Hey Guys,
I’m new to forums on T-Nation but have read many articles on this site. i am asking you guys to give me some advice on a routine I have made. I have been following this template for a few weeks and it has been going well. This is the first time I have created a routine, so there are bound to be mistakes or flaws in this. To let you know where I am at, I am a High School Junior, looking to play college baseball. I am 6’1 185 at about 14% body fat and play first base. My season starts in late March. Here is my routine which I look to follow until the season starts.
Day 1
Upper body (pull emphasis)
Weighted pull ups OR weighted neutral grip chin ups
DB Bench (incline or flat bench) OR weighted pushups
[quote]furo wrote:
I’m no expert, and there are far more informed people on here who could help you out more, but that looks like an awesome routine to me.
I can’t suggest any changes, although I would say make sure you have your recovery (sleep and nutrition) in check because you are doing a lot of work.
All the best with it, hope it goes well.
thanks a lot. good to know I am on point with my routine. That is very true what you said about sleep and nutrition. I did not realize until this year how much lack of sleep can negatively affect your training
Lifting is not really as important for baseball like it is for football, rugby, etc. If I were you, I would lift twice a week and use those other days to do actual baseball stuff.
[quote]Samplaysbaseball wrote:
thanks a lot. good to know I am on point with my routine. That is very true what you said about sleep and nutrition. I did not realize until this year how much lack of sleep can negatively affect your training[/quote]
I’m actually not crazy about the routine you listed. There’s not really a lot of variety from one day to the next. Even without seeing the sets/reps, you’re pretty much just shuffling around the exercises or making some small substitutions.
Ditch it and get on this ASAP:
Eric Cressey and the crew at Cressey Performance deal with tons of baseball players and, as he explains in this article, he literally designed it for a baseball player’s offseason.
Is your goal to get stronger or what ?? lifting wont really make you a better baseball player other than being able to throw the ball better. Not saying that you shouldnt lift, you should, but just want to understand what your goal is
@chris87 I see what you are saying about the total time spent in the gym. Since I do not have many other commitments aside from school, I am able to get 4 lifts +1 conditioning day in while still practicing baseball twice a week. Lifting for baseball is not done enough or with enough intensity from what I have seen and I think getting stronger will definitely help my baseball. When i get closer to the season I will drop my lifting to 3 days a week with no plyos/conditioning and focus more on my baseball skills.
@chobbs Good point. Flexibility is very important for athletes, especially baseball players. I do upper body flexibility/ mobility drills during the rest periods of my lower body lifting days and do lower body flexibility/ mobility stuff during my upper body lifts.
@Chris Collucci Sorry this is going to be a bit of a rant. I am a big fan of Eric Cressey and read his blogs and articles religiously. I actually don’t think my program and the one in the link are that different from one another. Many of the same exercises are included in both programs (front squats, Hex bar deadlifts, 1 leg RDl, pullups, dumbell bench presses. 1 arm rows etc.)
There is also a similar structure to the workouts. each have about 4-6 exercises per workout starting with most demanding exercise and ending with the core work and less demanding exercises. There are two main differences in these templates as I see it.
One is that he includes two full body workouts and one upper and one lower body workout. This is essentially the same thing as two upper body and two lower body workouts. The second difference is that I have adjusted my program for the access i have two equipment and exercises that are ineffective for me.
For example I do not have a glute ham raise (or a training partner to hold my feet in place), bands for a no money drill or resisted ab wheel Rollout. Lunges just hurt my groins so instead I do bulgarian split squats for my knee dominant lower body work. I think these two lifts are very similar. A few good additions have come from the link.
I will know do some form of external rotation shoulder work (probably with cables) I will add in the cable lifts and palloff presses for my core work. Thanks for the Link!
[quote]PlainPat wrote:
Is your goal to get stronger or what ?? lifting wont really make you a better baseball player other than being able to throw the ball better. Not saying that you shouldnt lift, you should, but just want to understand what your goal is[/quote]
I disagree that lifting won’t make you a better baseball player.
I am lifting to get stronger to become a better baseball player. Being stronger will help me run faster, throw harder and hit the ball farther.
[quote]PlainPat wrote:
Is your goal to get stronger or what ?? lifting wont really make you a better baseball player other than being able to throw the ball better. Not saying that you shouldnt lift, you should, but just want to understand what your goal is[/quote]
Do you not see how big and strong the MLB stars are?
Ok so here is my routine modified with rep schemes based off the link Chris Collucci posted of Eric Cressey’s offseason training manual. http://www.T-Nation.com/...rength_program_
Day 1
Upper body (pull emphasis)
Neutural grip pullups 5x3
2a) DB Bench (incline or flat bench) 3x6 each side
2b) Cable external rotation 3x12
Weighted TRX Inverted row
1 arm standing cable row 3x12 each side OR reverse cable fly 3x12 each side
landmine twists 3x10
Day 2
Lower body (squat emphasis)
Front squat 5x3
Single leg RDL 3x10 each side
Rear foot elevated split squat (Bulgarian Split squats) 3x8 each side
TRX assisted pistol squat 3x12 each side
Palloff press 3x3 each side 10 second hold at lockout
Day 3
Upper Body (Push emphasis)
1a) Db bench press high incline 3x5
1b) Side lying external rotation 3x10
2) Bodyweight pull-up 5x5
3) Landmine press 3x5 each side
4) Face pull Or TRX Y 3x12
5) split stance Low cable lift 3x8 each side
[quote]Samplaysbaseball wrote: @chobbs great point. Also, why would steroids have affected the game so much if players lifting did not impact their play?
[/quote]
If you think that ANY great pro athletes who used/use were 100% strength in any sport and thats the reason they were good, you are beyond ignorant lol
I knew I should not have brought steroids up. This topic gets everyone really fired up.
I did not say that MLB players who use steroids were only successfull because of steroids. You said I said that, but I didn’t. What I mean is that if beings strong/lifting weights did not help baseball players, than steroid would not positively impact the players who used/use them. We saw generally speaking that when steroids came to baseball, players got stronger, then hit more home runs. weightlifting=stronger, stronger=more powerful hitting, more powerful hitting=me a better baseball player, me a better player= better chance at achieving my goal (to play college baseball). Thats the point I was trying to make as to why I am lifting.
[quote]Samplaysbaseball wrote:
two full body workouts and one upper and one lower body workout. This is essentially the same thing as two upper body and two lower body workouts.[/quote]
I understand some of the rest of your points, but this is like saying a hitting a double is essentially the same thing as a hitting a triple.
Valid reason to tweak a plan.
Invalid reason to tweak a plan, sort of. At 16/17, how long could you possibly have been training properly in order to learn which exercises do or don’t work for you? Over time, if you don’t see results from flat bench barbell pressing, for example, then adjust. But you have to build a foundation of familiarity and experience with an exercise before deciding, “Nope, doesn’t work for me.”
Fair enough, but be sure to figure out why lunges hurt. That’s a very “athletic” position, so your body should be able to lunge (at least unweighted) without causing injury. Maybe this is a good case for including some kind of lower body work in all four days of lifting (as Cressey’s original program. Just sayin’.)
Overall, even with any exercise alternatives needed for available equipment, I still don’t see why you wouldn’t stick as close as possible to the article since, again, it was literally designed for your exact situation.
Also, on your conditioning day, I’d do either tabatas or sprints or complexes and then the other stuff. No way you’re maintaining maximum intensity for tabatas and sprints and hard complexes in the same session. Might feel like it, but it’s not as effective.
@Chris Colluci thanks for your response. I actually did not know that you were a writer on T-Nation when you first posted. I have just read your most recent article on a bodybuilding template and I enjoyed reading in, even though it was not written with my goals in mind.
You are right that I am a noob and cannot say that lunges are ineffective just yet. To clarify lunges do not hurt unloaded (I do them in my warmup before every workout.) Its just that I have found Bulgarian split squats to be much more comfortable for me. They are also favorites of Ben Bruno and other strength coaches.
About the conditioning day, You are right, I generally don’t do all three of these things in one day. I mostly do two out of the three and then everything else. I’ll lower it to one of the three because I am usually gassed after goblet squat tabatas. I learned those form Dan John.
About this program being built for me, I am not sure if this is made for baseball players. If it was, Cressey would not have put in Bench pressing, as he has written multiple times of why benching is unwise for baseball players to perform. I do not have a swiss bar to make it more shoulder friendly.
I know it looks like I making excuses for not following his program I just think mine is better for me. Sorry I am being stubborn and I appreciate your in put. If my program does not give me the results I want, i will switch it to Cressey’s model for next offseason.
On A semi-unrelated note, I am having trouble progressing with my Db bench pressing. I am up to 60lbs in each hand for 8 reps and want to move up to the 65 pounders. However, I cannot get my left shoulder to stabilize the weight. I get the dumbell in my right hand up there but I cannot hold the other dumbell in my left hand in the proper position. I can’t tell if it is weakness, a mobility issue, tightness or just me being clumsy. Has this happened to anyone else ? Anyone have any advice on what to do about this problem?