What are you doing to prepare for the season?

Conditioning
#1

I’m always curious to know what it is the the general population does to prepare for the season. I’m realizing more and more that the vast majority don’t follow any sort of progressive program, to lead them to a peak in performance at opening day.

If anyone wants to share where they start and where they want to end up upon opening day, I’d be really interested to know. Most guys just run and work on skills from Jan 2 until it’s go time, but for you all who follow something more precise (and effective) I’d like to hear about it.

Goals and dedicated training is crucial.

#2

I have recently ended my power program and am switching to more of a competition training.

4 day split with upper and lower twice per week with cardio/sprints mixed in. I actually just purchased a parachute for sprints, im excited.

heres what my split will look like for the next 6 weeks.

week 1
Core 1x8 warmup with 4x6 at 75%
week 2 1x8 warmup 4x4 at 80%
3 1x8; 1x5; 4x4 x 85%
4 1x8; 1x5; 4x4 x 85%
5 1x8; 1x5; 4x3 x 90%
6 " "
This will continue over the next 3 weeks with the same sets only going up to to 90 and 95 for the last 2 weeks.

Assist lifts will be performed as 1x10 warmups with 2x8 and eventually 2x6 with more weight for the last 2 weeks.

Plyometrics will be performed 1 per week for the first 3 and 2 per week for the last 3. With these plyometrics I will include functional workouts such as squat jumps, burpees, and coordination work on the infield before and after throwing.

Running = 10x100 yards 1 time per week and building up to 3 by the sixth week. 2x100 and 15-20 minutes of cardio after throwing EVERY TIME. I do what Nolan Ryan used to do for my throwing program.

Take a bucket of balls and start behind the mound. Throw the entire bucket to a partner/to the back stop by dropping the ball on the ground, bend down with good posture to pick up the ball and crow hop to throw it into the backstop. This puts most of the workload onto your core which develops the throwing motion properly in my opinion. Do this with the bucket 3-4 times and once the bucket is empty back up behind 2nd then into center then finally at the fence if you can tthrow this far you can find the correct distances.

Any ideas on scapular and cuff workouts? Before or after lifting or throwing? and Running? I dont know when to do these because it always seems like Im fatiguing them in some way with all my other workouts.

#3

I’ve been lifting since October 12th, 4 days a week.

Monday: Bench Press, Seated Row, Dumbell Bench Press, Lat Pulldowns/Pullups, and some sort of bicep and tricep work.

Everything but the bicep and tricep work is done heavy with a 5x5 set-rep scheme.

Tuesday: Back Squat, Deadlift, Front Squat, Leg Extension, Glute Ham Raise.

Everything is done with a 3x10 set-rep scheme.

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Bench Press, Seated Row, Dumbell Bench Press, Lat Pulldowns/Pullups, and biceps and triceps. Same as Monday’s workout.

Friday: Back Squat, Deadlift, Front Squat, Leg Extensions, Glute Ham Raise.

Everything is heavy done with a 5x5 set-rep scheme. The last set on both squat variations usually ends up being to failure.

Core work and arm care is done after every workout at my house. Mainly med ball work for the core and bands and jobes for the arm care.

Since October, my bench max has gone up 35lbs, my squat max has gone up 45lbs, and my deadlift max has gone up a good 60lbs. I have a 295lbs squat max, 160lbs bench max, and a 355lbs deadlift max.

I’ve gone from 155lbs in October to 175 currently. Nutrition is good for the most part, I’ve lost fat around my midsection. Muscles are far more defined than they ever have been before.

My current supplementation plan is: MRI Quick Mass weight gainer along with 3 grams of creatine monohydrate post workout. 4-5 fish oil caps daily, and beta-alanine pre and post workout. I’ve also substituted 2 bottles of musclemilk to act as my lunch throughout the day.

#4

Most of my guys are cutting weight after their bulking phase after the season, but I have a few who are just starting their strength training.

Personally, I’m cutting weight after my “bulk” from June-December. My workout tends to look like this:

Monday: Workout A
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesday: Workout B
Thursday: Pitching drills
Friday: Workout C
Saturday: Full baseball-specific workout
Sunday: Off

Workout A:
-Back Squat 3x5 Heavy
-DB Neutral Grip Bench Press 3x5 Heavy
-Deadlift 1x5 Heavy
-Pallof Press 2x5 w/ 5 sec hold
-Medball hip tosses and short ROM work

Workout B:
-Back Squat 2x7 Light
-Push-ups with bars, 3 sets to failure
-Chin-ups/Pull-ups of various types
-Power clean 5x3 Heavy
-Pallof Press 2x5 w/ 5 sec hold

Workout C:
-Back Squat ramping to very heavy triples
-DB Neutral Grip Bench Press 3x5 Heavy
-Pallof Press 2x5 w/ 5 sec hold
-One-arm DB rows 3x10 Heavy
-Medball hip tosses and short ROM work

Baseball specific work depends on the weather and the day. I’ve been long tossing a bunch and hitting in the cages.

Cardio tends to be 2-5 minutes of short high-intensity work on the Concept2 erg machine and 20-30 minutes of low-intensity elliptical trainer work, as well as DB swings and Turkish Get-ups.

My strength training workouts can vary, but that’s the general gist of it all.