For eons hitting coaches have focused on mechanics, bat position, elbow position, among other topics related to hitting. As technology has weaved its way into many aspects of the game, it’s now apparent that there are two fundamental topics on baseball swing that are essential in developing a player’s ultimate potential at the plate: Continue reading “Two Fundamental Topics on the Baseball Swing”
Baseball is an explosive sport where things happen fast and hard. This requires massive amounts of power and finding the best methods to get our athletes there is our number one priority. In this article, I will be reviewing force-velocity profiling in athletes which I believe to be a “game changer” in programming. I will also highlight how you can pinpoint and train the specific strength zones needed with Velocity-Based Training to help maximize the potential in not only baseball players but all athletes to create power / explosiveness. Continue reading “Velocity-Based Training for Pitchers and Baseball Players”
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”
Let’s face it, baseball is all about being explosive. To excel in this sport, remain healthy and stay at the top of your game, you must be able to move explosively through space. To do that requires an optimal level of power (a solid amount of muscle) and a minimal level of dead weight (fat). This muscle to fat ratio is known as Lean Body Mass (LBM) and it is today’s topic. Continue reading “Single Most “Over-Looked” Factor to Increase Performance”
As we get closer to the end of another year here at RPP, it seems like a good time to reflect back on 2017, and provide you with a glimpse of where we might be headed in 2018. Continue reading “Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Headed”
Here we go with Part 3 of this series on “Stop Wasting Your Money”. This one is for catchers and position players (please click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2, related to pitchers).
Continue reading “Parents… Stop Wasting Your Money – Part 3 (Catchers and Position Players)”
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?”
We are here with Tenafly’s LHP Aljo Sujak, who will be entering his freshman year at William and Mary this coming September. Aljo was selected as Baseball Player of the Year this past spring by NorthJersey.com (The Record), which is obviously a significant honor. He started training with us about a year ago and spent the better part of last fall training 3-5 times per week. He continued throughout the winter with the Pitching Lab and also trained all in-season throughout the spring. Needless to say, as POY in Bergen county, he had a phenomenal spring season. As a primary pitcher, he blasted 11 home runs and during 56 innings of work he struck out 72 players. He finished 5-2 with a 2.25 earned-run average.
My partner and I are polar opposites. This happens to work perfectly in our business, as he is more of a “data geek”, crunching numbers and watching trends while I, from spending many years in the trenches (the weight room), approach things from a much more “strength-based” direction. I think this is a great marriage when it comes to the success we’ve attained in helping athletes become stronger and more explosive.
I attribute a large part of this success to the fact that we both have a mutual respect for science and sport but also understand that the underlying factor in all things powerful and explosive when it comes to performance is “STRENGTH”. It’s the foundation that athleticism is built on and there can be no better example of this than hitting a baseball and I don’t mean just making contact, I mean hitting the ball… HARD!! Continue reading “Creating Power in the Swing”
