The Newbie Part I

By Darren Nicholson.

Most of you who come to this website have been there before. Some coach or friend let you know that your ticket to the big leagues will someday come down to how strong you are. This usually happens when you have made the decision that you want to play high school baseball. Maybe you were the shit in Pony and now want to move up with the big boys. Just deciding that you want to get going in strength training is not enough as you body is growing so much and changing so rapidly that you don’t know what to do. I remember just being scared to be in the weight room when I was a 115 lb freshman in high school. Those seniors on the other side of the room that were like 160 lbs just completely intimidated me. It sucks I know, but all great journeys begin with just step one.

Let’s talk about what the plan is. I’m sure most kids want to get bigger at 14. I’ve never heard some kid ask how he can strengthen the posterior chain while achieving efficient posture in all athletic endeavors. So you want to get bigger, you better eat. Now I can complicate this part of the article heavily. At that young age when testosterone is pumping you better eat and eat well. I know that your boys want to get you to indulge in a Big whatever at the arches. Avoid that bad fuel at all costs except maybe once in a while, I’m realistic. Look at the layout of the grocery store when you get in there. Make the commitment that you are not going to eat anything from the middle area of the store. Now there are some exceptions like oatmeal and apple butter, that’s cool. Think about what is on the outside perimeter of the store. Fruits, vegetables, meats and of course your one big temptation, the bakery. Let’s assume that you are going to avoid the bakery and you are going for the right part of the store. Fill your body with lean meats from the butcher isle and tons of veggies. I told you that this was not going to be complex when it comes to diet, at that young age you barely care anyway. Can you eat it around 6 times a day, that’s the challenge? Does not have to be a full steak every two hours, just enough to keep you going. Make this a habit and the workouts will go through the roof. Also, you will do better in class because you won’t hit the wall as much. Furthermore, trust me, it feels horrible to show up to a hard long and sometimes boring baseball practice after you just crushed a burger and fries.

Now the actual workout part of this piece. You are going to be tempted to just jump on some machine that looks like it will give you Timberlake type pecs. It may do that; it will also give you Timberlake type power at the plate. You need to learn movements of the weight before you start loading up plates. Your body is an open canvas at this stage. The better you learn how to perform the lifts, the more productive you will be as you grow. Start with the basics, dead lift, squat, clean, bench. These might sound very boring but if you begin with just a bar or even a broomstick, you will soon get the feel of how to perform these lifts. Your body will firm up in the areas it needs to as you are becoming more explosive. I’m not going to go into how to perform these lifts; I will direct you to the best DVD series on how to perform these lifts. It’s called The Power/Speed Development series and can be found on www.renegadetraining.com. Learning these lifts will not only start to get you strong, but also provide a base for further development for future complexes. Stick to some good medicine ball prehab work that can be done before or after any lifting session. Focus on the basic of moves to start like overhead tosses and twists. You don’t even need a partner for most of it. Just make sure you are strengthening your core with the med ball. You can also find some further sick med ball routines on www.renegadetraining.com. Keep in mind that using the med ball is not meant to muscle the ball, you want to generate force from the middle on most of the tosses and moves.

This cuts the first part of The Newbie series. This may all together sound very basic, and it is. I don’t want to go on and on about percentages of this and loads of that. We can do that later. I care about the future of this game and want the next generation to never even think about putting a needle into their asses. There will be more info for the young ballplayer that wants to get stronger. I’ve been there, I’ve also wished I had worked harder in high school and not had to get stronger just to survive at the collegiate level. I’m here to help share.

Darren Nicholson is a Northern California based strength/speed coach with hardcore So Cal roots. Coach Nic has trained athletes from little leaguers to big leaguers with concepts from Renegade Training International. E-mail Coach Nic at: hard9026@yahoo.com

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