Cross Training: Cardio For Baseball Pitchers

Little League Baseball Coaches Beware!
April 20, 2011
Change of Speed or Movement?
April 26, 2011
Little League Baseball Coaches Beware!
April 20, 2011
Change of Speed or Movement?
April 26, 2011

If you’re like me you like to add some variety to your pitching workouts.  Before the internet, I used to go insane trying to think of new creative ways I could workout and still get all I needed to ensure I would stay healthy throughout the season.  With the internet, it has become easy to find what pitching workout routines work for you and which ones don’t.   As you know, pitching specific workout routines can be a bit repetitive, but they don’t have to be.  Today I want to talk about what pitchers can do to keep their cardio workouts fun and different every week.

If you have been receiving our newsletter for awhile now, you know that pitchers are not long distance runners, they are sprinters.  Why?  We start and stop all of the time. We need to work on explosive movements, quick bursts of energy toward the plate.

Here is a list of common but effective exercises you can do this season that will help you endure in your games.

Sprinting – When sprinting start out sprinting 30 yards and walk 30; repeat several times.  When you get better increase the distance 10 yards every two weeks or so until you are sprinting 60 yard dashes; so run 60 and walk 60 until you have done 2-6 reps.

Spin Bike/Stationary Bike – I enjoy spin bikes (spin classes) more than I do stationary bikes.  The spin classes are great because I purposely sit by the best athletes that are regulars.  This pushes me to “give it my all” and I’m just dripping in sweat when I’m done.  It keeps me going because nobody beats me and I can’t give up before they do; sometimes I have too but because those tri-athletes are beasts. lol  I just workout better when I compete even though the guy next to me doesn’t know I’m racing him.   The thing about  riding a bike (and these classes) is that you vary speeds and resistance so it is pure interval training.  Also a great leg workout for the week.

Jump rope -Do interval training with a jump rope.  How long has it been since you have jumped rope as fast as you could for 60 seconds, rested for 60 and went for it again?  Adding a rope will help switch it up.

Running hills –  Find hills by your house and do your sprints their instead of the baseball or football field.  You will work different muscles in your legs (legs are where the money is) and switch it up.

Light dumbbell and elastic band work – You should do these workouts anyway.  In our pitching workouts/ Pitching Grips DVD we show you a variety of these workouts.  Do the repetitions without much rest in between keeping the cardio going.  They shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes to do each one.  When you do both you have had a good 20 minute workout and then add core work with it with little rest in between exercises.

Here are some other great cardio routines or ideas to add every once in a while to help keep you sane.  I like adding a workout day once a week where It is not baseball (pitching) specific at all.  I do something completely different but it helps keep me in shape.

Box Jump workouts, P-90 X Cardio, P-90 X Core synergistics and Yoga,  (Yoga is awesome and keeps you healthy) Any Insanity workout.

Pick up your copy of our pitching workouts/pitching grips DVD today!  You’ll be glad you did.

 

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