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A Letter From Dave Lemanczyk & Keg Conditioning
11/02/2010, 11:50am (EDT)
By Dave Lemanczyk M.S.P.E.
Dear Reader,
Baseball players are a special breed of athlete and very different from the people that competed thirty years ago. Thirty years ago, for example, there might be three or four physically strong looking players on a team. Nowadays, it seems like at least seven out of nine players in a lineup have been working out for years. The game has evolved to include more physical players all around. This game enhancement now demands that the players of baseball become physically stronger and without performance enhancing drugs.
The body strengthening process is simple yet often made complicated by people looking to make it complicated. Of all the five hundred and twenty muscles in the body, each one performs a slightly different job however almost all must work together to perform even the most simplistic task. There is truly no such thing as an isolation exercise as a result of this knowledge of the open kinetic chain. This is why intelligent athletes must use exercises that enforce total body muscular recruitment for results.
Certain exercises do not need to be performed as a baseball player, the first of which is the bench press. While this exercise has become a staple for thousands of strength and conditioning programs, it will never make the list in mine. The first reason is that by lying on the bench, a user cannot retract his scapula which leaves his acromioclavicular joints vulnerable hence opening the window to shoulder strains, sprains, and worse! Why anyone would take a chance on something like this is beyond me.
In 2005, I developed the KEG CONDITIONING style of training which is a series of thirteen exercise replacements for commonly used body destructors such as the bench press. Since that time, I have recommended any athlete I work with to master the keg pushup and keg negative exercise using my specific cues as direct replacements for the bench press. Each of these K.C. movements which can be performed back to back. These exercises allow the users body to retract the scapula naturally without impingement thus promoting a healthy training experience free from the risk of injury.
In addition, I also do not believe that any baseball player needs to squat in order to become great on the diamond. In fact, I developed my own style of lunges of which encompasses ten stages and forty four phases to address all lower bodily strength, power, and flexibility
needs. Too often, players squat without optimal levels of total body flexibility and acute injuries occur as a result. Over time, these acute injuries become sports injuries on the field of play. As a body construction specialist, this is once again why I take exercises that
are commonly used and replace them with other safe, sensible fitness applications.
As a strength professional, my job is to find and teach the most safe, sensible training tools for my athletes to use. While we will certainly make incredible progress in each individual training session, my goal is to prevent injuries, balance bodily tissues, build self-confidence,
and hone mental toughening skills. You can be next.
Sincerely,
Dave Lemanczyk, M.S.P.E.
Tag(s): Columns Home All News Strength & Conditioning Keg Conditioning
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