The Press- Pull Benefit
Leave a commentMay 10, 2011 by Gary McCoy
In-Season, there is a need to correlate press and pull activities in the weight room. My In Season athletes actually work at a minimum of a 1 Press to 2 Pull ratio for their upper body, but why?
Baseball is primarily a one sided sport, and events – such as throwing and hitting for the upper body are anterior in nature. The front side of the body gets an “overload” concentric workout. Chest and anterior deltoid tightness is common post activity. So why exacerbate this in the weight room?
Many weight room routines mirror those found in body building. Press one day… Pull the next. You’ll hear this expressed as “Chest and Tri’s (press) …and Back and Bi’s (pull)” by the athlete. Ultimately, these need to be balanced to offset the opportunity for injury.
All program design SHOULD factor in the volume of baseball activity being performed daily. You also need to factor bus rides- flights- lack of sleep and poor nutrition into the equation- ahead of the weight training routine.
In Season Exercise should be designed in such a way as to support the baseball function, reducing the opportunity for injury while maintaining strength and power for the 162 game haul.
For every press movement- double the pull routine. Press once for strength maintenance- pull once for baseball activity “offset” and once again for strength maintenance.
