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How to Maximize Your Training… The System is Flawed

As coaches and trainers, we have a big responsibility to fully develop our athletes, so they can perform at their best.  At the same time, we are expected to keep them healthy to give them the best chance to play at the highest level. But, while arm injuries continue to rise in baseball players (specifically pitchers), we’ve come to realize that pitchers are the worst prepared athletes to step on an athletic field. Take note I didn’t say worst athletes, I said worst prepared. Bottom line, the system is flawed. Continue reading “How to Maximize Your Training… The System is Flawed”

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Baseball Training Facility, Top 10 Things to Look For

baseball training facility

We work with athletes and train guys who are really serious about getting bigger, stronger and faster. That’s what we are most passionate about. Granted, there are five million strength coaches who flip tires, train with CrossFit and run boot camps with ladder drills and cone drills and call it training. Well, I’m here to tell you that it needs to be better than that if athletes are to get to the next level.  Today, we are listing some “must have’s” for a baseball training facility to be deemed adequate before placing yourself or your child into a so called “program”. Continue reading “Baseball Training Facility, Top 10 Things to Look For”

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The Top Secret Part I Left out from the Secret Sauce

Top Secret

My prior article on our Secret Sauce at RPP (click here) ended with this “Oh, and making our pitchers as strong and explosive as we can, in all the right places”.  In this article, I would like to go a little further and review why and how we have been successful in training high performance athletes. The truth is, it’s all about mass customization.  Strength training is science but it’s also art. I have heard my partner, Nunzio Signore, say to clients a million times “the body is connected in all parts and ways, a potential issue in one location may very well be due to an issue somewhere else”.  The reality is that every athlete that walks into our facility needs a different road-map to be the best they can be.  So here we go with the Top Secret stuff… Continue reading “The Top Secret Part I Left out from the Secret Sauce”

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What is Velocity-Based Training? What Are the Benefits?

velocity based training

Athletes who are able to recruit higher ratios of Type II “fast twitch” muscle fibers have shown to be able to produce more power.  For ballplayers, this means that they are more likely to throw harder off the mound or have a higher exit velo at the plate.  Genetics do come into play, but many times they only give us a better “starting point”.  By no means should they dictate a definitive “end-point”.  After reading a copy of Dr. Bryan Mann’s book on velocity-based training (VBT) a light went off in my head as to how elements of VBT could be implemented here at RPP.    Continue reading “What is Velocity-Based Training? What Are the Benefits?”

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Interview with Andrew Olsen Catcher at Don Bosco Prep High School

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We are here with Andrew Olsen, junior catcher at Don Bosco Prep.  Andrew is the ultimate student-athlete, top of his class academically and playing baseball at such a high level.  And frankly having improved his Exit Velo from 73 to 88 mph (this spring) there aren’t many that work as hard as he does in the gym. Continue reading “Interview with Andrew Olsen Catcher at Don Bosco Prep High School”

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Baseball Launch Angle and Exit Velo, The Good, Bad and Ugly!

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It’s no secret that there is an enormous amount of player data coming out of MLB these days.  The Statcast system was installed in all 30 Major League ballparks beginning with the 2015 season and the data coming out of this system is already changing how coaches are preparing and working with players.  It measures and records pretty much every single play from pitch velo, to exit speed, to hit distance and more.  It even calculates the probability that an outfielder will make a specific play at a given distance to the ball.  It’s great stuff.  But, what does it all mean for baseball players? Continue reading “Baseball Launch Angle and Exit Velo, The Good, Bad and Ugly!”