I. Dynamic Warm-up

* 5-10 minute warm-up
* Loose skip
* Hurdle pushup
* Backwards loose skip
* Double leg plow
* Side shuffle
* Leg circles
* Side shuffle
* Lunge w/ twist
* Leg swings (front & lateral)
* Skips for height

II. Speed Drills

* A-skip
* A-run
* Backwards run
* Fast leg
* Accelerations 4x30m

III. Speed Workout

* Acceleration Workout
* 3x 25 meters – push up (down position) start
* 3x 25 meters – push up (up position) start
* 3x 25 meters – seated (facing) ‘forward’ start
* 3x 25 meters – seated (facing) ‘backwards’ start

IV. Plyometrics

* 5 Double leg hops 4×6
* Single leg bounds 3×6 each
* Running alternating bounds 3×8

V. Weight Training

* Hang Cleans 5×3
* Deadlifts 4×4
* Step-ups 4×4
* Dumbbell Snatch 5×3

VI. Core Training

* Stabilization – static (hold each position 45 seconds – repeat 3 times)
* Swedish Abs:
* Plank position
* Side plank (on right side)
* Side plank (on left side)
* Bridge position

VII. Active Warm-down

* All 2x 20 meters
* High knee walk
* Lunge w/ hamstring
* Lateral lunge
* Spiderman
* Inch worm

Exercises can be added or subtracted depending on what the goal of the workout is, but all of our speed/power days will be in this outlined form. If we were doing a maximum velocity day (pure speed) our plyos would change because we would want to perform vertical plyos. Our core workouts change daily depending on what types of exercises we used the day before.

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Athletes’ Acceleration, founded by Latif Thomas and Patrick Beith, combines over 25 years of athletic and coaching experience to bring you the very best in speed development, strength and conditioning programs for coaches and athletes.

Get the FREE Complete Speed Training Newsletter now at http://www.athletesacceleration.com.

Related speed and power baseball training posts:

1. Baseball Workout to Develop Hitting Power and Blazing Speed
2. More Baseball Speed Training Tips

Many athletes are willing to devote the time and effort it takes to become a Champion. So for many athletes the question is why does one athlete’s training program produce much better results than another’s?

The answer lies in the fact that the best training programs effectively implement Stabilization, Strength and Power phases of training as they apply to an individual’s sport. This article will define each phase, and provide an understanding of how implementing each of them will lead to explosive power.

Phase #1: Stabilization. def. – the ability of the body to maintain postural balance and support joints during movement. To maintain correct posture during all movements (NASM, 2004).

Simply put for athletes, stabilization means that they are able to maintain the proper body positioning and balance to generate force while they move. I will use the example of a Baseball Batter to illustrate.

As a batter stands in the batter’s box he takes his stance. Stabilization in this example means that the batter is able to hold his head, hands, shoulders, back, core and legs in the best position from which he is able to produce force (strength), creating his swing.

The resulting conclusion that effective trainers come to is that if a baseball player is not able to hold his body in the proper position in the batter’s box, the force he generates will be mis-applied in his swing will be ineffective. As a result, Effective trainers design the Batters first training phase around the ability to stabilize just prior to swinging the bat.

Phase #2 Strength (maximum). def.- is the maximum amount of force that a muscle can produce in a single voluntary effort, regardless of how fast the load moves (NASM, 2004).

For the athlete this means that they are able to produce force from muscle contraction during movement. It is obviously true that athletes move constantly during their games. They must use the proper muscles to produce strength while they move. Therefore, Effective Trainers consider the movements made during the athlete’s sport and create a Strength training program that increases their strength in these movements.

Let’s go back to the Baseball Batter. For the batter there are specific muscles that must activate, in a specific order and at specific time to create an effective swing. The best training program is one that has the batter engage in sets of exercises that mimic the movement the batter creates during the swing. Next training adds resistance to the movement to create increased muscle fiber contraction and muscle endurance.

Therefore it does not make sense for a baseball player to only participate in exercises that do not replicate game movements.

Simply put, bench presses and lat pull downs will not help a batter to increase his strength during his swing.

Phase #3 Power.def.- is the ability of the neuromuscular system to generate force as quickly as possible (NASM, 2004).

For the athlete, power is the ability to add speed to the force created by his strength to achieve explosive power during movement. Once the athlete has trained himself to maintain the proper body positioning prior to movement, and to produce force in the specific movements of his sport, they must train to add speed to the movement.

Let’s one more time consider the Baseball Batter. It is not enough for the batter to be able to swing the bat with the proper technique. They must be able to do it quickly enough to have the bat meet the ball before it passes them. Remember, the pitcher’s mound is only 60 feet away, and the ball is travelling at speeds between 65-90 mph. The correct power training will include exercises that are completed at maximum speed, in the movements that a batter completes during his swing.

In this case the batter would need to complete power movement in all three planes of motion, specifically while rotating at the trunk.

Simply put just doing squat jumps would not be enough to enable explosive power during his swing.

In conclusion, you have probably noticed that the training protocol outlined above has the consistent theme of utilizing exercises that train the athlete in the movements they perform during their game. The days of simply walking into the gym and doing bench presses and curls, followed by sets of sprints needs to become a thing of the past. If you are an athlete you can make the best use of your time and efforts using this phased approach.

Jason Chiero is the founder of The Training Genius, Email Personal Training and a CPT for Lifestyle Family Fitness. You can get help with your Sport Specific Training Porgrams Click Here

You can also get Free Fitness Training Information Updates and Newletters at: http://www.thetraininggenius.com

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Related speed and power baseball training posts:

1. How to Develop Explosive Hip Power for Baseball
2. How to Get Explosive Baseball Leg Power

In baseball, core strength training is vital to your baseball success.

A-Rod is not an excellent hitter because he is weak. He hits ropes because he has developed a high level of core strength relative to his swing. Core strength development assists in your balance ability, decreases the possibility of injury and is the first element that powers your swing.

Jon Boyle, the author of Unbreakable Abs says “up to 60% of your bat speed comes from your midsection.”

Strengthening your core is also important in throwing the baseball; Boyle adds “the average pitcher can add 7-10 mph on their fastball in only 60 days utilizing baseball-specific core training”

“Your midsection, or core, strength can determine how well – or bad – you perform on the field, adds Boyle. “Every single movement and skill in the game of baseball starts with the muscles of your midsection. If your strength, flexibility and endurance are not where it should be then you can forget about regular playing time, let alone becoming a star.”

The bottom line is if you desire to improve your swing and drive the ball into the gap for extra bases, working your abs is must in your training.

I have developed a four minute abdominal routine called the MVP Abs From Hell 4 Minute Workout

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bYHeIlbVye8 (You may have to copy and paste this link to your browser)

This circuit is guaranteed to make your abs burn and increase your power at the plate and add more speed on your fastball on the mound.

Lyle Johnson is a Certified Personal Trainer and the owner of MVP Fitness, located in St. Louis, MO. For more information call 866-487-4MVP or go to http://www.mvp-baseball-tips.com and sign up for a FREE report entitled The MVP Speed Report.

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Baseball coaches and hitting instructors from the youth to the professional level testify that Olympic ‘quick twitch’ muscle training dramatically improves any player’s visual acuity to become a consistent power hitter on their baseball or softball team. “Olympic ‘quick twitch’ muscle training conditions any baseball or softball player to have a longer reaction time to hit nearly any pitch thrown to them, regardless of their hitting ability. Unfortunately, traditional batting instruction fails to address how to strengthen and develop the ‘quick twitch’ muscle movement in players,” says Joe Magno, a leading expert on batting instruction. “Most batting drills leave this component out, preventing players to fully reach their true hitting potential.”

Testimonials from baseball and softball coaches alike have shown that this type of training has caused their players to hit outfield line drives much more frequently during games, besides drastically reducing their strike outs, pop-ups and grounding out. Olympic ‘quick twitch’ training has been used for years to develop the muscle quickness and speed in many Olympic athletes. Even boxers use this type of training to effectively prepare for a fight. Only recently has this type of training been used by baseball and softball coaches and parents to dramatically improve the visual acuity in their players and kids to be consistent power hitters.

Coach Magno has helped countless players from youth league to the professional level more than double their batting average as a result of using this training. “Having sharp visual acuity to see any pitch with longer reaction time is what will turn any mediocre batter into a power hitter that gets a base hit nearly every time up at bat. I’ve helped numerous players who struggled with too many strike outs, low batting averages, and slumps change into consistent power hitters within days. This type of training is absolutely changing the way proper batting instruction is taught.” To find out all about this proven strategy please go to http://www.powerbatting.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Samuel_Nimmo
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Olympic-‘Quick-Twitch’-Muscle-Training-Can-Turn-Any-Player-Into-A-Power-Hitter&id=382308

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1. Improving Your Baseball Hitting with Proper Baseball Training
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Weight training for baseball is usually broken down into three or four phases throughout the year. Each one will concentrate on a specific fitness aspect. Most sports use weight training as a part of their overall training and each phase has different goals and objectives, while each phase builds upon the one before it.

A typical weight training for baseball year will start will the early pre-season training phase which is from January to February. The athletes will prepare for the season and start to build themselves up. There is usually concentration on building a foundational strength along with muscle endurance and muscle size.

The late pre-season is from March to April. This is when the players work up to the beginning of the season and pre-season trials. The focus is on building the most strength and power possible. While in season, which is May to September, the athletes are expected to be fully prepared and ready to compete. It is important to maintain their strength and power during this time.

During the closed season, October-December, it is time to relax, but not too much! Resting and recovery are important and light maintenance is required whether it be gym work or cross training. It is very beneficial to take several weeks of a break after rigorous training and then build up more a the pre-season draws closer.

Weight training for baseball is not easy and it takes a lot of dedication, commitment and work. Some people can not handle the intensity and rigorousness of the training and they don’t make it. That is what weeds out the good from the great — the motivated from the lazy.

If you are considering getting involved in professional baseball or weight training for baseball, you should do a little bit more reading, get a book or two and do some research on the net…you can learn a lot!

Building muscles is easy and you can now do it with the FREE “Muscle Building Secret” course at http://musclebuildingsecret.net

Over 7200 people have taken this course and have gone on to learn the secrets of short workouts to build muscle and burn fat, with the least amount of time at the gun. Sign up for free.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ronnie_Taggy
http://EzineArticles.com/?Weight-Training-For-Baseball&id=1568047

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Serious ball players are always looking for ways to get an edge on the competition – to gain an advantage. It’s why you spend so much time researching methods of training that will make you faster and stronger – without taking too much time to get results.

That’s why I believe that running hill sprints (which includes running bleachers and stairs) is a must for any baseball player looking to be the best.

This is because hill sprints provide a number of benefits to the baseball player. Here are the Top 5:

1. Hill Sprints Provide the Perfect Combination of Strength and Speed Training.

It’s like lifting weights and sprinting at the same time. The hill gives resistance to your sprints, making them more difficult while being shorter in distance and duration. Including hill sprints in your training program can bring great results in as little as 15 minutes 1 or 2 times per week.

This training can help you develop great strength and power in your hips – the key to hitting farther, pitching harder and throwing longer.

2. Hill Sprints Build Stamina.

Endurance is something that every baseball player needs to keep consistency in your play in the later innings – but it is a special kind of endurance. If you want to perform at your peak, then long, slow distance types of cardio just won’t work. When is the last time you had to jog around the ball field at 60% of your max heart rate for 30 minutes straight? Instead, your endurance training needs to mimic the demands of your sport. Those needs being – short bouts of intense exertion alternated with periods of lower intensity movements.

Hill sprints provide just this type of interval training. They will take your heart and lungs to intensities far greater than those found in jogging or traditional types of endurance training. Your body will become used to reaching these higher levels, and recovering quickly in between the “sprints.” Not only that, with hill sprints, you will be able to spend much more time training at that high intensity than if you try to “go hard” at a steady state.

More and more scientific studies are showing that VO2 Max (the traditional measure of aerobic endurance) is improved as much – or more- by using high intensity exercise like hill sprinting. (And you can gain these benefits in incredibly short workouts). This endurance is due to the sprints upgrading your oxygen intake system with new capillaries, developing stronger heart and lung tissue, adding more energy producing mitochondria and increasing your tolerance to lactic acid buildup.

Without this endurance, your body will become fatigued as the game goes on (especially if it goes into extra innings). Fatigue can lead to a decrease in performance and the loss of your form and technique. Being tired can also lead to a lack of focus, which can kill your batting average or your pitching consistency (not to mention lead to costly errors).

Want to stay fresh and win in the 9th inning (and beyond)? Hill sprint.

3. Hill Sprints Increase Your Speed and Explosiveness.

Let’s face it. Speed kills. Whether it’s for stealing bases or chasing down a fly ball, speed development is key to your success – and hill sprints can help you get there.

Hill training promotes two important factors of your speed: hip strength and quickness.

First, when you run hill sprints, you will immediately feel the difference in your hips – especially your quads and glutes. Improving these “pushing” muscles in your legs will help get you up to full speed faster – greatly improving your chances of making it to the next base or covering ground to make a play.

Secondly, hill sprints can improve your quickness. Sprinting up hill forces you to shorten your stride slightly. This shorter stride forces you increase the turnover of those strides – making you run faster. Faster feet also translate into a lightning-quick first step – a great asset to have in any ballgame.

4. Hill Sprints Improve Your Mental Toughness

Besides all of the physical benefits of hill sprinting, they also promote mental toughness and goal-setting.

Looking up at the hill can be daunting when you are fatigued and nearing the end of your sprint session. By using the hill as a metaphor, you can see the importance of having a goal (the top of the hill), taking the steps necessary to reach it (one step at a time up the hill), and celebrating your success when they reach that goal (just like you’ll celebrate after winning your next big game). Looking back down the hill after your workout, you can feel the satisfaction of accomplishing something that may have seemed an impossible obstacle.

With all of these benefits for you as a ball player, adding hill sprints to your training program should go to the top of your To Do List. It’s no coincidence that Ichiro Suzuki and other baseball greats include hills and stairs in their off-season training.

Make yourself stronger, faster, better conditioned, injury resistant and mentally tough with this “old school” training. You and your fans will be glad you did. The opposing team won’t be quite as happy…

Tim Alan Kauppinen, or Coach K, has over 20 years experience as an athlete and coach. He has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities in track and field, basketball, speed training and strength and conditioning after graduating from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a coaching emphasis. This has given him the privilege and the opportunity to coach athletes who have become conference champions, state champions and Division I college players. Coach K is the author of the Uphill Fitness Training, Ultimate Insider Speed Training Secrets and Iron Shins programs. He also publishes a FREE daily training email newsletter.

Tim can be contacted through his website at
http://www.makesyoufast.com/power_hill_sprint.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Kauppinen
http://EzineArticles.com/?Baseball-Performance-Training—Why-Every-Baseball-Player-Should-Hill-Sprint&id=600282

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1. How to Increase Baseball Speed with Hill Running
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What is strength in baseball?

Baseball strength training is necessary for players to develop the specialized skills needed to be competitive in the sport. Baseball has special requirements that other sports do not. Building strength for a baseball player is going to involve improving all of the areas below:

-Powerful Legs
-Powerful Core
-Flexibility
-Linear Speed
-Quick Reflexes
-Fast Feet
-Explosive Lateral Movement
-Great Hand-Eye Coordination

Baseball Strength Training: Core is Key

Your core consists of your hips, buttocks, lower back, and abdominal muscles. Developing a strong core is important for all athletes. The first action you do before you can move your body is to tighten your core. Only then you can move an extremity. In baseball this needs to be done at lightning speed. You need to train your body so that the core responds quickly and powerfully.

Baseball players need maximum speed of muscle contraction in order to have quick reflexes. There are different ways of training that will produce different results. You need to focus on producing quick explosive movements.

Strength Training Tips

I am here to show you ways that you can use baseball strength training to develop explosive power and speed from your workouts.

I have witnessed even a small increase in an athlete’s power improve his performance in all areas.

Training sessions should focus on the areas of strength that a baseball player requires:

Muscle strength, Speed strength, Starting strength, Reactive strength

In order to be competitive in your sport you will need to find a balance in training all of those areas.

Think about not training muscles individually, but training your body to move. Exercise your body in patterns that you will be using on the field. To get the best effect train your body holistically.

As baseball players, your legs are going to need more that just lifting weights. They need to develop multi-joint strength and also anaerobic/sprint work while conditioning.

The purpose of your strength training is to develop over-all stability, strength, and power. To achieve this goal focus on complex movements that keep you in proper alignment. Maintain good posture throughout the exercise with core strength.

A few good exercises for this are front squats, overhead split squats, push ups, and pull ups, and medicine ball work.

Don’t Over Train

Once your form is no longer what it should be it is time to stop the lift. Let your body recover, or lessen the weight. Never lift with bad form. You risk injury when your body is unable to maintain proper mechanics. It is important not to overtrain your body.

Baseball players require explosive force for most of their actions, like swinging a bat, throwing a ball, and running bases.

With proper training the body can produce this explosive force on its own during game conditions. That is what you are training for. Functional strength. It is the power needed for your sport. You must be quick, explosive, forceful, fast.

Speed and reactive strength can be taught to the body through your neuromuscular system. You can train your system to create large impulses in very short times. This is how you develop speed strength.

Important Guidelines to follow:

-Variety – Use freeweights, body weight exercises, medicine ball, kettlebells, and resistance bands.
-Protect against injury – Avoid shoulder complications by restricting pressing motions to light weights.
-Lower Body – Train with heavy weights.
-Upper Body – Train with light weights when your shoulder is involved. Emphasis forearm and grip work.
-Core – Don’t neglect your core. It’s crucial to explosive power.
-Rotator Cuff – use light, 3-5 lb weights to train this area.

Baseball Strength Training: Weight lifting

Finding the right lifting routine is crucial to a baseball player. Done improperly and you could have serious negative consequences.

One concern is lifting weights over your head. Many players use too much weight on their overhead lifts. I have seen several rotator cuffs damaged this way.

The rotator cuff is a very important muscle for baseball players. It helps keep the arm in the shoulder socket.

To avoid damaging this valuable muscle, don’t lift heavy weights over your head.

Lower body exercises like the squat, dead lift, and leg press are great for building powerful legs. If you have a spotter it is OK to go heavy with these lifts. Always learn and practice the proper technique before lifting with heavy resistance.

The purpose of your strength training is to develop over-all stability, strength, and power. To achieve this goal focus on complex movements that keep you in proper alignment. Maintain good posture throughout the exercise with core strength.

If you would like to get more information about developing your competitive edge as a baseball player please visit http://www.strength-training-coach.com

Joe Ross

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Baseball-Players-Are-Building-Power-Through-Strength&id=1619944

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If you are a dedicated baseball player like I am with the thirst for power hitting, you know how important a good set of power hitting drills are. The sweet feeling of entering the ball park having your teammates proud and thankful to be on your team, to step up to the plate and have the other team’s coach tell the fielders to move way back…it feels great.

However, before I found the right set of power hitting drills to incorporate into my baseball training, I didn’t exist in the world of batting, let alone power hitting – I sucked!

It didn’t matter what power hitting drills I did..or ate. My family couldn’t afford a weight system, batting gloves don’t help – just a waste of money, batting tees kinda helped my level swing – useless against non-stationary baseballs, I even tried eating a plate of spaghetti before every game – a mom tip. I would either end up flailing around at the plate like I had spaghetti arms (no pun intended), or I would get a stomach ache.

I was sick of everybody’s advice and almost quit – there was a nice summer reading program at the library I could volunteer at for my community service hours for school.

Believe it or not, it was physics class that gave me a new practice drill – we had a question involving baseball distance and batting speed. Obviously, went home and looked for ways to improve my bat speed. WARNING: CLICHE MOMENT. It seemed too good to be true -PowerHittingDrills.com – a site devoted to baseball power hitting drills by university coaches and scientists (don’t let this discourage you, it’s about baseball, so it’s written for baseball players).

Given that it’s tested material, and the fact I was fed up with dumb redneck batting tips and willing to try anything, Given that these baseball power hitting drills are tested power hitting drills, and the fact I was fed up with dumb redneck batting tips and willing to try anything, I went for it. Going back to the beginning of this little blurb, this was the best investment ever – better than my ps3.

By just adjusting my grip I lost spaghetti arm and could make solid contact with the ball, so I was excited about learning the real power hitting drills.

Within weeks (or within a few season games for another perspective) I had added several power hitting drills and tips to my arsenal, power hitting baseballs to the fence for triples, and even ground rule doubles. Finally, within a month….same ol’ season games – I hit my first home run – 290ft. Within another week or so, I became a power hitting machine. It’s quite amazing how many friends remember you when you start winning games for their team.

You can read more about my story at PowerHittingDrills.com

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There are many valuable youth baseball conditioning techniques to increase your players’ abilities by maximizing their strength, range of motion, and flexibility. Just as a car can only travel as fast as its engine will allow, in like manner, baseball players can only perform to the degree that their bodies will allow. If coaches, parents and mentors ensure that their players are involved in recommended youth baseball conditioning training, they will be increasing their players’ chances to fulfil their maximum potential.

Here are some advised youth baseball conditioning techniques that are recommended for youth baseball coaches for the development of their players:

• Pitching Better through Swimming - Swimming can actually strengthen the shoulder muscles and enable pitchers to throw the baseball harder while protecting pitchers from devastating shoulder injuries. It is recommended that pitchers swim in free style for two minutes with a series of 4 repetitions. If the player can not swim, then the pitcher can stand waist deep in water under adult supervision and push the water away from the body with a hard thrust and fingers spread apart. This should be repeated for 2 minutes at a time.
• Sprint to Success - One of the traditional youth baseball training programs remains the best. Players need to build up their endurance in order to play the entire game with strength and energy. Wind sprints are the best way for youth baseball players to build up their endurance and, at the same time, bond with their teammates. If your players run wind sprints as a team or in bunches, such as pitchers, catchers, infielders and outfielders, you will be building up their endurance and the team will become closer as a unit. Ten 60 yard sprints are a good way to start, and you can lengthen the distance and repetitions over time.
• Squeeze that Ball -Another simple youth baseball conditioning exercise can be done everywhere from the ball field to the schoolyard and even to bed. Baseball players can increase their wrist strength by squeezing a rubber Spalding ball. Yes, these pink balls are still of infinite value to baseball players – pitchers, to increase the speed of their pitch; hitters by increasing their bat speed and, therefore, the distance of their drives; and fielders by increasing the strength of their throws.
• Stretch Before Games - Stretching and warm-ups are a key element of baseball conditioning training protocols to prevent injuries. Prior to every game and practice, baseball coaches should lead their team in a regular series of stretching and warm-up exercises for at least 10-12 minutes. Before the players begin playing baseball, make sure to cover all major muscle groups including shoulders, legs, arms, hips, and back.

Of course these are just a few, simple youth baseball conditioning exercises among many. Baseball coaches should be familiar with a wide variety of exercises and should weave these into a more holistic conditioning training plan that is appropriate to the age of their players.

Combined with a variety of baseball drills that make the game fun and build the fundamental skills needed to play, a strong baseball conditioning training regimen will ensure that players reach the top of their game and avoid unnecessary injury.

By Trevor Sumner who works for Weplay.com, a youth baseball community dedicated to providing parents, coaches and athletes the tools and information they need to celebrate the love of the game. Weplay has one of the most comprehensive baseball drill libraries in its active baseball community.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trevor_Sumner
http://EzineArticles.com/?Youth-Baseball-Conditioning&id=2257080

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Baseball is a great sport. After all it is the great American past time. From little league to the big leagues people love to be a part of it. In addition to the serious baseball athlete, many people enjoy baseball as a recreational sport. No matter where your interest in baseball lies, I’m here to tell you that you can see great improvements in your game with sports specific exercises.

Baseball, like all sports, requires unique strengths. Each position puts a specific demand on the body. To properly train your body you need to prepare it for those demands. That is the concept behind sports specific training. This type of training mimics the planes of motion and position an athlete encounters and then adds resistance and balance challenges. Sport specific training enhance baseball specific strength needed for hitting, and core strength and flexibility needed for grounding and pitching.

Much baseball coaching and training is spent on game skills and drills. This is incomplete. It doesn’t matter that you know what to do if you are not fast enough or agile enough or have enough power to do it. Generic workouts do nothing to help you on the baseball field. Think about the bench press for instance, an exercise that many baseball players perform. A bench press is designed to build strength and size in the chest. It’s great to have a strong chest but think about the game of baseball and game situations that are faced. Where would a chest press help? It would not. You want to perform exercises that train you to hit with more power, throw with more power, run with more explosive speed off the plate and most of all build the core strength that is required for every move on the field. These are just some of the skills that are developed through my baseball specific workouts.

Another reason that sport specific training is important for all athletes is that it trains the body as a whole, which is how it is used during a baseball game. In other words no time or energy is wasted doing bicep curls or shoulder presses, instead the entire body is challenged in creative and effective ways that specifically work to improve the skills needed for baseball.

The importance of core strength, which is vitally important for stability and strength, can not be underestimated. The core is the body’s powerhouse and the source of all of its movement. A strong core equals a strong athlete, it’s that simple. Whether you realize it or not, your core is involved with all athletic movement, providing you with power, balance and stability. The strength, or weakness, of your core will dictate how easy or difficult it is for you to play your position on the field.

When you are moving through your baseball game you are using your body in its most functional state, in other words, as a whole. You are using your lower body and your upper body together; you’re throwing, twisting, hitting, running and sliding. The list goes on and on. Your core is the basis for all of this movement and once again the strength or weakness of that core will dictate the ease in which you move on the field. Baseball players often find themselves in an unstable environment, like landing on one foot or throwing from an awkward position. You need balance, your balance comes from your core; a strong core equals good balance.

Here is a perfect example: Think of the shortstop diving for a grounder and then springing up to throw it to first, all while twisting and virtually in mid air. Can a situation be less stable? The power to make that play must come from the core!

If I sound passionate about baseball training, well, I am. I see the results first hand every day. Hundreds of athletes that I have trained enjoy incredible results and it is very exciting. I encourage you to add core training and sport specific training to your routine. Anyone can do this type of training and frankly, most people prefer it to boring and repetitive gym workouts. It can also be done in much less time than traditional workouts because the movements are so incredibly effective.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional specializing in athlete training and created Core Power For Baseball, a complete core training workout specifically for baseball players.

Core Power For Baseball

Email Barry at: barry@barrylovelace.com

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Become-the-Best-Baseball-Player-on-the-Field-With-Core-Strength&id=1798251

Related speed and power baseball training posts:

1. How to Develop Baseball Core Strength
2. How to Develop Core Power for Baseball