How Much Does Strength Training Really Help

I was in Vitamin Shoppe the other day and saw a couple players from a local high school shopping for the newest and latest supplement that will to transform a mere mortal into superman. Instantly taking these athletes to high levels of performance. It reminded me of my own career. I, like everyone else, believed that if I busted my butt in the weight room and became the strongest guy on the field then that would mean that I would be the best hitter or the best player. I took all the hot supplements at the time, I took my protein, my creatine, and considered taking andro. I got strong, really strong, and yet my performance on the field never improved. I didn’t hit the ball any farther or harder, I didn’t throw any harder, I didn’t really run any faster.

I see this today with some of the athletes I know. Athletes who workout at the gym I workout at who don’t invest their time in learning proper swing or throwing mechanics. I see these athletes transform physically. They make huge gains in strength tests in the gym, they put on weight, and hardly resemble the athletes they were just a few months earlier. Yet they don’t hit the ball any better and they don’t throw any harder. The question then becomes, Why? Why is it that this strength isn’t translating to better and better performance? The answer has to do with their mechanics. If you are not mechanically sound then gains in strength and size will not help very much if at all.

One of my own athletes proves this all the time. He is small, very small. He might be 135 pounds soaking wet, doesn’t lift weights consistently, yet he produces the most power of any of my athletes. Why? Because he is the most mechanically sound. His bat gets into his strongest possible position at the point of contact. At that moment he and the bat become one. Allowing all 135 pounds and all of the energy he’s created up to that point and all of the strength that he has to instantaneously meet with the ball at the same time, producing much more power then his larger teammates. You compare that to one of my strong, 200 pound athletes and maybe they aren’t as far along developmentally. They don’t get into the same position at the point of contact and as a result maybe they only use 100 pounds of their weight at the point of contact, plus their energy and strength is wasted because they never get to that strong position and the bat and the body never merge as one. Think of a 120 pound person hitting a baseball with an aluminum bat while a 200 pound person hits a baseball with a whiffle ball bat. The 120 pound person will hit the ball farther because the bat is harder and more dense where as the whiffle ball bat doesn’t have any strength behind it. It doesn’t matter how big the athlete is or how fast their bat speed is. If they are swinging with a weaker bat the ball still won’t go anywhere. Essentially what I am talking about is the same thing. If a bigger, stronger athlete never gets to that optimal position at the point of contact they are basically hitting with the whiffle ball bat.

So am I saying not to workout? Absolutely not! There are some tremendous benefits to strength training. Being stronger does allow you to run faster and explode faster. It will help you stay healthy throughout the grind of a season and it does help develop your athleticism. It will also allow you to get away with more mistakes. You might be able to “muscle” a few balls through the infield when your swing breaks down. What I am saying is don’t sacrifice your mechanics for strength. Don’t think by spending hours in the weightroom that this is sufficient to helping you develop as a baseball player. Don’t ignore developing your mechanics simply because you think lifting is going to help. Begin to think of baseball more like golf instead of football. In football being bigger, stronger, and faster clearly helps you, but baseball is a skill sport like golf. Being able to execute skills is far more important then being buff and strong. So if you have to decide between developing your mechanics or developing your muscles choose mechanics. Ideally the combination of both is what will help propel you to higher levels of performance but don’t think that taking creatine is going to get you to the levels you desire to reach. It is only through physical and mental mastery that we can reach the highest levels of performance. Strength training is a good supplement to help us get there it’s just not the answer. Do you need to work hard in the gym? Yes! Just understand that if you are not mechanically sound you won’t gain the benefits of your hard work. Make mastering your mechanics your priority and you will find that you won’t be wasting the hard work you put in the weightroom.