Get Spring In Your Training

By Tim Padgett

You may not be able to hit a fastball, but you have one thing in common with Major League Baseball players. Like any Yankee or Marlin, you want to shake the stiffness of winter out of your carcass and bound into spring like a line drive. Which is why following a spring-training regimen of muscle-stretching and flexibility exercises can be so important. Not coincidentally, the stretching regimen that most pro-baseball teams use may be the best way to go. Reason: baseball, compared with such physical-contact sports as football or such running-intense games as soccer, more closely parallels the average Joe's routines, according to Paul Fournier, strength-and-conditioning director of the Florida Marlins. "As in everyday life, we see a lot of muscle-use imbalance in baseball players," says Fournier. "Overuse of the right arm, for example, or more stress on one side of the body because you're always running the same way around the bases."

So Fournier uses a mix of static and active-dynamic stretches that help keep players flexible, even "when they're standing in their spikes." Among the static stretches the Marlins do every day:

HAMSTRINGS Sit with your legs spread and toes up, leaning the torso as far as possible toward one foot; don't bend your back or spine (a rule for all stretches). "Keeping appropriate posture matters more than being able to touch your toes," says Fournier. Do one side for 20 sec.; relax. Now do the other; four times each side.

QUADRICEPS Lie on your right side, grab your left ankle and pull it as far back as you can for 10 to 20 sec. Then turn over and repeat; four times per side.

TORSO SIDE BENDS Move your feet apart with hands on hips, then bend the torso to each side for 10 to 20 sec.; four times each side.

And here are some of the active-dynamic stretches:

KNEE HUGS Place your hands under one knee and bring your thigh to your chest. Alternate. Do this in a walking mode for about 10 yds.; four times.

TOE KICKS While standing, swing your left leg up and kick your right hand with it. Then right leg to left hand; four times each.

WALKING LUNGE Take an exaggerated step forward with one leg and drop the other knee almost to the ground. Twist the torso over the forward leg as you do this. Walk this way for about 10 yds.; four times. It stretches the glutes and hip flexors.

Marlins players do this battery of stretches, plus running, three times daily. For the rest of us, once a day could spell the difference between leaving winter behind and spending spring on the disabled list.