Gift ideas for baseball athletes

  If you are looking for last minute gift ideas for your young baseball or softball athletes here are a few moderate to low cost training tools that provide awesome value!

Functional Training Bands
These fit  easily into an equipment bag and can be attached to a fence or post. Great option for core/shoulder stability strength.

I would go with the extra light (purple) or light (magenta) versions. In this case you're using these bands to help develop movement control and not maximum strength. Ideal for teenage athletes.

This week on Instagram I will be sharing videos of my favorite exercises using these bands.

Medicine Balls

Outstanding tool for developing rotational power required for hitting, throwing, pitching and even running the bases (turn and go!). I suggest 4 pounds for middle school athletes and 6 pounds for high school athletes. You don't want to go to heavy here. The emphasis is on efficiency and speed of execution. If the ball is to big/heavy it tends to lead to compensation and poor mechanics.

These are ideal for throwing in to brick walls or up against the fence. Check my Instagram out the 2nd week of January for exercises using med balls. Why January? This is when you'll want to start incorporating these into your offseason training program.

Mini Bands

These are small but pack a powerful training punch. They easily fit into your baseball bag. These bands can be an outstanding tool for conditioning the hips. Hip rotation is an often overlooked quality when it comes to conditioning for baseball. You can use mini bands to help prepare your hips for the rotational demands of playing baseball. I  would go with all 4 resistance options (Light-X Heavy).

I will be posting mini band hip conditioning exercises on Instagram the 3rd week of January. I will give you a few pointers on how to effectively use mini bands.

I just checked and the mini bands and the functional training bands are on sale this week. Just follow the link.

If you haven't started thinking about your off season conditioning plan now would be a good time to start. The three training tools that I listed here are all easy to implement options that will help you perform better on the field and help ensure your durable enough to stay there!