Running & Conditioning
October 16, 2010 | 
Author It’s time to get in shape, says I. I’ll go out and run…4, no 6. No, 8 is a good number. Yes! I’ll run 8 400 meter sprints. That’ll be a good start, says I.
God, I’m stupid.
Photo courtesy of the Bataan Province circa 1942.
Tell me if you’ve ever had this conversation with someone:
I can run 6 minute miles forever on a treadmill, but I can’t even come close to that on a track; it’s just so much easier to run on a treadmill, for some reason.
Your mile time aside, everyone knows that running on a treadmill is easier; but why is this? It boils down to a few factors, with the main factor as my main source of hatred for the wretched machines: Read the rest of this entry »
It’s that time of year when I’m increasing my conditioning to report for the season in top shape. Being in great cardiovascular shape has numerous benefits, but I’m going to share another one that you may not realize: the increased ability to relax. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a tough drill that I run with my baseball catchers. Catchers are some of my favorite clients to develop programs and exercises for, because I can be creative and come up with some really functional strength and conditioning work.
This video is of John Scott, a high school catcher of mine who really wants to get better. He pushes himself, pays attention to detail and works til the whistle, which makes my job easy.
This drill is a great starting point, and there is plenty of room for progression. As John’s conditioning improves, we will load the exercise and incorporate some rotary medicine ball throws into his sprawl to knee-pop.
Jump Rope For Heart was one of the most loathsome charitable activities in which I ever had the displeasure of participating. This was back in elementary school, but I nonetheless established a lifelong association between jumping rope and white crew socks, brightly colored backpacks, and girls (ew!).
Not my favorite human organ mascot
Nowadays, my left knee hurts, and I see no sensible reason to run through the pain. In search of a suitable, motivating alternative, I turned to my old arch-nemesis: The 3 dollar jumprope.
Yes, if you’re world grandmaster at jumping rope like our friend in the video, a 30 dollar rope might be for you. However, my 3 dollar Target special, consisting of cheap plastic handles and plastic rope, has done it’s job.
While I can currently only jump for a minute or two before screwing up and spewing expletives into the brisk Autumn air, I nonetheless get a good workout and a half hour passes with relative ease. If you need to keep your lungs in good shape, keep weight down, or are just looking for a good conditioning alternative to running, jump rope might be for you.
A short list of Jump Rope Benefits:
- Good quality cardio
- Develop toned, chiseled calf muscles
- Not too boring (though debatable I’m sure)
- Develops greater foot speed
- No need to go sponsor-hunting (a definite plus!)
I don’t know where the idea that pitchers need to be world-class distance runners came from, but it is complete and utter nonsense. Some cardiovascular conditioning for pitchers is beneficial, but not at the expense of power. According to research cited in the NSCA book, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, excessive aerobic conditioning has an adverse effect on power and strength. This means that every time a coach makes his pitchers run long distances, it is essentially subtracting MPHs from their fastballs and making them less effective.
Think this guy has a decent fastball? I doubt it.
Many coaches subscribe to the notion that “good” workouts end with their pitchers exhausted and on the verge of vomiting. Again, this is pure, unadulterated crap. The only thing these types of workouts are good for is breaking down the muscles in a pitcher’s legs and making them weaker. Good trainers and coaches will prescribe exercises that challenge the athlete but never make them ill. Read the rest of this entry »
I watch folks work out on these Arc Trainers daily at the gym, and I stare at them in bewilderment, wondering what the heck is going on. The motion is something like a sliding elliptical step, something that just seemingly has no carryover to movement in real life. I just don’t get it. Everyone laughed at Tony Little’s Gazelle machine, and this looks more or less like its retarded cousin dressed up in a fancy suit.
If you’re going to work out for 30 minutes, why not perform a movement that you’ll actually use? Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but watch the video and look at the models’ legs – it’s just weird and strikes me as a waste of time. There are numerous solutions to having knee pain that don’t require looking like a jerk while getting a crappy, afunctional workout.
And don’t even get me started about that doctor rambling throughout the video. He sounded like the flim flam doctors in the diet pill commercials, touting how their brand of snake oil will cure your whaleitis.
Pitchers and baseball players in general have an interesting sport to prepare for. Team sports like soccer, lacrosse (if you consider it a real sport), hockey, basketball all require a good amount of stamina, as they require nearly constant motion. The needs in those sports is somewhere in between anaerobic and aerobic. Baseball and football are different from the others, and similar to each other as both are played in short, high-intensity bursts followed by rest intervals between plays.
Interesting thing is, though, that pitchers have historically been part-time distance runners, doing tremendous amounts of sustained running between outings. The validation for this practice was that pitchers needed strong and enduring legs to go deep into games.
While it’s true that during a 7-inning outing a pitcher will be pitching over the better portion of two hours, he isn’t doing it in one sustained effort.
Rather, any pitching performance is broken down into half-inning intervals of pitching and rest, which is further broken down into shorter intervals between each batter, and then even shorter intervals between each pitch.
Training is supposed to make the athlete better prepared for game situations. If we want a pitcher to best prepare himself for his act of pitching, then it doesn’t make sense to perform sustained cardio work between starts. Rather, pitchers should be condition like they play: by working in intervals. Read the rest of this entry »