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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Rapid[/i] [br]In the current training era the use of aerobic modalities for adaptations such as increased stroke volume, increased mitochondria, or capillary density have become popular again. These are simple examples of adaptations that help the body to work harder or more efficiently. Building a good aerobic system can help athletes become well rounded for the following reasons: 1. Good work capacity is akin to having a big gas tank. If you’re in great shape that gas tank will help you train longer, harder, and with more quality. If you have a big gas tank, training the qualities that help build horsepower will be much more efficient. If you aren’t in great shape how can you expect to be able to train at the appropriate intensities to improve speed or strength? 2. A solid aerobic system helps you recover between starts, games, and in between workouts. 3. A well-developed aerobic system is important for health and we’ve all learned somewhere along the way that a strong cardiovascular system is a medical necessity! Though all forms of exercise are important, aerobic modalities have been proven to increase mood, learning ability, and can even be prescribed to fight things like addiction, learning disability, and depression (Ratey, 2008). It’s important to understand to best apply these aerobic modalities in the baseball player. Our job as trainers is to give athletes what they need, and in the high school baseball player it’s often work capacity and strength improvement. I’m personally not a huge fan of going on long slow runs to build work capacity, because of the time it takes and because there are ways to improve work capacity that get more bang for your buck. We like circuit training because there are several different exercises (variability is important) and the use of tempo runs. Tempo runs are great because you get to address running technique and develop work capacity in a more “athletic” specific manner. The accumulation of several sub maximal sprints over 15-30 minutes is one of my favorite methods for improving work capacity. It’s not always the most fun to do, but building work capacity is in the same line as arm care and mobility. Taking the time to do the little things puts you in the best possible position to succeed! We hope this is helpful! Have a great week, and as always feel free to comment with questions or topic requests! All the best, The Rapid Team www.go-rapid.com Andrew Gordon, MS, CSCS Andrew.Gordon@go-rapid.com [/quote]