Many of the athletes I have encountered in the baseball world are in need of direction when it comes to their in-season training/programming. They often don’t understand the balance that needs to occur between stress and recovery, and how that dynamic changes from the off-season, through the pre-season, and into the season itself. This will be a 2 part article series detailing how to effectively progress baseball athletes through this process.
Here in part 1, we will take a look at pitchers. Let’s get started.
(Aroldis Chapman. Photo via USA Today)
Below we will take a look at what each month will look like over the yearlong course of a college weekend starter. This model can be applied to other levels (high school and professional) with some slight modifications I will discuss at the end of the article.
-1st month (September):
Training: This is the athletes first month after seasons end. Focus on movement quality and mobility. Getting the athlete back to, or better, than where they were before the season in terms of how well they move and how much range of motion they have available is priority #1. They will often lose some of this during a season, depending on how much they throw and how well they maintained their respective training schedules during the season.
Throwing: We are assuming our college pitcher either played fall ball or went through some type of velocity development program after their actual spring season ended and continued throwing through August. There should be no throwing during this first month.
NOTE: Occasionally, there can be exceptions made to this “no throwing” protocol. Athletes who are prepping for a big year (senior year of high school, senior year of college, final year of pro contract, etc) and aren’t where they need to be, may NEED to throw during this time. I want all of my throwing athletes to have a minimum of 1 month off from throwing, but life doesn’t always work that way. If they are pushing up against their last year of playing, and they aren’t ready to be done playing, the athlete and coach need to have a conversation and figure out the best way to go about training, even if that means adding more risk, simply because there will be no reward without that risk.
-2nd month (October):
Training: Movement quality should be approaching what it was before the season, and range of motion should be returning to normal. At this point, I will begin adding more volume, with a focus on hypertrophy, especially if they lost size/weight during the season. This will build them a base for the next month. Rep ranges will be higher during this period, in the 8-12 range.
Throwing: Throwing should be limited during this time as well. I want the majority of my pitchers to have 6-8 weeks off from throwing so we can focus on getting the body right. However, as stated above, exceptions can, and should, be made for those who need it.
-3rd and 4th months (November and December):
Training: The athletes movement quality should now be completely restored and I will begin programming for maximum strength. The exact amount of strength that needs to be gained is dependent upon the athlete, but generally all can benefit from some sort of restoration of strength they had before the season, as well as adding a little extra. It’s important a mobility/recovery protocol is used during this time to ensure the range of motion they restored in earlier months is maintained. Rep ranges for the main lifts (squat, hinge, push, pull) will be in the 3-6 range here, while accessory lifts will be in the 8-10 rep range.
Throwing: Unlike the training section from above, the third and fourth months should be split up in terms of throwing. The third month will consist of an on-ramp protocol where the pitcher slowly begins ramping up throwing intensity and volume again, in preparation for the coming training period before the season. They should begin the third month with 3 days per week of light catch play, and slowly build up volume and intensity so by the end of the month they are throwing 5 days per week, getting up to 90% intensity on one or two of those days.
In the fourth month, they should be able to begin high intensity throwing, whether that be with long toss, weighted balls, or any combination of training modalities that fits the athletes needs. This may happen in the first week, or the second, depending on the health of the pitchers’ arm and how long they take to on-ramp.
NOTE: The goal of the fourth and fifth(below) months are to stress the athlete as much or more than they will be stressed during the season. We want them to feel ready and prepared when it’s their time to take the bump. As a result, recovery needs to be the first priority. Adequate sleep, hydration, mobility work, emotional recovery, etc all need to be accounted for, allowing the athlete to train at their maximum capacity.
-5th month (January):
Training: The athlete should now be feeling stronger and healthier than ever. I shift the focus from maximum strength into more specialized strength (unilateral lifts, rotational work, etc) as we approach the season. Maximum strength still needs to be maintained here. More med ball and plyometric work will be added at the beginning of workouts to develop the athletes power.
Throwing: The first week or so will continue as general throw training (crow hops, max intent weighted ball throws, etc). We want the pitcher, depending on their current development needs, to have 4-6 weeks of general throw training before they get into their position specific mound work in preparation for the spring. Keep in mind they also performed this kind of training the summer after the previous season, at least in our example here, so this is not the only time of the year they can focus on velocity development.
Beginning with the second week, they will transition into flat grounds, working on getting the feel of their delivery back. By the third or fourth week, they will be ready to throw off the mound.
-6th month (February):
Training: This month gets split up into two parts. Most college baseball programs spring season begins sometime in February, marking the shift from pre-season to in-season. I will begin tapering off the unilateral and rotational work from the previous month a week or two before the season starts, moving the athlete into maintenance mode. They will now be doing the basic lifts (hinge, squat, push, and pull) at a high intensity, low volume to maintain their strength levels without bringing on unneeded fatigue. I taper off the explosive work because the athletes are now in full practice/play mode, so they will get plenty of that outside of the weight room.
Throwing: The athlete has now been throwing off the mound for a week or two and will continue that process here, facing live batters in practice and getting prepped for the season. Their workload should progressively grow based upon their role on the staff. Starters should work up to throwing 8-9 innings once per week and relievers should get used to throwing on back to back days if that will be required of them. Games will begin sometime during this month.
-7th month (March):
Training: The athlete is now in full-fledged in-season mode. Health and maintenance are now our only worries, in that order. The athlete should not be looking to push PR’s in the weight room, but instead needs to focus on a maintenance of his movement quality and range of motion, while not losing strength. I like to do two full body days here to keep the volume low and intensity high.
Throwing: The athletes throwing schedule is now based on his role on the team. For our example, we are using a weekend starter, so he will throw (hopefully) 6 or more innings every weekend, with catch play and flat grounds in between.
NOTE: The most important thing to keep in mind here is the relationship and timing of training and throwing. Throwing is our number one priority so training needs to be worked around that. If our pitcher throws 7 innings on Saturday afternoon, he should get one of his lifts in either that night or the next day, and his other lift in on Tuesday or Wednesday. This will allow him 2-3 days of recovery time before his next outing. Those days shouldn’t be completely off, but instead he should have movement/recovery days where he focuses on getting his body right for the upcoming start. What we don’t want is the athlete going through a tough workout 1-2 days before their start, leaving them more fatigued than needed for their start.
–8th month (April):
Training: The athlete is still in full-fledged in-season mode. Training from the previous month will continue. If the athlete needs a few modifications to their program, they will be introduced slowly so unneeded soreness/fatigue do not result.
Throwing: Once again, this continues from the previous month and depends on his role with the team.
-9th month (May):
Training: Most baseball athletes will still be playing through the majority of May. They will continue on their previous schedule. If slight modifications need to be made, they will be instituted slowly so we don’t bring on excess fatigue.
Throwing: Depends on role with team.
-10th month (June):
Training: We are now going to assume our pitchers’ season has concluded. Upon the conclusion of his season, we will give him 1-2 deload weeks, depending on what he feels he needs and how much workload he had during the season. There are now 2 options:
- Summer ball: I would recommend summer ball for a very small number of pitchers. Mainly, I would recommend it to those in their junior or senior year of high school or college ball, who have already built the skill/ability to get noticed and play at the next level. Since we are talking about pitchers (specifically college for our example), they consistently sit 90 plus as a righty or 88 plus as a lefty (90 is better). With the internet, and the ease of you putting out a video of you throwing 93-94 with a nasty breaking ball, I think summer ball is becoming less and less important, for pitchers in particular, but it can still be an option if the player feels that is their best chance of getting where they want to go.
- Train: The athletes that are serious about playing at the next level and aren’t yet ready for option #1 from above, need to take this precious time to develop their abilities.
-11th month (July):
Training: We are going to assume our athlete did not play summer ball and chose to train (If they did choose summer ball, we would stay in maintenance mode as we did during the spring season). We are now free to get a little more creative with the athletes training. They will have a rest period after the next two months, so we can really amp up the workload and be aggressive in our approach. During this period, some (most) athletes will need to focus on strength. Others on rotational ability. Others on body control/athleticism or mobility. And everyone will need to work on a combination of these things. I can’t/won’t prescribe specific protocols here, but just make clear this is the time to be aggressive with the athlete and push the envelope.
Throwing: As with training, this month and the next are the the time to push the envelope in whatever area the athlete needs the most development. If they need to gain velocity (most likely), this is the time to put them through a rigorous weighted ball protocol, look at how they throw, and figure out what they need to do to throw harder. They will likely be throwing at or near 100% intensity two or three times per week during this phase. As a result, recovery is again of the highest priority.
-12th month (August):
Training: This is the final month of this athletes “year”. It will continue much like the previous, with the program being adjusted based upon how the first month of training went. I will asses how the protocols from the first month affected the athlete and make updated protocols based upon that information. For instance, let’s say the athlete has made substantial strength gains over the course of the year, but they have not seen that transfer onto the mound. We may try some different things like integrating their throwing with strength training, strength exercises with more transfer, etc. It is dependent upon the individual and will be different in every case.
Throwing: We will continue pushing the envelope this month as it is the final month before the athletes rest period. They will continue whatever training will most be beneficial to their development, with modifications made based upon how their previous month of training went.
Considerations:
I made this article/plan based upon a college weekend starter. Different levels are going to require slightly different plans. I’ll provide a general guideline for those below.
High School:
High school players in general are going to be weaker than college or professional players. Therefore, much of the actual structure is going to be the same, but the majority of their training will be focused on strength. I would also tend to be a little less aggressive with a high school athletes throwing protocol as they are younger and still have more time to develop. The outlier here would be the senier who needs to make substantial progress in his last year to continue playing at the collegiate level.
Another consideration is the dedication of the athlete. It is tougher to get high school athletes to put forth the same amount of effort and discipline that players at higher levels are going to put forth. They simply aren’t as mature yet and will have less discipline when it comes to following their programs. There will be always be outliers, but we need to take that maturity into account and program as such. Punishing weight room workouts aren’t going to be effective if the athlete is getting 4 hours of sleep every night. We need to make sure the athlete understands this and is mature enough to follow through with it.
Professional:
Professional players are going to be on the opposite end of the spectrum. They likely have built up a decent strength base (if not, we attack that first), and will need more specific programming to address smaller deficiencies they have. For instance, a guy may sit 91-93, but he needs to be 93-95 to get promoted to the next level. Or he sits 94-96 but has no idea where the ball is going. In either case, our main focus with the professional athlete will be keeping them healthy and helping them make those tiny improvements. The details here are going to be much more important as they are already at the higher end of the performance spectrum than college/high school athletes will be.
In addition, professional athletes generally need a little more time off from throwing as they log more innings and accumulate more stress over the course of the season. Again, this is not always true. Each situation/athlete will be different and needs to be treated as such.
Conclusion:
I hope this article has helped give you a better idea of how you should program your lifting/throwing routines over the course of the year. In part 2, we will take a look at position players and the considerations we need to make when looking at how they should program over the course of the year. See you then!
Have questions on how this applies to you? Shoot me an email at brady@dacbaseball.com.