I was recently asked by a player on my old college team what an appropriate lifting volume would be for the summer season. Good question! Let’s explore this answer a bit…

Summer Demands

The summer for a college baseball player is unlike the summer for most other college athletes; Instead of a nice break to relax and train without school, the vast majority of college players play a schedule more rigorous than their college season.

Baseball is the most demanding college sport anyway – 56 games spread over approximately 100-120 days while balancing a full course-load simply blows any other sport out of the water. Plus, baseball has an indulgent pregame that makes any single game longer than two games of most other sports. Don’t believe me? Let me enlighten you…

Baseball usually has a 3-4 hour pregame, depending on whether it’s home or away and the coach’s policy. Lacrosse, for example, would arrive after we had reported for our pregame and complete their pregame, play the entire match, and clear the field before we even threw the first pitch. One game’s time commitment for a D-1 lacrosse player? 2-3 hours. For a D-1 baseball player? 5-7 hours. Factor in the fact that lacrosse plays 1/3 the amount of games, and you can see how big a part of life baseball is.

My point in all this is that baseball players are very stretched for time during all seasons of the year. As soon as the college season is over, there is usually a 2 week buffer between college and summer ball, and summer ball consists of 40-45 games played usually in under 50 days. Then, a month later, daily fall practices start.

So, back to the original question: What is appropriate lifting volume for summer ball? Well, it depends on goals…

What are you getting out of the summer?

Some players need to become more physical, some need to improve skills, and some need to gain experience. Training to become a better baseball player becomes difficult when you assume an in-season courseload for more than half of the calendar year, summer included. Plus, though the fall is more of an offseason for practice and development, it’s still a time where players must impress their coaches to earn a role in the spring season. There is almost no time during the year when a college baseball player can focus solely on their bodies without having to remain fresh for on-field performance.

The Varying Plans

For the player needing to become better physically by gaining or losing weight, or by improving strength and conditioning:

• Focus is chiefly on the body, not on the skillset
• Lifting and training volume is heaviest for this group: strength training 2-3 days per week, conditioning 1-3 days per week, depending on goals and position
• Skills are placed on the back-burner, and a lesser role must be assumed on the team – this might mean choosing a role as a part-time player, even if skilled enough to play everyday.
• Example: if a shortstop needs to develop more hitting power, then it may be OK to have to sit out a game due to training fatigue.

First priority for some

For the player needing to hone and develop baseball skills as a first priority:

• Focus is first on skill development, as the player assumedly has enough or near-enough physicality to succeed
• Lifting load is moderate – likely 2 days of strength training and 2-3 days of conditioning, depending on position and goals.
• The body must be fresh enough to allow proper movement patterns during practice and games. Being too tired or sore from training to get in the proper skillwork each day is unacceptable.
• Full-time play is fine as long as the developing skills aren’t jeopardized. Example: if a pitcher is changing his mechanics, he should be pitching, but not so much where he might lose his adjustments while pitching at game speed.
• Another example: if a third baseman needs 300 ground balls per day to increase his fielding ability, then he needs to take them, even if that means only playing a few days per week.

First priority for others

For the player who needs to gain the fine-tuning and experience of playing every day:

• Focus is on being prepared to play every day, practice and training are still crucial, but cannot impede game-time readiness
• Training load is moderate to light, depending on the tolerance of the player. This may mean 2 days of maintenance lifting per week with 0-2 days of conditioning.
• Body must be fresh enough to play every inning of every game if given the opportunity. Any leftover energy can be used for training.
• Example: if lifting is going to impede a pitcher’s ability to extend to his full pitch count, then the lifting needs to be backed off.

The Real Purpose of Summer Baseball

The bottom line is that coaches want their players to come back better, and for each player that improvement is going to come from different factors. Players need to avoid the desire to play every single game when that workload may impede their ability to grow and improve as a player. For a player who desperately needs more size to increase hitting power, it would be irresponsible to save all his energy for the field. His first energy allowance should be to strength training (and eating!), not being an everyday player. Summer games are developmental even for the country’s top prospects. While scouts still attend summer league games to check up on quality players, everyone knows that the real purpose of summer baseball is to come back next spring as an improved version of last year’s model.

Know thyself; portion thine energy accordingly.