New Workouts Hit the Diamond
Yoga and water jogging are helping reduce injuries. How you can do the
same
By REED ALBERGOTTI
March 18, 2006; Page P4

Baltimore Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons used to get ready for a new
season with squat presses and dumbbell curls. But now, he's making
some big changes in his routine.

To soften the impact on his joints, the 29-year-old veteran is using
rubber-band-like resistance tubing and other workout methods designed
to reduce strain while getting his muscles toned but not bulky. Mr.
Gibbons, who spent eight weeks on the disabled list a couple of
seasons ago with a torn hip flexor muscle, hopes the new program will
make him less injury-prone -- and extend his career. "The route that I
was going, who knows how long I could have lasted," he says.

In training rooms across major-league camps in Florida and Arizona,
fitness routines are changing. The emphasis is on tailoring workouts
to reduce the injuries that plague teams in markets big and small. The
Minnesota Twins bought more than $100,000 worth of equipment,
including weight machines that use air pressure to provide constant
resistance through the entire motion, giving a better workout with
less weight.
[Fitness Photo]
New Routine: Eric Chavez of the Oakland Athletics does a "lateral
cable chop," designed to build rotational power, using a VersaPulley
machine, which responds to the force of the user.



The Los Angeles Dodgers have added "active stretching" before games,
in which players go across the field while lunging and grabbing their
feet behind their backs to stretch their quadriceps, getting them
warmed up better than old-fashioned stretches on the ground. The
Detroit Tigers' strength coach has started taking more plane trips to
visit players during the off-season and make sure they are on schedule
with their training regimens.

Fitness experts say many of the new exercises, which focus on things
like coordination, balance and strong abdominal and back muscles, are
appropriate for weekend warriors, too. Craig Friedman, a trainer at
Athletes' Performance in Tempe, Ariz., says the approach he takes with
pro baseball players can help in everything from golf to "lifting a
bag of groceries off the countertop." The reason: These workouts hit
muscles that traditional weight lifting doesn't reach, helping to
eliminate areas of weakness that can cause injuries, he says. Velocity
Sports Performance, a nationwide chain with about 70 locations, also
provides training based on the new techniques to both pros and amateurs.

Teams have always worried about injuries, but they're making
increasingly huge investments in aging players. Johnny Damon, the
32-year-old former Boston Red Sox slugger lured to the New York
Yankees with a four-year, $52 million contract starting this season,
has raised concerns with a case of tendonitis in his left shoulder.
Brian Cashman, general manager of the Yankees, calls Mr. Damon's
tendonitis minor and says the player probably pushed himself too hard,
too soon. "That happens in the spring with a lot of players," Mr.
Cashman says, adding that Mr. Damon has spent little time on the
disabled list during his career.

Also shifting the focus of teams' exercise programs is the increased
focus on testing for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
As the obsession with muscle-driven home runs fades in favor of
fundamentals like base-running and fielding, players need to be fit
enough to play consistently hard throughout a game -- and throughout
the grueling 162-game season.

So, to protect against injuries and bolster endurance, it's a lot more
yoga and Pilates and a lot less bench pressing and biceps curls. The
new focus in baseball training is part of a broader shift in the sport
that's been under way for years. No longer do players kick back during
the off-season and use spring training to whip themselves into playing
shape at the last minute. While many past players had rigorous
off-season exercise regimens -- think Cal Ripken Jr. -- teams are now
taking a more active role, working with players to fine-tune workout
plans throughout the off-season.
[Working Out Like the Pros chart]

Javair Gillett, the Tigers' strength coach, says the team has long
visited players during the off-season, but he has stepped up his
travels lately, even flying down to Venezuela this winter to see
shortstop Carlos Guillen. Drills he runs in his visits include one in
which the player stands on an unsteady platform and tosses a medicine
ball back and forth with a partner, which works the abdominal muscles,
the back and the arms while also aiding hand-eye coordination and
balance. Mr. Gillett follows up with players once or twice a month by
phone and also consults with personal trainers that some players hire
for themselves. "If they don't come back stronger and faster and
quicker, that looks bad on me," Mr. Gillett says.

The San Diego Padres have been doing yoga twice a week since last
season. The idea came not from a strength coach but from surfing
legend Taylor Knox, a friend of relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman. When
Mr. Hoffman learned how yoga had helped Mr. Knox through his surfing
injuries, he offered it up as an idea for the team. It's especially
effective for pitchers, who tend to be more flexible on one side than
the other, says Todd Hutcheson, the Padres' head athletic trainer. "It
gives players better awareness of their bodies," he says.

José Vázquez, who just left the New York Mets to become the Texas
Rangers' strength and conditioning coach, has the team's pitchers
working out in a swimming pool twice a week. Mr. Vázquez instituted
workouts in which a player moves a box around underwater, toning his
chest, shoulder and abdominal muscles with the natural resistance of
the water. Other players jog in the pool -- and some do plain old
swimming. Low-impact water training helps players to recover more
quickly after workouts than they would after exercising in a gym or on
the field, Mr. Vázquez says, and being in the pool keeps players out
of the hot sun.

Baseball's new, tougher drug policy adds another wrinkle to preseason
preparations. In addition to steroids, the sport now tests for
amphetamines, which many players have used to perk up their weary
bodies ahead of games. Tim Bishop, the Orioles' strength and
conditioning coach, is teaching players breathing exercises that can
wake them up naturally. Since players get little recovery time between
games and can't just decide to go on vacation, "let's try to create
energy as best we can," he says.

One player with a particular appreciation of the challenges facing
aging major-leaguers is the Mets' Julio Franco, at 47 one of the
oldest men ever to play in the majors. He's constantly searching for
new theories on exercise and diet. His latest toy is Trixter's X-Bike,
which works the legs and the abs at the same time. "You're always
upgrading your computer; I'm upgrading the body with things that are
out there," he says. But Mr. Franco points to some outside help: God,
he says, has "continued to give me the ability to play baseball."