There is No Yoga in Baseball! Why Not?

Rob Naddelman: Through a Parent’s Eyes

When baseball players hear people talk about yoga, most of the time I have seen their face snicker or their eyes roll. You hear people say that baseball players don’t do yoga, they lift weights, they run sprints, they do agility work. I have also heard that yoga is for new age spiritual types, not hard core baseball players. Tom Hanks uttered a famous line from the popular baseball movie “A League of their Own” when he said “there is no crying in baseball!” In a similar fashion most players seem to think “there is no yoga in baseball!” My answer back would be “Why Not?”

Now keep in mind that I played baseball growing up from age eight all the way through college. I was a two time All-Ivy League third baseman at the University of Pennsylvania and played in the NCAA Division I Midwest Regional for the College World Series in 1995. I have been weight training for over 20 years and have been an avid runner since my days as a high school student. I have competed in three marathons including the New York Marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, and the Baltimore Marathon. As such, I would say that I am someone that can relate to the stereotypical “baseball player mindset” of lifting weights and conditioning to help improve baseball endurance, strength, and skill development.

However, I have also suffered from chronic lower back pain and have had a series of injuries including torn hamstrings and knee surgery. My overall flexibility is pretty horrendous. My wife has been urging me to try yoga and in the past I have been quick to dismiss it as being not for me. My replies would usually detail how it wasn’t strenuous enough, or how it wasn’t a sufficient strength workout, or how it wasn’t good enough for cardio.

I finally relented and tried yoga this past week. I can’t tell you how incorrect I was with my previous assumptions of what yoga was all about. The workout was 1.5 hours long and I haven’t felt more sore or tired from a workout in a very long time. The truth is that yoga is extremely challenging and it focuses on a lot of areas that could be really beneficial for baseball players including balance, strength training, core training, flexibility, and endurance. In addition, yoga is very beneficial for clearing your head and serving to calm your mental state which is also great for baseball players when you consider the concentration that is involved in the sport.

Consider the types of injuries that baseball players typically suffer from: torn hamstrings, oblique strains, pulled groins, tendinitis, bone spurs in the shoulder, etc. Given the benefits that were outlined above, wouldn’t yoga be a helpful preventive measure against some of these injuries? If your core was stronger and you were more flexible doesn’t that apply for almost any position on a baseball field? If you were more relaxed in the batter’s box or on the mound, wouldn’t you be more likely to perform better in pressure situations?

As parents of a baseball player, I would urge you to print this blog off and let your son read it. Maybe consider mixing in yoga to your son’s training regiment, even if it is only one day a week. Help to show him that there is room for yoga in baseball!


Rob Naddelman is the President of Baseball Factory. Naddelman is a former two-time All Ivy League Third Baseman at the University of Pennsylvania, where he competed in a College World Series Regional. He has served as the President of Baseball Factory for the past 13 years, and also is the Executive Director of Baseball Factory's charitable arm The B.A.S.E. - H.I.T. Foundation. Naddelman and Steve Sclafani (CEO) have been featured in Business Week and CNN for their work in building Baseball Factory into the nation's leader in player development and college placement.

There Is No Off-Season

Andy Ferguson: Another Day, Another Double Play

While there are still a few competitive team events around, the vast majority of players are done with their 2008 baseball season. For some, this time of year also signals football playoffs and/or the beginning of basketball. For others, the countdown to the first day of 2009 practice is on.

In any case, this is the beginning of the season of opportunity – not the off season. You have the opportunity to better yourself as an aspiring college baseball player - without the constant games, travel, showcases, travel, tournaments, travel and more games. Keep in mind that as an aspiring college baseball player, you have a lot of things to work on…so you shouldn’t have any trouble staying busy.

Over the course of the next several weeks, we will identify and review areas in which you should focus your “opportunity season” efforts.

ACADEMICS

If you think it’s tough to stay on top of your school work now, spend a couple of weeks as a student-athlete in college. And no, not just because of bus rides and weekday night games during the Spring semester/season. How about 6:00 am workouts, afternoon swimming and/or running, early work before practice, or extra time on the tee/extra flat ground work after practice…all while trying to handle a 15 or 18 hour course load during the Fall semester.

Take the time now to try and improve your academic standing. You don’t have as many demands on your time – you really need to take advantage of that. Get some extra help on a subject you are weak in, and make it important to prepare for the SAT and/or ACT tests.

Remember, ACADEMICS MUST BE CONSIDERED FIRST. You have heard it a million times, but you have to understand that student always comes before athlete. Ever heard of anyone being called an athlete-student?

STRENGTH TRAINING

There are very few, if any, high school age players that have any real amount of physical strength. To be fair, it is hard to actually get stronger over the course of the 500 or so game schedule it seems most play between March and October. However, that isn’t the case from November through the beginning of high school practice.

Skip the bench press (unless you are willing to keep the weight low and the reps high), and spend time instead on improving the strength in your legs and your core. You don’t want bulk in your upper body, so spend time strengthening the smaller muscles in your shoulders (Jobes) and work hard on your forearms. Jobe work can be done with a sand filled tennis ball can and/or elastic band, and forearm work can be done with rope connecting a weight to a small length of PVC pipe – simply roll the weight up, then back down. (For more information on these excercises, please feel free to email me at andy@baseballfactory.com.)

Baseball players must maintain range of motion while improving strength - flexibility is vital. Make sure to stretch often – whether you are lifting or not, you can make gains in your flexibility. I see so many players that are stiff and muscle bound, which makes it so hard to play a sport that requires quick and compact movements. It is so easy to do, it just requires time, effort and commitment – something most are not willing to give. For more on this topic, please read (or re-read) Dana Cavalea's entry on static stretching methods.

Coming next week: SKILL DEVELOPMENT, THROWING

Andy Ferguson is currently the Senior Director of Baseball Operations with the Baseball Factory. Ferguson joined the North Carolina State baseball team as a walk-on, and went on to solidify his role on a team that participated in four consecutive NCAA Regionals. He later coached with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and then served as an Associate Scout with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres.