Structuring In-Season Training

By Christian Sullivan

It is almost that time of year when training cycles shift from off-season to in-season.  The countless hours spend bettering the ability to perform on the field at the highest level will finally be put to the test. For baseball players, structuring an in-season program is vital to remain healthy throughout the entirety of the season, and for those lucky enough, the post-season.  Now, there are many different variables to consider when building out a program. In this blog, I attempt to paint the picture that is a road map on how to remain healthy and optimize performance. 

First, I feel it necessary to explain a few fundamental principles/models and terms that will be referenced regularly in this blog.

Understanding Allostatic Load

The first model I deem essential to understanding is allostatic load.  There are a few micro components of the model of allostatic load. These terms include homeostasis, allostasis, and stress. Homeostasis is our body's tendency to move towards a relatively stable equilibrium. In layman's terms, homeostasis is our body's attempt to maintain balance through biological means when stress is introduced. Allostasis is the way our body responds to a stressor to reach homeostasis again. Allostatic load is the dynamic of raising enough stress to have a positive adaptation of homeostasis without overloading the body, causing a negative adaptation and a reduced homeostasis level.

Skill Acquisition and its Role

The second model necessary to consider when creating an in-season program is Fitts and Posner's Skill Acquisition model. This model introduces the three stages of motor pattern learning.

              Stage 1: Cognitive

              Stage 2: Associative

              Stage 3: Autonomous

The cognitive stage focuses on a given task and how we organize ourselves to complete said task. An example of this is the initial learning process of throwing a baseball. At some point in our youth, we first learned how to throw a baseball. Initially, we watched either a parent, an older sibling, or a ball game on TV. We understood the fundamental movement patterns based on what we saw and then arrange our own bodies to throw a ball.

Generally, the first throws were not significant. As we practiced more, we got better at throwing a baseball. We have now entered the associative stage.  The associative stage is the increase in efficiency in throwing a baseball due to the adaptation of the proprioception of our body and consistency of practice. The more we throw a ball, the more feedback we receive. We then begin to associate the actions required to throw a ball well or what happens when we throw a ball poorly. The more practice we have, the more efficient we become until we can pick a ball up off the ground and throw with relative accuracy without thinking about it. This is the autonomous phase.

The final stage of skill acquisition is the autonomous stage. This can be described as automatic or pure output. The neurological cost to throw a baseball is now at its lowest point. This means we do not have to think about throwing; we can do it on command.

Now how does this fit in with the model of allostatic load? Well, let us consider the stages of skill acquisition as stress. As we work from the cognitive stage through associate and to autonomous, neurological stress levels, become less as the body's physiological stress becomes more significant.  We know that to have a positive adaptation in the body, the stress levels cannot exceed a certain threshold (varies per individual).  Understanding the demands of neurological and physiological stress and how they affect the body plays a huge role in the organization of workouts daily to weekly, and even into a monthly standpoint.

The Variables

Understanding how stress plays a role in the body and our ability to adapt, we can finally start to piece together a framework for an in-season training plan.

The first variable to consider is the demands of your role on the field. If you are in a starting rotation, your highest point of physical demand one outing every 4-7 days.  If you are a reliever, you may be asked to throw for shorter bouts every day to every other day. If you are a position player, the frequency in which you are playing is higher than a pitcher, but the body's physiological demands would be less. The neurological needs may be higher (unless you are a catcher, both neurological and physiological demands remain high).

The second variable to consider is the workload of practice. This will vary on the position as well as on the structure of practice. Since I was a starting pitcher, my workload during practice usually consisted of a weekly throwing progression leading into a start, followed by some PFPs, coach mandated running and shagging baseballs during batting practice. The practice workload (physiological stress) tapered off while the week progressed as we prepared for a weekend series. Because of the first variable, the workload of practice will vary per individual, and it is up to them to determine their workload.

There are countless other variables that one would need to consider. Still, for the sake of this being a blog and not a book, I will touch on a few other crucial variables that will play a massive role in stress accumulation and our ability to manage it while in-season.

Variables Continued…

There are hundreds of other variables that we can consider when creating this model for in-season training, but we want to focus on the big rocks.

Recovery is one of the most significant variables to continually consider. Recovery is a blanket term that encompasses several variables such as sleep, hydration, and nutrition, to name a few. How quickly you recover is contingent on your ability to nail the few variables listed above, as well as the groundwork you have already done.

Sleep is one of the most critical variables, yet the least prioritized, especially in college. Making it a priority to get around 8-10 hours of sleep a night will allow the body to conduct the self-regulated recovery. 8-10 hours of sleep may seem challenging to achieve each night, but if you strive for perfection and fall short, you are still in a relatively great spot.

Hydration is another evident low hanging fruit of recovery.  Staying hydrated throughout the day allows for proper functions of the body to take place. Dehydration may cause increased fatigue, muscle spasms, and a decrease in blood volume, which would increase heart strain during activity. So, drink up!

Nutrition, in my opinion, is the hardest to nail because it requires the most discipline. Throughout my experience of competing in collegiate athletics, I missed the boat on this. There is a difference when eating for performance and eating for aesthetics. Eating for "clean" is often thrown around and typically accompanied by the standard chicken and rice meal. Do not get me wrong, chicken and white rice are clean, but consider eating greens as a vital part of the diet.

The Framework: Putting the Pieces Together

Now you are probably asking yourself how all this fits together in a week’s timeframe. Well, once you understand allostatic load (accumulation of stress) and skill acquisition, along with knowing your role and the demands that practice throughout the week, we can begin to piece this together.

The best way to explain this is to do so by picking a specific position and providing a framework example. For there, hopefully, I will have clarified enough for whoever has made it this far to create their own framework for their position.

For the sake of an easy example, we will use a Friday night starting pitcher. We are also going to piece this together backward.

Johnny makes his start Friday night, and his line looks like this: 6.0IP 7ks 1BB 4H 0ER 83P.  So as stated earlier, pitching in-game is considered pure output. There are some cognitive aspects involved, but for the most part, this is autonomous. The 83 pitches thrown equals 83 reps.  This would be peak physiological stress for the week. Johnny has a week to get ready for his next start. Saturday’s throwing would be exceptionally low, if any, throwing followed by a lower volume output day in the weight room. This would most likely be a lower output lift where physiological intensity is around a rate of the perceived effort of 8, and his lifts are programmed to have an inferior cognitive aspect, meaning he would not have to think much about form; he can just move the weight. I would probably have Johnny incorporate a machine, when possible, to allow for external stability. The reason is that his volume/intensity was maxed out, and he was having to stabilize internally.

Sunday’s throwing intensity will be higher than Saturday's but generally low overall. This may be a good day to address any mechanical issues from Friday's start. Training in the weight room would be an upper-body lift, the intensity around a 6.5-7 RPE, and a mix of output with some movements considered in the cognitive/associative stage. The movements should be something that will challenge the isolation of muscles involved in the stabilization of the shoulder. We push output in isolation of muscles like the serratus anterior, delts, rotator cuff, lower/ upper traps, pecs, and lats, so collectively, they increase the shoulder's overall function.

Monday’s throwing intensity starts to pick back up. We are beginning to move from cognitive to more associative in our skills. We are starting to add more volume to our drills. Training for Monday is at the same point, only moving in opposite directions. We have had our high output days, so we start to look at more difficult movements at light intensities and higher volumes. We can perform these movements at higher volumes because the body's physiological tax is less than or equal to the body's neurological tax. Again, our focus is throwing, so our weight room movements should begin to lay a functional foundation for movement patterns on the mound.

Tuesday's throwing intensity is high. Other than Friday's start, Tuesday should be the next highest throwing intensity day. Training intensity is at its lowest, the volume is relatively high. Exercise selection should aim to complement the training on the mound. For example, we will be focusing on isometrics in the hips, shoulder, and spine. Since the focus of throwing is force output, our goal in the weight room should be to resist force (stability). Although exercises are not going to be complicated, our goal should be to challenge our ability to maintain form. This requires a significant neurological component.

Wednesday’s throwing intensity is low, volume in drill work might be the same as Monday. The idea is that we are fine-tuning our drill work in preparation for Friday. Training is transitioning from cognitive to associative. We add some volume and intensity to the fine-tuned movements we have to spend the last day or two working on.

Thursday’s throwing volume and intensity are low. We are making final touch-ups to anything we have been working to improve on from the previous outing. Training intensity is relatively low, and the volume is medium. We are mirroring mechanics that we would see on the mound in a “preparation” lift for our start the following day. Some exercises may include upper body movements that focus on external rotation and scapula stability at the shoulder. We are in a split stance for the lower body working on controlled rotation and lateral stability of the pelvis during rotation.

Friday, we shove. Plain and simple. Today is the day where you throw the focus on mechanics out of the window and complete. Our goal was to lay that foundation of mechanics, then build on it so when the day we have a start, it is purely output.

Progression

This is a snapshot of a one-week example. The idea is that we push our boundaries each week to progress. I talked earlier about homeostasis and allostasis and the dynamic of the two being allostatic load. Each week, we should aim to set a new floor that our body returns to. In doing so, we are setting ourselves up to peak towards the end of the season, when it really matters. All of this is contingent on our ability to manage our stress loads to adapt and progress, not negatively adapting.

Closing

I hope this provided some guidance to navigating in-season training, but even more so the stress management that comes with playing a sport, managing school/ all the external variables that life inevitably throws at us. As always, you can reach out to us at PRP Baseball for help in managing all these stresses.