Stretching is an essential part of successful baseball. A good stretching routine can help to minimize muscle imbalances, prevent injury, improve your exercise tolerance and your baseball performance. The following stretching program is designed for baseball players who do not have any current injuries or individual stretching needs. If you have an injury, or a specific mechanical imbalance that may be holding back your baseball performance, your West End Physiotherapy Clinic physiotherapist can design a stretching program just for you.

When is the Best Time to Stretch?

When your muscles are warm and relaxed! Stretch after you warm up (before your game), during the game if you are on the bench, and after the game. You should keep warm and loose so that you are prepared to play at any time.

How to Warm Up:

Probably your coach will have a warm up program for your team, however, if you are responsible for your own warm up, we recommend the following steps as a minimum:

Jogging for at least five minutes (or some other whole body activity to get the blood flowing to the muscles that you are going to stretch and use).
Arm warm ups such as arm circles and arm swinging.
Stretches (see below).
Throwing for fielders, catchers and basemen: Start with short throws, progressing to longer throws, then finally mixed, game-speed and distance throws.
Throwing for pitchers: Start with short throws, progressing to longer throws, then finally mixed, game-like pitches. Don't forget to keep count of warm-up pitches, as well as game pitches, to avoid overuse injuries. For more information about pitch count limits for children see http://www.littleleague.org/Learn_More/rules/pitch_count_resource_page.htm.

Rules for Stretching:

Warm up the muscles first.
Slowly take your muscles to the end of their range. You will feel slight resistance in the muscle, but you should never feel pain during a stretch.
Hold the stretch in a static position. Do not bounce.
Hold each stretch for 20 seconds. Repeat each stretch 3-4 times.

Essential Stretches for Baseball:

These muscles are your prime movers for baseball. You'll need to stretch these muscles each time you train or play. Don't forget to stretch both sides. The stretch program shown below will take about 22 minutes to complete. You can choose small parts of the stretching program to keep you flexible during the game.

Calf Stretch