Baseball Conditioning: Without a Weight Room

Every year, I get emails, texts and calls from our baseball alumni that they would like to come back and use our weight room over their Winter Break to keep up with their conditioning program. Assuming the weight room isn't too crowded (which it usually is because we had 48 players in it every day last week) we will let them come in and work out.

But not everyone has access to a full weight room, or not everyone is ready for a full weight room (youth players) but they would still like to get in better condition for baseball.

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Here's a short program to help players with their baseball conditioning with little equipment.

Basic Baseball Conditioning Equipment:

Key Components of Baseball Conditioning:

1.) Core Stability

Before beginning any kind of explosive rotational baseball conditioning exercises, you MUST have a stable core. Check out one of CCA's previous blog post that includes the exercises you should to do Develop a Stable Core in 2 Week.

The report that is linked to above includes exercises like:

Front Plank
Side Planks
Partner Medball Stability Holds
Starfish Pushups

2.) Rotational Power

Baseball conditioning should be as movement specific as possible. After developing a stable core, exercises like these with a medball will help develop rotational power similar to what is needed during swinging and throwing.

Other exercises (many more available in our full site membership) that will help increase rotational power are:

Medball scoop toss
Medball Hot Foot
Baseball Barbell Lateral Drive
Baseball Home Run Press

3.) Explosive Speed

It is a very common misconception (see our 7 common mistakes baseball players make in the weight room post) that baseball players (specifically pitchers) need to do long slow distance running.

That is simply not true. Baseball players need to train their body move explosively, and quickly as most plays in baseball take less than a second. That's why Cornerstone has developed an explosive sprint series.

Explosive, short sprints work best and increasing speed and the first two steps. Players should especially work on "baseball starts" which is starting in an athletic position and running to your right (like you're stealing a base)

Here is a small sample of explosive sprint series that is available in our complete offseason conditioning program:

Indian Style Sprints
Push Up Sprints
Reverse Push Up Sprints

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4.) Shoulder stability

Players, and pitchers specifically must have stable shoulders, and specifically the deceleration muscles on the back side of the rotator cuff to avoid injury.

Our preferred tool for pre-hab for player's throwing me is the Crossover Symmetry System

Here is an example of some of the exercises you should do with the resistance band:

Horizontal Row
Reverse Flys
90-90s

5.) Lower Half Stability and Explosiveness

To develop lower half stability get our free report on how to Develop Lower Half Stability Without Weights in two weeks. This lower body exercise circuit will progressively get your players ready for the more explosive plyometric sessions they will see in the weeks after.

To develop lower half explosiveness, the best things you can do outside of a weight room is plyometrics. Plyometrics are essentially jump training and they teach your body to move explosively.

Here are a few of the best plyometric exercises for baseball conditioning:

Box Jumps
Box Step Offs and Lateral Move
Tuck Jumps
Squat Jumps
Double Ankle Jumps
Plyometric Lateral Lunges

So, while it would be best to have a full weight room at your disposal, if you just need to get through a few weeks without one over Winter break, or if you just don't have access to a weight room, you CAN work out to improve your on field performance.