Power is defined as the rate of performing work and is expressed as work divided by time or force times velocity.(2) In regards to the human body, it is the muscles? ability to produce as much force as fast as possible. Athletes with more fast twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for short-duration anaerobic activities, are typically capable of producing more power.(3) Explosive power is one of the most important components of fitness for an athlete to possess to be successful, regardless of their sport. For a baseball player, it can be the difference between safely stealing second or being thrown out by a step. Hitting that game winning homerun with two outs in the state championship or making the final out at the warning track. Incorporating power training in the athlete’s strength and conditioning program is imperative to avoid the latter of the two in these scenarios. So we know power training is a must for baseball, but what exercises or lifts should we incorporate to stimulate these fast twitch muscle fibers. Unfortunately, this is where it can get tricky. The Olympic lifts (snatch, clean, jerk) are one of the best tools to develop explosive power and are used worldwide. However, for years there has been a constant warfare going on between strength and conditioning coaches/trainers on whether these lifts should be included in the training of a baseball player. One coach will regularly utilize the Olympic lifts in his/her program while another coach would not dare use this form of training on his/her athlete. The lifts are either hated or they are loved. Rebuttals can be made on both sides of this ongoing argument. President and Co-Founder of Cressey Performance, Eric Cressey (MS, CSCS) is one particular coach who has a hate relationship with the use of Olympic lifting for power in baseball training. In his article Why Baseball Players Shouldn’t Olympic Lift, Eric makes several valid points defending his beliefs. One keynote is the amount of stress that is placed on the wrists and elbows during the catch/rack stage of the clean, as well as the stress forced on the shoulders while overhead during the snatch or jerk. This is of concern due to the fact there is already extreme stresses put on these joints by the overhead throwing motion performed everyday. Eric also discusses the instability of the shoulders, significantly in the throwing shoulder, which nearly all baseball players suffer from; something rarely found in a competitive Olympic weightlifter.(1) Another argument opposing the use of the Olympic lifts for baseball power training is the anatomical plane at which the lifts operate on. The snatch, clean, and jerk function primarily in the sagittal plane, which include ascending and descending movements such as the squat and anterior to posterior movements such as running. Yes, successful baseball players must be efficient at maneuvering in the sagittal plane. However, they must also be very efficient in the frontal and transverse planes because this is where most of their movement takes place, which the Olympic lifts fail to train. Frontal plane movements include lateral motions like the lateral shuffle to field a ground ball. Rotational movements, such as swinging the bat, occur in the transverse plane. Due to the technicality of the Olympic lifts, time is also major concern for coaches and trainers. These lifts can take weeks, months, or even years to perform efficiently and receive the full power benefits. It can be hard to learn such mechanically important movements if the athlete only sees their strength coach once a week, or less, thus pushing coaches to look for less time consuming exercises. As difficult as they may be to learn, the Olympic lifts also require a specialized individual to be able to teach the mechanics safely and effectively. As stated before, there are counterarguments that can be made for the support of the widely used Olympic lifts. The unnecessary added stress to the wrists, elbows, and shoulders is a very compelling case as to why a coach or trainer would avoid using this type of power training for a baseball player. Conversely, there are many different ways to avoid these concerns, for instance, substituting the full clean with clean pulls and clean high pulls. By eliminating the catch, the wrists can avoid a weight-loaded hyperextension and the elbows will no longer be under extreme valgus stress, evading the ever-feared Tommy John surgery. Snatches can also be modified into snatch pulls and snatch high pulls as to not injures the shoulders. Overhead barbell Olympic lifts are often replaced with single arm dumbbell snatches, dumbbell push jerks, and dumbbell push presses in baseball programs. It is rare to find a current baseball player training with barbell snatches anyway due to this immobility and instability in shoulder. As for the overhead dumbbell exercises, if the athlete is still unable to maintain stability in the shoulder at the top position, the weight should decrease. Some coaches disagree with the strict sagittal plane training that occurs during Olympic lifting, but they are forgetting that just as a track and field sprinter, baseball too requires sprinting. Though reaction time is also very important in stealing a base or getting a great jump on a ball to make a diving catch, it is the explosive power to take off into a full out sprint that is going to get you there. Seeing how running takes place in the sagittal plane, why would you not want full power for it? Using the Olympic lifts would be a great way to train to do so. Many coaches use lateral jumps to train the frontal plane, as well as rotational medicine ball throws to train the transverse plane. Both of these exercises have multiple upon multiple variations that can be used for power training. Several of the medicine ball variations that Eric Cressey has his baseball athletes use can be seen here. Coaches are fond of them because they are very easy to learn and, therefore, are much more time efficient than the Olympic lifts. However, because of their simplicity, they could easily be incorporated with the Olympic lifts as supplementary exercise so that all three planes can be addressed throughout a training program to increase maximum power no matter what position or direction the athlete is traveling. Whether to use the Olympic lifts for power training is really up to you as a coach/trainer. Do the research and experiment to find out what works. While the Olympic lifts might bring positive results to one athlete, they could just as easily bring negative results to different athlete. If injury is of concern, use variations and modifications of the exercise so that its benefits can still be received safely. It is your responsibility to find the training technique that will maximize your athlete’s performance, no matter what that technique is. Also, in whatever methods you choose, always emphasize and teach proper form and mechanics. This will not only help reduce the risk of injury, but also help the athlete maximize the exercise’s true potential for power gains. References
Training For Power In Baseball
[Casey is an Exercise Science student at ECU and is an Athletic Development Intern for Athletic Lab]
great article