I was curious because I remember Joe Defranco saying he prefer to drop the bench press and do pullups, chinups and maybe db work for his baseball players. Also I may be wrong but I think James mention there QB’s don’t do any bench press work.
Dan John has also said throwers don’t need to bench. One can see how it could induce internal rotation of the shoulder as well as tightness inhibiting ROM.
You don’t have to be fast or strong to field a ball, throw a ball, or hit a ball. Some of the fastest pitchers, best hitters, and best fielders I ever knew or saw did not have good speed or quickness and were not strong. Had they been quicker, faster and stronger, they would have probably been better. But taking too much time away from skill training to work on conditioning is risky, especially since we’re talking about working with individuals as young as 10y.o. What will make or break a young ball players is skill with the glove, the arm and the bat. Power is great, as is quickness and speed. Those who possess power and speed, and who also have the skill, will be more likely to succeed. But unlike football, or even some positions in basketball (i.e. power forward) you can’t overcome a lack of skill with power and speed. Skill domintates baseball, and that should be the focus in any young ball players training program.
I think the danger of the bench press is when it is used to promote hypertrophy as apposed to CF’s methodology which would be a CNS stimulus for the upper body.
As strength is developed exposure to high rep totals can be kept very low and the stimulus very high. This will minimize overuse concerns and ROM issues.
You can use any color you want, but your basic assumption quoted above is your problem. The limiting factors in being able to catch, throw and hit, have absolutely nothing to do with acceleration, speed and for the most part, power. As I’ve said, these athletic qualities improve the athletes ability to the these things, but they are NOT the limiting factors in developing a sound ballplayer.
Real world example. Go into any D-1 football fieldhouse and get the strongest, fastest, most powerful atheltes you can find. Choose those that haven’t played baseball since little league. Have them play a descent high school baseball team and watch them get dismantled. It will be embarrassing. All that speed, power and athletic prowess will get them nowhere. What does this tell you about the limiting factors in baseball?
Yes, D-1 experience. My point is that normally, unless you have the kids for at least a few hours per day several days per week, very little time should be used for anything other than skill acquistion and situation awareness. Within that context, you can add drills that work on speed and endurance. But to take a few days working on a CF style accel/speed program combined with a weight program, you’ll end up with a Velocity type program that spends an inadequate amount of time on skills and situations.
Again, speed and power are great, but this isn’t football…the time necessary to improve speed and power to any significant degree can easily cut into the time needed to build, refine and maintain skill. And for a 10y.o., skill and situational awareness development are much more important.
Furthermore, and Charlie may correct me here, you can take a 15-16y.o. and bring him up to95% of his potential speed and power within a year to two, but it takes many, many years to fully develop top tier baseball skills. So for any athletes under the age of 15, I would suggest that acceleration work be built into base running drills, and power development be limited to swinging weighted bats and “home run derby” practices. They can hit the gym later.
It tells me you know very little about the sport - that’s what it tells me!!
It’s just a matter of physics - to swing a bat -throw a ball - play defense - run the bases takes a certain level of performance which requires some athletic ability - and the better it is the better the performance! Not to mention injury prevention!!!
I’m sorry for the pissy little league comment, just got a little defensive. In an effort to actually offer a little assistance, I would refer you to one of the most successful training academies I am aware of in the North Texas area. My son, before he dropped baseball to focus on football and basketball, trained at D-Bat. They are a very successful baseball academy who train hundreds of local area boys and girls. Most of the Dallas Mustangs, who regular appear in the Connie Mack World Series Finals, have historically trained there, and last year they merged. If you’re ever in Dallas, you might drop by and see how they run their program. They have been incredibly successful putting kids in college and the pros and you could undoubtedly pick up some good info there.
I dont think it would because there are plenty of examples of the reverse - Bo Jackson / Deion Sanders.
Its increadibly difficult for a pro in one sport to play at the highest level in another sport without enough time dedicated to perfecting the skills of the second sport.
He was a third baseman. His size and speed (6’1" 175lbs. at 15y.o.) has pushed us towards basketball and football. He loves football (we have college coaches in the family) and all his friends have been playing select for years, so we had to drop baseball, much to my disappointment. But he is doing great. Just got back from the Texas State 7 on 7…went 2-1 and missed the finals by a dropped pass.:mad: