Baseball, Softball strength and conditioning training

Baseball Strength Training and Softball Strength Training, Baseball Training and Softball Training
There are several goals for baseball strength training and softball strength training. You don’t want to train like a football player, so you don’t want to do high weights with low numbers of repetitions. For baseball and softball players you want to keep quickness and speed in order to be a well rounded player.
For baseball training and softball training you want a larger amount of repetitions, usually between 12 and 18. This especially goes for the youth player who is 9 to 16 years of age. This is a critically important time with young people and their physical development.
Flexibility is very important to avoid injury, which is why I start out with stretching in my baseball strength training sessions. The stretching in my sessions lasts about 5-10 minutes. Next I would go into doing core work to strengthen the abdominal muscles. I start with regular sit-ups for 15 reps, followed by 40 reps of bicycles, then side crunches for another 40 reps. This is followed by alternating leg lifts for 30 reps, then back to side crunches on the opposite side from the first set. From there we go into doing shoulder stretches, doing shoulder circles, front wise for 20 reps, reversing the motion for 20 reps.
I’m a big believer in working the shoulders pretty hard for baseball strength training, obviously because of the amount of throwing that is done in the game. The dominant muscle group is the deltoids, which is the muscle on the top of the shoulder, which helps to keep the whole arm in alignment.
I like to start off with dumbbell shoulder front raises. From there I do such exercises as lunges with bicep curls, Next I would do a set of reverse triceps extensions, and a set of fairly light weight squats. I do 20 reps of squats with say 10 pound dumbbells. Then after completing the first set, you drop the weight and do 15 to 20 reps with just your body weight
I am a former High School, American Legion and College player baseball. www.fitnesswithjeff.com