• Baseball and softball are sports that require strength, power, and agility. Hand-eye coordination is involved and a certain amount of natural and developed skill that will allow an athlete to excel. Baseball and softball are stop and go sports that require explosive energy to be developed from a resting position. Type IIx (also known as Type IIb) fibers are used often since they provide great amounts of short duration, high intensity energy. The muscles fatigue quickly so they cannot be used continuously for long periods of time. Hitting the ball, throwing the ball, and stealing a base are all done in a very rapid manner and require immediate and powerful muscle contractions. With this in mind, baseball and softball athletes need to prepare their training so that their body is primed for this activity. Strong muscles can provide more power than weaker muscles so the body needs to be as strong as possible. Power movements are possible with strong muscles but training for power is essential to activate fast contractions in a short period of time. This means that the body and mind need to be trained to work in unison under high intensity. Agility training is required for the athlete to use their strength and power in an efficient manner that can translate to sport and specific demands.
  

• Baseball Strength Training

• Strength training results from lifting heavy weight over an extended period of time with adequate rest to allow the muscle to rebuild. While strength specific training will result in a slight increase of muscle mass, the athletes need not fear getting too bulky to play their sport. The potential loss of range of motion can be addressed during agility training and with flexibility specific sessions. Strength gains are seen when the body is taxed to failure and the body is required to release necessary hormones in response to the stress. Training the big muscles with heavy lifts provides optimum strength gains. The body parts should be split so that the training program can be divided into 3-5 day splits. With this type of session focus can be given to the chest, back, shoulders, and legs. All of these parts should be challenged with exercises such as bench press, dumbbell press, lat pull downs, rows, overhead press, squats and dead-lifts. Multiple joint exercises (ie squats) need to be done before single joint exercises (leg extensions) so that the body can produce greatest amount of force against the greatest amount of resistance. Since the weight is heavy, the reps range may be as low as 2-4, but typically should be in the 6-8 range. During this time, the athlete should select a weight that allows them to lift in this range. Six to 8 exercises may be chosen for each part and there should be between 3-4 sets per exercise. Due to the high weight and the need to continue to be able to lift, the rest period for strength training needs to be no less than 2 minutes. Athletes should ensure that they do not return to train the same body part until sufficient recovery time has lapsed. Typically the recovery is 48 to 72 hours.
  

• Baseball Power Training

• Power requires the athlete to move quickly while fighting a resistance. Throwing a ball is an extremely powerful movement while the resistance (weight of the ball) is small. The baseball and softball player should think of themselves as a tightly wound coil ready to powerfully uncoil and release energy. Power training requires movements to be fast while still fighting a resistance. Exercises such as cleans, snatches, and fast moving bench press and dead-lifts create power. These are higher resistance so the movement will be slower. The athlete still needs to try to create as fast as movement as possible. Other forms of power training increase the speed but have decreased resistance. Many athletes work on their power with balls at the end of an exercise tube. Weighted bats work on power and so do fast moving medicine ball throws. Power training for softball and baseball needs to develop both kinds of activity. When the resistance is higher, the lifts will be more demanding so the number of exercises, sets, and reps will be less than the lighter weight session. A heavy session will be 4-5exercises, 3-4 sets of 3-6 repetitions. The lighter weight requires 7-10 exercises, 2-3 sets of 10-20 repetitions. As with strength training, and especially the heavy session, rest of up to 4 minutes may be required.

Baseball Agility Training
Agility training is often the fun part that allows the athlete to mimic their sport and their position. Agility training focuses on movement in a pattern that will best suit the needs of the athlete as they run, hit, or throw. Agility training may come in the form of cutting drills, changes of direction, or reacting to a hit or thrown ball. Agility training should include single leg balancing and jumping as well as changes of speed. The athletes can use their strength and power to accomplish controlled movements to improve their ability to play their sport. Agility exercises need to challenge balance, coordination, flexibility, and hand-eye movements.

Off-season Baseball is Important too
Baseball and softball players are known to play their sport year-round with little or no down time. Athletes would be better off taking some time to recuperate and also some time to get stronger, more powerful, and more agile. No professional athlete plays their sport year round. The training plan of a pro includes an off-season, a pre-season, in-season, and a post season. Within these times, the athlete can cross train, heal from injuries, and work on their weaknesses. Strength and power training are very demanding and require adequate rest with little activity outside of these training regiments. Softball and baseball players should set aside between 4-12 weeks of time dedicated to developing their strength and power. These should be seen as time invested in becoming a better athlete, not time wasted and getting rusty from not playing the sport.