WebBall.com - Conditioning Principles

Principles of Training

Before beginning a specific conditioning program for a specific time of year, make sure you understand the principles. Specific routines to ensure proper arm care maintenance for hurlers can also be found under pitching.

Pre-teens and younger kids should refer to the Weightless Training page.

Every conditioning program is based on common principles which in turn are based on common terms...

Reps and Sets

Repetition is what trains and tones.

Each rep is one lift - up and down.
Each set is a fixed number of reps in a row without a pause (5 or 10).
The rest/recovery (3 minutes) happens between sets of the same exercise or when moving station to station.
Each set (of reps) should not exceed the anaerobic requirements - 10-90 seconds (see Energy Systems).
Do a number of different exercise so that all major muscle groups are worked. (Bench press, power clean, full squat would do it = see Exercises Explained.)
Plus do sport-specific motions.

Your 1RM

Not understanding the point of a repetition maximum (RM) can lead to injury.

Whatever your maximum possible weightload in a given exercise, that's your
Single Repetition Maximum = 1 Rep Max = 1RM
The most you can lift 10 times in a row is about 75% of what you can lift once.
10 reps at 75% is called your 10 RM
You're better to lift less, more often. So using your 10RM as a guide will likely produce good gains. Nu an alternative is to go more intense with fewer reps. This is the thinking behind some of the Pyramid Program numbers (mixing intensities). So you could use..
5 reps at 85-90% = 5RM

Range of Motion

This could be the most important aspect fo your training!

Always exercise over the full range of a muscle group's motion.
More distance = more muscle work = more exercise benefit.
This also maintains joint flexibility and mobility.
Go slowly! Raise a weightload (i.e. concentric muscle contraction) in 1.5 seconds, lower it (eccentric muscle contraction) in 3.0 seconds - for consistent application of force over the muscle's full range. If you don't quite get, that, please re-read - this is very important. Quick movement is clearly the final objective in a dynamic, ballistic sport like baseball. But when you want to train muslces from end-to-end, slower works them more fully.