I bet you know that baseball is about more than just hitting and throwing balls. It is a really physical sports, that involves a lot of different movements. Be it throwing, sprinting, stopping, jumping or rotating your body in every possible direction. The best TRX exercises for baseball will help you achieve that.
Your body has to endure a lot of stress during a game of baseball. In order to prepare your body and make it injury proof, you need to put in work in the gym.
Next to running and lifting weights, TRX training has become a major thing in the world of fitness and professional sports. But what exactly is it? And which exercises are helpful for you as a baseball player?
In this post I am answering all those questions you might have and tell you about the best TRX exercises for baseball, so keep reading!
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What is TRX and where does it come from?
TRX stands for Total Resistance Exercises and is a special kind of suspension training. Suspension training is a special approach to strength training. It uses ropes called suspension trainers and challenges the user to work against his body weight. Suspension trainers can be fixated nearly everywhere. This allows the user to train anywhere in the world with next to no equipment.
The TRX System was developed by the former SEAL Randy Hetrick in 1997. His first prototype was made from a jiu jitsu belt and parachute webbing. Pretty creative, huh?
In 2001, after finishing college, Hetrick developed the first real TRX system and it was instantly used by professional athletes and their coaches.
Nowadays nearly every gym has some sort of suspension system installed, as suspension training is getting more and more popular every year. There is most likely also a course with a certified instructor available at your gym. That means that you will be able to perform the TRX exercises for baseball in this post in every gym easily.
What are the benefits of TRX training?
There are many benefits to suspension training. Let’s first look at general benefits that have nothing to do with the effects on your body, but more with the actual training method and the equipment.
It is simple and versatile: Suspension training requires next to no equipment. The only thing you need is a suspension trainer. A suspension trainer is basically made from two ropes and an anchor point, so you can anchor it anywhere. As you can imagine two ropes to not need a lot of space and you can take them with you whenever you want. They are not heavy at all, so you will not notice carrying them around.
Moreover a suspension trainer can be anchored everywhere. Be it in a hotel room or on a tree. It really does not matter. This is great, as you can have a great workout everywhere in the world with just a little piece of equipment.
It can be used by everybody: Suspension trainers are not just versatile in terms of where you can anchor them. The actual training method is also very versatile and eligible for everybody.
It does not matter if you are an absolute beginner and you have never worked out before, or if you are a professional athlete looking to diversify your training routine. Suspension training can easily be adapted to your personal needs, as you are just moving your own body. Every exercise can be made harder or easier, depending on how you position your body.
Take a look at a simple rowing motion. The further behind the anchor point your feet are, the harder it gets to pull your body up. This is because your body’s center of gravity changed. If you position your feet in front of the anchor point, the exercise gets much easier.
This principle applies for every exercise. If you want to increase or decrease the resistance you have to overcome, just change the position of your feet.
You have a community to push you: I personally think that this factor get overlooked quite often. At some point in time you will lack motivation to train. It might take some time, but this point will come. To achieve your goals, it is necessary to overcome this slump and keep working out, even though you will not feel like it and you would rather chill on the couch.
Given that suspension training has gained a lot, and I mean a lot (!!!) of fans over the last years, the suspension training community is huge.
TRX has its own community where you will always find other people who can motivate you.
Don’t neglect social pressure as a way to keep you working out and help you achieve your goals. It can work wonders!
Of course there are also benefits to the actual training method of suspension training. That means the way it directly influences your body in different way than regular weight lifting. Bodyweight training is known to have some great benefits for you. It is known to be super-efficient, build a lot of muscle and increase your strength levels super fast. The same goes for suspension training of course. But it doesn’t stop there. Suspension training has a few more cool benefits, which I will highlight below.
Instability builds a rock-solid core: Bodyweight training alone is know to challenge your core muscles with every move. Now imagine adding even more instability to your workout. What do you think will happen to your core? Exactly, it will be challenged even more.
This is exactly what happens when you start suspension training. Your body becomes unstable, because the suspension trainer can move freely through the air. This forces you to stabilize yourself all the time, which is mainly achieved through core activation.
If you do not believe me, just try out the core exercises I will tell you about in a paragraph below. Planks on the ground can already be quite challenging. Just try out planks with both feet in the air moving uncontrollably, if you do not actively engage your core. You will suffer a lot, but the results will also be worth it.
Improves Balance and Coordination: This goes hand in hand with the first benefit of suspension training. Instability not only means more core activation, it also leads to an improved balance and coordination.
This is because there is less structure given with bodyweight exercises. Imagine doing any exercise on a machine. The movement is structured and guided by the machine, which means you do not have to stabilize the weight with your body, but instead the machine helps you with this. This in turn means that you do not have to recruit all those little muscle fibres that help you stabilize your body.
Moreover on a machine you do not only not recruit all muscle fibres that you have, you also do not learn how to coordinate them. This means you are not learning to work your muscles together, but apart from each other. The problem is, that moving in any way requires different muscles to work together, which requires a lot of coordination.
I guess you see where I am going and how suspension training helps you here.
Allows for unilateral training (injury prevention): One of the main reasons for injuries is instability in your body that is most often caused by muscular disbalance and a lack of coordination.
I think I have already explained in great detail how suspension training fixes the coordination problem. By recruiting more muscle fibres, suspension training also helps you stabilize your body.
Lifting weights is not an optimal choice to correct muscular disbalances. On the other hand side, suspension training makes it incredibly easy and safe to work on one side of your body. This will correct your muscular disbalances and basically injury-proof your body.
Increases mobility and flexibility: By now it should be clear how suspension training helps you increase your mobility by recruiting more muscle fibres and improving intermuscular coordination.
Apart from that, suspension trainers are also a great tool to stretch and improve your flexibility while simultaneously working on your balance. The best TRX exercises for baseball players help you achieve that!
Any stretch you can think of can also be performed with the help of a suspension trainer. It can also be improved, as you can let yourself fall into the slings which will increase and deepen the stretch and by this make it more effective.
Just watch out that you do not go crazy, as you can also injure yourself if you don’t pay attention.
Which body parts can I train with TRX?
Because suspension training is so incredibly versatile, you can train every part of your body with it. It really does not matter if you want to focus on your upper or on your lower body, you will find exercises for every part online and later in this post.
Another great advantage is, that you will always actively work on your core with every exercise you perform, which will in turn stabilize your whole body and prevent back injuries.
There are millions of different resources online. Just search for them and you will most likely be overwhelmed by all the possible ways you can use suspension training to your advantage.
Nevertheless I felt like showing the best TRX exercises for baseball players, to address our specific needs to prevent injuries and increase performance on the field. Check out the next paragraphs to learn about the exercises that helped me most and I see as the best fit for us as baseball players.
Best TRX exercises for baseball
Before we get into the exercises themselves, we should first talk about what body parts we need to pay a lot of attention to in order to avoid injuries and maximize our potential on the field.
Baseball involves a lot of running, throwing and hitting. Running is self-explanatory and you need to work on your legs and explosiveness to improve in this area.
Throwing and hitting are a bit more complex. Both movements are rotational and move force forwards through your body.
In order to withstand rotational forces, you need a strong core. The core not only involves your abs, but also your lower back muscles and hips. Good thing, that suspension training always targets this area, which is why it is perfectly suited for baseball players!
In order to avoid injuries, you always want to counter the movement you perform most on the field. No matter if it is hitting or throwing, both movements happen in front of your body. This means, that you want to target the posterior chain, meaning your backside, to avoid injuries. This is why it is crucial for you to target your back muscles, as they make sure that your body can take the stress of lots of throws and hits.
I hope this explains, why the following exercises target your back, your core and your legs.
Sure you can also work on your pecs and arms with suspension training, and I will not say that it won’t do you good. It is just that a bigger biceps or massive pacs do not translate to better performance on the field.
Having a strong core and back on the other hand will be something you will immediately notice the next time you hit a home run.
Back and shoulders
Disclaimer: For all the following back and shoulder exercises, make sure that you pull your shoulder blades together and down. This creates a lot of space in your shoulder joints and allows them to move freely. If you do not do this, you can easily injure yourself.
Don’t train your ego and go crazy mode immediately by placing your feet under the anchor point. It is better to perform the exercises correctly with less resistance.
TRX T Deltoid Fly
Exactly as the following TRX exercises for baseball, this one targets your upper back and the back of your shoulder.
Have the anchor point of the suspension trainer in front of you, face it, grab the handles and place your feet in front of you. The closer to the anchor point you place your feet, the more resistance you will have.
Now activate your core and glutes and raise your body by pushing your arm out to your side at shoulder height. This will resemble a T at the end position.
Check out this video to have a visual representation of what you need to do.
TRX W Deltoid Fly
The set up for this exercise is identical to the Y Deltoid Fly. This time, instead of pushing your straight arms to the side, you bend them at the elbow and you have the handles at head height. Moreover you do not push to the side, but pull your hands to your head in order to pull your body away from the ground.
This video shows how you do it.
This TRX exercise for baseballtargets your rotator cuff muscles a bit more than other exercises, as your shoulder joints rotate externally, while performing this movement.
This also means, that you should perform this movement with less resistance than the T Deltoid Fly, as your rotator cuff muscles are small and can easily be injured if you apply to much force to them.
TRX Y Deltoid Fly
As you can probably already imagine, this exercise is also really similar to the two exercises before.
I will let Youtube to the explaining for this one.
TRX Single Arm Row
Let me first explain, why I did not write down the normal TRX row, but the single arm version of this exercise. It is all about the core again. If you performed the basic row with two arms, you would also activate your core of course. But going for the single arm row makes your body even more unstable and in turn challenges your core even more. I think that is a good thing, so I prefer this exercise.
I let the experts at TRX explain this movement, although I have to say I do not think that it needs a long explanation.
Core
I have most likely used the word “core” a million times already, but I just cannot stress enough how important that part of your body is. Your core stabilizes your whole body and plays a major role in injury prevention.
You want to train your core as effectively as possible in order to maximize your results. Suspension training is the way to go here, so make sure to integrate the following exercises into your workout regimen. The following TRX exercises for baseball will strengthen your core very effectively.
TRX planks (all variations)
Planks suck. I never understood how just holding your body in a position for a certain amount of time can be this exhausting.
Because workout are supposed to be challenging and also suck at least a bit, next time try out planks with a suspension trainer around your feet. You will first hate me, but after a few sessions you will notice a much stronger core and I hope you will love me for that.
Check this video to see how to do a proper plank while utilizing a suspension trainer. Always make sure to also activate your glutes, as they play a major role in every plank position.
I am really sorry for the quality here…
Plank Saw
This TRX exercise for baseball is also known as body saw or saw plank. It is basically a simple frontal plank.
But here comes the trick, once you are in the plank position and you have maybe already started suffering, move your whole body forwards and backwards slowly with your shoulders. This should resemble a saw. It does not sound too bad, but believe me, it makes the plank so much more effective and hard.
Again, make sure to activate your glutes as well in order to have a good posture. Otherwise you might damage your lower back, which is something you want to avoid.
Pikes
Probably the king of all core TRX exercises for baseball you can perform with a suspension trainer. This exercise is a whole body workout and also challenges your arms, shoulders, upper back and of course your core.
Put your feet into the sling trainer and get into a push-up position. Now pull your straight legs closer to your hands while pushing your hips higher. Basically you try to get into a handstand just by using your core.
Watch this video to see, what modern torture looks like.
Make sure to go slow here in order to really feel the burn. You are not supposed to swing into the pike position, but instead use your core muscles to pull yourself into the end position.
Legs and Hips
Your legs are your foundation and must not be neglected. Same goes for your hips, as your hips are responsible for transferring any force from your legs to your upper body.
As a batter and as any player on defense you need explosive legs and hips to help you hit or throw the ball as far as possible. NEVER neglect your legs. Working on them sucks and is incredibly exhausting, but the results are totally worth it!
TRX Single Leg Squat with jump
Pretty simple and probably does not need a lot of explaining. I chose the single leg variation, as it is more challenging and recruits more muscle fibres than if you performed this TRX exercise for baseball with both legs on the ground.
Perform a squat, but instead of going up normally, jump as high as you can. Try to be as dynamic as possible.
You can either put one foot in the sling trainer, or you grab the handles with your hands. The version with the foot in the slings is much more difficult though and requires a great balance.
Easy version:
Pro version:
TRX Hamstring Curls
This one is fun and will make your whole posterior chain burn. Moreover it builds some nice glutes. And guys, trust me, girls like dat ass.
Get your heels into the slings, lay on your back and now lift up your butt and hold this position. This is the starting position.
Now hold this position as steady as possible while bending your knees and moving your heels towards your butt. You basically perform a curling motion with your hamstrings.
That’s it. This is the whole TRX exercise for baseball. Remember to perform the movements slowly and in a controlled manner.
One Leg Lunges (all sides)
All of you should know how to perform proper lunges, so I will not get into it again.
In order to utilize the suspension trainer for this, just place one feet into the slings and perform lunges.
It might sound easy, but the instability will make this exercise so much harder than usual lunges. You hip muscles will work a ton just to keep you stable. Same goes for your core muscles. Seriously, try it out and thank me later. It is one of the best TRX exercises for baseball if you want to target your legs.
You can do this for every possible lunge variation. Forwards, backwards, to the side… it really does not matter.
I can only stress again, what a great tool a suspension trainer is. It will definitely make your workouts much more effective and probably show you some of your weaknesses, that you didn’t even know you had.
A stronger core, stronger legs and injury proof shoulders will be something you will immediately notice on the field. All of this can be achieved with the TRX exercises for baseball I mentioned above.
Long story short: If you want to improve your performance and be a better baseball player, make sure to integrate TRX workouts into your routine. You will thank me for it.
Get home safe,
Jan
