Energy System Training for Baseball Players

By  Justin Kim
Director of High Performance
Mind to Muscle Strength and Conditioning

Baseball is often viewed as a sport that does not have a high aerobic demand.  Many of the movements that are required in the game of baseball are short, explosive and anaerobic in nature.  However, the aerobic capacity of the athlete is required in order to fully recover between their anaerobic bouts of power (3), and these bouts include pitching, throwing, swinging and sprinting.
 
In order to improve the aerobic base of an athlete, traditional training methods of steady-state cardio lasting 30 minutes or more have been shown to have detrimental effects on power output (4,5), which are extremely important to the baseball athlete.
 
Since baseball players do require a high aerobic base, and traditional aerobic endurance training has negative effects on power output, other methods must be utilized in order to allow the athlete to maintain their power, strength, and size while improving their aerobic capacity.  Studies have shown that high-intensity intervals (2) and repeated sprints with minimal rest (1) can improve aerobic capacity through the increase of VO2max (the maximum volume of oxygen consumed by an athlete per unit mass per unit time).
 
When implementing a conditioning plan in a training program, utilizing exercises with similar muscular activation patterns to the ones relevant to the sport may be the best way to prepare the athlete for competition.  Below you will find a simplified example of interval shuttle-sprint training and some possible progressions over the training cycle:
 

	Work	Rest between repetitions	Number of repetitions	Rest between sets	Number of sets
Week 1	0:20	0:40	5	2:00	3
Week 2	0:20	0:40	5	2:00	4
Week 3	0:25	0:35	5	2:00	4
Week 4	0:25	0:35	5	2:00	5

 
Notice how from week 1 to week 2 and from week 3 to week 4 the increased variable is a number of sets, however, from week 2 to week 3 the increased variable is the work-to-rest ratio.  These changes do not have to be set in stone, but the take-home message is that multiple variables should not be progressed too quickly, as it will be difficult for the athlete to maintain a high intensity in order to illicit positive adaptation.
 
Coaches and strength and conditioning specialists should utilize high-intensity interval training as opposed to long durations of steady-state cardio in order to improve aerobic capacity among baseball players.
 

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References:

• Bulbulian, R, Chandler, J, and Amos, M. The effect of endurance and sprint supplemental training on aerobic and anaerobic measures of fitness. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 10(1): 51–55, 1996.
• Burgomaster, K., Hughes, S, Heigenhauser, G, Bradwell, S, and Gibala, M. Six sessions of sprint interval training increases muscle oxidative potential and cycle endurance capacity in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology 98(6): 1985–1990, 2005.
• DiLallo, M. Methods for training baseball players. NSCA Performance Training Journal 11(3): 8-9, 2012.
• Rhea, M, Oliverson, J, Marshall, G, Peterson, M, Kenn, J, and Ayllon, F. Noncompatibility of power and endurance training among college baseball players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22(1): 230–234, 2008.
• Tanisho, K, and Hirakawa, K. Training effects on endurance capacity in maximal intermittent exercise: Comparison between continuous and interval training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 23(8): 2405–2410, 2009.