Three Training Reasons Behind Baseball's Illegal Drug Problem
Three Training Reasons Behind Baseball's Illegal Drug Problem |
Baseball coaches typically teach base stealing
incorrectly which results in taking reasonably fast, athletic guys getting
thrown out more often. Here are
a couple great examples of what I learned at the high school and collegiate
level: · Crossover Step---The athlete will cross the outside leg over
the lead leg to generate force while “punching the air”. Problem:
The
last time I checked, baseball players wear cleats that provide more traction
on the grass and dirt so they can gain better mobility. What happens to the lead leg when my outside leg crosses
over? My lead foot has to pivot
in the ground because my other foot is in the process of crossing over.
Other than the cringing thought of a potential knee injury from trying to
twist your leg with a foot stuck in the ground, the friction cause by the
contact of the cleats with the ground will make the runner slower before
they’ve taken their first full step. Don’t
forget to “punch the air”. Some
base-runners are taught this without consideration that when you rotate the
torso on a transverse plane, the torso can only go so far before it has to
decelerate itself. So basically
you’re speeding yourself up just to slow yourself down. · Pivot---The base-runner will pivot both feet quickly to align
himself with second base so that he is traveling in a straight line without
any wasted motion. Problem: You want me to pivot my feet in the ground while the ball is being delivered to home plate. That’s fine but with a ball reaching home plate typically within .4 seconds and a good catcher that can get the ball to second base in 1.9 seconds after receiving the pitch, pivoting my feet to align myself without even getting my body moving towards second base isn’t going to cut it. At this rate I would have to take my lead and get my jump just as the pitcher gets the ball back from the catcher after the previous pitch if I’m going to make it safely. In both cases we are asking our base-runners to
accelerate as quickly as possible by putting them in the slowest possible
position. Yet these two
techniques are commonly taught and even validated by some baseball
commentators over national television. The solution is to instruct your base stealers to apply
force with the back leg. That
will generate some momentum toward second base.
As that force is being generated, the base-runner will drive the lead
knee upwards with a dorsi-flexed toe. We
have already started moving towards second base with our directional step
and the lead leg is its most powerful position to apply force. With the
directional step, we have cut out friction with the ground and the potential
for injury while making that athlete considerably faster. Now let’s move on to the second concept that is
killing our national pastime. Aerobic Conditioning is the biggest fallacy
impacting baseball today. The
concept of cardiovascular endurance is pointless for every athlete---even
runners! Why are baseball
coaches making their players run long distance?
At best, a baseball player will have to sprint 270 feet to leg out a
triple or 360 feet if one would be so lucky as to get an inside the park
homerun. The success of a
base-runner won’t be determine by how long and
many times they can run to first base, it is how quickly that athlete can
get to the base that will determine whether he will be safe or out. Why do pitchers
run long distance? As a
former collegiate pitcher I always wondered why the pitchers would go run 4
miles around campus while the fielders would stay and run sprints. Do pitchers have to run more than position players during a
game? Coaches argue that
pitchers need endurance on the mound which doesn’t make sense because each
pitch is an explosive move that taps the anaerobic energy system. If you improve a pitcher’s anaerobic threshold they will be
consistently explosive on the mound. A pitcher’s actual endurance will be
based on pitch efficiency and their ability to get outs quickly in order to
last into the late innings of a game. Cardiovascular
endurance won’t take a pitcher late into a game.
If cardiovascular endurance made the best pitchers then marathon
runners would be winning Cy Young awards and not the athletes we see on the
mounds today. Why are pitchers
forced to run immediately or the day after a game?
Coaches argue that pitchers need to run to remove lactic acid from
the bloodstream to reduce soreness and get their pitchers ready to throw
again. Really? Running
poles, ¾ pole sprints and other long distance exercise actually introduces
more lactic acid into the bloodstream therefore adding to the recovery time
a pitcher needs to be effective again. I remember back in my pitching days
having coaches that would make us jog along to right-center field and then
sprint all the way across to the left field pole.
We would repeat that about 20 times or until someone vomited all over
the field. Doing this type of
activity could possibly triple the lactic acid concentrations in the
bloodstream and our coach is out there telling us how good this is for us. Great advice coach! Stuff like this is part of the reason why
I can’t throw a baseball anymore. Restorative massage therapy and other
modalities including PNF are proven methods to return a pitcher to form yet
very few coaches take advantage of these concepts. My last and possibly most favorite problem with
baseball would be strength training. Where
do I begin with this one? Pitching
coaches like Dick Mills talk about how strength training isn’t important
for baseball just to rave about how beneficial his wife, who is a certified
“fitness” instructor, is to all the baseball players they train because
she makes them stronger. He
also states that if a player is in good shape, then he is in shape to throw.
Really? What kind of
shape should I be in? Maybe
I’m not running enough poles because my arm is killing me.
Or maybe it could be that throwing all year round and not developing
proper strength in the posterior muscles responsible for decelerating the
arm during the throwing motion is why so many shoulders get injured. Strength training for baseball is still somewhat barbaric in the sense that some coaches still believe that bicep curls and big forearms are the key to hitting home runs. I also see guys pulling “baseball” workout charts
off websites that look like programs that Governor Arnold used to do in his Pumping
Iron days. If all athletes
where structurally the same and if baseball was dependent on how many sets
of 10 an athlete can perform on a leg press then we could all be big
leaguers. Just make sure you don’t forget to run your poles. Many high schools and colleges use linear periodization
which is a poor way to develop a baseball player.
Baseball players have a short fall season, a shortened off-season
winter session, a very long spring season and then most play baseball all
summer. According to linear
periodization, at what point in this scheme do I develop power, hypertrophy,
speed and agility all in the timeframes that this form of periodization
requires? More importantly,
what if an athlete isn’t ready to advance into the next stage of
development? Do they proceed anyways?
Why aren’t more baseball players exposed to an instructional,
biofeedback based conjugate system where athletic attributes like strength,
size, explosiveness and speed can all be developed. Coaches also have the option to laterally deviate from the
current program if the development of the athlete is delayed, advanced or
put on hold due to competition. Doesn’t
this make more sense than just following a program written for a whole year
that is based on measurements that are “supposed” to never change and an
environment that is “supposed” to remain constant? All exceptions aside, most high school, college and
professional programs all have one common trait. Most of them do a lousy job of instructing their athletes.
Too many coaches assume that their athletes can squat, bench, etc.,
and with that assumption comes an increased risk that athlete will get
injured. A good strength and
conditioning program should prevent injury and improve performance. With all
the injuries that occur and the lack of success that many baseball players
face, it would seem evident that many players reliance upon ergogenic aids
would be a direct result of the lack of quality strength programs and
instructors that are available. It isn’t an enjoyable thing to take shots at coaches.
My own personal experience of being poorly developed as a baseball
player has made me a little bitter because I’ll never be able to throw a
baseball in the same capacity again. As
a coach, I don’t ever want another athlete to have to go through the
ordeal I had to face and that is why I feel that some things need to be said
regardless of whether it hurts people’s feelings.
My goal isn’t to take shots at coaches but to offer solutions that
are better than what is currently being done.
Teaching base-runners a better movements to make them more effective,
training pitchers that can help them recover better and strength training
that will deter injury while making players stronger and faster.
Baseball is our national pastime but the outdated training techniques
being implemented are ruining the game by ruining its players.
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