The Day of Being Skilled and Out of Shape
Last week I wrote an article in which I advocated for organized pick-up games, more unstructured free play for youth athletes –– particularly in youth baseball and softball. I was struck by the response I received from so many people who read that piece. If you have not yet read it, you can find it here.
Many people either commented on the article or texted me directly and said, "I WANT TO DO THIS! Why can't we make that happen for real!?" Well, I believe we can. But hold on...
I have sort of a progression of thoughts that have been swirling around in my head, so we will call this Part 2 and I will follow up next week with Part 3. Each post will speak to different aspects of growing up and developing as an athlete, but all will be connected and will culminate in Part 3 with a radical proposal and challenge.
I have been working with a handful of young players on an individual basis, providing baseball skills lessons in pitching, hitting, fielding, catching... whatever the player is interested in improving. Lately, I have been very intentional about introducing all of my players to what I am writing about in this post. In fact, it has become top priority.
That priority is: GET STRONG.
Recently, I came across an interview with Mark Rippetoe, author of "Starting Strength," arguably the best, most important, and yet simplest work that has ever been written on paper regarding how strength is built. Rippetoe has had decades of experience as a strength coach, and he is oft quoted and highly sought after by others in the field who want to simply get strong and more athletic. If you want to get stronger, I recommend spending some time reading here.
At any rate, back to the interview. I don't recall his exact words, but it was something like this. He said that he is so much a believer in strength being the difference-maker, the separating factor between being a decent high school player rather than being one that can be really great and perform on a different level, that he has told kids: "Give me one year as you begin high school to build a base foundation of strength. Don't play any sports that year, just focus on getting strong (athletically strong) and building a strong foundation, and I guarantee that your next three years will be much more rewarding than four years would have been if you hadn’t focused on strength."
That's pretty radical! But I like it. When you see players and programs at the highest levels of the game, what you see is a commitment to strength, and the continued building of strength. I'm a little different from Rippetoe, in that I happen to believe that a kid could still play ball and work on skills, but the key is to make sure your number one priority for a full year is to build a foundation of strength. That would mean, nothing takes a backseat to the consistency of strength building. Not games, not practices, not individual skills lessons. The TOP PRIORITY in this one year would be to GET STRONG.
When I look at the average athlete in our part of the state, I see two kinds of bodies that make up the majority. One is soft, a little bit pudgy around the waist, with smaller arms and undefined shoulders and legs. A second is lanky and skinny, with some minor definition of muscle in the arms and chest, mostly due to lack of fatty tissue.
You can always tell the difference between a high school boy or girl who has been committed to the weight room. There is greater definition of muscle, they look neither skinny nor fat. And, the difference is not just in the way they look. It's also seen in the way they play and in the way they carry themselves. Building a foundation of strength significantly changes performance.
Strength training is no longer just a good idea for baseball and softball athletes and programs. It is essential. Or at least, it is essential for the athlete who wants to play at the next level, and it is essential for the program that wants to compete for state championships and consistently put your teams in the best position to win year-in and year-out. You might still be able to beat the smaller teams in our little area of the state, but if you want to beat the big programs and take things to a higher level, the difference-maker is strength training.
What are the obstacles? There are a few key ones, I believe.
A friend of mine recently said that he wonders if we have built a "sports society" in which we play too many games and don't spend enough time practicing and doing things that actually make us more athletic. We are over-skilled in many ways. Kids go to personal trainers for everything, so they develop great mechanics and technique. But if they are weak, both physically and mentally, those perfect mechanics won't help much. A 17-year-old boy can have perfect mechanics while pitching a 70 MPH fastball, but it's still a 70 MPH fastball and he won't get very far with that velocity. A 17-year-old girl with perfect mechanics will look really good hitting lazy ground balls, but those perfect mechanics won't get her very far if there is no explosiveness or power.
This generation of youth athlete is over-skilled and under-strong. Go to any travel tournament and you will see the most skilled, out-of-shape players you've ever seen in your life. Some are skinny out-of-shape while others are overweight out-of-shape. Both are deceiving. The skills they display may deceive you for a bit. But how long will they be able to maintain those skills with an out-of-shape body? Sure, they can get away with it for a while but I promise it will not last through college. Their weakness will become exposed.
Prioritize getting strong. It will be the best thing you can do for your future in the game.
Why do young athletes seem to be more skilled in the techniques of the game today, but too weak to perform those techniques at a high level? Consider this. Think about how often today's youth does the following things:
Ride bikes (a lot, uphill, downhill, fast, slow, sometimes wrecking it, sometimes having to walk it)
Mow grass
Put up hay
Swim (all day long)
Get into scuffles (not advocating fighting, but those little scraps and tussles we used to have with our friends... conflict resolution, still friends afterwards... you know what I mean)
The point is, we had a lot of "natural" ways to keep us athletic and strong. We didn't even realize it. Those activities were just part of our day. The thing we did NOT have was constant skills instruction and 5-to-6 games per week. We played twice a week (maybe 25 games in a season max), practiced every evening, and did all those other things above.
Today's youth athlete gets personal skills instruction once a week or so, has team practice once or at the most, twice a week, and plays 5-to-6 games per week (one or two games during the week and as many as 4-to-6 every weekend in tournaments, at which they are often spending the night in hotels and eating at unhealthy restaurants or continental breakfasts). But there is very little time for any of the activities in the above list.
Our generation (parents of these children) did not look as skilled when we played. We didn't have the nice swing, the perfect mechanics, the manicured fields or the sweet gear. So, what have we done to combat those deficiencies for our kids? We have swung the pendulum completely in the other direction. Our kids no longer have natural strength-building activities in their daily routines, but they certainly have lots of opportunities for skills-building and stacking up trophies and tournament t-shirts.
How can we balance this out? I have an idea, a vision that I would like to share, and I will do that in Part 3. I want each of these things to take a little time to sink into our minds and get us thinking about other possibilities.
Before I conclude my thoughts on strength training for athletes, I want to go back and emphasize something that I said earlier:
...nothing takes a backseat to the consistency of strength building. Not games, not practices, not individual skills lessons. The TOP PRIORITY... GET STRONG.
You could (don't have to, but you "could") stop playing for a season and instead focus on getting stronger and building a very good foundation of strength, then return to playing the following year and you would be a better athlete. However, you could never focus on strength training and instead hit the cage every day, practice your skills every day, and you may look a little better but you will not be more athletic and you will not turn the heads of those at the next level. Strong athletes turn heads. Strong athletes who also have skills, that's even better! But there is NO substitute for strength. It must be a priority.
The best athletes strength train in the off-season, pre-season and in-season. They lift on game days, practice days, and off days.
The best teams and programs strength train in the off-season, pre-season, and in-season. Sure, there is a difference between off-season lifting and in-season lifting (building strength versus maintaining strength). But too many teams work hard to build strength in the off-season then never lift another weight during the in-season and in doing so they actually, within the first few weeks, lost everything they worked so hard for.
Why do we not prioritize lifting during the season? Why are we so afraid of lifting on game days?
If I am honest with myself, on the days when I have worked out in the morning, sure I am spent right after I am done. But then I have a couple of meals and get moving around for the day and I feel great, energized! Shoot, even at 46, I feel like I could play a game that evening. My body is loose and ready to move.
On the other hand, if I have a "take it easy" day, I end up feeling lethargic by afternoon. I need more coffee to keep my energy level up, and I even have stiffness throughout my body. I'm not saying I couldn't perform an athletic activity later in the day, but I am not sure having a "take it easy" day would really help at all on game day.
Do you love the game? Do you want to go as far as you can possibly go in the game? If so, you need to fall in love with strength training. Become committed to getting stronger. Every day. Are you 14, 15, 16 years-old? Trust me when I say that strength training is every bit as important, if not more, than skill work right now. If you're 17, 18, 19 years-old and you have not given any time to strength training, you are behind those who are the best in your game. There is no clearer way to say it. You are behind. That doesn't mean it's too late for you. You can catch up. But you have to get to work! Today.
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P.S. Let me know if you need help. I am committed to helping young players who want to work. And I want to see as many young men and women in southeastern Ohio go on to fulfill the dream of playing ball in college, if that is their goal. Too many just don't know what kind of work is involved in achieving that goal. Email me cstewart1993@gmail.com or DM on Twitter, Instagram @cstewart1993.