Baseball and softball, perhaps more than any other sport, places a premium on fast, explosive, rotational movement. Unfortunately, these same rotational movements also make baseball/softball the sport that produces the most elbow and shoulder injuries.
It wasn’t too long ago players resisted strength training altogether, fearing such exercise would make them too big, tight, and muscular to execute proper movements. Then came the 1990s steroid era, which proved that some players could perform no matter how enormously their muscles developed.
Of course, many of those bulked-up players broke down because of the extra size—and that came at the expense of undue pressure on their joints. With baseball/softball strength and exercises, the goal is not bulk but to increased rotational strength, which is the key to generating power when throwing a ball or swinging a bat.
Proper training plans for high performing players must be designed around the player’s position, strengths, style of play, and biomechanics. Proper strength programming and efficiently strong mechanical movement is of utmost importance and is synonymous with highly successful players on the diamond.
Baseball/Softball specific weight training must be a well devised combination of:
- Clean and correct mechanical movements
- Maximizing torque factors per the players body
- Increasing Pure strength
- Increasing flexibility and range of motion
- Use of Train Heroic App at home
The Parisi and Diamond Kings roadmap to maximize YOUR baseball/softball strength is as follows.
Step 1 – Evaluation and Screening Process
Everything from limb length, torque capabilities and biomechanical movement are factored in with your individual goals.
Step 2 – Program Design
Evaluating the data and designing a strength program that factors in all variances to properly align or realign each athlete. The programming will make each player as strong as possible to maximize their rotation ability and strength.
Step 3 – Execution and Re-Evaluation
A high performing athlete’s job is never done. We’ll continue to train and evaluate progress to help reach your goals.
Athletes will typically train in small groups, with each athlete’s individual program specifically designed for their individual needs.