When it comes to baseball conditioning, there are a lot of excellent exercises that are recommended for building speed, agility and power. Today, I have put together a list of some of the best Core Exercises for baseball conditioning for explosive speed and power!
Baseball Conditioning for Explosive Speed & Power: Core Work
Sit Ups
Do three sets of as many as possible. I like to do the sit-ups bringing the knees up and the chest up at the same time. This really works the abs. We don’t want to just work the abs by pulling the chest up, we want to have the legs come up at the same time.
Super-persons
Here we’re laying flat on the ground, arms and legs out as far as we can reach. Lift the chest and the arms up and the legs up at the same time. Hold that for about two seconds. Come down under control. Don’t look like a fish out of water flopping on the ground. This is great for developing the lower back. We need that strength to stabilize the body for performance on the field.
Pillars
Pull the elbows right underneath the shoulders, toes pulled up toward the shins. Lift the hips so the body is in a straight line from ear to ankle. Hold that position for 10-30 seconds, whatever you’re capable of. Maybe one minute max if possible. Don’t let the hips drop or stick the butt up in the air. We want that straight force line. Suck in your belly button, tuck in that back. Solid stable core.
Now let’s go to the right and left. We’re going to work our sides a little bit more here. The inner and outer obliques. Hold the hips up so the body is straight. Balance out by working both sides of the body equally. Hold each of these for 10-30 seconds. This’ll get you some great core, ab, and lower back work.
Crunches
With the knees and the feet up off the ground, keep the shoulder blades off the ground and crunch. Bring your chest up as far as you can. Try and do as many as possible each time you do these.
Medicine ball slams
Reach up over the top of your head, extend your body as far as you can, slam that ball into the ground. Use your core to just explode. Total body work. Explosive.
Figure eights
Bring the ball around the hip, over the head, and slam. This is rotational motion. We want to get that core to rotate and move like we have in a game. We have to be explosive in multi-directional areas. Get that core to rotate. Hammer that ball into the ground.
Chest pass
Here we want to start in a good athletic position and explode. Jump and crank that thing out there as far as you can. Two hands behind the ball, explode as you chest pass. This is total body explosion from your toes to your fingertips. Let the ball bounce.
When we’re doing these explosive throws, we don’t want to catch that ball in the air. We want safety. Let it bounce, catch it, load, and explode.
Overhead throws
Take a step, balance out right and left feet, snap that ball using the core of your body as far as you can. Do three sets of 10 with all these medicine ball exercises. Take a step with the right, then take a step with the left. Keep your core solid. Suck in the belly button, tuck in the back. Head up. Rip that ball out there.
Granny throws
Squat down. Don’t bend over. Crank that thing as high as you can up in the air. Give a little jump in there. Back flat. Suck in the belly button. Two hands under that ball and let her fly. Catch it off of one bounce, reload, go again. These are great total body explosive throws.
Rotational throws
Bring the ball to the side, bring it across the body, and punch it over to your partner. Bend the knees and the hips. Get into a good loaded athletic position and drive that ball over to your partner. Balance out by going both directions. You throw to the right, now you’ve got to throw to the left. Do three sets of 10 throws each direction.
Vertical throw and catch
Squat down and punch the ball straight up in the air. Catch it, go right back up. Explode. Catch it, throw. Catch it, throw.
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