Training baseball players is a lot like trying to hit a moving target. Baseball is not a symmetrical sport. So, trying to bring these guys back to total symmetry is not only a waste of time, it could be doing more harm than good.
Here is a brief video… Continue reading “Training Specificity for Baseball Players”
The first trip to the disabled list can leave a young athlete searching for answers. Any athlete worth his weight loves to compete, so when that part of your life gets affected in a negative way, it’s important to get your head together and keep marching. Unfortunately, the “you should just stay out of the weight room for a while” slogan that some (not all!) doctors deliver doesn’t give the athlete much incentive to keep the rest of his body in shape while the injury is healing. After all, we can still make significant improvements in strength without moving the injured limb. Continue reading “TJ, Taking a Negative Situation and Running with IT”
The following is a series of videos we posted not long ago on social media. They are excerpts out of a presentation I gave on how we train pitchers with an eye towards their Long-Term Athletic Development. I think you will enjoy them… Continue reading “Long Term Athletic Development for Pitchers”
When you get past the on-ramp stage of a combined baseball strength training and throwing program and get into the more high intensity throwing portion, you need to keep a few things in mind. For the few guys that still need to gain muscle/weight, we’ll handle them a bit differently in the weight room but that’s for another blog. For most of our guys that have packed on muscle, this means that weight room work from a volume and intensity perspective can and should be scaled down. Continue reading “Baseball Strength Training When Throwing Ramps Up…”
Today I am going to address 5 “do’s and don’ts” for those players choosing to play summer ball. These are generally players that are “on the cusp” (1-2 mph) of where they want to be velo-wise and could and should find a local league / team that will allow them to only pitch 3-5 innings per week and play first base on an additional day. Continue reading “5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Summer Season”
The following is a brief review on 15-year old, 6’4”, 205 lbs. RHP Brian Doherty (Class 2020) who has made tremendous progress in our Pitcher Development Program. Brian trained at RPP this past fall and then rejoined us again recently. As a part of the development program, he has been working on a variety of topics this spring, including:
Over the past few months I’ve released several videos demonstrating how we can use the weight room to help get our guys into better positions in the delivery while on the mound. Today, I thought I would put together a few of the ones that were most popular. Continue reading “4 Great Pitching Mechanics Fixes in the Weight Room”
When talking about how force is transferred from foot strike up into the arm, I like to use the “crashing a car into a wall with crash test dummies” analogy. Continue reading “5 Things You Need to Create Stability and Power at Foot Strike”
In Parts 1 (click here) and 2 (click here), we talked about what the Force-Velocity curve is and why it’s important. We also introduced VBT (velocity-based training), discussing how it’s different from conventional 1RM testing and some of the benefits in using it to train your athletes. Today, we’ll dive a little deeper and talk about the specific “zones” used to train different traits on the Force-Velo curve as well as how they relate to specific movements on the field. Continue reading “Training with VBT… Understanding and Training in the Zones (Part 3)”
As far as athletic performance goes, it’s getting clearer and clearer that strength, speed and power are king (click here for Part 1). That’s why maximizing training protocols for a sport with movements as quick and explosive as baseball is paramount. Increasing strength and power involves:
Continue reading “Training the Force-Velocity Curve with VBT… How it Works — Part 2”
