I am a college baseball coach and former college player. I’ve been resistance training for quite a while, but only seriously strength training with barbells - i.e. the general way(s) that you and “the organization which shall not be named” teach - for almost 1.5 years. As I continue to grow as a coach in as many facets as possible, I’ve also been involved in programming and coaching our team’s strength and conditioning program. I believe I bring a unique and well-informed perspective, especially in coaching barbell movements given the very abundant amount of research I’ve done on the movements, both for my own interest and to hopefully benefit my own training (despite the fact that I’m not a credentialed coach in this realm).
That said, I have done a fair amount of research on the press, and I certainly understand its great benefits as part of a general S&C program. However, I have not found much on training the press in the context of baseball players’ training, and that which I did find has been conflicting - some say “it’s great because it’s arguably the best/most efficient way to train the shoulder girdle as a whole”, others say it’s not good for baseball players because, for example, “it can cause impingement of the humerus/acromion process” (which I believe is not true in a correctly performed press) or that “it applies different stress than a baseball throw does - i.e. traction stress in the baseball throw vs. proximation stress in the press”.
I was hoping to get your thoughts on this topic, although I realize that you may or may not have specific experience in researching/dealing with it. Would you be able to refer me to any sources that could help my own research?
Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate what you do!
Hey Jack,
All of the barbell lifts are GPP in the context of baseball S/C, as none of them are very specific to any of the baseball skills. That said, improving muscle cross sectional area (hypertrophy) and strength in many different styles of pressing will train the shoulder girdle musculature and have some carry over to baseball skills that require those muscles to produce force.
I don’t think the press is uniquely beneficial (or detrimental), though it can be adapted to many different training goals, e.g. low velocity or high velocity strength. Additionally, it is fairly economical from a GPP standpoint, though DB presses would be equally as economical.
Yes, a baseball throw is different than a press and vice versa. I wouldn’t expect improving the press to have a huge improvement on throwing velocity, but I wouldn’t expect it to hurt either. If anything, I would expect the strength gained (while practicing the sport concurrently) to held reduce injury risk if properly programmed. I don’t think a narrow variety of exercises should be programmed for stick and ball athletes, however. Nor do I think a S/C program should rely on heavy 5’s only either. Rather, a variety of similar exercises with multiple different loading and rep schemes should be programmed in over time IMO.
Jordan,
Thanks a lot for your input! Correct me if I’m wrong, but what I understand you saying is the following. Training the press is beneficial for general strength training, especially for that of the entirety of the shoulder girdle. Although training the press is not specific to baseball movement patterns, it doesn’t hinder any of these movements and moreover is beneficial from an injury prevention standpoint - the only apparent baseball-specific benefit to training the press (at least that you mentioned above). Additionally, training the press would most likely benefit other sport-specific training of the throw/other movement patterns involving the shoulder girdle/upper body - not necessarily throwing a baseball, but perhaps other resistance training exercises specific to baseball. Again, any corrections or clarifications of the above would be greatly appreciated!
While I’m here, I have a questions regarding the 3-day hypertrophy template. On Day 3, exercise 2, you program incline bench press - close grip at first, then 2ct. paused, then touch and go. What are your thoughts on substituting a press variation for this - i.e. strict press, pin press at shoulder height, etc.? I personally want to add a bit more press training volume, but my more immediate concern is hypertrophy work with additional conditioning. My next block will most likely be a different strength-specific one, like the 12-week Press Template. I’m fresh off The Bridge 1.0, having run that twice, and before that I ran SSLP for about 5 months. Some info about me - I’m 23 years old, a former college athlete, 5’10", approximately 195-200 lbs, and would ideally like to lose some fat, particularly that around my midsection (although it is my understanding that spot-reducing fat is not possible). My waist size is 36 inches. I apologize if this constitutes “double-dipping”, as I’ll be happy to repost this paragraph separately.
Thanks again so much for everything you guys do, and for responding to my messages!