First, if you’re reading this you need to understand that we are training to be BASEBALL PLAYERS. The goal is to create the best “baseball body” possible to ensure health and performance. Our training principles are not for football players and definitely are not for bodybuilders. When you want to be the best baseball player possible it is imperative to be on a training program that will help make that a reality.
A lot of what we do at AIM is work to strengthen our weak links. The common trend in training is to work on what you are comfortable with and where your strengths lie. While it is always good to improve your strengths, when it comes to conditioning for baseball, you must work to become a well-balanced machine. When someone heavily focuses on working their “mirror muscles” they are neglecting the extremely important posterior chain (i.e. the hamstring muscles, Glutes, etc.). We want to be sure that the body works comfortably and efficiently to maximize our speed, velocity, power, and flexibility while remaining healthy and on the field.
One of the most popular ways to train today is using methods where the body is encouraged to go beyond what it can handle from a technical standpoint. We absolutely stay away from this. It’s not the way you train for baseball. The main reason is that we never train past technical failure; meaning, we don’t sacrifice proper technique for an extra rep (or 20). These types of workouts often have individuals doing an excessive number of reps, which leads to improper form and injury.
Our programming has players training as heavy as possible (again, maintaining proper technique throughout the exercise), but as light as possible at the same time. How does this work? Imagine a normal bi-lateral (two-legged) squat, barbell across your back. You have 400lbs. on the bar, each leg is handling 200 lbs. of weight, but the spine is handling all 400 lbs. Instead, we would use a single-leg variation where each leg is still handling 200lbs. worth of weight, but the spine is also only handling 200lbs. of weight. It’s not only as effective, but safer and better for your body as well!
Finally, our programming forces athletes to master movement patterns. While training programs that constantly “change things up” may be fun and produce results for the average person, you must remember that you are training to be a baseball player. We want to have mastery of the exercises we perform. You might feel like you are doing the same exercises week after week, but there is reason behind that. We want to make your body be the best at mastering specific movement patterns and we cannot do that if we keep changing them.
Athletes In Motion is not traditional and it is not radically different. It is an evolution of what we have experienced in the field of strength and conditioning. Our goal is to do things that have been proven to work regardless of what is “trendy”. We improve the performance of all our athletes and keep them healthy and playing. This programming was created to help you see the same results!
