This past winter I had the unique privilege of working with Curtis Granderson as he was about to switch teams from the Detroit Tigers to the New York Yankees. Curtis graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has been a constant source of inspiration for all of our athletes here. In the past, he had come in and performed his own workout, which had been given to him by his strength coaches in the pros. However, when he came in this past winter, he said flat out that he needed to get stronger and faster and that he would do whatever it took to get there.
I’ve seen how some professionals train so I didn’t know what to expect. Curtis changed the way I view the work ethic of professional athletes. From day one, he busted his butt on everything I threw at him from the 5/3/1 system to short Prowler sprints. Not only was he working to better himself, but my other athletes would come in and see the way that he worked. He became a real life inspiration for them to push harder as well.
We had about 12 weeks to train around the holidays. I broke it down into three- to four-week blocks with a deloading week on the last week of each cycle. We stuck to the tried and true big three—the bench, box squats, and deadlifts. We also added in unilateral work and plyometrics for power. As we came to the beginning of the last cycle, we mixed the assistance lifts with a plyometric exercise. For example, we did dumbbell walking lunges with bounding and pull-ups (his least favorite) with medicine ball slams.
For speed work, we did a lot of short 10-yard sprints from various starts. With the Prowler, we also did a lot of short sprint work with lighter weight such as 10 X 15-yard sprints with 90 lbs on the Prowler and nothing going over 20 yards. This was all done after a sprint workout that was based on quality, not quantity.
In the end, his 10-yard sprint time went from 1.81 seconds to 1.65 seconds on a laser timer. His box squat went from 400 lbs to 455 lbs and his bench went from 225 lbs to 245 lbs. I eased off on his deadlifts because I didn’t want to put any undue stress on his hamstrings before he started in with practice. And I didn’t want to piss off George Steinbrenner by hurting one of his star guys before he even showed up.
Any baseball coach who says that lifting weights negatively affects your play has to look at this and change his thinking. If a player of Curtis’s caliber takes it this seriously, so should everyone else at the lower levels. As for the 5/3/1 program, I have received amazing results from all of my teams from baseball to wrestling. The bottom line is that hard work pays off. And maybe Wendler does know what he’s talking about.
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It’s great to see that some of the pros are busting tail in the gym. I know that can’t get their on genetics alone. This article is an excellent example of how a simplified program can achieve serious results. Thanks for the post.
Wendler’s program is so awesome because it cuts out all of the unnecessary bullshit that clutters up most programs. Simple and effective. Kind of like an AK-47. Or Benefiber. Whatever.
Hi Nick,
Great article. My son is a wrestler and has been using 531 for a year now with great gains. Could I get a sample of what you set up for your wrestlers incorporating the 531 program.
Thanks,
Greg
@joe
“kind of like an AK-47″ .
F*ing hilarious
Great, now I have to like Granderson… Do you know how hard that is being that I am a Red Sox fan????
Thanks for the feedback guys, I really appreciate it!
Greg, my wrestlers go for the normal 5/3/1 program when they are out of season but as they start getting close to cutting weight, we use cluster and max effort 3 and 1 RM’s so they gain strength without modifying bodyweight. Please send me an email if you have anyother questions.
Thanks again guys!
Steinbrenner passed away July 13th, you have nothing to worry about with the deads
Good article.
Curious thoughts of pressing movements for baseball or any throwing athletes? Anything to stay away from (i.e bench press, military press…)
Jeff, dude do you read anything on training baseball players by the pro’s that write articles on here or just puke out the same unnecessary questions every other baseball a** posts? Read, research, and educate yourself. then pass on the info you find to the rest of the baseball gurus in your circle. Then ask them to do the same. and maybe, just maybe i will not have to break out 50 different articles to explain the benefits of strength training to every 13 yr. olds dad that walks threw the doors and is dead set on there child never doing a bench press.
P. F-ING S. Granderson’s bench went up 20 lbs
Jeff,
I think the best presentation that I have ever heard on baseball was by Bob Alejo who used to be the strength coach for the A’s. His whole presentation was called “Why Not?” and it was questioning all of the old B.S. myths that baseball has made over the years. One of his biggest points was about pitchers and the notion that people treat them like glass. These guys are throwing high velocities for numerous pitches, wouldn’t you want the shoulder as strong as possible? The he addressed the whole topic of flexability and strength, and has he said it, if trained properly they can both be developed at the same time. Bottom line is that done properly, I feel that all weight room work will benefit athletes, again, if done correctly.
Granderson hit 2 home runs last night. Great job Nick! keep it up
Nick,
Great work! We have used a 5/3/1 type approach for years and every team we train keeps getting faster and stronger. Along with Prowler sprints we also put in a variety of preventive exercises that we use with our post chain and unilateral work and we have had great success with that. Love to hear S&C coaches talking about baseball and specifically pitchers not being made of glass. Keep up the good work.
Not to hate, but Granderson is having a really shitty season… way below expectations
@ j-slip
Hmmm must be the strength coaches fault or the program implemented.right? I mean it can’t be due to any other factors. I’m sure if he was having an awesome season it would be because he is spending extra time in the cage or new bat.
Congrats to Curt, just got nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award.