Underdog Performance

When is it time to switch strength training for more power development?

Powerful methods of weight training such as Velocity Based Training, the Dynamic Effort method, Contrast power training, Post Activation Potentiation, etc. have been shown to be extremely beneficial for strong athletes who need explosive power. It has also been shown that this style of training is far more effective amongst those who have a very good strength base …but ...

Are You Doing Too Much?

The delicate balance of training economy for baseball players

To paraphrase Driveline Baseball’s Blog Post on training economy, look at your overall energy output as a dollar. You want to spend that dollar to the best of your ability. If you overspend, you won’t optimize recovery. This can lead to an inability to increase performance as well as increasing risk of injury.

So, ...

"Hitting a baseball is the toughest thing in all sports"- Abraham Lincoln, probably

Yes. It's difficult. We know. Players want to find out exactly why they're struggling. So often, they look to a quick fix. Through this article, I hope to shed light on a plethora of reasons that could cause some struggles with hitting in games and I hope to offer some ways to fix them. Disclaimer: none of them are quick fixes. They take weeks, months, years of work. If you're loo...

Sprints

What’s your magic number?

For a while, I’ve being tracking sprint times amongst myself and athletes I train.

Here are some things I’ve discovered:

1. Improvements come quickly for newer trainees. “Beginner gains” are most definitely a very real thing. Advancements in the CNS have been shown to be the first place in which athletes will make improvements. A sprint relies heavily on CNS activ...

Make your exercises work for what you need!

5 Exercises That Should Be Staples In Every Baseball Player’s Program

Deadlift (in some variety)

A heavy deadlift trains total body strength like no other exercise. It trains the hip hinge- the most basic movement amongst all sports- quite possibly in the best possible fashion. Grip strength and upper back strength through scapular retraction are also addressed. Last but not least, posterior chain development is crucial to b...

"Coach Bill, when can I start a weighted ball program?"

This is a question I'll hear a couple dozen times a month. Kids will see some older athletes making tons of progress on the radar gun, and they want some of the special velo-enhancing dust sprinkled on them. Everyone wants their velocity up. Everyone wants to do the quick-fix exercises that they think will get them to throw harder. There are many areas that a player should excel in first before throwing a ton of differe...

I wrote up my 50th strength training program yesterday as a strength coach.  Though this may not seem like a lot, it was pretty momentus for me, as I am getting a good client base.  That is the footing you need as a coach. I am still learning as much as I can to improve as a coach, but what I do know is that these programs need to be great. They need to catch the eye, be easy to follow along with and, most importantly, flat out work for the athlete. I will list out the 5 tips I have...

Since the moment I first saw someone lifting weights, I’ve heard some sort expertise. “Don’t lift weights, you’re going to get too bulky”, “Why lift heavy weights, you need to use light weights”, “Baseball is a lightweight sport, you don’t need to weight train,” “Don’t do that, you’ll get hurt”.

For some reason, there’s always somebody with an opinion on weight training looking to spread their opin...