push yourself to that next level. But does that strength last if we don't maintain it? Certainly not! If we want to have that strength for more than just the first couple weeks of the season we need to maintain that strength throughout the season. So how do you do this?

My personal recommendation is to get two full body lifts each week. One of these lifts should be a heavier, strength based lift and the other a lighter, higher rep "feel good" type lift. If you are diligent with getting these two lifts in a week you will see that when others are dying off and wearing out you are still going strong and feeling good. When programming for a in-season lift it will be different than your offeason lift in that you will be doing bigger lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench press, pullups) more often and not worrying about your secondary lifts as much (curls, pressdowns, etc). You want this lift to be a get in, get your work done and get out. You aren't there to annihilate every muscle in your body till you cant move your body. Your goal should be when you leave the weight room that you still feel good, strong and fresh. You are trying to stay away from creating soreness, you must be smart when planning an in-season workout, otherwise it will hurt your performance on the field.

Here is an example in-season program I follow.
Day 1: Heavier Day
Squats 8, 8, 6 reps
(super set)
Lateral Lunge and Rotate 3 sets of 5

Hip Thrust 3 sets of 8
(super set)
Hip Flexor Stretch 3 sets 15 sec

Pullups 3 sets of 8
(super set)
DB Bench Press 3 sets of 8

Shoulder Maintenance

Day 2: Lighter Day
Reverse Lunge + RDL 3 sets of 6 each leg
(super set)
Glute Stretch 3 sets of 15 sec

DB Row 3 sets of 8
(super set)
Pushups 3 sets of 10-15

Shoulder Maintenance

As you can see, these lifts are not time consuming of very high intensity. Your goal is to maintain, not to gain. You should not be setting personal records in your lifts.

Get in, maintain, feel good and get out.

So right now, before your season even starts, sit down and plan out what two days you will lift and which one of those days will be your heavy day and which one will be your lighter day. If you take the time to plan this out you will be more likely to stick to it. Encourage your teammates to join you in this effort and you will see your team will be the team that is finishing strong when others are falling apart due to injuries.