14YO off season workout ?

[clueless]

Hello. There seem to be many knowledgeable posters on this site & I’m hoping that you can offer me (my son) some evaluation on his off-season plan. Thank you in advance for those of you who chose to reply.

My son is a 14YO freshman, currently 5’9” and about 145 lbs, rather slender build. He just finished up his summer/fall season with the Junior Legion team. The Junior Legion team consisted of the local HS JV returning players and next year’s hopefuls all coached by the JV coach. Based upon the summer & fall seasons, it looks like he has a very strong chance of making the JV team.

His biggest disadvantage compared to the sophomores is (lack of) hitting power. He has never had a private instructor & even his team coaches have never really worked with him on his hitting. He’s got a good eye (on base average someplace around 650, batting average over 400) & rarely strikes out (once every 15 or 20 at bats). I’m not sure if his lack of power is due to strength as compared to the sophomores, or technique.

He rarely hits anything opposite field, so I think he may be sometimes pulling pitches he should be driving the other way. I’m not sure how to overcome this, as it seems to be difficult for him to wait for the ball to come closer before starting his swing on outside pitches. I also have a suspicion that he lets his arms get away from his body a bit too much, but I’m not very good at seeing if this is the case in real time during his swings.

He has 3 months until the spring season starts. His current plan is to spend 3 days a week working on strength training (basic weight lifting – squats, bench press, etc; along with core work) and 3 days working on “baseball”. This will consist of approximately 50 –75 batting practice swings and Jaeger’s long-toss program & fielding some ground balls.

Do you think his off-season plan seems sound?

[Jim W.]

Sounds like a good plan and work ethic. Based on your description of his hitting I would seek and find a good hitting instructor in your area. At the level he is coming into, he will begin seeing pitchers that will take advantage of him if he does not learn how to take it the other way. Taking lessons from someone who can quickly identify his weaknesses so he can address these during his baseball hitting workouts will payoff.

If you don't have one, you should get a video camera so he can do self evaluations in slomotion.

Best of luck!

[TG Coach]

The build size sounds like my son except he's only 130 after a growth burst. The big differeence between freshmen and upper classmen is upper body strength. The varsity coach told my son he needs to build upper body strength, increase his bat speed and increase his throwing velocity to make varsity next year. I expect he'll start on JV. He's only a freshman. He's doing light lifting and plyometics for burst. You want burst, not bulk.

[Jon Doyle]

Time looks good, but it really depends on what you have planned during that time. Can you provide more specifics?

[TG Coach]

If anyone doesn't know about Jon Doyle, he's an expert in his field. He was recommended to me by a pro baseball player.

[Jon Doyle]

If anyone doesn't know about Jon Doyle, he's an expert in his field. He was recommended to me by a pro baseball player.
Thanks TG. If anyone has questions ask away.

[cosmo34]

Thanks TG. If anyone has questions ask away.

What are your thoughts on bench pressing? What type of programs do you have your players work on? What is your main focus on?

[Go Cardinals]

What are your thoughts on bench pressing? What type of programs do you have your players work on? What is your main focus on?

It's all on his site. His site has alot of good info...

[Jon Doyle]

What are your thoughts on bench pressing? What type of programs do you have your players work on? What is your main focus on?
Tough to explain in one post but I rarely use the bench press unless I can be there. There's nothing wrong with the bench press when done properly. It's just extremely difficult to do properly for most.

I work on athletic based programs that work on many different aspects of training such as reactive strength, dynamic and static range of motion, real core training (not crunches or wobbleboards) and compound-based movements that develop power and explosive abilities.

The result? A very athletic, strong and powerful athlete that can adapt to change and stay on the field.

[kylebee]

Tough to explain in one post but I rarely use the bench press unless I can be there. There's nothing wrong with the bench press when done properly. It's just extremely difficult to do properly for most.

I work on athletic based programs that work on many different aspects of training such as reactive strength, dynamic and static range of motion, real core training (not crunches or wobbleboards) and compound-based movements that develop power and explosive abilities.

The result? A very athletic, strong and powerful athlete that can adapt to change and stay on the field.

As someone who knows a fair bit about athletic training, I can say that Jon Doyle has excellent programs and advice available on his site. I have used them to create my workout programs and for the kids on the HS team that I coach.

[clueless]

Time looks good, but it really depends on what you have planned during that time. Can you provide more specifics?

Uncertian what you mean by time? Or what specifics you want?

[clueless]

Based on your description of his hitting I would seek and find a good hitting instructor in your area. Taking lessons from someone who can quickly identify his weaknesses so he can address these during his baseball hitting workouts will payoff.

If you don't have one, you should get a video camera so he can do self evaluations in slomotion.

Best of luck!

We've been thinking about instructors (pitching also, since that is his favorite) but are uncertain how to find a "good" one. There are not many in the area & I'm not certain that they are very good.

On the video camera, I have a digital "still" camera that will take .mov files @ 30 frames per second but I have not been able to figure out how to make it play in slow motion. I also have an old video (VCR) camera, that I might still be able to make work.

[Jon Doyle]

Uncertian what you mean by time? Or what specifics you want?
During your conditioning/strength training session what will you be doing? That will make all the different in the world.

[clueless]

During your conditioning/strength training session what will you be doing? That will make all the different in the world.

Well, we haven’t quite figured that out yet. I’d like to keep his sessions down to not much longer than an hour total, so that he doesn’t get bored or decide it’s more work than he wants.

Something like
Warm-up (5 minutes)
Sprints/side shuffles

Weight work (35 minutes)
Squats
Deadlifts
Clean
Bench press
Overhand pullups

Core (20 minutes)
Standing rotational twist (m ball)
Standing waist throw (m ball)
Wood chop (m ball)
Bicycle crunches
Plank/side plank

This is pretty basic, but I think it might be a good starting point for him. There isn't much for conditioning... I wouldn't mind him doing more sprints, etc to try to develop more speed, but I just don't want to overload him & burn out what little work ethic he has suddenly developed :)

He'll have about 10 weeks between seasons, so I was thinking to maybe change it up a little at 5 weeks to keep it from getting stagnet?

He'll be doing "band" rotator cuff exercises as part of the long toss program on the other 3 days.

What do you think?

[Jon Doyle]

Well, we haven’t quite figured that out yet. I’d like to keep his sessions down to not much longer than an hour total, so that he doesn’t get bored or decide it’s more work than he wants.

Something like
Warm-up (5 minutes)
Sprints/side shuffles

Weight work (35 minutes)
Squats
Deadlifts
Clean
Bench press
Overhand pullups

Core (20 minutes)
Standing rotational twist (m ball)
Standing waist throw (m ball)
Wood chop (m ball)
Bicycle crunches
Plank/side plank

This is pretty basic, but I think it might be a good starting point for him. There isn't much for conditioning... I wouldn't mind him doing more sprints, etc to try to develop more speed, but I just don't want to overload him & burn out what little work ethic he has suddenly developed :)

He'll have about 10 weeks between seasons, so I was thinking to maybe change it up a little at 5 weeks to keep it from getting stagnet?

He'll be doing "band" rotator cuff exercises as part of the long toss program on the other 3 days.

What do you think?
I think you have a very solid plan. Unless he is bored there is really no need to change week 5 at his age/experience. But it's not a big deal.

I would add a few more static holds such as horse pose and hip bridges after the planks/side planks.

And instead of the individual med ball drills you have, I would have him do 1-2 circuits of med balls throws (there is an article on my website with directions). That will develop more athleticism, proper movement patterns and you should be able to finish in 7-10 minutes versus the proposed 20, cutting the workout shorter and keep him interested. Plus it's a lot more "fun".

But obviously that's up to you. Overall good plan.

[clueless]

thanks Jon. I sent you a PM.

[cosmo34]

Tough to explain in one post but I rarely use the bench press unless I can be there. There's nothing wrong with the bench press when done properly. It's just extremely difficult to do properly for most.


I agree. I've just always asked what people thought about since I see many coaches that swear by it, but can't figure out why their players keep coming down with shoulder injuries. Admittadly, I do have a bias against benching, and have never really seen the point of trying to have a huge bench for a baseball player.

I've seen coaches make their players grab an exaggerated wide grip on barbell bench and going extremely deep on dumbell benching so they "can get a deep stretch" which IMO is horrible for your shoulders. Most kids have no idea how to bench properly and coaches don't show them how to. For me I pretty much refuse to do it, and always wonder how others feel about it.

[kylebee]

If the coach is really all about bench press, see if he'll be amicable to switching to dumbbell bench press. It will work more stabilizer muscles and will be a lot more applicable.