The best part about January and a new year, at least in my mind, is the fact that baseball season is right around the corner! Although spring training is only a month away and the start of college and high school baseball is close by, it is never too late to start preparing for the season. I do sincerely hope you have already started preparing and have already had a great offseason of training. If so, great! Use this last part of the offseason to assure you have hit all the important aspects of a proper baseball offseason program and haven’t missed any critical components.
For those that haven’t started preparing, it’s time to get going! It may not be optimal to start this late, but it is still possible to make a big difference. I have seen many players improve with just 4-6 weeks of training.
Injuries in Baseball are Highest in the First Month of the Season
Two recent research reports have been published that analyzed the occurrence of baseball injuries in Major League Baseball and High School Baseball. In both studies, the researchers found that the baseball injuries are highest in the first month of the season.
Do you know what this tells me?
I interpret this as the fact that preparation for the season is extremely important, and those that do not prepare well have a higher chance of injury. [Click to Tweet]
The Key to Avoid Injuries is Proper Preparation
How do you best prepare? I have 5 areas that I think everyone should focus on to best prepare for the upcoming season. Many people put the effort into one or maybe two of these components, but the key to unlocking your full potential is including all 5 components.
They all build off one another:
- Restore and maintain soft tissue and joint mobility lost from adaptations
- Maximize total body gains from strength and conditioning
- Incorporate arm care programs designed to maximize strength and dynamic stability
- Integrate proper function and balance of the entire body
- Enhance pitching mechanics through proper coaching with a throwing program
How Baseball Players Can Enhance Performance While Reducing Injuries
I’m pretty excited to have a new free webinar for everyone to enjoy and learn from, entitle “How Baseball Players Can Safely Enhance Performance While Reducing Injuries.” In this 45-minute webinar I discuss the why injuries occur in overhead athletes and the 5 components above on how to best prepare to put yourself in the best position to succeed. While designed around baseball, the information is definitely applicable to all overhead throwing athletes.
These are the same 5 principles that I follow to build my programs to safely enhance performance while reducing injuries.
To access the webinar, simply enter your name and email below to join my baseball-specific newsletter where I update you on all my baseball content. After you confirm your subscription, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to access the webinar.
