What's the quickest route to the Majors? (Part 2 of 2)

Here's the second part of our two-part interview with Dana Cavalea, the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the New York Yankees.

TAKKLE: What’s it like working with Major League, All-Star athletes every day?

DANA: Oh, it’s awesome. They really take their work seriously. They want to get better. They constantly are asking “How do I get better?” We get to educate them on why we do what we do. I always try to get my athletes to train with purpose and to make training a part of their lifestyle.

TAKKLE: What are the major facets of that lifestyle?

DANA: The lifestyle points are simple:

1. Get enough rest.
2. Stay on top of your nutrition.
3. Be consistent with your program.
4. Make sure that you take time after your workout to recover.
5. Condition your mind as well. And that’s important. Baseball is a sport built on negatives. A .300 hitter fails 7 out of 10 times. You have to have a positive mindset.

TAKKLE: You also work with a lot of female athletes as well, especially softball players. What is the main difference between work outs for female athletes and their male counterparts?

DANA: The thing with female athletes, especially younger ones, is that they are prone to ACL injuries and lower extremity problems because of the way their hips are. Their hips are wider and the angle between the hips and the upper femur is different than that of males. So, what we focus on most with female athletes is really strengthening their hips and their glut complex. A lot of single leg training. Most of the training for males and females is the same. You just have to be aware of the differences between the sexes and where their weaknesses are. Males usually have to work on their flexibility. Female athletes need to focus more on strength. One thing I have seen with female athletes is that they usually pick things up a lot quicker than the males. And they really want to learn about what they are doing and why they’re doing it.

TAKKLE: What are some of the mistakes that female athletes typically make when they are first starting out in weight training?

DANA: With female athletes as well as males, it is all built on progression and somewhere along the line we sort of lost track of that. It’s all about the quick fix, but what people need to understand is that nothing with our bodies happens quickly. It’s a process.

TAKKLE: One more quick one before we go. How much should an athlete work out during in season as compared with the offseason?

DANA: In season, it’s more about volume than it is the number of times you work out. Say that in the offseason, you would do five sets of a certain exercise. Well, then in season, we would recommend doing only three sets, and maybe doing it with a little bit higher weight. Near the end of the season, we may drop that to about one set. But higher weight, fewer reps, and fewer sets during while in season.

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