Welcome to Off-season Remote Training at RPP Baseball!
Preparing remote training programs for any athlete has several considerations:
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- Athlete’s age and overall physicality
- Condition of the athlete when they first begin training, both physically and from a skill standpoint
- Documenting any recent injuries and /or pain
- Time of year… spring, summer, fall or winter?
- How much time do we have available for training and where are we in the season?
The answers to these questions lie within our initial assessment, video / motion capture analysis, and athlete onboarding process. They help provide us with the blueprint to:
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- Improve movement strategies (strength, mobility)
- Address disconnects and prescribe drills and correctives
- Give us the timeline we have available to address them
Every athlete is different. Athletes with a higher training age and higher levels of athleticism may work on a complete different set of parameters than younger less developed ones.
“The bottom line, all training needs to be customized for each athlete.”
During the season, constant throwing, hitting and multiple games/practices per week can wreak havoc on a baseball player’s shoulders and hips. In addition, throw in a likely 5 lbs. or more weight loss during the spring and summer season, we have some catching up to do.
The summary below provides a broad outline of what a remote off-season program might look like from September through February.
Assessments
The assessments can be performed in-house or online. The process will include:
Strength Training Programs
We generally recommend ball players to get in by early-fall for what we call the “Re-Conditioning Phase”, during which we can focus on adding muscle mass and strengthening the tissues and tendons. This will kick start the building process and eventually help the athlete put on an additional 7-15 lbs. of muscle by the end of the off-season.
Here is a summary of the general physical preparation during 6 months of off-season training.
Throwing Programs
Throwing programs are only provided in conjunction with strength training as summarized above. They can have several purposes, including:
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- Remapping movement patterns
- Improving kinematic sequencing
- Improving mechanics
- Increasing arm speed
- Building arm resilience
Below is a summary of different potential phases in a throwing program (all throwing phases include a long toss component, except for the proprioceptive phase). Specific phase usage is highly dependent on the timing of the year and concurrent workload of the athlete.
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- Proprioceptive Phase (4 weeks) – Purpose is to introduce constraint drills with external cuing in order to allow the athlete to better “self-explore” the full body mechanics of pitching while continuing to throw but keeping volume on the arm low.
- Ramp-up (2-6 weeks) – Purpose is to help build throwing tolerance and to build throwing workload.
- Maintenance Phase (4-6 weeks) – Purpose is to help maintain arm resiliency during slower periods such as November / early December.
- Velocity Phase (4-6 weeks) – Purpose is to maximize throwing velocity by building “intent” and to develop and train skill work at a game like intensity
- Blend-to-Mound Phase (2 weeks) – Purpose is to help athletes adjust back to the mound prior to throwing with full intent
- Pitch Design/ Bullpens (4-6 weeks) – Purpose is to focus on the development of the athlete’s pitch arsenal.
If you’re looking additional details on the throwing program please click here.
Hitting Program
Hitting programs are only provided in conjunction with strength training as summarized above. Like throwing programs, they can have several purposes, including:
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- Remapping movement
- Improving kinematic sequencing
- Improving swing mechanics
- Increasing bat speed
Below is a summary of different potential phases in a hitting program.
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- Activation (always) – Purpose is to provide specific drill sets and make the athlete more aware of his movement patterns and to help in activation and preparing the athlete to swing the bat.
- Movement Training (2-6 weeks) – Purpose is to incorporate and blend selected drill sets prescribed to each athlete into full swings.
- Variable Training (4-6 weeks) – Purpose is to incorporate different implements and different stances and / or feeds to help promote better movement patterns and improved sequencing.
- Performance Training (4-6 weeks) – Purpose is to bring it all together in a more competitive and faster pace setting with extended BP.
If you’re looking additional details on the hitting program please click here.
In-Season Training:
You can’t really discuss training and not touch on the importance of in-season training.
As spring ball period begins in late winter / early spring, strength and throwing programs move to a lower volume format with the purpose of maintaining power and endurance while maintaining strength and mechanics. Many people believe that simply playing and practicing everyday is enough. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have seen time and again how well athletes that train in-season maintain velocity, running speed and exit velocity as the season wears on.
Being a great athlete and staying healthy is a year-round process…
Frequently Asked Questions
Remote training is relatively straight forward.
You have a dedicated coach that is responsible for your development in every way, from preparing monthly programs, to reviewing proper form, reviewing your videos and even serving as a sounding board. You can reach your coach via email, text or the RPP client portal and expect a response within 24 hours. You’ll need access to a local gym and new programming is provided on a monthly basis and made available via our client portal on your phone.
You have questions? Please click here for a list of frequently asked questions.
You can also simply schedule a call by clicking below or complete this form and we will be in touch shortly.
