My Strength and Conditioning Program

The above video contains my maximal strength numbers at the midpoint of my off-season training regimen. I am ecstatic with the lifts as all three are astronomically above where I was at the end of the summer. It’s great to see that my hard work has paid off thus far and I’m excited to see the improvements I can make over the final three months of my fall/winter training regimen.

Heavy strength training has long been looked down upon by the baseball cognoscenti as being detrimental to pitchers. It is thought that lifting heavy weights will make you bulky and inflexible, and have catastrophic effects on your delivery. It is believed that pitchers should just run mile after mile and do a bunch of silly exercises with rubber bands and pink-coated weights meant for geriatrics.

Wrong.

In reality the opposite is true. Lifting heavy weight with multi-joint, functional movements will actually improve your flexibility, not to mention increasing your strength, power and speed. The stronger your muscles are, the more force they can apply. Thus, if your hips, glutes, back, shoulders and arms are stronger, you will throw harder.

When most people think weight lifting, they automatically picture isolation exercises like preacher curls or skull crushers or any exercise that solely works what I term ‘Venice Beach’ muscles: chest and biceps. However, these muscles have a limited practical application to baseball, throwing in particular. You don’t just pitch with a bicep or a pectoral muscle, so why would you train your body like that?

I’m talking about exercises like in the above video: back squats, presses, and deadlifts. Don’t forget power cleans, front squats, jerks and snatches. These exercises condition your entire body and teach your muscles to work as a singular, cohesive unit.

The stronger you are the more durable and powerful you become, which leads to improved athletic performance. My career would most likely be over by now had I not found the benefits of strength training after my collegiate career. I owe the majority of my success over the past couple of years to my commitment to building total body strength and power.     

Yes, some of my accomplishments are due to the fact that I’ve learned how to be a pitcher and not a thrower. I’m now able to tinker with my delivery so I can replicate consistent mechanics most of the time, but my increased strength has enabled me to throw harder, pitch deeper into games and, luckily, enjoy an injury-free left arm and shoulder (knock on wood).

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m training much harder this winter than I did last year. Why?

I lost ten to twelve pounds (down to 173) throughout the summer because, obviously, I wasn’t able to train with the same intensity during the season as I did in the off-season. Also, I felt run down by the end of the year and I think the loss of weight and strength had an adverse affect on my stamina and recovery.

Thus, I’m trying to increase my muscular bodyweight now so when the drop-off inevitably occurs I will still be at a weight where I can pitch at the top of my game. I think a good weight for me is 190-195lbs. Right now, I’ve gotten myself up to 190, which is just base camp on my march to the summit of 200 pounds. I have three months remaining to add the final ten.

Plus, playing in the independent leagues will allow me to focus one hundred percent of my attention on baseball, so I should be able to train smart enough that I can limit the loss in pounds to single digits.

I’m a big believer in the mental side of training and the atmosphere in which one trains is of the utmost importance. I train at Crossfit Oshawa, which is the gym featured in the highlight video.

Specifically, I follow their high performance programming which is a veritable mash of high weight, low rep strength training, Olympic lifting, gymnastics, running, rowing and metabolic conditioning (think a mutant form of circuit training) at a crippling intensity so high it will make  your ears bleed.

And that is the true secret to getting results from a strength and conditioning program. Literally every time I walk into that gym I am nervous at what hell I am about to be put through. I know that, more often than not, I am going to be left prone on the ground, gasping for air, wishing that sweet death would come take me away and never make me do another rep.

Here’s a question: If you’re not anxious before you workout, are you training hard enough? One of my favourite quotes is: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” I never want to be accused of not working hard.

Crossfit Oshawa is a great place to train because of the camaraderie and atmosphere created by the people who workout there on a daily basis. Look at the above video again. A big reason why I am able to make the lifts is because I have a crowd of people surrounding me, hollering support, helping me make each lift.

We all feed off each other’s energy in the pursuit of greater fitness. Training in such an environment keeps you accountable. There have been many days where I’ve been forced to drag my ass to the gym and just didn’t feel like putting myself through another workout. But then I look at the times posted on the whiteboard or realize that my time will soon be up there to set the pace for the gym and it implores me to dig deep and work harder.

Crossfit Oshawa is the reason why I can say, without hesitation, that I am in the best shape of my life right now.