… is the summer, in my opinion. With school out and no classes or homework to contend with, you can really focus on building strength and power as it relates to baseball pitching.
Do you ramp up your workouts in the Summer, Fall, Off-Season or year-round?
Reasons why Summer Lifting is best:
Plenty of free time: you can get all your stuff done and still have time for a job or to hang with friends. You can even do two-a-days style training if you really want.
Sleep Cycle: With homework, papers, and big projects, student-athletes can have erratic sleeping habits, especially during the season, when they have practice or a game just about every day. During the summer, you can always get at least 8 hours per night.
Low Stress: I always challenged myself in the classroom, so I always had a test coming up or a project due. During the summer, the lack of stress is very helpful. [I think I’ve read high stress levels can lead to body fat accumulation]
Winter Conditioning Sucks: You don’t like running sprints in the heat? I’d prefer to run in the sun, than running with snow on the ground.
Not Sitting at a Desk for 7 hours: Sitting at a desk for ~7 hours per day, 5 days per week, is TERRIBLE for your posture. Next time your in a classroom, just look how everyone sits. Everyone is slouching. My school had the desks connected to the chair and I could never get into a comfortable position, whic led to my back always bothering me. Since school ended, my back has consistently felt better, and my posture has drastically improved. This has carried over to my squats and improved them, as my poor posture was harming my technique. [Improved sleeping habits have also played a role improving my back health]
I would agree but it’s hard to get a consistent weight lifting schedule because of games.
it’s near impossible to gain strength in season if you are an intermediate or higher level lifter playing a heavy game schedule while simultaneously looking to perform near your best.
The couple times I have mistimed my upper body lifts my velocity has been down noticeably (~2mph) the next day, which has affected the results noticeably (far fewer swing and misses by the batters).
For me, lifting 4x/week is almost a necessity to gain strength at this point, but it is very hard to lift more than 3 times/week in season while staying relatively fresh.
For me, the fall/winter is the strength gaining phase, while the spring and summer are all about maintenance. Don’t get me wrong, I have gotten SLIGHTLY stronger this summer, but nothing compared to what I will in the fall when I don’t have to worry as much about performing to that elite level multiple times per week.
totally agree with lanky lefty.
It is almost impossible for me to gain any strength considering i am really close to an advanced lifter, still border line on intermediate.
But anyways since i am lifting heavier weights, this really puts alot of stress on my body and my CNS, which recovers alot of recovery.
I myself only squat once a week and deadlift once a week and hit each muscle gropu once a week
mon;chest,
tues: back
wed: shoulders
thurs: off
fri: legs
sat:arms
Now this was my workout routine in the fall/winter, to early of april.
But now when i have practice 3 times a week and games on the weekend my whole lifting routine is messed up.
If i am not hitting my whole body at least once in 2-3 weeks, thats when my strength starts to decrease. I know for a fact i have a lost alot of strength this season due to our heavy baseball schedule.
Fall/winter. We cut back lifting a ton in the summer for our HS/College guys. Our younger guys are at it though right now, since they don’t have much going on. Plus our HS guys just finished up summer ball and most are going to college, so they’re omitting late summer tournaments before heading into college fall ball.
Basically the time to hit the weights hard is when you don’t have many games, IMO.