Following my very first fall college baseball season (roughly the end of August to the beginning of October), I noticed a few alarming issues: My knees hurt from all the absurd distance running, my left lat/oblique was significantly larger than my right from the constant swinging of the bat, and my right scapula was winged like you wouldn’t believe from pitching.
I had been playing in a summer league prior to all of this, but the major difference between summer ball and the actual college baseball fall season was this: I had been lifting throughout the summer. Summer league doesn’t practice anywhere near as often as the college team does, and so where I had previously been lifting 3-4 times per week (deadlifts, presses, pullups, facepulls, front squats, you name it), I was now performing sport specific drills and running almost exclusively.
Needless to say, I’m currently jacked up, and I resolved to once again achieve structural balance before I start deadlifting or pressing some serious weight to start gearing up for the spring. Without further ado, I present my take on Dan John’s “Your Body is One Piece” philosophy, emphasizing structural balance and symmetry throughout the entire body:
Daily Warmup:
Pushups x25
Face Pulls x25
Thoracic Bridge x30 seconds
Jump Rope x60 seconds
Session A
DB Single arm push press 2x12
Pullups 2x max reps
DB Step Up 2x12
DB Single Leg RDL 2x12
*Ab Wheel Rollouts 2x10
**Sprints x12 (40 yards, walk back)
Session B
DB Single arm bench press 2x12
DB Lawnmower 2x12
DB Walking Lunge 2x12
DB Hang Snatch 2x12
*Hanging leg raises, 2x10
**Weighted Carries, 400 yards total (100lb. Heavy bag)
Session C
Dips 2x max reps
Inverted Row 2x max reps
Glute/Ham Raise 2x max reps
Goblet Squat 2x12
*DB Decline Sit up 2x10
**Sledgehammer strikes, 3x1:00 rounds (12lb. Sledge)
I’ll be updating this every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and have resolved to add in some Yoga and/or boxing training once a week- the Yoga to improve core strength and flexibility, the boxing training to supplement all the distance running I refuse to do, because good lord is running 10 poles after every bullpen a shit experience, not to mention hell on your knees and hips. Jump rope and heavy bag work will work just fine, thanks.