Athlete Spotlight: Jimmy Rollins Off-Season Workout

Welcome to the first edition of Athlete Spotlight. We will find examples of serious athletes and trainers staying in shape. And we will post them here to give new ideas and inspiration from their workouts.

With Spring Training a little less than a month away, we thought we would show you a glimpse of the off-season training that an MLB athlete goes through. Courtesy of Stack TV, this video shows Philadelphia Phillies shortstop and 2007 NL MVP Jimmy Rollins doing some warm-ups and speed drills with his coach, Aaron Sistruck.

The point of the exercises on display is to improve body control, and based on the success Jimmy Rollins has had on the field, these exercises have to be pretty effective. So get out there and add these to your workout to get a speed and power boost!

1 Month Down… 11 to Go

The first month of 2009 is almost over, so for all you Players who had “get fit” in their New Year’s Resolutions List, there are 11 months left to go! We thought a couple of tips, ideas and refreshers might be a helpful way to kick off 2009.

If you are looking to burn the fat and don’t have a lot of time to dedicate at the gym, circuit training might be a great addition to your routine. Circuit training is great at getting a full body workout in a short period of time. The idea is to have a set of exercises that combine cardio and strength and to do these exercises in quick succession. To give you an idea of what circuit training entails, take a look at this great routine from about.com.

If you are in the business of building muscle, but time management is essential, then multi-joint exercises might help you accomplish your goal. Instead of focusing on exercises that work a specific area of the body, like bicep curls, dedicate more time to up-right rows, which work your biceps, forearms, shoulder, and upper back in the same motion.

Here is a good schedule from AskMen.com for multi-joint exercises:

Full-body “every third day” workouts might include leg presses, deadlifts, dips, pulldowns, and upright rows during one session. The next workout could comprise squats or lunges, bench presses or pushups, pullups or barbell rows, and overhead presses. For those favoring a four-day split program, do several sets of squats and lunges on lower-body days, and choose leg presses and stepups for the next workout.

Upper-body days would involve selecting bench presses, dips or pushups, pulldowns, pullups, or dumbbell rows or barbell rows, and either upright rows or overhead presses.

As John F. Kennedy once said, “Physical fitness is the basis for all other forms of excellence.” So get to it, Players!