Can youth baseball players benefit from CrossFit? Yes, and here’s why:
Cardiovascular / Respiratory Endurance– In baseball, not losing your breath comes in handy when you’re a baserunner. Trying to turn a single into a double can be taxing, especially if you don’t make it to second base. Soon after you will be taking a lead and trying to get into scoring position, which can include stealing bases. Having cardiovascular and respiratory endurance will help those players who find themselves out on the bases. Everyday we come to workout at our CrossFit gym, we build up our ability to do work without losing our breath, and every week we get fitter and fitter.
Stamina– Being able to pitch deep into the ballgame separates the good from the great which is why having stamina is so important. Not losing your strength throughout the game will enable you to keep all your pitches sharp (not flat). Same can be said for the position player, without stamina their last at bat would not look as good as their first. Having stamina is vital to creating a great ball player and can be built by doing CrossFit.
Strength– Do you like watching people hit home runs? Well, it feels even better when you are the one hitting them and the only way you can do that is to get stronger. A strong body hits the ball hard, a strong body doesn’t break down, and a strong body throws hard and runs fast. Being strong goes hand in hand with playing baseball, period. In CrossFit we train strength regularly.
Flexibility– With a long baseball season, being flexible will definitely help keep a player from short term, nagging injuries that plague every team, every year. When doing CrossFit you regularly stretch with the class almost everyday because having flexibility allows us to perform our movements better and with full range of motion.
Power– Power brings with it explosiveness and in baseball if you want to be great, you’re going to have to have some power. It won’t matter if you’re swinging a bat or throwing a ball, the power you produce will set you apart from your peers. With CrossFit we train the olympic lifts which helps us become Powerful and Explosive which translates right over to baseball.
Coordination– Being able to run as fast as possible, track a ball in mid flight and then stretch your glove out at the right time to catch the ball takes coordination. Inside a CrossFit box your coordination builds and becomes better over time from learning complex barbell movements, performing throwing activities, and also from the jumping we perform to boxes.
Agility– Having the range to go left or right for a ball to make a play is important for being an all around ball player, and if you aren’t agile you’ll lose more balls than you snag up. Quick to the left or right as the ball comes flying by, your agility will soon come into play. With CrossFit we regularly program things like box jumps, broad jumps, ladder drills, and sprinting drills to help us build our agility.
Balance– In the batter’s box, hitting the ball all starts with great balance. Can you rotate your body through space, throw your hands at the ball, and make contact with power? CrossFit’s methodology wants us to become balanced through the activities we put our members through and will give us better balance if we play the sport of baseball.
Accuracy– Throwing the ball to first base from shortstop is no easy task, especially if the ball takes you into the hole. Having accuracy with our throws and how we can track down balls, will come into effect in a major way and our ability to consistently show accuracy will help us become a greater player. Accuracy is definitely a byproduct from doing CrossFit and will help a baseball player become even better iif they consistently come to class.