Staying Fit

[Dutch]

I live in Canada so in the winter time we can't keep practicing ball outside. I go to a gym with my dad and pitch to keep my arm going about once or so a week.
I was wondering if you know any at home work outs I could do to stay in shape over the winter and to get stronger for the next season.
I am a very skinny kid its not a weight issue, I just lack a lot of muscle and want to get stronger.
I'm 17 years old and a male.

So what are some good ways to stay fit or good workouts I can do when we are not playing ball?

 

[Mr T]

I'd go to some fitness sites. I can tell you what not to do, P90X or something like that. Those are cardio circuit training programs that are great for middle aged creaky people like me but absolutely not what a young person who is skinny and lack muscle should do.

 

[Dutch]

Mainly I'm looking for a simple at home workout I can do, maybe make my own up with different excersices?

 

[Greenmonsters]

Check out this board owner's website - Softball Performance. Last year around this time or maybe a little later, he offered an excellent deal on custom-designed workout programs. Its SB/BB oriented and he's very good at it!

 

[Bishop]

NCAA did a study 1 or 2 years ago looking at throwing speed. Both underhand and over hand. Study conclusion, the most effective exercises for improvement of throwing speed were push ups and pull ups. Nice that both are easily done at home isn't it?

Add to that Bill Lovelace's core training program available from the this forums host website.

Legs are going to need some work for an over all balance - I'm a huge fan of Kettlebell swings, my daughter hates them. That tells me they work her tail off so that's a good thing. When I talked to Coach Marc he agreed, swings are awesome for ball players. Add to that lunges (of varying types) and toss in a weighted Farmer Walk.

Conditioning - get old school. Burpies in timed sets, (I do KB swings like this too for additional conditioning training) Burpies as fast as you can with perfect form for 30 seconds, then 30 seconds active recovery like skip rope, jog in place, do easy jumping jacks (keep moving low intensity) Pick a duration to start with, say 10 mintues and when that isn't too hard to accomplish add a minute or 2. When you get to a 30 minute set for Burpies and a 15 minute set for swings. Safe to say you have ironman conditioning.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I'm probably old school, but what's a "burpie"???

 

[softballphreak]

Burpees are like the old football up-downs, but you jump as high as you can on the up. If you do a full burpee, you will do a pushup before jumping up. We don't do the pushups because we feel it breaks the rhythm.

You won't do a 30-minute set of burpees by the way. Burpees are tough.

I recommend most of the exercises Bishop posted.

Jump ropes, Google it and find as many jump styles as possible, such as skiers, power jumps, bells, crossovers, staggers, etc.

Planks. Planks are a MUST! Side planks, face down planks. Planks build the inner core. The inner core is the most important muscles to build. Nothing happens that the inner core is not involved in. They are not the six-pack muscles; they are internal.

Farmer's Walks. Got their name from chores like carrying pails of milk or feed. Carry as much weight as possible in each hand while walking as far as you can. Example, a 5-gallon bucket of water is about 40 lbs. Carry a bucket in each hand as far as you can walk without setting it down. Let's suppose you could carry 75 lbs. in each hand (that's a LOT). If you can only walk 10 feet you have accomplished more than carrying a light weight much farther.

Body weight exercises are great. Squats, thrust squats, various kinds of lunges, weight sled pulling by legs and by hands. You can make a weight sled out of many different things. Heavy tires, cinder blocks, bags of sand, etc.

Sand bags are very beneficial. You can carry them in all sorts of ways to make them work every muscle.

In a nutshell: Planks (shoot for holding 2 1/2 minutes), jump rope (as many as you can every time), burpees (10-15 burpees at a time is a good set), farmer's walk (25 lb minimum), weight sled (vary the weight for explosive pulls as well as strength pulls). Everything else is a bonus.

 

[Dutch]

Thanks for all the ideas!
I'll be sure to try them out!

 

[softballphreak]

Thanks for all the ideas!
I'll be sure to try them out!

Remember, a skinny kid can be much stronger than a larger person. Strength is NOT size.

The farmer's walks and sled pulls by hand will give you a very strong grip. A very strong grip can do many things to a ball or a bat.

Persevere!!

 

[Bishop]

Burpees are like the old football up-downs, but you jump as high as you can on the up. If you do a full burpee, you will do a pushup before jumping up. We don't do the pushups because we feel it breaks the rhythm.

You won't do a 30-minute set of burpees by the way. Burpees are tough.

Thanks for the pinch hit softballphreak. It's been a busy weekend.
Sure it can be done. It's a goal not a starting point. It's really only a 15 minute set with 15 minutes rest. I peaked at 30 minutes about 10 years ago. It sucks to get old. I'm down to 15 mintues these days. My burpee includes the push up and the up on my burpee is to the pull-up bar for one rep.