Little-League Exercises: Tips To A Healthier 14 Year Old You

Get Inspired...

No matter how athletic you may already be, you always want to get better.  It is this push for the next fraction of an increase in our physical health, which we work endless hours towards.  It is this push that makes us keep all of those old promotional t-shirts from Jays games and frosh weeks past, so that we have proper attire.  And, it is this push that makes us use a somewhat ludicrous amount of Tide on a regular basis to clean said attire.  But through it all, still, we push.

Recently I sparked myself to not just push a little, but shove myself far beyond any comfort levels. I was going to not just run, but race, a half marathon, in what I will only say is a, “Beyond unrealistic time” goal.  But I will do it.

My Gatorade X-Factor to this race is the fact that I am a diabetic and that this type of strenuous activity over this length of time requires a lot of personal-health management, to decrease the already present risks.  Simply put though, diabetics have a 6^th sense for their blood sugar.  And can overcome this.  When Brandon Morrow threw his “almost no-no” this past season I was nervously watching in the stands, knowing that my blood sugar was fluctuating heavily simply based on the fact that there were unusual stresses forcing unknown actions upon my body.  At this point, I could not imagine what Brandon’s 6^th sense for diabetes was doing, but to manage and overcome it is nothing short of spectacular on his part.

Reading Brandon’s story after the game, and hearing about how he had carefully drank managed amounts of Gatorade between innings to keep his sugar levels balanced, and keep him focused and healthy, was nothing short of inspirational.  I built off of this, and this past fall, I found my outlet to use his inspiration...

Hey-Oh Buffalo: How I Became Born To Run

My story here can be summed up in an equation:

Bills Game + Tailgating + Beer + Fur Hat + Intersection + Car +Adam =Broken Leg

 This is a simple formula which resulted in my leg being “Reggie Bush’d” for 6-8 weeks.  During this timeframe I found it extremely awkward to get around.  I couldn’t go more than a few blocks without stopping to lean on a wall, I couldn’t beat a changing light (the flashing orange hand would mock at me), and packed streetcars were even more horrendous when you are crowded onto one with one functional leg (below you’ll see an exercise which taught us how to better manage this). 

I decided at that point, when my leg healed,

“I’m running, and Forrest Gump ain’t got nothin’ on what moves I’m gonna pull.”

So now, I’m rehabbing and training for this race in the spring and I couldn’t be happier.  And while I find new exercises and try new things every day, I am inspired to write on some old little league baseball exercises that coach gave us before a game, or during practice that worked out so well.

Hans and Franz may have thought bigger was better, but little league coaches had routines that would turn any chump into a 5-Tool All-Star!

So why don’t you try incorporating any of these into your next routine:

The Arm Circles

A true test of one’s upper body strength, the arm circles consist of extending both arms and moving them in small circular patterns.  After a few moments, make the circles larger, but don’t get too excited yet! After a few more moments, let them grow and grow and grow!   Once you are at big, full-body circles you know you are burning some serious calories!

This exercise’s main purpose was to prepare the body for when you needed to drill into the outfield wall, yet you could not find a Black & Decker power drill around which could be deemed suitable for the task. 

Look ma’ I can do it with my hands!

Tree-Suicides

These are not your “high-school-gym-floor-basketball-court-70’s-inspired-colour-scheme” lines suicides we’re talking about here.  These are the real-deal suicides.  When coach calls out a tree line, the team runs, touches the tree, and runs back.  Coach calls out the next tree line, it’s a little deeper, and you run back.  After a while you have to run through an entire forest (def’n forest: small underdeveloped tree line surrounding a residential property) dodging teammates, and avoiding head-on collisions with your sworn enemies, the trees.  The trees are intimidating, as they are not made of flesh and bone like us common folk.  But are made of Birch, Oak and Maple, the materials from which the Gods were sculpted.  These deity-like plants could easily put you in your place by having you run into them, resulting in a bloody nose.  Or, they may trip you on one of their roots, leading to a nasty knee scrape.

Either way, it was tough work battling in the field with the trees, and this exercise was not for the light at heart.  However, if you start at it, it will increase your sense of awareness, and your overall pine-smelly-ness.

Reach For The Spikes!

The lower body workout is of great importance, and unfortunately does not always get the credit it deserves.  The simple fact that no one on the beach will ever say, “Hey, I love your calves!” is a firm reminder that upper body exercises will always be the trump card to your training regimen.

Never the less, coaches have never discriminated against the lower body workout, and have developed some wonderful methods over time to assist in development.  Coach was very much obsessed with the philosophy that touching your cleats more made you a better athlete.  The firmer my hold on those foot sweat ridden beauties the better I was going to be!

The best of these lower-body exercises being when coach had you bend your leg back, grab your foot, and hold it for an extended period of time.  Now, there is a group of people who will say, “That is not an exercise, it’s a useless stretch.”  To them I say absolutely not!  It is a core workout! And the next time you are brutally decapitated while playing shortstop with one out, and there is a sharp grounder hot back up the middle.  You will be thankful you took this exercise seriously, so that you could hop on over, make the play, and turn 2 like the defensive stud of a tripod you are!

I can also thank this exercise for training my once busted leg how to lessen the load on those packed streetcar commutes!

“Thanks Coach!”

So Fit The Fiddle Has Envy

So go out there, try these new routines, sweat it out, and get back into the shape you were in when you were 14.  I know I’m trying! 

Always remember, there are two roads in life:  The long road, and the easy road.  The easy road is just that, it’s easy.  The long road will reward you greatly, yet it is hard, and requires a lot of time and energy.  So if you take this long road, be sure to drink a lot of beer, because beer has calories, and calories are energy, and thus, great amounts of beer must be consumed in order to make all of the dreams of the long road possible.

I know I’ll remember this.  Now if you excuse me, I must go and have a protein shake, a purple Gatorade, and a Budweiser. It’s time to get my run on!

But, In all seriousness...

Go be great.  

Go find your inspiration.  

Go reach for that next level that is within yourself, and is within your grasp.


Go and take it.

 Happy Training!