It’s common in baseball (especially softball) to have development priorities backward. With athletes and parents chasing scholarships at an earlier age than ever before, making proper development a top concern is crucial. Knowing this, the worst word a scout or school can call an athlete is “projectable”. Projectable describes an athlete who is small, undersized, …
When it comes to the relationship between coaches and their athletes, there is one thing that should never falter. Communication, one of the most important things surrounding an athlete’s program. Basic communication can help you stay healthy. Many times athletes don’t communicate how they are feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally, and this can negatively affect …
Why specific communication will help you hit your baseball goals Read More »
“Don’t forget to hydrate!” You know you’re supposed to, but what does hydration for baseball mean to you as an athlete? Let’s start by talking about water. Your body is about 60% water! It is an even higher percentage for infants. In your body, water regulates most important functions including transport of substance, dissolving substances, …
Body presentation tells a story of how the athlete moves and the type of power and rotation they can express. More compact, compressed movers are able to express more force and rotate more efficiently. Think of a Christian Yelich-type body. He rotates and doesn’t stop rotating. Wider, more expanded individuals can absorb more force and …
Today, we’ll simply scratch the surface of the concept of differentiating between a stability/motor control issue or a mobility issue during an athlete’s assessment. At PUSH we take pride in how well we conduct our initial assessments; we are thorough and particular on the process that we use with our athletes. Knowing what tests to …
Discerning Between a Stability/Motor Control or Mobility Issue During Assessment Phase Read More »
“You can only speed your arm up as fast as you can slow it down.” We’ve all heard this quote a thousand of times from coaches, trainers, and parents alike. However, most lack the understanding of how to train this and can be misled by the importance of it to a thrower’s health. In our …
The importance of training the levator scapulae in throwers Read More »
Here at Push Performance, we have the opportunity to work with 100+ kids through remote strength programs throughout the country. Personally, with athletes I have worked with remotely, I have seen them make huge strides toward their baseball development goals. This includes youth baseball players all the way up to professional players. Why is this? …
How to get the most out of remote strength programs Read More »
An important area we believe in to reach success, along with our culture in the facility, is how thorough we are in our initial movement assessments and programming. Often, strength programs can be “cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all” programs, which don’t always benefit athletes’ individual goals and bodies. Baseball development is unique and requires specific demands of skill …
Baseball players are faced with a decision to make when it comes to making the most out of their summer. Do they train in the gym all summer and develop their skills or do they play in tournaments or a summer league? Many gyms will tell you that you need to train regardless of circumstance; …
Summer baseball development: What’s the best route? Read More »
Now that the high school baseball season is over and the college season is coming to a close, what should you do to separate yourself this summer? The summer months allow you to reflect on your spring season, put in the work necessary to create new physical adaptations, and take your body and game to …
How to properly transition from in-season to off-season Read More »
Maximizing throwing recovery is critical in the game of baseball. If an athlete is not sufficiently recovered, performance on the field will suffer. There are many tools out there marketed to aid in recovery such as massage guns, Marc Pro/STEM, and cupping, to name a few. While these tools do their job in aiding in …
Blend throwing and strength programming to maximize recovery Read More »
“What should I be eating to get the most out of my training?” This is a common question when it comes to baseball development, typically centered around strength training sessions. When talking with athletes, I find that many times their pre/intra/post workout eating/drinking routine does not support their strength development Here are some basics to …
During the off-season, the foundation of strength that was built will be transferred to power, lateral movements and sprints. Strength is the foundation of all movement. A simple way we monitor workloads and preparation for the baseball and softball season is by using the strength-speed continuum and programming off the force velocity curve. The phase …
Baseball is one of the most physically challenging and demanding sports on the spine. Baseball players create the highest force expression of all other sports, with fastball velocities climbing towards 100+ mph and exit velocities north of 115mph. Athletes are REQUIRED to be proficient in high-level movements including thoracolumbar rotation, overhead shoulder flexion, extreme shoulder …
This week, I sat down with J.P. Sportman of JP3 Baseball to discuss the biggest deficiency he sees when hitters come in for training. Cues like “load the back hip” or “sit in your back hip” are often said to hitters who tend to crash or get to their front side a little early in …
As baseball player development continues to steamroll into the twenty-first century, what has always been a complex process of improving athletes’ output capability on the field has become more and more highly specialized and interdisciplinary. In our case at PUSH Performance, this is most obvious in the interplay between strength and conditioning, skill-specific coaching, and …
What Makes PUSH Performance’s Summer Program Different Read More »
Rehabbing a thrower is not easy. Having an understanding of the human body is different than knowing what is happening during the throwing motion. The throwing motion is complex, but in this day and age, there is an ample amount of information available on how to better it. However, there seems to be a gap …
Baseball performance rehab: What you need to know Read More »