Shift Blog Topics::: Sports Science | Training | Career & Coaching | Life & Growth | Photography
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Balancing Physical Development & Skill Development in High School Baseball – A Yearly Approach
I often find that it’s easiest and most simple to view athletic development through two different pathways or processes: Physical Development – stressing the body in order to create adaptations in terms of strength, power, range of motion, stability, etc. Athletic Skill Development – developing the coordination and movement patterns, through repetition, that will lead to successful sport-specific… Read more
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What Does “Sport-Specific” Actually Mean in Baseball?
No matter where you go – from baseball facilities, to gyms, weight rooms, and of course, the ball field itself – when baseball training is spoken of, the term “Sport Specific” or “Baseball Specific” is nearly always pitched aggressively. Coaches vigorously offer sport-specific training, and parents eat up that buzz-phrase by putting their money where… Read more
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Why Strength Matters in Baseball
One common misconception that we often seen thrown around is that the only way to train for baseball is to train fast and “explosive”, since the majority of the action in baseball (i.e. pitching, hitting, sprinting) occurs at full speed. While this sounds great (and sells a lot of programs) and should certainly be a part of the training process,… Read more
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Movement Prep Made Simple: Evolving the High School Baseball Warm-Up
I still remember jogging out to the centerfield fence with my high school teammates at the start of every practice to begin our “warm-up”. After reaching the twelve-foot fence and jumping up to touch as high as we could, we proceeded to create the same a sloppy circle each day in deep center — the stretch circle. We’d… Read more
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Nutrition for the Busy Student-Athlete
Rising obesity rates aside, most high school kids don’t have to worry about nutrient consumption. Despite oftentimes skipping breakfast, sparingly eating meals or snacks throughout the day, and having a subpar lunch, they are still able to make it through the day without worrying about how much (or little) they’re consuming. On the other hand,… Read more
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Aerobic Training and Its Place in Baseball
Up until recently, running poles was commonly one of the main modes of conditioning for ball players, especially pitchers. In fact, I can still remember my coaches telling me to do a set number of poles, laps, or miles each week back when I played high school ball. Since then, there has been a shift… Read more
Ryan J. Faer 