| Those spring days that I spoke about in Part I of | | | | with some of my athletes and I have varied the |
| this series are fast approaching. I can only assume | | | | distances and the amount of the volume or total |
| (which you shouldn't do) that the gloves are being | | | | sprint work depending on their age and their |
| oiled and that we've been swinging the stick in the | | | | current athletic level.o Your rest periods will be 1 |
| cages and working out hard for our up-coming | | | | minute between each sprint.o You will need 4 |
| season. | | | | cones (or something just to mark off the |
| In the last article, I had given you a starting point | | | | appropriate distance)o You will only be sprinting to |
| to speed training with various drills to assist in the | | | | either a 15, 30 or 60 yard marked distance. |
| development of your agility and first-step | | | | Set your cones up giving yourself a starting point |
| quickness. | | | | and then place one cone at 15 yards, one at 30 |
| Before diving into a sample program that I have | | | | yards and the final cone at 60 yards.o When |
| used with athletes, let's take a look back at a few | | | | sprinting 15 yards you will start from a push-up |
| of the points that I made last time, just to | | | | position lying flat on your stomach.o When |
| ensure we understand our goals. | | | | sprinting 30 yards you will start from a lateral |
| First, you are not training for a track meet. If you | | | | position (similar to stealing a base.)o When |
| run track that is fine, but in this case we are | | | | sprinting 60 yards you will start from a normal |
| looking to improve our speed for the benefit of | | | | two point athletic stance.o You will complete all of |
| our sport. When you are waiting to steal a base | | | | the 15 yard sprints before moving onto the 30's |
| or get that jump that is needed from the outfield | | | | and so on. |
| to run and dive for that fly ball, you don't have | | | | Bracket 1. |
| the luxury of getting into a perfect stance and | | | | 15 yard sprint = 5x (times) |
| waiting for the gun to fire. | | | | 30 yard sprint = 3x |
| Second, aerobic endurance work will do nothing to | | | | 60 yard sprint = 1x |
| enhance speed. I don't' care how fast you run the | | | | Bracket 2. |
| mile, it doesn't mean you can get from Point A to | | | | 15 yard sprint = 1x |
| Point B fast. Take a look at the difference in | | | | 30 yard sprint = 5x |
| body composition between a top marathon runner | | | | 60 yard sprint = 3x |
| and a world-class sprinter. | | | | Bracket 3. |
| Ok, with those two points hammered home let's | | | | 15 yard sprint = 3x |
| take a look at a sample workout that I have | | | | 30 yard sprint = 1x |
| used with some of my athletes. This speed | | | | 60 yard sprint = 5x |
| session is going to focus on the development of | | | | After your final rest time, finish the workout |
| the 30 and 60-yard sprint work that is often | | | | session with a static stretch routine. |
| incorporated into baseball camps. | | | | A couple of key points that I would like to make.o |
| Before I have my athletes or clients engage in | | | | First, when taking off from a push-up position |
| any type of physical training I always prescribe | | | | make certain that you are looking into the ground. |
| some type of dynamic warm-up. This time is | | | | If you are looking upward this causes the head to |
| used to elevate the body's core temperature and | | | | pull the rest of the body up too fast during the |
| prepare the joints for the up-coming session. | | | | acceleration phase of the sprint. 15 yards is about |
| Because of the movements required in baseball, | | | | acceleration!o Second when running the 30-yard |
| we must make sure that we warm up the | | | | sprints alternate the lateral direction you are |
| rhomboid (back of the shoulder) muscles. These | | | | facing.o Third, when running the 60-yard sprint, |
| muscles are responsible to keeping the shoulders | | | | RELAX! You won't be fast if you are all tensed |
| healthy because of all the forward over-hand | | | | up.o And finally, don't lie down between sprints. I |
| throwing motions when playing. We will also want | | | | actually prefer my athletes to walk around or |
| to make sure that our lower body is activated in | | | | back to the starting point. |
| the warm-up to help with hip and leg mobility. | | | | Once again this is just a sample of something that |
| Contact me if you don't know how to prescribe | | | | I use. It's not the end all, but it works. Give it a |
| or set up a proper warm-up. If you are just | | | | shot and let me know how it works for you. I will |
| jogging a lap and static stretching before your | | | | outline a weekly program in the future. |
| games, then your wasting time. | | | | Until then remember keep having fun and work |
| The Session: | | | | hard! |
| This a sprinting rotational ladder that I have used | | | | |