Weight lifting for baseball purposes

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

I recently got a gym membership, and it got me to thinking about weight training as it relates to baseball. I've heard things good and bad about weight training.

From what I understand, there is definitley an advantage to be had from lifting but if you don't do it correctly, it can be detrimental.

I'm a catcher, so I've been doing lots of leg-strengthening stuff (squats etc...). What I was wondering about more, was what kind of exercises do you recommend for arms? High-weight low-reps, or less weight with more reps? I'm looking to just get stronger overall, for hitting and throwing purposes.

I'm also currently throwing twice a week (but I'll be throwing alot more once the weather finally gets above freezing :grouchy).

[kylebee]

deezledogg is the noted authority on this board that can help you, but here's my take (I've done a significant amount of research and application of this, so my word is decent and dogg seems to agree with me on most issues):

Your diet is one of the more important things when it comes to general athleticism and body composition. It's probably anywhere from 70-80% of the intended effects, with your exercise regimen coming in at only 20-30%. This doesn't mean you can skimp on the workouts; it just means that diet is super-important. Off the top of my head, you should stick to high GI (Glycemic Index) carbs when possible, avoid too many sugars, eat 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, and eat multiple small meals throughout the day rather than 2-3 big meals like most Americans do. Stick to healthy fats (not fried food - think olive oil, natural peanut butter, lean meats, fish, chicken) and get lots of complex carbs with high protein values in your meals, and for simple sugars, eat fruit with natural peanut butter as a topping for a good source of fiber and protein.

Your arms should be one of the least important things you focus on - most of the power from hitting, throwing, and in almost all of your activities comes from the core. Focus on cable rotation exercises, core training (think medicine and yoga balls), and work on integrating your muscle groups rather than isolating them. Great routines almost always involve squats, deadlifts, cleans, and the bench press along with other exercises like push-ups, dips, and pull-ups.

For general arm care, long toss is very important for general conditioning, as are side shoulder raises, full can raises, supination/pronation work, all done with low weights (3-8 lbs in each hand).

Long distance running can help improve your cardiovascular strength on the mound and behind the plate, and plyometrics and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT - think lots of sprinting in intervals) will help cut bodyfat percentage and increase your short bursts of speed and power.

However, I cannot stress enough the following two points:

1) Do compound lifts. INTEGRATE your muscle groups!
2) Eat as cleanly as possible - maybe have 1 cheat day a week, but generally stick to a high-protein diet with multiple meals throughout the day to balance insulin levels and help avoid eating fast foods when you get hungry.

Your goal should be to become strong without bulking up significantly - you want to remain as lean and long as possible on the diamond to help cut the risk of injury and retain as much flexibility as possible in your various ranges of motion. You can become strong without adding tons of weight!

Deezledogg, how'd I do? :)

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

That's amazing. Just what I was looking for.

I've been trying to eat healthier lately (walk by the kitchen and resist the cookie jar, pack an apple instead of gummy worms etc...). I've also been trying to eat less (not go back for seconds).

I'm 6'0 185lbs. Generally, I'll eat a bowl of corn flakes and an apple for breakfast, eat my lunch (usually someting like: roast beef sandwich on a bagel, nature valley-type bar, pudding, almonds an apple and some juice) at school over 2 hours, whenever I'm hungry. Then I'll have something to eat when I get home at 4 (more cereal, or a bowl of pasta). Then dinner.

What kind of changes could I make to incorporate more protein and more good carbs? Stuff like PB, fish etc..?

[kylebee]

That diet sounds pretty good overall. You could pick up some legitimately good protein bars (careful - most are crap!) made by companies like Biotest (very high-quality and reasonable prices, taste good too!) to eat at school, or start taking a good protein supplement made by someone like Optimum Nutrition after workouts and before bed. You want to get a good mix of proteins - fast-acting ones after workouts (usually found in powders) and slow-acting ones (like caseine - found in milk) before bed.

However, above all, eat multiple times per day, work your whole body every other day, and work on your skillset. Remember - baseball is first and foremost a skill-based game!

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Ya, that's what I've been trying to do. Spread the meals out instead of having three big ones. I found a site that looks like it has lots of good info: http://facilities.princeton.edu/Dining/_Nutrition/The%20Athletes%20Kitchen%207-04.htm. What do you think? Especially about the example-meal-day at the bottom:
7:00 am: Oats (raw or cooked) + almonds + milk + banana + latte
11:00 am: Whole wheat wrap + hummus + baby carrots + yogurt
3:00 pm: Peanut butter + graham crackers + chocolate milk
7:00 pm Salmon + brown rice + broccoli + salad/olive oil dressing

[kylebee]

That looks outstanding. Remember that you can get good quick meals at places like Chipotle, Subway, pizza places or other typical "fast-food" places if you do the right research. You don't have to totally give up on commercially-available stores!

[Maxx]

Pretty good Kyle, saved me a lot of typing :)


The only thing I don't agree with is your statment about glycemic index. Foods that are high in sugar have a high glycemic index. So I would look for foods low in GI, which are the complex carbs. An even more important number is the glycemic load. For example, fruits are high in natural sugars, so they have a high glycemic index, but the glycemic index is low.

Here's a little better, scientific explanation:

The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers—the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.

The glycemic load (GL) is a relatively new way to assess the impact of carbohydrate consumption that takes the glycemic index into account, but gives a fuller picture than does glycemic index alone. A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar. It doesn't tell you how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving of a particular food. You need to know both things to understand a food's effect on blood sugar. That is where glycemic load comes in. The carbohydrate in watermelon, for example, has a high GI. But there isn't a lot of it, so watermelon's glycemic load is relatively low. A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.

You can find the GI and GL of your favorite foods here:

www.glycemicindex.com

I can tell you that eliminating sugar is the key to a healthier body. I started eliminating sugar from my diet and i lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks, and I was not overweight to begin with. Sugar is now the first thing I look for when I read a food label.

[kylebee]

Dogg,

Er, sorry, I meant low GI, not high. My mistake!

[Maxx]

Dogg,

Er, sorry, I meant low GI, not high. My mistake!

Hey, no prob :)

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

I looked into it when you mentionned it, and saw that they were saying that high GI is bad... I was wondering about that, but I figured you just made a mistake.

So far today, I've had oats with milk, an apple and a glass of OJ for breakfast, and a turkey sandwich, triscuits, apple, nutrigrain peanut bar and an ice tea for lunch. I feel like I'm doing pretty good. And eating a bigger breakfast is certainly making me feel less hungry than I would normally be.

[slugger33]

I recently got a gym membership, and it got me to thinking about weight training as it relates to baseball. I've heard things good and bad about weight training.

From what I understand, there is definitley an advantage to be had from lifting but if you don't do it correctly, it can be detrimental.

I'm a catcher, so I've been doing lots of leg-strengthening stuff (squats etc...). What I was wondering about more, was what kind of exercises do you recommend for arms? High-weight low-reps, or less weight with more reps? I'm looking to just get stronger overall, for hitting and throwing purposes.

I'm also currently throwing twice a week (but I'll be throwing alot more once the weather finally gets above freezing :grouchy).
Check out some of these articles:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=Baseball

[Maxx]

I'd be careful of some of the info you find on bodybuilding.com!

For example, this article--> "Bodybuilding for Baseball." I mean cmon, you train for baseball, you don't bodybuild for baseball!!

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Just wanted to ask another question again. I've been working my legs with weights, doing squats, calf raises, lunges etc... (in addition to running and biking). I am more worried about is what I should be doing for the upper-body (specifically arms).

I've heard from several sources that lifting too much (thus bulking up your shoulders) is not good for your arm. I was wondering if a program more based on resistance training would be better-suited to a ballplayers arm. Thanks.

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Just going to bump this, looking for some more input.

I've found a good resistance training program for upper-body. I'm just asking if you guys feel that that's the right way to go.

Also, I'm just asking to make sure that lifting weights to strengthen legs is alright. I don't see why it wouldn't be...