Overload-Underload Training for Baseball

(I want to make it clear prior to going into the article that I’m not advocating overload-underload training OVER conventional training methods.  Rather I feel strongly that combining overload-underload training with intelligently planned training progressions (strength, flexibility/mobility, power, recovery) players can get extraordinary results that are very atypical)
 

BASEBALL BASICS

Baseball can be a very humbling and strange sport.  Simply being a great athlete does not guarantee success on the baseball diamond.  Michael Jordan is one of our many examples of a tremendously gifted athlete who failed at baseball.  Why is this?  Simple.  Baseball is a skill sport.  To become good at the skills involved in the game of baseball it takes repetitions with that exact movement pattern to perfect it.  Cross training and weight training have their place in training programs (I am a huge proponent of both of these methods.)  However, I firmly believe that for a player to reach his fullest potential as a baseball player, there is no better method than practicing the exact skills involved in the game.

HISTORY OF OVERLOAD-UNDERLOAD TRAINING

The concept of overload-underload training is a simple one that has been used since the 1970’s by Olympic athletes to get dramatic performance increases in relatively short amounts of time.  Unfortunately, the concept still remained a mystery to the majority of the general public until recent years.  Overload Underload training is a training concept that uses resistances slightly above and below what one would encounter in his/her respective sport.  So, for baseball that would mean swinging a baseball bat or throwing a baseball that is roughly 20% over and 20% under the normal weight one would usually encounter.  This concept was studied extensively by the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc countries back in the 1970’s.  These countries took great pride in their athletic accomplishments and poured millions of dollars in research into more efficient ways to build better athletes.  After experimenting with their Olympic throwers (shot put, javelin, hammer, and discus) they discovered that by increasing or decreasing the resistance of the projectiles that were thrown in practice, they could produce significant gains in throwing distance (and velocity) with objects of regulation weight.  This was a huge find since strength and power gains from traditional weight training often doesn’t transfer well to more complex sporting motions such as throwing and hitting. 

The Soviets also found out that when greater than 20% resistance was added or subtracted from the training implements, it not only didn’t increase performance but it actually decreased it.  By using too much or too little resistance you will be putting in a lot of effort and time to make yourself better, but it is actually time and effort wasted.  This again goes back to the fact that timing and bio-mechanics are essential to sports which require a high technical component.  When objects 20% heavier or lighter than the original objects are used, then the biomechanics of the movement is changed.  That means in order to accommodate the additional or reduced load, the athletes would change their movement pattern--which means, in baseball terms, they would change the way they swing or throw, making the training essentially useless.  The phrase "practice makes perfect" is often used by coaches, but in reality only perfect practice makes perfect.  That means someone wishing to increase his bat speed must take each practice swing with perfect technique at game speed in order to have the hope of making noticeable improvements.  To become fast and explosive, you must train to be fast and explosive.  Quality always wins over quantity.  A quick example would be looking at a marathon runner vs. a sprinter.  A marathon runner runs for miles at a time in training.  A sprinter runs a few short sprints.  They are both running, but the differences lie in a) intensity, b) volume of training, and c) rest intervals.  Changing those 3 variables makes the outcome of the training drastically different.  The take-home message is:  if you want to throw faster, you need to practice throwing FAST.  If you want to increase your bat speed, you have to practice swinging as fast as possible with perfect mechanics.  

Today, a number of the world’s top athletes use overload underload training to gain the edge on their competition.  Elite sprinters and swimmers have been effectively using a form of overload underload training to continually surpass old world records.  The sprinters and swimmers attach themselves to cords that either provides resistance from behind or a slight tow from in front of them to create a pace that is slightly slower or slightly faster than their top times.  This has provided excellent results and was recently used by soccer phenom Freddy Adu who trains at IMG academies, a training academy that has a history of improving the performance of the world’s best athletes. 

Many throwers from track and field continue to use the overload underload concept with great results.   Baseball, which has a history of lagging behind the times in improving sports performance through science, is even beginning to catch on.  The New York Yankees have a strong emphasis on overload underload training for their hitters during the off season.  A number of pitchers have been using overload underload training to drastically improve their throwing velocity as well as strengthen their arms for the wear and tear of a professional season. 

Steven Ellis, a pitching instructor who puts out some great information on pitching and training tips, used overload – underload training during his time with the Chicago Cubs to increase his fastball from 90 mph to 96 mph!  There are numerous success stories out there but I think the point has been made that baseball players of virtually any level could stand to gain benefits from overload underload training.

STUDIES/SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Over the years there have been numerous studies done to determine the effects of overload underload training on performance and safety.  The majority of overload underload training research has been done with throwing a baseball.  The research has all come back with stellar results.  Not only did the players participating in the program make significant gains in velocity, but they also stayed healthy for the following season, a difficult accomplishment considering the stress that throwing a baseball puts on the muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the arm.  The two most notable studies on the use of overload underload training for bat speed improvement and throwing velocity improvement comes from Coop DeRenne, one of the world's premier research leaders in terms of overload underload training for baseball.  DeRenne and colleagues came to the same conclusion as many of the world's top sports scientists which is:  overload underload training is simply one of the simplest and most effective ways to make significant performance improvements in a short amount of time.
 

     Coop DeRenne, Barton P. Buxton, Ronald K. Hetzler and Kwok W. Ho. 1995: Effects of Weighted Bat Implement Training on Bat Swing Velocity. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 247–250.

    Coop DeRenne, Barton P. Buxton, Ronald K. Hetzler and Kwok W. Ho. 1994: Effects of Under- and Overweighted Implement Training on Pitching Velocity. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 247–250.
 

Others to check out

1)  David J. Szymanski, MEd, CSCS, June 1998: The Effects of Various Weighted Bats on Bat Velocity - A Literature Review.  Strength and Conditioning, pp. 8 - 11

2) Coop DeRenne, Kwok W. Ho and James C. Murphy. 2001: Effects of General, Special, and Specific Resistance Training on Throwing Velocity in Baseball: A Brief Review. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 148–156.

3)  Coop DeRenne, Kwok Ho and Alan Blitzblau. 1990: Effects of Weighted Implement Training on Throwing Velocity. The Journal of Applied Sport Science Research, 4, 16-19.

4)  DeRenne, C., Tracy, R., and Dunn-Rankin, P. 1985: Increasing Throwing velocity.  Athletic Journal, April, 36 - 39.

5)  Bagonzi, J. A. 1978:  The Effects of Graded Weighted Baseballs, Free Weight Training, and Simulative Isometric Exercise on the Velocity of a Thrown Baseball.  Master's thesis, Indiana University.  

6)  Litwhiler, D., and Hamm, L. 1973:  Overload: Effect on Throwing Velocity and Accuracy.  Athletic Journal, 53, 64-65.

7)  Brose, D.E., and D.L. Hanson 1967:  Effects of Overload Training on Velocity and Accuracy of Throwing.  Research Quarterly. 38:528-533.

8)  Egstrom, G.H., Logan, G.A., and E. L. Wallis 1960:  Acquisition of Throwing skill Involving Projectiles of varying Weight.  Research Quarterly 31:420-425.

9) Rafael F. Escamilla1, Ph.D., Glenn S. Fleisig2, Ph.D., Steven W. Barrentine2, M.S., James R. Andrews2, M.D., and Kevin P. Speer, M.D.  Effects of throwing overweight and underweight baseballs on throwing velocity and accuracy.  Sports Med. 2000 Apr;29(4):259-72

 

MY OWN EXPERIMENTATION

This past fall I decided I had more to offer as a coach than as a player.  I devoted pretty much every waking second of my life over the past 10 – 12 years to finding a way to play professional baseball as a seriously undersized right handed pitcher.  After reaching that goal I decided that I could take what I learned and help get other young players on the right track sooner.  I felt close to 90% of high school players never reach their fullest potential because of poor coaching and poor training habits.  Convinced I could make a difference, I decided to help open a training facility where I could use overload – underload training to help take the kids game to the next level.  To do this I decided that I would run a program for hitters as well as a throwing program based on the overload-underload concept.  At the time there was no effective training tool for hitters based correctly on the overload – underload concept.  Sure, a number of people tried to use the concept, but they used the wrong percentage for the overload and underload or they created a bat that was completely unbalanced.  Adding weight to the handle of a bat will not cut it.  Also, simply using donuts produce a bat that is head heavy – altering the swing path.  Sparing the rest of the details I created and patented a training bat that met the requirements of what I felt I needed.  The results exceeded my wildest expectations – the average swing increase was 14.1 mph.  That equates to an extra 96 feet the ball will travel, 1 mph gain in bat speed equals 6 added feet in distance (1).

The most amazing part of these results is that these gains took place over the course of only 6 weeks.  I went back to what helped me make the greatest improvements as a player; frequent practice at maximal speed – making sure to minimize fatigue.  The players would swing or throw 3 times a week based around a program which paid careful attention to regulate training volume and rest intervals.     

The throwing group also had outstanding results going up an average of 6 mph in only 6 weeks.  One player in particular went up 34 mph in bat speed and I had two 17 year olds hit 90 mph in bat speed – a very impressive mark for any age or level!  Players ranging from 12 – 17 years old took part in the program and the gains were pretty consistent for all age and ability levels.  Surprisingly, the older players actually made slightly more improvements than the younger players.  This was the opposite of what I expected.  I felt that the younger guys were much further from their genetic ceiling so they would have a lot more room to improve.  However, instead it appears that the added strength the older players had gave them a critical advantage in swinging the lighter – underload bat.  By being able to swing the lighter bat at a much higher rate of speed they were able to more effectively teach their nervous system and muscles to fire at a quicker rate. 

WHY IT WORKS

As I touched briefly upon in the introduction, baseball is a skill sport.  Sure you can improve your baseball performance through work in the weight room as well as cross training; however, out of all the players I played with and against I found basically no real correlation with weight room numbers and on field performance.  I worked extremely hard in the weight room and my numbers in the weight room reflected that.  However; I’ve played with and know of several other players who could throw in the 95 mph range who were incredibly weak and non impressive in the weight room.  I’ve also come across individuals who could bench press 350+ and even one individual who bench pressed over 400 pounds who were lucky to hit the ball out of the infield.  I’m not saying what players do in the weight room is unimportant (it provides a much needed base and is essential for staying healthy).  However, a player who is a poor hitter or poor pitcher will not see significant improvement without getting enough repetitions at the skills that matter!

Roger M. Enoka best sums it up in his textbook “Neuromechanical Basis of Kinesiology”

“Training adaptations are specific to the cells and their structural and functional elements that are overload.”

“This principle states that the induced change is specific to the exercise stress. If an individual performs a strength training program, then only this characteristic (strength) and not others (e.g., endurance) will exhibit an adaptation. For example, some investigators have reported that strength training appears to elicit adaptations that are specific to the task, muscle length, and muscle velocity used in the training. The specificity principle emphasizes the need to carefully match the training or rehabilitation program with the desired outcome.

An important corollary of the specificity principle is that the effects produced by training also depend upon the pre-training capabilities of the individual. And that highly trained athletes require greater specificity to increase their results. Where as less trained athletes will enjoy greater results over shorter periods of time as compared to the more highly trained athlete”

This describes something that just about every strength coach understands – you must stress the body beyond its normal limits in order to achieve improvements in sports.  This is often times done through various strength training exercises combined with plyometrics.  These methods are very effective; however, it brings us to another point brought up from the textbook above.  That is-- highly trained athletes require greater specificity to increase their results.

MY OPINIONS ON TRAINING

I’m convinced through my experience and research that athletes who throw and swing the most over the course of the year are the most successful.  This is because the more one practices these exact movement patterns, the more efficient the body becomes at them.  High level athletes can’t expect to improve their basketball shot by hitting golf balls.  Similarly, you can’t expect to become a good hitter or good pitcher by playing volleyball. I believe cross training is a valuable tool.  However, when it comes to developing specific skills, you need to practice those skills.  Do muscle imbalances occur if all you do is practice uni-lateral skills or skills which promote movement patters which are focused on one direction (swinging and throwing)?  Of course. However, with a properly designed training program you can address these issues and basically injury proof your body.  It is no coincidence that major league baseball relies so heavily on signing players from the Dominican Republic.  These players eat, sleep and breathe baseball.  They excel at the skills required to succeed on a baseball diamond.  When they finally start eating correctly and working out, they get bigger and stronger and boom-- their performance increases and you have another MLB star.  In my opinion, you have the opposite in the United States.  Players are big strong and athletic, but they have not mastered the skills of baseball!        

IMPLICATIONS

I think the above results combined with existing research into overload-underload training prove without a reasonable doubt that this type of training method for baseball is one of the most exciting and promising training methods to come about.  As coaches know, the more advanced a player is, the harder it is to get them to make improvements.  It’s just like anything else in life.  An individual squatting 600 lbs is going to have a lot harder time improving then say an individual squatting 120 lbs.  With overload – underload training, however, it appears that this method can benefit beginners and extremely advanced players alike.    

As I’ve talked about before, this method isn’t new or revolutionary.  On the contrary, it is an old method that for some reason has slipped by unnoticed.  What I feel makes this method so powerful is the fact that you can directly train the skills needed to excel on the diamond (throwing and hitting).  Training the musculature system has been focused on extensively for improving baseball performance – much deserved.  However, the real secret to record gains lie in the nervous system.

Training and conditioning in the weight room is still extremely important; however, overload-underload training is by far the most effective method for bridging the training gap.  Adding overload-underload training into a player’s training plan will produce amazing results when used correctly.   Give it a try as a player or coach and I’m sure the results will more than surpass your expectations.

 

Reference:

(1)  Nathan, Alan.  Nuclear Physics Professor.  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

 

Jon Davis graduated with a degree in Applied Exercise Science from Springfield College where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2006.  Davis, who is CSCS certified, signed a professional minor league baseball contract in the spring of 2007.  He currently spends his time training athletes from various sports in addition to his constant involvement in coaching and training baseball players.  He also runs an online baseball store where players can purchase training products and other baseball related products at www.getbatspeed.com.   Any feedback and questions/comments can be sent to Jon at baseballpower@gmail.com.