Baseball Has a Problem….

Poor comprehension, shoddy implementation, and even worse execution are the only bad moves. The fact that you are unable to effectively communicate in order to instruct and coach your athletes to perform a task proficiently or that you do not fully comprehend an exercise does not imply that the movement or exercise serves a purpose or is valid for training athletes.

Overhead movements and weightlifting have long been vilified in baseball circles for some reason. When you admit that you use the snatch and clean and jerk with your baseball players, it seems like you get the same reaction as if you wore a MAGA hat and were walking through San Francisco's streets. The other side of the coin is to make broad statements about the "negatives" of the weightlifting movements and their variations. The majority of these "negatives," in my opinion, are merely excuses that demonstrate a lack of comprehension of how these tools can actually be a huge benefit rather than a performance hindering factor.

In point of fact, there are numerous benefits to using these movements with baseball players throughout their training careers.

I want to be clear that I don't think an athlete should train like a weightlifter because that would be naive and dogmatic. What I'm trying to say is that it's important to first comprehend the advantages before completely abandoning one of your most potent tools due to its "negatives," or, as I see it, excuses. The next step is to reflect on and evaluate your coaching expertise. Do you have the skills necessary to use these tools effectively? If you don't, will you try to get better at what you do or will you settle for mediocrity and be dishonest about why you don't use these tools? Be an expert and never stop working on your craft.

Keep in mind that, especially when it comes to training, there are very few absolutes in this world. When coaches make broad statements like "all," "none," "always," or "never," it makes me feel uneasy and should give others cause for concern. It either demonstrates inexperience or a dogmatic approach. The fact that some exercises aren't right for some athletes does not mean that they aren't good for everyone. As a coach, you need to be ready to make adjustments for that person. Be nimble.

With that in mind, I'm going to first lay out some of the most common and unfounded reasons why you shouldn't use weightlifting movements, and then I'm going to argue why you should use them in your baseball player development programs. Also, even though we're talking specifically about baseball players, the reasons why the weightlifting movements could and should be used for other sport athletes are obvious.

#1 EXCUSE: The health and longevity of upper extremity joints is critical to the success of baseball players because they are high-risk movements.

The weightlifting movements and variations only carry a high risk if they are poorly taught and performed. Also, there is no doubt that success is dependent on the health and longevity of the joints in the upper extremities. However, let's take a step back and examine the most common injuries in baseball, followed by the reasons for this. Overuse injuries to the elbow and shoulder are the most common and widespread. How can this be? In two ways.

First, due to year-round play and early specialization. This prevents you from playing other sports during the offseason to improve your body, athletic abilities, and traits. Many youth club sports, other than baseball, are experiencing this epidemic at the youth level (just search for early sport specialization in youth sports). A second factor contributing to this epidemic of shoulder and elbow injuries is a lack of dedicated or focused strength training, particularly in the upper body. This is in addition to year-round play.

We're just cogs in a big wheel, so I doubt we can change the state of travel ball or early specialization in youth baseball or other sports. However, effective training can strengthen these athletes and their upper extremities to reduce these overuse injuries.

Weightlifting movements and variations can be extremely effective at strengthening rather than weakening the connective tissues and surrounding musculature of the elbow and shoulder joints if properly coached and performed. When you snatch or clean and jerk, are you straining your joints? Yes, but not all stress is bad; stress is an important part of development because it helps people adapt and be resilient. Progress requires stress.

Too often, weightlifting movements are only considered in terms of their capacity to develop and produce force. However, for athletic development, these exercises' capacity to develop and train athletes to absorb impact and REDUCE force is an essential component. Reduced force is an important part of injury prevention and building a stronger baseball player who can handle all-year-round throwing.

Deceleration, or a lack of it, in the follow-through of the throw is one of the main causes of elbow and shoulder injuries in baseball players. This is one of the primary reasons I teach baseball players to snatch. Baseball players learn and improve their deceleration and force reduction skills through the snatch's catch and turn.

Therefore, the lack of training to develop strength and stability in the upper extremities through overhead movements and year-round play should be the biggest issues that should cause the most concern for health and longevity among youth baseball players. Instead of avoiding a problem, run toward it and confront it head-on!

#2 EXCUSE: Weight-lifting movements necessitate a high level of prerequisite joint mobility, particularly in the hips and ankles. The last thing we want to do is throw them into a lift that requires such high levels of mobility because many baseball players have limited mobility.

What are you doing to overcome the performance-limiting factors you've identified, such as limited mobility? Again, some strength coaches have a very narrow understanding of the barbell's capabilities. The barbell is mostly thought of as a way to build strength and power, but many people don't think of it as a way to build MOBILITY. Barbell exercises and weightlifting movements can serve as mobility tools in and of themselves. It is evident that coaches who are unaware of this have not utilized a barbell extensively.

When a baseball player, or any other athlete, has hips that are too locked up to get in a good starting position from the floor or shoulders that are too tight to get into the bottom of an overhead squat, the full lifts are clearly not a good choice. To force a range of motion that is not yet there would be negligent. However, it can be a simple fix to prepare the athlete for success (in terms of both performance and health and longevity) if you are aware of the multitude of variations.

Start with blocks or the hang and finish with a power (think quarter squat) because both positions don't require as much mobility in the hips and shoulders. If you need to regress it further you can even simply perform an overhead squat or press in snatch to a range of motion where the athlete can maintain solid posture and position. The increased strength, stability, and mobility of the shoulder girdle can be quite dramatic!

If you have a deep understanding of the barbell, it can give you another tool to use against the performance-limiting factors of limited mobility and/or instability to complement your other efforts to reduce those factors.

Again, rather than avoiding a problem, run to it and confront it head-on!

#3 EXCUSE: Weightlifting movements have a steep learning curve. The same athlete may have been performing simpler power moves for months by the time a lifter learns the techniques necessary to move heavy weights.

I despise yet another excuse. If a professional or college athlete comes to work with you during a brief break and either a) has never done a weightlifting movement before or b) hasn't done a weightlifting movement in their program at school or club, teaching and implementing those movements would be a waste of time. Implementing sprints, dynamic med ball work, plyos, and basic barbell training will give you more for your money.

But in the context of long-term athlete development in a high school or college setting, where you have two to four years to work with these kids, are you saying that you can't get someone to move well in a few weeks? This suggests to me that you, as a coach, lack a methodical and repeatable approach to teaching an athlete weightlifting movements and advancing their performance. Which is fine, but what are you doing to address it and close the coaching gap?

If you are unable to communicate effectively or lack a methodical and repeatable approach, you will only experience a steep learning curve. Although the movements used in weightlifting are complex, that doesn't mean they are difficult. When I observe a "high learning curve," I have found that the coach is more to blame than the athlete. The athlete's learning curve can be reduced exponentially if you devote time as a coach to developing and improving your approach to TEACHING the lifts.

In addition, getting the athletes to be able to move "heavy weight" is not the only goal. Again, this point of view demonstrates a shallow comprehension of the weightlifting movements' advantages. These exercises train and develop so much more than just strength and power! Even if the athlete is just moving around and learning with a barbell that is empty, he or she is developing and enhancing their biomechanical and neuromuscular efficiency, both of which are crucial components in the development of general athleticism.

A better and more sincere response to the question of "why weightlifting movements aren't great for athletes and why we don't use them" should simply be "we don't know enough about them or have enough in depth personal or practical experience with them to effectively and safely use them with our athlete population," as opposed to propagating erroneous narratives that have been around for too long.

That's a response I can respect! Why? It demonstrates to me that you are sincere with yourself and comprehend your knowledge gaps. But want to be a professional coach? Take it to new heights. Take control. Be truthful to yourself. Reduce your excuses. Admit your knowledge, but more importantly, your ignorance. Do well in what you know. Always try to learn new things and get better at what you already know.