The majority of my posts thus far have been on baseball specific ideas, mainly revolving around training and mechanics. This one will go in a little bit different direction, focusing on the actual quality of the training you are putting in.
How many times have we, as athletes, heard the phrase, “just work hard”? A hundred times? A thousand? It’s a lot, and for good reason. Working hard should be stressed to everyone who is trying to accomplish a goal or dream in life. However, what happens when all of that hard work you are putting in just doesn’t seem to be making any difference? You are working harder than anyone you know, but the ball still isn’t flying any further, or the radar gun reading any higher. Welcome to what I like to call the “just work hard and everything will be okay” syndrome.
I’ve experienced it, and I’m sure many of us have. Following my junior year of high school, I thought I was primed to have that big year that would make colleges come calling. I’d been putting in some crazy hours, taking anywhere from 300-500 swings a day and tracking them in a notebook. Come my senior year, I was left disappointed. In fact, I had a slightly worse season, despite working harder than ever before. What gives?!
Insanity is defined as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”. Well, this pretty much describes what I, and many other players I see practicing, are doing. Sure, you just spent 10 hours in the cage this past week, but did you get any better? What exactly were you working on? So many times, we go to the cage, or any other activity we are trying to master, without any real plan in mind of what we want to do that day. Instead, we do the same exact thing we did the day before, mindlessly going about our work and hoping that some magic dust will drop from the sky and spark us to superhuman heights. Stop dreaming, and start owning your process. Make your practice count.
So, what exactly are you supposed to do? Here’s an example that you can hopefully relate to. Let’s say you are at the cage with a couple friends. While hitting you are chatting about what movie you watched last night, where you want to go for dinner, etc. There’s not a whole lot of thought going into the work you are doing, but you’re there, so it has to be doing something, right? Wrong. Here’s what practice should look like: Before starting you take a couple minutes to think about what you’ve been struggling with or working on and decide in that time what your focus will be on that day. You get to the cage (using hitting as an example). Right now is when you can talk it up with your buddies and do whatever else you need to do. The important part is that there’s a transition. Get all the fluff out of the way so that when you start hitting, you hit. That’s all. No talking, unless it’s related to the task at hand. I can hear some people saying, but that’s so weird and I like socializing! Too bad, If you are fine with not getting the most out of your practice, then I’m probably not the guy for you. I like having a good culture to work in/with, but when the actual work starts, be ready to work, and nothing else.
So now that we know how we should be working, the next piece is what exactly you should be working on. This will be very individualized for each player. Everyone needs to know their own current limitations. This isn’t necessarily something I can help you with, unless we work together, so you need to take ownership and figure out what you need to work on. Figure it out, and go to work, quietly.