The Warm Up & Cool Down

Getting The Body Ready

     This is the most under rated, over looked and important aspect of a team. Warming up is the key to being mentally and physically prepared to play.  Stretching is an important part of a warm up. And I mean a good long hard stretch. If players coast through this and don't take it seriously, they WILL get injured eventually. And injured player does nothing for his team. Muscles need to be stretched and worked in before they can be used to their fullest potential.

     Surprisingly, there is a lot of opinions on how to do stretches. Almost everyone, at one point or another, has seen a traditional baseball stretching warm up, consisting of a light jog around the field, some circle Static stretching and then taking the field to play. Such has touching the toes, or hold an arm across their body and holding it.

    Then there's the other side where players do a "Dynamic" workout that includes workouts designed to get the blood flowing and body temperature up. Advocates feel this provides the ultimate warm up for athletes that play intense sports. They reason that unlike static stretching where you stretch the muscle and hold it, Dynamic stretching prepares the muscles that you will actually use during the course of a game. Not only that, if your preparing your pregame stretches and warm-ups properly by catering them to your sport, you will be stretching them in the same way they will be used in a game.

    Combining both types of workouts would be ideal, because you get the best of both workouts. Both types of stretches have their place. That being said I always enjoyed the Dynamic workouts as a player. Getting the blood flowing and sweating during workouts and practices is vital to team success. Players should be getting into the game, and walking around is only going to create a lazy atmosphere.  You should always work harder in practice than a game. Another mistake made when warming up is throwing the ball before the arm is ever warmed up. This is fine if your not planning on using your arm all summer for throwing. But for a baseball player its vitally important to warm up BEFORE throwing a ball.

    An effective dynamic pre-practice/game routine takes 10-15 minutes as opposed to a Static warm up time of 30-35 minutes. If combined (which it should be) I would say a good warm up time of 20-25 minutes would be ideal to get the blood flowing, core temperature up and have the muscles warmed and ready to go.

    I'll be putting together a routine that I would have a squad doing before every practice and game. This is something I feel all coaches should adapt. And if your coach doesn't then try and fit this warm up into your teams existing warm up.

The Warm Up:

   This is a very important tool to having a great and healthy team. A proper warm up gets the team mentally and physically ready to play. If your warm up is boring then players will be asleep come game time. If it's done wrong, players will get hurt. There is a lot of research into this subject and evidence is shown how much warming up and cooling down helps players.

   Remember these are just guidelines and exercises I've put together. Mix and match these according to your team's skill level.

   The first thing that should be done in a warm up is a jog around the field.

• The team forms a line behind the exercise leader and jogs around the field. The leader then shouts a signal and the last player in line sprints to the front. As player arrives at the front, 'go' is called again and the player now last in line sprints to the front. Repeat until you have gone around the field. 

The Team then forms a line to do some dynamic stretching:

• Knee Pulls: Walking forward as you take a step pull your knee in to you armpit and hold for 1 second and continue. Should be done 20 steps (10 per leg)                                                                                                                                                     
• Lunges: Stand straight up, then take a step forward with the right leg. Reaching forward with hands, hold for a second then bring body back up and twist torso to the left. Then return to standing position. Next reach hands up in air and bend torso to the right.  Repeat with left leg, reaching hands forward, twisting torso to the left and reaching hands up bending sideways to the right. Again should be done for 20 steps (10 per leg)                       
• Multi-Planar Lunging: Player, standing in one spot, lunges in various directions (forward, back, side) while keeping your trunk and spine stable, Hold for 5 seconds. Emphasize the movements and the muscle stretch as this is a common muscle group used for infielders. (Do 5 lunges per direction)                                                                                                                                    
• Walking Kicks: Player kicks leg to at least above shoulder every step for about 20 steps (10 per leg)                                                                                           

 Running/sprinting:

• Some sort of high intensity warm up is a good idea before sprinting but is optional. Something like a Jumping Jacks, or Burpies.

• Simulation of base running is always a good one. Have the team line up. Using two markers set up 90 feet apart, like a glove. Have the first player in the line use the first marker as a base to lead off from.  When ready the Coach will give a shout or a signal to go. Player then sprints to the second marker. How many times you do this is up to coaching preference. Personally, I would have markers set up for home, 1B, 2B, and 3B, and have players run the bases taking a lead and then sprinting each time. To add a twist you can also yell BACK!, in which case the runner needs to dive into the base. Sliding is also optional, but recommended for a practice but not a game.

• High Knees and Butt Kicks: In these drills you run forward bringing your knees up as high as possible, preferably to the chest. On the way back you will emphasize the calf and hamstring movements by actually bringing your feet to your butt on every stride. I feel doing this for about 90 feet is that's needed

• Carioca's and Tapioca's: These are great warm ups. But they are hard to explain please go to my Video's page to see these drills done.
• Wind Sprints: Good old fashioned wind sprints and a great sprinting exercise;

1. Sprint for 60 ft, have them slow to a walk for 10 ft.
2. Sprint again for 70 ft, slow for 7ft.
3. Sprint for 80 ft, slow for 5 ft.
4. Then sprint for 90 ft and stop.

After the running, we stretch the core and arm's:

• Arm Circles: Raise arms so that your making a 'T' shape with palms facing down. Start moving arms in a, slow, circular, counter clockwise motion, gradually getting bigger. Repeat with palms facing up and clockwise motion.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
• Push-ups and Sit-ups: These are a great way to get the body warmed up. Only do about 13-15 reps. This is just a warm up.                                                                                                                               
• Planks: Planks are a good exercises. Be careful not to over do it as they can drain your energy and do more harm then good. Again refer to the Vid's and Pic's page for instruction on how to do this exercise properly.                                                                                                                                                         
• Torso Twists: Stand up with feet shoulder-width apart. Hold your arms straight out from you body. Turn your waist to the left, swinging your arms across your body until your left arm hits your back and your right arms hits your front. Your arms can be loose enough to bend at the end. Then swing to the other side, waist and arms, ending with your chest  facing the right side, your right arm hits your back, and your left arm hits your front. Repeat this waist turning and arm swinging motion for up to 50 repetitions.                                                                                                                                           
• Trunk Rotations: Standing, feet shoulder-width apart, place your hands on your hips. Bend your torso to the right side than rotate it until you are arching backwards. Continue until you are bending to the left side. Keep rotating in the clockwise motion, bending forward, until you go back to the starting position. Repeat the opposite direction. Repeat up to 10 times.

   This is generally enough to get the players limbered up. And ready to start Fielding and Hitting

    Now comes the important part; Warming up the arms. There's a lot of opinions here of what to do. Some say you should toss 10-20 balls underhand like softball. Others say get on one knee and throw for a little while. This is a preference and opinion of the Coach. As long as you start about 10 feet apart and gradually get further apart, say 12 throws then take a step back. This should be an adequate lead up to heavy throwing. I think players should get as far apart as possible while throwing normally.

**Note that you should try to limit the amount of throws your starting pitcher makes during this time, Refer to my Baseball Philosophies page for more**

    After throwing, players should have a mini batting practice, generally wiffle balls or something along those lines. A player lines up with a bat and a teammate crouches off to the side and tosses a ball up for the batter to hit. You don't want to wear out the hitters so only 7-12 hits is needed to get the eye adjusted.

   For fielding warm up; outfielders should have fly balls thrown to him, concentrating on side to side range and proper catching technique. As well as making strong throws to the "cut off man" (in this case the coach whose throwing the balls)

   Infielders should have ground balls thrown to them, concentrating on staying low, keeping the ball in front of them and making strong, accurate throws to whatever base the coach has yelled out.

And now your players are ready to go!! 

The Cool Down

   The cool down is an over looked part of sports and I personally was never on a team that was told to do these. Which is probably why I always woke up a bit sore. The cool down is vital to keeping the aches and pains away.

• Chest stretch: Hold your arms out to the side with the palms of the hand facing forward. Move arms back as far as they go.                                                                                    
• Stretch Biceps: Hold your arms out to the side the palms of the hand facing behind you. Then move the arms back as far as possible.

• Stretch Triceps: Put both hands on your head and slide them down the middle of your spine as far as you can reach. Hold for 5 seconds.                                  
•  Stretch Shoulder: Place your right arm across the front of your chest. Bend the left arm up and use the left forearm to gently force the right arm closer to you chest. Hold for about 5 Seconds. Repeat with the other arm. Stretch the Calf's: Stand with one leg in front of the other, hands flat, at shoulder height, against a wall or fence. Move the right leg further away from the wall, keeping it straight and push the heel into the ground. Keep your body straight and feel the calf of the rear leg. Repeat with the other leg.                                                                                                                                                              
• Stretch Hamstrings: Sitting on the ground with both legs straight out. Bend the left leg and place the bottom of the left foot alongside the knee of the right leg. Relax the left leg on the ground. Reaching forward keeping the back straight stretch the hamstring of the right leg. Repeat with the other leg.                                                                                                                                                   
• Stretch Groin: Sit on ground bring both of your feet up towards your body and place the soles of your feet together,  then gently push both knees towards the ground this will stretch the inside of your thighs and groin.                                                                                                                                                           
• Stretch Torso: Sit with legs stretched out in front of you. Bend the right knee and place the right foot beside your left knee, twist your torso so your facing to the right, Using your left arm against your right knee to help twist more. Repeat the opposite side. 

   There are a lot more types of static stretches and feel free to do them. But what I've laid out should be enough to get the body ready to rest

   And there you have it. A complete warm up and cool down routine fit for any team. Again feel free to use this or change it up as you wish.