Off Season Routine
 

What do you guys do to stay fresh during the off-season? Work other sports, increase exercise regimen? Read the rulebooks? Review caseplays? (Hang out here.. obviously!)

How much time do you take off, physically, after the season ends - if any. How early before the next season do you begin ramping back up?

It's never the off-season for me. My last football game is November 10 and my first basketball game is November 16.

I'm running 5K 3 times a week -- not at a terribly fast clip -- about 28 minutes or so.

Mixing in some elliptical work, too. My goal is to drop about 15-20 pounds between now and next baseball season (I'd like to get down to about 180-190) and be in top physical condition, too.

Next thing to add is a weight routine for the days when I'm not doing cardio.

I've noticed the improved conditioning on the football field. I had an 80-yard sprint on a pick-six that would've left me slightly winded last season and this year it didn't even phase me.

lots of exercise / working out between baseball season and basketball seaon. Less so during basketball season.

No rules study until about 6 weeks before the season.

I picked up basketball "just to have something to do" -- now it's great fun and a great way to stay fresh for baseball.

Association just had two day clinic for all members, which was good. I never stop reading or studying the rules but, it will definetly get more intense come Jan 1.

Physically, dam I am getting FAT.

Right after the cruise next week I need to get my Butt moving.

Thanksgiving, Xmas Parties, Xmas, New Years, Mardigras, Superbowl, Fat Tuesday.

Wow, then it's time for Baseball again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to pick this up too. I was in pretty bad shape last year. My baseball season will start in February...so time is of the essence.

That's a good routine. Mix that up with good diet and you will reach that goal.

I'm in CA, so we can umpire until late in the year and some here go year round. I personally try to work out at least three times a week. I do cardio and a weight routine. My problem is diet. I'm on the road a lot and that does not lend itself to good eating. I also try to catch a few clinics between now and February.

Well, MTD, Jr. likes to tell people that he officiates basketball between the baseball seasons and that I umpire baseball between the basketball seasons. :D

MTD, Sr.

I have a weight loss bet with a friend. Money is a great motivator. :)

I have to lose 20lbs and he as to lose 25lbs by the Superbowl!

I do a ton of SP games up here along with some football to top things off in the fall and have a bit of foot/heal problem that needs some rest. I'll start some Broomball refereeing "LOL" here once we get usable ice around Christmas time.

But for me Diet is everything, in the 10 days since we started the bet, with improved diet I have lost like 6 pounds.
I'm trying to keep it around 2500 cals per day give or take and its really helping so far. I Cut out fast food, Chips and my biggest foe, Fresh bakery!

I'll start some Treadmill and weight training this week also.

This thread is making me Hungry ... Rice-Cake anybody? .. :)

Good Luck Everybody!

It's amazing how much you can lose by just cutting out snacks and sodas. It's all stuff we generally know is bad, but even if you keep eating hamburgers every day for dinner but just change to drinking water, you'll slowly lose a little weight. As you branch out and replace french fries with vegetables, fried chicken with grilled chicken, etc., you can see some pretty nice improvements. I'm down about 15 pounds since mid-August and really only getting into the swing of a more healthy diet.

Paired up with some good heavy weight lifting and a little cardio, I'm looking forward to dropping another 10 by spring and work to maintain that.

As Nolan once said there is no offseason anymore. I go straight from baseball to football, keeping up road work during each season and work during the 2 month break.

Nolan Ryan commercial for Advil - 1993 - YouTube

We have intermittent youth league games in Vegas that I have the pleasure of working. It keeps my incentive up to not get out of shape, and with the short stature of some of the kids, I get a lot of squats in during a 1:45-2 hour game. Since something happens nearly every inning, I get to discuss the different implications with my partner during pitcher warmups, while the event is fresh.

For example, we recently had 2-1, R1. Ball is called, and B1 thinks its a walk, (miscounted) and starts heading to first. R1 moves to second. When we get the batter to return to the plate, R1 went back to first, while the pitcher just watched him. Without these screwy little off-season plays, I might forget come March that the runner had legally advanced to second during a live ball, along with the other implications of his retreat.

I don't know your height, weight or age. Depending on a weight loss goal is fine, but the best thing to have done before you got on a diet/workout regimen was to have gotten your BMI measured. If your weight loss isn't what your hoping, you could be putting on muscle. At the end of the bet, you could remeasure, and see. Losing weight too fast isn't good for the muscles because your body will start craving, and then you wind up with less muscle, and more flabby skin.

Too many squats isn't good for the knee joints. I'd work on one knee.

Working on the knee isn't good for the pants. :rolleyes:

JJ

I can buy new pants. It's much harder to replace a knee.

I have had to work a knee on occasion. Just too hard on everything to be constantly going up and down.

That's why squats of the weightlifting variety are good - they build up the muscles in a heavily used area of all of our bodies. If done correctly they'd help every person on this board more than any other exercise.

Hi gentlemen ... My first post as the newbie ...

Speaking about knees ... I just completed my 2nd total knee ... Last year at this time was the right knee and now the left ...

Since I do HS as well as youth baseball I do know a little about exercise ...

From my PT who is also the trainer for a local HS and College:

While it is some what hard on the knees it works in the long run to do ball squats ...

Take a large ball (about 14") in diameter and set it between your back and the wall ...

Set your feet shoulder width ...

Squat into your call position and hold "twice" as long as it takes you to make a ball or strike call then stand up ...

Twice as long is the key as you are training your body to actually last longer than the game will take under normal circumstances ...

Note: do not over do it ... start with doing 2 innings and see how you feel ... NEVER over do it ... remember this is training ...

hope this helps you as it did me coming off my first knee replacement !!!

I've become a bit of an evangelist for Nerd Fitness: Helping You Lose Weight, Get Stronger, Live Better. .

It is chock full of nutrition and fitness advice and caters to a different demographic from the traditional health and fitness crowd. I really can't recommend it enough.

So what is the reason you had to have both knees replaced?

From all the studies I've read, squats done properly aren't bad for your knees and actually are good for the knees in that it strengthens a lot of the muscles around the knees. Now the issue will be actually getting proper form for squats which is the real danger.

There is more than one way to strengthen your quads, hamstrings, and gluts. I will never put a bar with free weights on the back of my neck.

Yes, there is a proper way to do squats that will lesson the wear and tear on your knees. Knees for the most part consist of ligaments, cartiledge, and bone.

I see people all the time doing the exercises improperly, or overworking a muscle for that matter. Doing four different exercises on the same muscle is counter-productive.

It doesn't matter what you say, the knee wasn't designed for the stress a person puts on them. The back isn't any better.

I work smarter, not harder.

I'm not arguing with you, I'm telling you why I'm right. Hear me now, believe me later. I'm not here to pump you up. It would benefit most if they would heed some of my fitness, and nutrional advice.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

My umpire brain wasn't, either. :rolleyes:

JJ

Exercise regimes are like officiating mechanics:

Too many people think just because something works for them, it is the proper prescription for everybody else.

In the off season (Nov to late Jan for me), I watch lots of football and basketball, catch up on my winter yard work, and forget about baseball for the most part. In other words, I give my mind a rest.

Catcher growing up followed by a professional driver for 36 years finally took its toll ...

that and torn cartilage and meniscus and ACL tears in both knees from catching ... the driving just added to the joint break downs ...

That'll do it big time. Clutching a truck is hard on the knees. Some just don't understand.

That's why most truck drivers don't use the clutch except when starting.