We’ve talked about the recruiting process: how to present yourself, how to get coach’s attention, and what they’re looking for. But that’s not the end of the process. In some ways, it’s just the beginning. If you want to be a successful collegiate athlete, the preparation needs to start now. We’ll explore the necessary preparations and mindsets that will form a strong foundation as players transition from high school to college athletics.
One of the biggest differences between high school and collegiate play is the physical maturation of the players. Younger players compete with Juniors and Seniors who have had the benefit of years in an intense strength and conditioning program. If players want to be able to make a difference right away, they have to prepare their bodies physically.
Some players choose to join a specialty performance gym. More of these are popping up and most do a great job with sport-specific workouts. However, these are often too costly to be sustainable. There are plenty of free resources online that can provide a starting point for successful training programs. For example, verywellfit has a detailed training program here, which is separated into different phases based on your active season. There are plenty of other free resources that are a quick Google away — Dan Blewett, Torokhtiy, Driveline Baseball, and YouTube to name a few.
No matter what program a player picks, keep the following in mind:
1. ConsistencyAny strength and conditioning program is only as effective as you make it. Start with a program that you can confidently do consistently, then ramp-up the intensity. A consistent plan will provide far more benefits than a harder plan executed only intermittently.
2. Progressive Overload
To get better, faster, and stronger, you need to constantly challenge your body. Pairing consistency with progressive overload — the practice of increasing difficulty (either in time, load/weight, or speed) — will supercharge your training regiment. To overload progressively, you have to track your weights and times during your workouts. The next time you go to complete an exercise, increase the difficulty. This is best done in small increments over time.
3. Shoulder Care + Prehab
As a baseball player, your throwing shoulder is of utmost importance, no matter your position. Remember to build in a specific time to strengthen your rotator cuff. General injury prevention is also an important facet of any effective strength and conditioning program. Prehab (Pre-habilitation) exercises that target your knees, hamstrings, and torso will help keep you on the field and performing at your best.
4. Core
Your core strength directly impacts your power — throwing and hitting — as well as helps prevent all injuries. You can train your core directly — through exercises like planks and knee raises — or indirectly by focusing on heavy compound movements — squats, cleans, and deadlifts. Compound movements are great for general athleticism, strength-building, and core strength but if not done with proper form can have a greater injury risk. If training core directly, focus on “twisting” movements: Russian twists, bicycle crunches, and pallof presses, to name a few.
Strength & conditioning make up just a part of a successful athlete’s routine. Many other aspects contribute to an effective routine that keeps you performing at your best, mentally and physically.
1. Sleep
Sleep is potentially the most important, and most underutilized, performance enhancer. Quality sleep helps energy levels, focus, muscle recovery, nervous system recovery, and more. As an active athlete, you must make getting good quality sleep a priority. Aim for eight hours. Check out Andrew Huberman’s “Sleep Toolkit” for more tips on how to get better sleep.
2. Nutrition
What you put in your body affects everything that comes after: your focus, performance, and sleep. Aim to eat whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible. Make sure you’re eating enough protein to supplement your training regimen. Try to stay away from refined sugar and other junk food as much as possible. When in doubt, try to follow a clean, high-protein diet (like the Paleo diet).
3. Recovery
As mentioned above, stretching and prehab exercises help you stay ready to compete. Other practices, like ice therapy (cold plunges and ice baths), hot therapy (sauna and steam rooms), and yoga can help keep your mind and body prepped and injury-free.
Making time and creating focus for these routines will prepare you to be a successful collegiate athlete.
A collegiate athlete’s schedule is jam-packed: early-morning workouts, afternoon practices, evening strength sessions, and many weekends away during the season. Punctuality is of utmost importance to college programs, so you must be prepared to show up on time and ready to roll. A good rule of thumb is: “15 minutes early is on time. To be on time is to be late, and to be late is to be forgotten.”
More than that, though, to keep up an effective routine as mentioned above, players must develop time management skills and systems to keep from feeling overwhelmed. Develop a strong scheduling system — either through a calendar like Google Calendar or a notes app — and stick to it. We at The Futures App like to prepare daily and weekly: review your weekly schedule every Sunday, then your daily schedule the night before. Stay disciplined and be accountable to yourself. Strong systems are necessary for college athletes to keep up with their sports and academic duties.
The mental challenges of being a college athlete are perhaps the biggest barrier to success. The demands on players’ time, the difficulty of competition, and the stakes associated with the level of play all contribute to a mentally and emotionally challenging time. But with the right attitude, approach, and awareness, players can attack these challenges head-on and use them to their advantage. Keep these two things in mind and you’ll be well on your way to a successful college career:
Approach every training, film, and strength session with a humble urge to learn. Coaches are tough at the next level but they’re tough because they’re trying to get the best out of you. If you can remind yourself of that every day, you can attack each session with the goal of getting better. This is a process towards greatness. Excellence doesn’t happen overnight. Be aware and acknowledge when you have a sour attitude towards a practice or drill. Recognize it and extinguish it. Remind yourself constantly: “I’m here to get better”. Not only will you see more improvement faster, but coaches will invest even more in you. There’s no greater asset to a coach than a coachable player.
With the demanding schedule and physically taxing practices and workouts, it’s common for some college athletes to just “phone it in” on certain days or during certain drills. We implore you to resist this urge. Attack every day like it’s gameday. This competitive drive is the difference between “good” and “great” players; “good” and “great” teams. We have seen it on all our teams. It’s not the most physically gifted players that win awards or go to the next level, it’s the player that competes with him or herself and their teammates every single day. No matter the drill, exercise, or environment, a tenacious drive to compete is the “X” factor.
Keep these couple of things in mind and, most importantly, be grateful for the opportunity to be playing a sport at a high level and you’ll be well set up for success.
The Futures App can provide players and teams with the tools to aid strength and conditioning, routines, time management, and the mental game. Teams can create custom training plans that are trackable within the app, making it easy for players to stay consistent and progressively overload. We have scheduling tools, sleep trackers, MLB drills, and interviews with top MLB players that focus on “the mental edge” required to become a top performer.
If you want to prepare for the jump from high school to college ball or are in college and struggling to make the most of it, try implementing some of the tools and techniques above. If you’re a coach and want to set your players up for success — at any level — book a demo for The Futures App today.