University of Maryland strength and conditioning coach Will Franco joined the show with great insight into Division 1 baseball training. Watch the YouTube version here. We dive into programming for high level athletes and different positions and Will explains how creating a base of movement patterns is crucial to the training process. Will breaks down running and their incorporation of conditioning for pitchers and position players. The guys also debunk some strength training myths along the way. We bounce around and had some great discussion for any athlete or parent interested in strength training and development. Follow Will on Twitter @coachwillfranco for other great content, enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

Transcript: EP62 – Maryland S&C Coach Will Franco Discusses Baseball Training and Programming

Dan Blewett: [00:00:00] all right. Welcome back to the Borning Brushback. This is episode 62. I’m here with my cohost Robert Stevens. Bobby, what’s your middle name?

Bobby Stevens: [00:00:18] It’s Vincent.

Dan Blewett: [00:00:19] Robert Vincent Stevens. Here we are yet again. So, uh, thanks for joining us. If you’re new to the show, be sure to subscribe we’re on not only YouTube and video, but on Spotify, iTunes, anywhere you listen to podcasts.

So thanks for being here. Be sure to subscribe to the show. So you get notified with each new episode and today, uh, who do we have on our show here? Robert, we’ve

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:00:42] got

Bobby Stevens: [00:00:42] university of Maryland assistant strength and conditioning coach Will Franco. Uh, Will’s a native of mass, has been at University of Maryland since

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:00:53] August of 2017.

Dan Blewett: [00:00:55] Yeah. So conversation was really fun today. We talked a lot about what high school players need to be paired to enter the divisional level. So was, see, will works. Uh, one of his teams at university of Maryland is baseball. So he works. He knows the full ins and outs of all those, those athletes and the coaches and all the programming and the rigors of their schedules.

He’s a great resource for. Baseball strength conditioning, which obviously we know we have a ton of a baseball families listening to this podcast. So, um, Bobby, what were some of your takeaways from the conversation with? Well,

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:28] I mean, we touched on a lot of things. I think the. We touched on some, some running messages

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:01:33] with maybe pitchers,

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:35] you know, doing long distance running, some

Dan Blewett: [00:01:36] sprint work.

Yup.

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:38] We’ll have a ton of good information about, you know, just how they program a whole, you know, not just day by day, but he programs out what kids need to be doing on days are playing. They’re not playing, you know, recovery days kind of balancing that workload. Uh,

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:01:55] it’s also some misconceptions too, that, uh,

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:57] you know, maybe we, we, as our older generation thought were good for strength conditioning, there might not be so great.

Dan Blewett: [00:02:05] Yeah, I thought there were a lot of good myths that he kind of kind of put to rest and talk about some of the new trends and you know, what high school kids should be doing once they’ve committed to a school, you know, what they should be doing. If they’re trying to get faster, what they should be doing, if they’re trying to, you know, put on weight, you know, how can you be adequately prepared to enter a D one, uh, you know, weight room when you get there and hit the ground running?

So, um, yeah, a lot of, a lot of really interesting conversation. And what I liked about the conversation especially is that he just made everything seem really simple, right? Everything is I think very, very clear. Um, you know, he’s, he’s speaks that, so that any, you know, high school code or travel coach or parent who doesn’t have a biomechanics background can, can jump right in and say, okay, I learned, I learned a ton here that I can actually apply to my team or to my son or, or whoever.

So, so yeah, I mean, it was really good, really good conversation.

Bobby Stevens: [00:02:56] It’d be a ton of good takeaways for, for players, parents, even coaches, where you’re listening to someone at a power five conference, working with elite athletes, you know how these, how he’s managing them, how he’s programming them and, you know, keep it simple as, as a lot of coaches would say,

Dan Blewett: [00:03:15] Yeah.

So without further ado, we’re going to jump into our conversation with Will Franco, uh, one of the strength coaches at the University of Maryland.

All right. Well, thanks for coming on the show, man. Good. Uh, good to sit down and chat with you.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:03:41] Thanks for having me on.

Dan Blewett: [00:03:43] So tell us a little bit about what university of Maryland is doing. Cause obviously it’s a crazy time, so it’s kind of start there with COVID and how you guys are adjusting and hopefully, hopefully things are still rolling over there at, uh, you know, university of Maryland.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:03:58] Yeah. It’s been, it’s been pretty interesting to say the least I’ve been back since the summer. Um, we’ve changed a lot of our protocols, so kind of the big thing. Once athletes go through all their check-ins. And they’re clear with all a couple about a couple of negative tests then kind of that first week outside is outdoor training.

So what we kind of do is have to space everyone out. So we typically set up a bunch of cones to be like, Hey, you’re at this cone, you’ll go to this cone just to space people out. Cause that’s like a, kind of the utmost importance right now. And then kind of once we get that we have that first week has to be outdoors.

And then once that second weekend, if everything’s good the second week, then we start to move in indoors. We got to weight rooms. So the weight room I kind of predominantly work out of is, is 10 racks. So for us now, when they lift inside, they have to have a mask on, right. Everyone has their own equipment, so there’s no sharing of their equipment at all.

Um, and we’re kind of really restricted. So the way we have it, it’s basically only like barbell, TRX, um, work. We, it’s tough to use the dumbbells, prevent the guys like crossing over between the rooms. But eventually we’re once we have three weeks of indoor training, we’ll be able to go partner lifts. And what we’ll do with that is based upon like who’s roommates with each other.

Um, there’ll be paired up on the rack, um, and go from there. So it’s basically just trying to limit like the cross contamination guys going switching, and it’s tough. And then practice wise initially for the first couple of weeks, we were only allowed like five guys on the field at once, but now we’re able to do 20 guys on the field at once spread out.

Usually we do like position players and then pitchers come on at a separate time. So. Very interesting. A lot of moving parts. Um, and it’s tough making sure the guys keep their mask on, but, um, they’ve been much better with it. I think they’re starting to get adjusted with it.

Bobby Stevens: [00:05:43] Yeah. How, how, how much tougher is it just to organize a weight program or a strength program around all of these restrictions that you have?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:05:52] It’s I think for me, I honestly think it’s kind of a blessing in disguise. Cause I’ve had to simplify it even more because basically for me. I hadn’t seen the guy since March. Um, so I basically said, okay, I’m just going to start everyone. Like, they’re a freshman, we’re just going to start from square run.

Um, and we really have to emphasize the importance of a climatization. So a lot of guys, when they come back that first week where they just want to go all out and like go as hard as they can, but. For me, I was like, Hey, let’s, let’s take some sets off. Let’s let’s get our movement powders down. Let’s build up our workload.

Um, so we were able to prevent injury. Cause if you spike too fast, too soon, you’re a higher risk for soft tissue injuries and things like that. So from the weight room perspective on the field, so we’re doing sprint work, which we’re gradually building in volume there I’m using a lot more kind of resistant sprints.

I think from that standpoint, it kind of limits the amount of velocity put on the hamstring. So we put chain sprints, so the guys can give maximal intent, but with shorter distances and then we’ll gradually build the distances. And then from there, um, we’ll eventually take off the chains and then we’ll work at longer kind of max velocity work in the weight room.

Uh, it’s simple. We’re squatting, we’re hinges. We’re pushing, we’re pulling, we’re doing single leg and like core. And then obviously, um, shoulder work is mixed in there as well. Um, another tough part is you can’t do any partner work, so like guys can’t touch each other. So all the shoulder work has to be with like bands or like light

Dan Blewett: [00:07:31] weights.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:07:32] Well, just making sure the guys have space now. Usually I like to do kind of rhythmic stabilization has worked together, but from that standpoint, yeah, just making sure everyone’s spaced out and we’re just hitting our kind of meat potatoes.

Dan Blewett: [00:07:45] Yeah, that makes sense. Um, so we’ll, we were going to cover a bunch of topics today, and I know Bobby and I want to talk a lot about high school athletes and getting them prepped for college.

And so let’s kinda start there a little bit. So when you get a new freshmen, obviously at university of Maryland, you guys get really good athletes, right? You guys get a lot of the premium kids in all sports from, you know, not only the mid Atlantic, but you know, you gotta start to pull from all over. So when you get a new freshmen, what are the things that coach Will Franco hopes that he can do in the weight

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:08:18] room?

Yeah, I think initially is just teaching them how to move in the most basic terms is like, basically we want to teach them, teach them out of squat and then teach them how to hinge. And from that, it’s basically just, we start with body weight and we’ll do like goblet squats. Um, we’ll start with a PVC pipe to teach the hinge position is basically like not a lot of load from the beginning.

And the basic thing I do is almost tempo it. So I think the temple work and then the isometric work, one type of work, they can kind of feel the movement through a hinge pattern and then an isometric movement is get them in that position that they need to be in, um, and be like, Hey, this is where I want you to be when we hit a certain position.

So they kind of understand, okay, this is what I’m looking for. So then we’ll, we gradually progressed. Whoa. They know, Hey, remember in square one, when we did this, it’s the exact same. We’re just doing a little bit heavier this time. Um, and I think, yeah, teaching them the importance of the process and how to slow cook everything.

Um, because think about it. I’m going to have these guys. For at least three years, a lot of guys maybe get drafted in year three, but at least three years. So we have plenty of time to build it. And I look at it year by year. Your one is a movement, competency, competency, and kind of putting on muscle mass year two is developing maximal strength and then year three and four is where we kind of do and have this moron speed and power where.

We’re still emphasizing those qualities and teaching them in the first kind of phases and years with the guys. But then I just get it to a little bit more where their needs are.

Dan Blewett: [00:10:03] Okay. So what would you say are common things you see incoming freshmen don’t do well and things that they typically do do well, as, you know, obviously like a division one recruit.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:10:16] Yeah. I think, I honestly think that hip hinge, a lot of guys really had, if they haven’t had like a strength coach or formal training, Teaching hip hinge is a very confusing cause a lot of guys want to squat, like squat into the hinge, as opposed to just bending at the hip. Um, I I’ve seen that as a big restriction, a lot of ankle mobility.

It has been a issue I’ve seen. Cause I guess for us, we have a lot of basketball guys that come in. So there is a lot of limitations with their ankle mobility. And even when we’ve had a couple of guys come in with some Tommy John, not this year, but in the years past. So is, is getting them to kind of understand the importance of movement to see why they may have, why the injury may have occurred.

Was it like a strength issue? Was it a mechanical issue where our pitching coach kind of works on and those are kind of the main things? Um, I think from a, what they do really well. A lot. We recruit a lot of guys who have good motors and they like to get after it. And they understand the importance of working out.

Like I don’t, it’s not a thing where I have to get them going every day. They really do that well. Um, but I also think they understate, they pick up things very fast. So a lot of kids are super coach coachable. So once I teach them a certain position or how to land, then they understand it and they get it from the time being there.

So. Well was kind of two main things. I kind of that I’ve noticed

Bobby Stevens: [00:11:43] though. The one thing you touched on, I want to touch on a little bit more is the, is the lack of ankle mobility for basketball players? Not necessarily that specifically, but I’ve got a lot of parents that say, you know, college recruiters like multi-sport athletes.

They’re like, guys, I played multiple sports. Do you have, or see any benefit? Uh, more so with the guys that come from high school that play two, three sports. Then the guys that maybe just focus on baseball in high school. Is there any difference, maybe positive or negative, uh, when they come into the weight room?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:12:15] Yeah, I think, I think one is, uh, when we, when we do more of our field work, so our, like our splinting, our jumping, our throwing. The guys that have played multiple sports, they kind of have a, I would say more body control, kind of just more pure athleticism, as opposed to some of our guys who just like baseball.

I think, I think playing multiple sports is a good thing to have. Cause you learn different movements and different rotations and how to jump and all that type of stuff. But at some point you need to focus on baseball. I think. Gradually easing into it. So I wouldn’t say it’s a complete negative, but from what I’ve noticed is the pure athleticism from other, from multiple sport athletes.

Bobby Stevens: [00:13:01] I can see that. Definitely.

Dan Blewett: [00:13:03] Yeah. And jumping back to stuff that incoming freshmen, cause I’m trying to go through my list. When, when you’ve got a freshmen, he weighs X. When he leaves the program graduates or gets drafted. Typically how much weight has he added during his course? His time of Maryland.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:13:22] So the one I can know off the top of my head, we have this one guy, he came in with a Tommy, John.

So he like just had a surgery. He wasn’t working out at all. He was probably 210 pounds. And then now how tall. He’s six, four, six, five.

Dan Blewett: [00:13:40] Okay. That’s kind of skinny.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:13:42] He was skinny. Yeah. Now he’s like two 40. So he’s a, he’s a big dude, but typically, obviously it’s position based. Um, but I think anywhere from like 10 to 15 pounds, um, you’ll see a good job.

We had another kid who actually showed me a picture of himself the other day. He literally looked like a different human and he’s like a naturally skinny guy. He was probably like one 95. Now he’s like two 15 to 20. So. Obviously like that first year, you see the biggest job and kind of the size and strength.

So, um, I would say anywhere from like 10 to 15 pounds on average.

Dan Blewett: [00:14:17] Gotcha. That’s a pretty good. And of course, I think you guys are probably getting athletes who are more there than smaller schools is what I guess, Bobby, would you probably maybe tend to agree or maybe not as much that I

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:14:29] know. I think the

Bobby Stevens: [00:14:30] big, so I think the power five conferences are getting.

More physically developed kids. I mean, you’re getting chemists committed earlier and if you’re committing early, you’ve probably

Dan Blewett: [00:14:39] you say, no, I feel like you’re agreeing with me. I felt like that was what I was saying.

Bobby Stevens: [00:14:43] Yeah. I agree with you.

Dan Blewett: [00:14:44] I agree. We said no.

Bobby Stevens: [00:14:46] I don’t know.

Dan Blewett: [00:14:47] That’s you’re killing me, Bob.

Okay, so you Bobby.

Bobby Stevens: [00:14:51] Okay. That out,

Dan Blewett: [00:14:51] edit that out. Yeah. I’m not editing anything. No, I agree with you.

Bobby Stevens: [00:14:56] I agree with you. Well, you said no. Who agrees by saying

Dan Blewett: [00:14:58] no,

Bobby Stevens: [00:14:59] I do. I don’t. I don’t want to agree with you. So I have to somehow get my mind to, in that space.

Dan Blewett: [00:15:06] Okay.

Bobby Stevens: [00:15:06] But yes, absolutely. I think power five guys in general, just when I see high school kids around the country that are committed early, they’re just physical specimens.

Normally, whether they’re significantly taller, broader shoulders they’ve developed earlier. So they’re pro you’re probably coming in with a better, uh, base than the mid major kid who, you know, is starting to peak as a senior.

Dan Blewett: [00:15:33] Yeah, that seems to be what people are recruiting. Right? I mean, you get guys, I mean, obviously it’s, you know, the biggest, most physical kids are coming off the board earlier getting the D one scholarships, you know, places like university of Maryland baseball guys are probably getting a lot of their money is, you know, after their sophomore year and that summer.

Right. So these are the kids that are going to be more like grown men earlier. Was that kind of accurate? Well,

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:15:57] Yeah, I would say I’m going off of that. What, what our pitching coach, obviously our, um, or hitting coach as well, and our coach staff in general, they place a huge priority on the weight room. So when they recruit, these guys are like, you need to have a string coach before you come in.

There’s six guys on my, on our staff right now that have trained at Crescent. So like these guys, they come in, I’m like, okay, you you’re good. You know, you’re pretty much doing, we made it work on a couple of things, but. These guys have shrank coaches and in our, our coaches are like, you need to, you need to train someone, we’ll get you.

He can help you even more. You can make a significant jump. So it comes with the coaching staff and putting a priority on it and they do an excellent job. So they just, they give me the tools and I just do what I need to do with each guy. But, and then going off of that also nutrition wise, we have a full time dietician that we work with.

So the year one, they’ll meet with each freshmen and they’ll go over, Hey, you need to work on this. This is where your body fat percentages, this is where your weight is. And, um, what we’ve done also is based upon kind of what position they are, the optimal range of like body fat percentage they should be.

So like, obviously like outfielders and middle infield there’s they’re on the more of like the eight to like 11%. Whereas the, um, the corner outfielder corner influence, or maybe more 10 to 12% pitchers can vary, um, from like 10 to 14%.

Dan Blewett: [00:17:33] Yeah. My head laughing from 10%, all the way up to David Wells, you know, anywhere in between

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:17:38] you guys call it the old vivo pouch when they, uh, when they, when they’re chilling.

So, but obviously like different guys, different body types. But we try to put them in a right range. And a lot of guys think like, Oh my body fat percentage, it’d be like 5% more. That puts them more at a risk. Is that if you get sick or injured, you have no fat to kind of help you out. So then you’re start losing a significant amount of lean mass, which you’re trying to avoid.

So education of the guys is super important. Um, and our dieticians do an excellent job helping us out.

Dan Blewett: [00:18:10] So sticking with the freshmen stuff before we kind of transitioned out of that. Speed training is obviously a big deal for everyone. Everyone wants to get faster. So if a high school kid say, you know, Maryland signs a kid and they say, Hey coach, can you advise me on the best way to get faster?

I want to take two, you know, two ticks off my 60 time before I, I arrive at Maryland. What would you advise a high school kid do to get faster,

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:18:36] do high school track, honestly do high school track. Cause then those coaches. But track and field is like the foundation of sprinting. So understanding certain kind of characteristics that are utilized in the track and field.

I think that’s a significant opponent. You’ll learn how to run fast. You’ll learn the proper mechanics of sprinting, which a lot of kids don’t understand those certain characteristics. Now, if you’re gonna do track, be a sprint or don’t be a long day, is person B a sprinter. Cause you look at this fair.

Those are the fast people in the world. The longer distance, they’re not big and physical. So as a baseball player, you want to be fast and physical. So doing high school track is a significant portion, but if you don’t have asked access to do track like indoor or you’re playing basketball, um, I think understanding that spurning comes with a significant amount of rest, a rule of thumb I use for our guys or some guys, when they go home, every 10 yards you sprint, you need a minute rest period.

So a lot of guys want to do like suicide. I don’t want to get faster food sides and let’s do 300 yard shuttles, but that’s not going to make you faster because one, you’re not producing a high amount of force. And second of all, you’re not getting a lot enough recovery because when you think about what sprinters they sprint for, if you’re doing 100 meter 10 seconds, then the rest of them for like 10 to 20 minutes before.

Oh, they do the next rep. Cause you want to maximize your recovery. So you can maximize the amount of force you can put in the ground, so you can be faster.

Dan Blewett: [00:20:12] Okay. Sorry, go ahead.

Bobby Stevens: [00:20:15] I was just say the act of the act of actually getting out there and going full ago. I don’t think kids do enough. I don’t think you do enough of just actual full go sprinting.

They’ll do the, they’ll do their conditioning quote, unquote conditioning based running at the end of the practice, whatever they do with their high school team. And it’s. It’s a 60, 70%, you know, they’re going at the pace of the crowd and then they want to know why they’re 60 times 75. So we’ll have you run a 60 in the last six months, like

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:20:46] has

Bobby Stevens: [00:20:47] to test how fast you are.

It’s just, it sounds funny, but it’s the, even my most advanced players, they don’t do enough full go sprinting.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:20:58] Yeah. And I think it’s just the debaters don’t understand. The concept is like, They, they feel like they’re not working out as hard, but like in reality, you’re putting a eight, a lot of stress on the body when you are full out sprinting.

Bobby Stevens: [00:21:13] Right.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:21:15] Sorry, Dan

Bobby Stevens: [00:21:16] didn’t mean to cut you off there.

Dan Blewett: [00:21:18] No, but that was, that was to my point too, which is that, you know, I don’t think kids sprint enough and I don’t think they are aware of just how much consistency it requires to be fast. Like they need to go out probably, you know, it depends on their overall workload.

Like if they’re playing basketball, like they probably can’t go out and, you know, sprint two, three times a week on top of that. But. Most kids just don’t go out and do a sprint workout. Like they don’t go to a local field. And actually, like you said, go full bore. Cause I think that’s a really good point that you do.

You just like chase your teammates, whatever pace they go, you go, you don’t want to feel like Johnny hustle and you know, you’re going full blast and everyone’s just, Hey, you know, we’re just easing into it. So yeah, I mean, So we’ll do you guys send, so you haven’t incoming freshmen. I mean, you said a lot of guys have their own strength coach, but you guys give him a, uh, incoming workout for the previous summer.

Like when do you guys start to like, get your claws into renew recruits?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:22:15] Yeah, so there there’s like an NCA rule where I can’t have, I can’t send them a workout program. And so I think they’ve officially signed. So signing day. Um, but typically what we’ve done in the, in the past, obviously COVID kind of messed things up.

We bring the guys on campus for six weeks in the summer, and that is been a significant change because basically I can teach them kind of like the standards that I’m looking for for each guy. Um, I can teach them the fundamental moving problem patterns. We can do a, um, a full online movement screen, um, with our athletic trainer.

So me and him have a good relationship that we go there. So we kind of basically the microscope. Where’s this kid at where’s he at physically, where’s he at? Weight-wise what is his body fat? We take them in there. Finally get our hands on them. Then we can start training. And then from there we just kind of implement like our basic movement patterns from a slow pace.

So by the time and they come back, so there’ll be off campus for six weeks. They usually go home for two weeks in August or a week in August. And they come back, uh, at the end of August when we start, um, training as a team. So. The first two years that we did that when we came back, like the upperclassmen, like Holy crap, these kids really like hold each other accountable and they really like, kind of know what’s going on.

I’m like, yeah, man, it took me a while, the summer for a get them to figure it out. So, um, from that standpoint, and I, I usually send them if, if some, sometimes we get like transfers late, I’ll send them programs usually over that summer. Um, or building up into the fall when they returned.

Dan Blewett: [00:23:52] Gotcha. That makes sense.

Um, and then a couple of other things for sprint training. I know there’s a bunch of myths out there. Like everyone wants to, I remember again, my gym come in, all the little giant use, get faster. Can you do some ladder drills with them? I’m like, yeah. How about now? Um, can you talk to sprint training and some of the myths that you think are out there?

Cause obviously like plyometrics are not a myth, but they’re often misapplied, right? They’re applied the wrong time. You have skinny, weak kids who are doing plyometrics probably doesn’t have much benefit ladder, ladder drills. Um, but what’s your take on things like ladder drills, you know, like agility, ladders, um, plyometrics Virta max, any of those kinds of things.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:24:35] Yeah, I think from a ladder standpoint, I think it’s an excellent tool to use for like a warmup to kind of get a lot of foot contacts and kind of build it in from there. Uh, so I wouldn’t, that’s not going to get you fast, so I wouldn’t recommend that utilizing that tool to get you faster. I think like we talked about, um, using spurning as a tool to start with short accelerations and then gradually build the distance over time.

Uh, other myths. Oh, so like plant, basically plyometrics full thing that people don’t understand when you’re trying, when you’re trying to set up kind of like your workout program, you want to mimic whatever you’re doing sprint wise to match what you’re doing. Um, jump wise. So like when we’re looking at acceleration, so acceleration is.

Primarily horizontal force production because you’re like leaning forward. Whereas like a max velocity is more a vertical, so the amount of force you’re putting into the ground. So I usually think like, Oh, broad jumps should be paired with, um, acceleration word because you’re kind of working the same point.

You’re going horizontally. Whereas more vertical jumps to be associated with max velocity because you’re trying to train the same similar. So vertical jumps here to hop things like that. Well, the key area where I think you should start with biometrics is learning how to land. I think that’s the one concept people don’t understand is can you absorb force and can you land correctly?

So typically we start with our guys, even with our freshmen snap downs. So can you reach overhead snap down to athletic position and stop your body when control? And then from there we will kind of graduate to kind of altitude drops or depth drops. So they’ll like stand off a bench. And stick the ground and learn how to land correctly.

And then from there, we’ll do like a stick, like they’ll do a deck pause and do a vertical jump and then stick. So like you’re, you’re learning kind of the most simplistic way to kind of land and kind of absorb force. And I think that’s a key thing. The other thing is I think a lot of people don’t, I understand the switching from extensive to like intensive.

So like extensive is like little hops. So like Pogo jumps or, um, if you’re familiar with Altice, the track and field of, they do like a rudimentary series where they do like little hops, which are they’re low force production, but you’re teaching the kind of. Ankle and Achilles to Kate, make contact with the ground and be like explosive very lightly.

And then as you gradually progress, and once they develop some type of capacity for that for their ankle complex, then you switch to the more intensive jumps. So like broad Jones, like drum jumps and things that are going to be more intense. It’s going to have to maximize the amount of force they kind of put into the ground.

So a lot of people just want to go to the cool depth jumps in depth. Drops and like the really kind of intense stuff, where in reality, you got to build a base and kind of build that work capacity. So you want to be prepared for the more intense stuff as we kind of progress. So I kind of do that with our guys and I think people want to do all the, like the high box jumps and things like that.

It’s like, no, we want to, we want to land in an athletic position every time I don’t care how high the box is. I want you to land to that nice athletic snap down position because. Winning with your butt at your ankles is not the ideal athletic position that you’re going to be in bed. You’re going to be on the field.

So that’s kind of how I look at it.

Dan Blewett: [00:28:09] Gotcha. What about any of those fancy jump shoes or are there any, are there any tricks out there that you would recommend? Like obviously it’s not all tools in the weight room are bad, right? Barbells tool, foam, rollers, a tool, whatever, but there’s a lot of gimmicky ones.

Are there any that maybe seem gimmicky that you actually really like or things that you definitely recommend a high school kid

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:28:29] do? I don’t know. I usually keep it pretty simple. I, anything from like dumbbell loaded jumps. I know you mentioned like Virta max. I think Verna max is kind of like, people may think that’s gimme, but it’s a kind of a simple way to get a loaded jump in.

And if anyone has like a hand or injury restriction or a shoulder injury, like you can still do some type of loaded jump when you just put that on your way. So I think I know a lot of basketball players may use that one, but, um, Teaching that the kind of learn to put force in the ground with some type of load on you is, is, uh, can, can help you.

Gotcha. I bought those shoes that had the little

Bobby Stevens: [00:29:05] disks on the front of the toes that you walked on back in the day.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:29:11] I’m not, I’m not a huge fan of those. I think if anything, you should take your shoes off when you’re kind of doing like light plyometrics to kind of get a sense of feeling the ground with your

Dan Blewett: [00:29:20] feet.

Well, have you ever seen these shoes? I think they’re called King goo. Have you ever seen those. I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:29:27] I don’t think I have no,

Dan Blewett: [00:29:29] they’ve got like a football size, a football shaped thing on the bottom, and it’s like a, an elastomer. So imagine a shoe with an open this on the bottom.

And it’s like, acts like a shock absorber. I had seen them on TV era on YouTube and they have like fitness classes and they’re more overseas. Like they’re kind of popular. They have people, you go into class and you’re like, pull up your, your boots on. And it’s just like makes your feet like a trampoline.

And they’re so weird looking and silly, but I saw a woman running with them yesterday in real life here in DC. And it was mindblowing. Maybe she’s got like terrible joins that she’s got, like, I don’t know, but

Bobby Stevens: [00:30:11] they were gone.

Dan Blewett: [00:30:13] I wish I could pull this up at the moment, but it’s going to be too, too slow to do that.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:30:17] Very slow. I see. So maybe I’ll maybe I’ll run into her too.

Dan Blewett: [00:30:21] Okay. Yeah, she, uh, I mean, she was exercise and so you can’t, I’m not really like hating on him. Like, I don’t know her situation, but they are an insane little weird technology.

Bobby Stevens: [00:30:31] I’m just, I just pulled them up on Amazon and they’re completely sold out.

So

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:30:37] we’re,

Bobby Stevens: [00:30:38] you’re behind the times day

Dan Blewett: [00:30:40] goo kangaroo. Um, so moving on this time of year at university of Maryland, obviously it’s the fall. So, can you kind of take us through a little bit of like what an off season workout looks like for, you know, a high level D one program, like university of Maryland and how it might differ from when you guys hit the end season?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:30:59] Yeah. So, um, in a typical off season kind of that fall is where we kind of really kind of build our base of, um, strength. So obviously I think that’s a, that’s a major component, um, to our sport. I utilize kind of like the vertical integration model, where you’re training everything at once. So you’re training speed, you’re training power, you’re training strength.

Um, and you’re doing conditioning as well. You’re training everything at once. But it’s certain points of the ball. I’ll emphasize certain components. So maybe that first kind of week bat, first couple of weeks back, or working on work capacity, um, kind of just develop them, getting those guys to build a base.

Maybe some hypertrophy work is going to be associated with that as well. Um, but we’re also doing med ball throws pair with that med ball stopping power stuff, but maybe we’re doing more of the teaching component of that. So like landing. Mechanics and things like that. Um, a lot of deceleration Rose and deceleration landings, um, and then our speed work, which will be well, we won’t run at full speed yet.

So we want to build in kind of their work capacity to run full speed. I think if you speed is very important, but you have to ease into it and build kind of volume and intensity gradually. Because you’re going to have like soft tissue and guys can strings, aren’t going to be prepared for that as well.

So then the next couple of weeks we’ll have kind of like a strength emphasis. Um, and then we’ll gradually, maybe we’re starting to do more acceleration, full speed acceleration work. Um, and maybe we’re touching on some more, um, Ben ball throw variations and things like that. And then, uh, as we progress towards the NFL, maybe we’ll do I, I’m not a big fan of max testing, but we’ll, we’ll maybe touch some kind of either your heavy singles, triples and doubles, um, to kind of get kind of a good number for the guys.

So they have a kind of component to train them all, but then we’ll also kind of work and kind of build that good strength. And then we’ll start to shift towards kind of like a power development. Because I think that’s kind of a key component as we kind of work into the season. And then as we’re in season, we’re trying to keep the qualities that we’ve built upon in the past, but maybe we can still maximize, um, certain strength gains.

So usually like some of our, our younger guys, they kind of continually to get strong because we’ve put them at like such a, like a slow base level initially. So I’ve had a couple of guys like PR on squat and deadlift in season because. We’re still just gradually progressing them. And I think a lot of people, um, Oh, like your maximum, your shouldn’t focus on strength season, but I do it based upon guys feel like if we had a three game set and we just came back from like Florida or California overnight, like a red eye, like, no, we’re not mad.

We’re maximizing recovery on those days. But, um, I think the conversations we have with the guys are super important season. Um, we do a lot of, kind of like wellness questionnaires, and I see the guys basically every day, so Hey, I’m like, Hey, if you’re feeling pretty good, maybe I’ll give them options.

You’ll have like maybe three sets to five sets. If you’re on good hip five, five reps, three to five reps feeling good. You had three. Five reps. Maybe if you’re feeling like crap, maybe only do two sets on exercises. So it’s a, it’s an other encompassing model. And then let’s say we have like an off day or we don’t have a midweek.

We can kind of push the shrink a little bit because we’ll have a little bit more time to recover. So, so the in season is kind of building off the qualities we built in the fall, which are building our speed, building our strength, um, which we worked on hypertrophy as well. But obviously we want to limit the volume in season.

And keep the intensity relatively high so we can keep kind of the strength, levels and power levels. That would be

Dan Blewett: [00:34:54] gotcha.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:34:56] So how

Bobby Stevens: [00:34:56] individualized is, is that in season one? God, like if

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:35:00] I’m the shortstop and Dan’s

Bobby Stevens: [00:35:02] the Friday starter. No, we both come back on Monday. How

Dan Blewett: [00:35:06] much different is that I guy nice,

Bobby Stevens: [00:35:08] nice stands up.

Right. We’ll give Dan the Friday guy. How, how much different is that workout? Uh, for the, for each of us and I guess compared to the rest of the team, is it, is it all individualized? Is it, is it kinda educated? Is everybody educated as they go and they can make their own assumptions on what they need?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:35:28] Yeah.

So starting pitchers probably have the most kind of. Convenient schedule when it comes to the in season component. So typically how, how I kind of operate for them. So like, let’s say start Friday guy. So guy John Friday, next day, he comes in it’s it’s mobility. It’s we’re doing temple runs all. It’s a, basically like a full out recovery day.

There’s we won’t touch weights at all. Then he got his recovery day and then the next day, so Sunday they’ll do all his strength work. Uh, there are, maybe we’re hitting like our squat pattern, um, depends on kind of each guy, but a squat pattern, whether it’s single leg or double leg based upon what I think the guy needs.

Um, Monday I’ll typically have off Tuesday, he’ll usually throw his bullpen. So he’ll throw his bullpen and then he’ll lift afterward. Usually on that day, I’ll kind of do more kind of like concentric only. So maybe we’re doing more trap bar, maybe more step-ups maybe more hip ridges, so he’s not getting as sore as he goes into the weekend.

So then I’ll have, then that Wednesday and Thursday, he’ll kind of have an option. He can do a primer. He can do another recovery day before he kind of leads up to a start and then. As you go for the Saturday guy, the Sunday guy, it’s kind of the same concept here. Like recovery day, lift a recovery day lift day, maybe a primer day.

We’re doing more explosive work now with the positional players and kind of bullpen guys. They don’t have the luxury of kind of winning, knowing when they’re going to go. So for them, we kind of keep their kind of lifting schedule, like pretty like routine. So like either like Monday wasn’t Friday, or like, if we have a lot of games, like Tuesday, Thursday, basically, they’re going to lift on the same schedule.

Cause you know, you never know when you’re going to lift. Sometimes they’ll lift on game day based upon what the schedule is because the end season schedule is a little bit crazy now with regards to like individualization, like. But, like I said before, it’s all about the conversation I have with the guy.

So I need to kind of understand where they’re at physically. So some guys may feel good some days and some guys may not feel good, the other guys, so it’s, it’s giving them the autonomy to. Understand. Okay. If I feel like crap this day, I’m going to go a little bit lighter in the weight room. We’re still gonna lift because we still want to get that stimulus.

We can’t just not live and get weaker, but maybe on another day where we’re feeling good, we can push a little bit more. And I think, um, high school kids don’t lift in season where in college baseball, it’s like a priority like lifting and season is, is utmost importance for keeping you strong and healthy.

Um, but also making sure you’re not. Like losing velocity late in the season. Cause we still need to keep our strength.

Dan Blewett: [00:38:20] What is a, what does running look like today in college baseball? Like for PR for the pitching staff specifically?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:38:27] So we don’t do like, we don’t run, we rarely run polls anymore. We’re we’re starting to get away from like the long distance running.

I utilize tempo runs, which basically. Oh, so a guy, a distance, whether it’s 50, 7,500 yards and they’re running at a, a 76 65 to 75% of their like full speed. And basically we’re not going extensive distances. So I’ll, I’ll kind of track like how much distance we cover. Um, and. I think we’ll rarely, rarely go over like 1800 yards or, or something like that.

We’ll keep it on the low end because we want to promote that running as recovery. And I think, um, a lot of guys actually like to run, um, some guys are pitching staff from the a long distance standpoint, but I kind of educate them to, Hey, we don’t need to run long distance. We just need to do some type of running to get some type of recovery throughout the body.

But a lot of our running per se is more sprint work. And I think that’s where, uh, educating them is like, yo, we don’t, we still need to maximize our force production in our spreading. We’re going to do timber runs for recovery and building a base. And as, as we do that in season, it’s a recovery component.

It’s not a conditioning of component. I think explaining it. That’s an epiphany I had is like, Like temple runs is not conditioning. It’s recovery, because it’s going to help your body recover. You’re going to get blood flow to certain muscles you need. Um, and then you’re just going to have just, you’re going to feel better when you go into lift the next day, because you’re not going to be as sore.

So,

Dan Blewett: [00:40:09] so is there not a conditioning, uh, component during the season or is that more just the off season or where does conditioning fit in?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:40:18] Uh, it’s more, I mean, we do a year round. It’s a little bit tougher to do for the position players in season, but for the pitchers. Um, based upon when they know, like, if a guy is super sore after like, uh, at least say he, he come and did like long relief and a bullpen guy needs a run, like he’ll, he’ll do his conditioning on or temple runs or recovery runs on the following day that he throws.

If he knows he’s not going to go in. So it’s just, I utilize that as a recovery component. It’s not a lot of volume. It’s just enough to kind of get some blood flow into the certain muscles that they need. So it’s not like in the off season, it’s. It’s we do it at least once a week. Um, but in the end season, since it’s a little bit more structured and I have a little bit more time with the guys, I can do it a lot more kind of with the starters

Bobby Stevens: [00:41:05] as, as,

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:41:05] as a key component for kind of the recovery throughout the season.

Dan Blewett: [00:41:10] Gotcha. And then as far as conditioning goes and like the off season, I mean, two guys, do you have any of those big days where they’re doing, you know, repeaters, sprints and suicides and some of that really tough stuff or is that sort of like. Less of a priority for you?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:41:25] Less of a priority for me. I think when you look at it, um, like conditioning, you need some level of conditioning to help with.

You need to develop something aerobic capacity through running and stuff like that. Because especially P position players, they cover a lot of volume sneakily, a lot of volume in practice. So they actually get a lot of their running in practice so that when I look at them, I don’t really need them to. Do as much conditioning as they think, because they’re prank the power athletes.

They’re not like runners. So, um, the speed, strength and power are the most important component that I look at.

Dan Blewett: [00:42:03] Yeah. And especially for pitchers, I think it’s hard for people to grasp a lot of times just that you really don’t get in shape. As far as pitching shape from anything, except for actual pitching that you can throw 80 pitch bullpens, which I don’t recommend, but you know, teams try sometimes get your pitch count up before the season in the fall.

Like you’re throwing longer bullpens as a starter, but you just don’t really get in shape until you’re actually out in the game. I mean, even in spring training, it’s like you’re throwing full bore and you just don’t feel like you’re in shape until six weeks into the season. I feel like a lot of people don’t really get that unless they’ve lived it.

Yeah.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:42:37] And I’ve actually talked to, like, I’ve never worked in the majorly baseball without fortunately, during this time I was able to talk to a couple of guys and they say actually for their position players, they do a lot more running, um, for hamstring injury prevention. So they, they want to be able to prepare those guys for.

They, they actually bashed. I love the crap out of them a little bit, just because that’s the easiest way to kind of prevent hamstring. It is build sheer volume of running and expose them. Apple runs that I don’t know exactly what they do, but they said they actually build a lot of volume and they’ll do other components where they’ll do.

Bass running, but they’ll do it at shorter distances. So like you almost run it like a run a little league field. So they kind of prepare some for like tighter turns and more exposure and it will limit their top end velocity initially. And then they’ll gradually built to the more 90 degree, 90 degree, 90 feet around the victors eventually.

So their body’s a little bit more prepared. So they use a lot of that running on the front end to kind of help them out, which I think I’ll probably do that once we come back and kind of the wintertime in January. Is star with more kind of shorter distance, like curved runs and then build to the full base running.

Dan Blewett: [00:43:51] Hmm. That’s an interesting concept. I never heard of that before. That’s interesting for sure. So do you feel like, and did they feel like hamstring injuries are a product of the change of direction and the tight curves? Is that Pete a piece of it?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:44:04] Yeah, it could be a piece. It could be. I mean, sometimes it’s not preventable, but, um, Obviously, there could be a way, like how you step on the base.

Like if you’re not stepping on the front, like from part of the bag that could hurt you, if you’re heel striking into the bag, that’s gonna set up a risk for hamstring injury. So, but I think not exposing yourself to higher velocities and higher volumes on the front end, like building in your work capacity.

Like I said, if you do too much too soon, your hamster, they’re not ready for the amount of sheer volume and intensity that you’re placed upon. So gradually. Building in your distance. Like I do, like, that’s basically like what I’m doing in the weight room now and on the field is preparing for those guys for when we go to team practice and in full scrimmage, they’re prepared to run at full speed because they spent that time with me.

Dan Blewett: [00:44:56] Let’s I want to talk a little bit about the notion of preventable versus non preventable injuries. Cause I think this is a big misnomer for a lot of folks, but you know, one frustration with me in the pitching world is that. People want to say, Oh, and I get this like routinely people are like, Oh, this is why I got Tommy, John.

This is why her mom I’m like, you don’t know that, like what you just use somehow isolated, the one variable in your body. Yeah. And you’ve decided that that’s, that’s the sole reason that you’re at your arm, like right. We can make educated guesses, but, um, as a strength coach, what injuries do you feel like are preventable?

And w w like you just mentioned, like, some things are not, where does, where do they fall into the sort of the two buckets.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:45:37] Yeah, I think kind of what we’ve taught. I think, I mean, no injury is preventable. That’s that’s I think we all know that like there’s the free things that happen. Um, there’s little things that you have no control over where you can not understand.

Um, but I think preparing yourself and understanding that gradual increase of volume is the most important. Thing, gradually increasing volume and intensity. So if you, if you start a throwing program and you saw driveline that guys are rip and pull downs, like you start just rip and pull downs with out, preparing your body to do that.

Then you’re setting yourself up for injury. If you, you don’t understand concepts like going from maybe your flat ground and then down to a slope, when you go down to a slope, that’s going to put more stress on your arm. If you’re not prepared for that slope, that’s going to have a whole list of issues.

But. I think, I think the education component, um, of the warmup and like activating, like our pictures take almost like 45 minutes to an hour to get ready to throw. And I think that has put them in a better spot, um, to decrease their risk of injury from the shoulder and the elbow and things like that. Our pitching coach does an awesome job of.

Knowing where guys are at, like throwing wise. And I think guys now understand, and I think baseball has a perspective, at least the pitchers understand the importance of warm up. So you go through your dynamic, you do a lot of guys do wrist weights. A lot of guys do J bands and taking your time through those things and making sure all those little muscles in those in your shoulder and rotator cuff were activated before you start really throwing, generate enough heat in your body and gradually go into it.

Um, we haven’t had too many like shoulder issues. Um, and we haven’t had, we’ve had one Tommy, John, um, in the past and since three years I’ve been here, like, like that happened when he was here. So I think there’s a lot more education on the front end from like kind of the warmup and how to build your body.

But also I think the kids are getting much smarter. Like we had a camp. I could not believe that when we had a camp, we had kids coming in who are like sophomore, and I understand the importance of, um, like creating separation or leave leg blocking. And like, I was like thinking when I was at their age, I didn’t know anything about, I think there’s a lot of good education out there.

There’s a lot of good coaches. Is that, or like telling these kids, Hey, this is like what you need to do. Um, these are certain things you should know and obviously there’s. Put in bad, but I think the people understand the importance of getting your body ready to throw a baseball is, is really important.

You really need to take the time because it is a, one of the most stressful things you can do, uh, for your elbow. So I think the whole, like warmer an education component has been the biggest change too. Prevent a lot of injuries that you see in the past.

Dan Blewett: [00:48:46] Well, how do you marry that with especially being a reliever when you just have to sometimes just like get up and be in the game really fast really soon.

Like how do you marry those two where you said, you know, sometimes 45 minutes, your guys are warming up to throw, but then in the game they might, like, I was personally in a game in four minutes from when I was called once. So like, how do you, how do you get them ready to do both of those things?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:49:10] So, uh, what we do is kind of throughout the game, um, The coach, the coach will our pitch.

Cause we’ll kind of give a friend right. Who might go in the game, but usually the whole pitching staff, like during an inning, like maybe like five guys or they’ll just go down to the bullpen. They’ll maybe hit a couple of J bands, hit a couple stretches, um, maybe foam roll a little bit, just to kind of keep their body like moving and warm, uh, throughout the game.

So it would be like, Hey. Um, third, any, Hey, go down, like do a couple stretches, um, for thinning, Hey, maybe go down and just do a couple shoulder  next day and come back. Maybe you’re gonna stay down there and you can do maybe a couple of plyo throws or whatever you need. So their, their body’s somewhat warm, um, throughout the game.

So they’re not going in completely cold. I know I’ve seen like teams in the past. Hey, just run down to the foul pole, run back and you’ll be fine. But. Uh, we take the pride and kind of making sure, Hey, go down there. You know what? You need to get your body ready, which stretches what mobility. Um, you’ve done all this stuff in the off season.

Pick pick your plan. So usually we have notebooks for the guy, so like, Then they’ll reach out. Hey, if I go down to third inning, I’m doing this for thinning. I’m doing this fifth ending. I’m doing this 16, nine. Okay. I’m going to start maybe toss in a little bit and getting ready. You go in the game. Um, so we do a lot of, a lot of the education.

Hey, your mind needs, it’d be ready. Like you need to act like you’re going in. Don’t go down there and just dilly dally, go down there on a mission and know what you need to do to get warm. Whether you want to throw a little bit, do their mobility. And write it down in your notebook. So, you know, Hey, I felt good going into this game.

So I did these things. All right. So ma’am, I’m going to keep that in my routine for the game. Gotcha.

Dan Blewett: [00:50:53] So

Bobby Stevens: [00:50:54] you mentioned no, like no, what you need to do for specific guys, how much leeway do you give some of these guys that come in and like, they’re doing things that you disagree with, but it’s maybe necessary for their

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:51:07] psyche to feel like they’re actually strong

Bobby Stevens: [00:51:09] or actually in shape.

I mean, the one, the one thing I can remember is working out with a guy who’s. Uh, you know, uh, his max bench press

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:51:17] made him feel like his whole off season was

Bobby Stevens: [00:51:19] worth it

Dan Blewett: [00:51:20] being in shape.

Bobby Stevens: [00:51:21] Like he needed to bench press, whatever three 50. And that might not benefit anybody in the baseball world, but, you know, that was like his thing.

So the guy we worked out with, alright, we’re gonna let them bind. Like this is like, as, you know, dangle the carrot, I guess, type a workout. How much leeway to the guys have with you? You know, if they come in with something like that, something. Maybe a little unorthodox.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:51:45] Yeah. I mean, I think the, well, I think you guys all know the one thing that kind of controls everything is the mind.

And I think if there’s a disagreement with something or something, I don’t believe I go down and talk to them and build the relationship and kind of educate them, Hey, we want to do this because of X, Y, and Z. And I don’t think it’s in the best interest for you, but at the end of the day, He knows what he needs to get his body ready.

I can’t, he knows his body way more than I do. I can give him certain components and I haven’t had too many difficult issues with guys with what they kind of need. Like they know their routines and their warmups, um, more so like for the, for the pregame stuff. And like in game I let them do you’re you’re in the game.

You gotta do what you need. Weight room. I have my, Hey, we need to do these kinds of components. If I see some type of, uh, like restriction or limitation for I’ll switch up an exercise form and by, Hey, we need to do this because of this. Um, uh, and I think educating them on certain things they need, but it’s comes out of confidence.

If you’re feeling good, like in your mindset, it’s good. Cause you hit a max bench like then you’re knowing you’re not getting hurt, hurt, and you’re doing it with right technique. That’s fine, man. Like then go and get after it upward. Do you,

Dan Blewett: [00:53:08] and do you feel like you have to regulate personalities a lot to say, cause you said you, you give guys a lot of leeway, like, Hey, you can only do two reps today instead of five.

If you don’t feel that good or, you know, we can do this, but as we both know, there are some guys who just always don’t feel that good. Right?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:53:26] Yeah. They don’t, they don’t feel good. And that, that’s the thing where it comes down to. Hey, I’m, I’m giving this to, uh, for you as a tool. So don’t, don’t abuse it now.

Like obviously you’re in season, you’re going to be, so there’s going to be some days, um, you’re going to feel like crap where you still need to get in your sets that you need to, but it comes out okay. Washing guys using my coaching guy and be like, okay, what’s going on? Like, why are you not giving me a full effort, but just something going on in your life.

And that’s kind of where we utilize our wellness questionnaire and I can see. I see sleep level. I see motivational level. I can see fatigue level and I see that they, they send me that and fill it out in the morning so I can talk to him. I’ve seen him an afternoon. Hey, or we’re lifting an afternoon. Hey, what’s going on?

Why you’re like, then it actually sparked some good conversation with guys. And I think if they know that I’m there for a minute, they kind of understand that relationship. Um, they’ll, they’ll, they’ll do what they need to do, but I think it just comes down to education and. Um, understanding the mind of each individual and understanding some guys want to know the, why some graduates, I just want to get after it, like leave me alone.

I think a good book that kind of opened me up to that was conscious coaching by Brett Bartholomew. And it showed all the different personalities of that. So you have like the soldier, so the soldier is like, The guy, just tell him what to do. You don’t have to worry about him at all. And he’ll just go with it, go through like what it needs to do.

Then you got like the overthinker. So like, if you tell him something, he’ll think about it for the next 20 minutes. And it’s like, you got to approach those guys in a different way because of, if you tell them something to make them overthink, then they’re just going to not their, mindset’s not going to be exactly.

And then you got, like, I think one of the terms you use, like the Sabbath founder, who wants to like be the fun guy and like not focused. Those guys, you know, kind of get in their asshole, but more so you got to understand, I think I’ve taken more of the ownership of understanding the personality of each guy, um, and knowing what I need to do.

And some guys I can leave alone cause there, I don’t have to worry about it. Some guys are going to get on a little bit more because they’re just going to Slack off based upon kind of who they are. So. Um, we haven’t had too many issues, but I think that’s a good kind of thing to have in your back pocket.

As a coach is understanding that the psychology side of training and in athletics, as opposed to kind of just the physical side.

Dan Blewett: [00:55:54] Yeah. What other, I know we’ve gotten a lot smarter on the mental side. In the last handful of years, five years, people are starting to talk about mindset a lot more and. And mental health and all these things.

What other trends have you seen that are? Can you give us a couple of positive trains trends that you really like and strength and conditioning and maybe a couple of ones that you’re like, yeah. I’m glad that flamed out. Like I thought that was BS and this was a common go kind of thing.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:56:21] Yeah. The, uh, I think the big thing that’s kind of come and gone.

I mean, I think people are starting to realize that like, not every workout has to be like insanely hard. I think a lot of people, like, I gotta go, like, if I’m not like seeing red or I’m not like throwing up, like, that’s that wasn’t a good workout. And I, that, that, isn’t kind of the way. Cause basically you’re just putting too much stress too soon on the kid’s body.

He’s not ready for it. And, um, Educate like, Hey, after each workout you should feel good. Like you shouldn’t feel like crap. Um, I also think that another trend that’s slowly coming away, which I think is the worst string coaches. So we have to focus on max strength all the time. It’s like strength is up good up until a certain point.

Um, and people are out there trying to figure out what is the optimal kind of strength level for each individual is at two times body weight. Is it 1.5 times body weight? Uh, you got to look at kind of each guy and each guy, some guys may be able to like put on squat profile easily, sometimes has come probably after three, barely squat, two 25.

And you kind of just kind of look at each guy, you got to see what level, if you go through a strength phase or you’re going through a phase of back strength development, and they’re not improving, like we’re, we’re just trying to get five pounds better or like just a little bit better. We could probably put our eggs in a different basket to approve them.

It’s like once we cap that max ring, all right, they have that strength bubble based upon who they are, let’s shift the more kind of explosive workers. That’s what they do on the field. Baseball hitting is baseball. No, it was a very explosive sport. So we need to develop that strength on the front end, then got assimilated again somehow and doing more explosive, work more.

Maybe you do. Um, speed squats, maybe do more squats, paired with box jump, like whatever it is, whatever kind of tool or method you’re using shifting kind of gears. And I think people are slowly starting to really that like, just because you can squat four Oh five doesn’t mean you need to squat 500, like four or five is good enough.

Dan Blewett: [00:58:33] Yeah. And that was when I saw probably in the last couple of years where people were like a lot of round back, dead lifts on Instagram from some of the bigger, you know, baseball companies. And I’m like, this is trash. Like you don’t need to be dead lifting 600 pounds, especially with crappy form. And it’s like, well, where’s the diminishing returns on that?

Like you said, 400 pounds is probably good enough for some guys. Maybe it’s four 50 for some guys. Maybe it’s 500, but. You don’t have to deadlift 600 to throw baseball 90 to like,

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:59:05] yeah, like there’s, it’s, baseball’s the weirdest sport. You can have a guy that wears a buck 60. Five 1,195 and then a guy who’s six, three, two 20 and 30.

Can’t break 90 it’s it’s there’s only like each guy’s different. So you’ve got to find what they need based upon kind of their characteristics.

Dan Blewett: [00:59:24] Yeah.

Bobby Stevens: [00:59:25] I think the big trends that over the last 10 years is obviously the velocity and pitchers and the weighted ball stuff. The different workouts, you know, geared towards just throwing hard, throwing hard.

Do you guys incorporate any of that stuff? Do you see kids coming in with their own routine that, that either you’re on board with, or maybe makes you cringe? Cause he’s 120 pounds and you know, throwing 12 ounce balls, 500 feet.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [00:59:51] Yeah. I, our, our pitching coach kinda handles all a lot of the, kind of like a weighted ball stuff.

Some guys have like we, when we like first on our coaching staff, first guy, there were some guys who liked to do, like, there was like, Weighted ball holds, but most of the guys like our pitch, it goes, Hey, these are the, these are the tools that we have. We have, we have wrist weights, we have IO balls. We have, um, uh, we have this like, uh, I forget what they’re like the Baton things everywhere, where they’re called, but they have, these are, these are tools.

I, I basically, I’m giving you all, everything you need use what works, use, what doesn’t work. And at the end of the day, you know, your body better and like, Obviously, if guys are doing like crappy form and like, like over rotating or their arms sharing mine, then we, then we correct their kind of mechanics from there.

But we, we give them a kind of certain leeway, but at the end of the day, it’s like, they gotta be doing it right. And correctly, they can’t be just like throwing 12 ounce balls, like crazy. Like some guys like to throw away to ball. Some guys don’t. So it did. And this one guy like him. Some guys don’t throw and they throw, well, some guys do throw it and they throw it well.

Um, you, you have to really, I think you really just have to understand how your body works. And, um, obviously our pitching goes a great grasp on each guy and what they need, um, mechanically. So, um, it’s good to see that our coach, um, coach moose, he does an awesome job.

Dan Blewett: [01:01:23] So you said you’ve been working with, uh, the baseball team to kind of integrate skills training with strength training, or just kind of like match the two up and pair them better together.

Can you talk a little bit about, about that?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:01:37] Yeah. So this is kind of over, over COVID. I was able to do a lot more kind of continuing, continuing ed. One area I got really kind of into was the kind of the biomechanics of hitting. And I know you’ve had coach Swope on re previously with me, him and I are kind of working hard together to see how we can kind of integrate certain things in the weight room to certain things that he does in the cave or like on the field.

So one thing we try to do is, um, so basically I utilize the Charlie Francis model, which is like a high, low model, basically like. On one day, like the high days, all the days you do your spurning, you’re jumping, you’re a med ball throws and you’re like heavy lifting. And then on your low days, it’s more like, um, lighter days.

So like that’s where you do, like your light tempo runs. Maybe you’re doing some like light med ball circuits, like things that are not super

Dan Blewett: [01:02:32] intensive.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:02:34] So like when really it’s like swamp, you know, that I’m going to do like we’re squatting on this day, we’re spending on this day. So with. We want to do all the hard stuff on one day.

So if we do all the hard stuff on one day, um, maybe he’s doing more, um, different types of swings. We do a thing where you hit the bag or it’s like pretty intense or they’re high CNS kind of batting, like hitting stuff. So on the following day where maybe I’m doing more like temporal arounds or recovery stuff, Hitting wise, maybe he’s doing like half swings or he’s doing like movement, like movement, prep stuff.

That’s not your snow getting movement patterns, but it’s super light. It guys are getting a little bit of swept that it’s not as intense as like constantly swinging a bat. And, uh, the thought process of is, is yeah, by like squat heavy one day, um, do all our hard stuff. And the next day we swapped doing all this hard stuff like in the.

The batting cage or on the field, then the guys are never going to fully recover. Cause usually like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so you’re doing hard stuff every day and their body’s not fully prepped. So then that’s, when you see more injuries there, there’s more you’ll maybe see like, you know, bleach strain or like something where they’re just bought their, body’s not fully recovered because recovery is super important.

So, and then going off that for like team practice, so. Maybe on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we’re lifting. But on Tuesday, Thursday, maybe I don’t have a scheduled conditioning session with them, but maybe I’m doing more kind of tempo runs, but it’s base running. So it’s lighter base running. They’re getting the heart rate up just a little bit, but we’re you promoting that as recovery and maybe we’re doing like ground balls, but we’re not throwing.

So you’re still getting some movement, but you’re not taking on the intensity of throwing. And then maybe on Friday you do kind of like your harder like game simulated drills, um, based upon kind of what we’re doing. So you’re just trying to mirror certain things. And then one area we really got into was kind of the scissor kick or staying anchored, uh, with your back foot on like a swing.

So what we started to do some med ball throws with a scissor kick for some guys. And you could see the guys kind of rotate a little bit better. And then other things where we started with was kind of DSL throws. So like we call it like fake throws and to getting guys understand that like be really fluid and then put the brakes on at the last second.

Cause I think a lot we’ve seen, um, some of the courses we’ve taken is that the brakes are the most important thing. How fast can you stop your pelvis when you rotate? Because. The analogy we’ve used is picture yourself. You’re riding on a bike and you’re going full speed into a curb. So my bow, the bike is your pelvis.

My body is my upper body, so my secondary mover. So if I drive full speed into a curb, I’m putting on the brakes, my pelvis stops, which the bikes off, and then my body flies off. So just like when you swing that pelvis stops. And then the upper body rotates. So I’m able to translate more power. So, um, if you don’t have a good brake system, you’re not going to optimize the amount of, kind of your, your swing pattern, whatever it is.

So putting that kind of metaphor or analogy into kind of like, Hey, we’re doing the scissor quick because like, it’s this one diesel, the pelvis rotate get blocked that front side and do our med ball throw. So. We’ll get to the components of the swing. Obviously like everything I do in the weight room is very general.

We may touch some specific stuff, but the only way they’re going to get better at their skill, other at their skill is doing the skill, not doing stuff in the way. Or, and I think I just, I play a guy. But it’s not like we’re taking like weighted bats in the wave room and we’re stretched strapping them to the Kaiser and swinging like, no, not definitely not.

It’s just taking kind of the movement patterns and the concept that they kind of do in their, um, in their, in their skill and putting them with a med ball. So metal. So that’s kind of the way I look at it.

Dan Blewett: [01:06:48] So why wouldn’t you want to, uh, Strap bands or, you know, like you said, like the Kaiser machines, those are like the air actuated, typically ones.

So why don’t people want to do that?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:07:01] Because when you put, if you take the skills all your way to bat and you scrap it to that, then that’s just going to mess up the mechanical aspect of the swing and the best way to do the mechanical aspect of the swing is not loaded and going through where you’re actually gonna do.

Cause then you’re just gonna create. Improper movement patterns, because like it’s a load and you’re like trying to rotate and it’s going to maybe throw off, whereas hands connect that. So you, you don’t want to take the weight room and make it the skills.

Dan Blewett: [01:07:34] Yeah. You don’t make them too similar. They start to fight each other a little bit.

Right?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:07:37] Exactly. Then they fight each other because the best way to get better at swinging a bat is, is learning how to swing a bat, not strapping into a Kaiser and swinging a bat.

Dan Blewett: [01:07:48] Gotcha. Yeah, I think that’s one of those things where I’m sure you can see near your share of Instagram and, uh, you know, YouTube hilarity, where people are, you know, they’re on two Bosu balls and they’re, you know, doing this and that.

And they’re swinging a thing on a rope and it’s like, that’s insanity and it’s not making me better.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:08:07] Yeah. As our coaching staff calls it, we call that eyewash. So.

Dan Blewett: [01:08:11] Good old

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:08:12] eyewash. Yup.

Dan Blewett: [01:08:14] Um, well, speaking of that, do, uh, are there any other gimmicks, like Bosu balls, for example, was super popular 10 years ago, you still see some drills.

Does any of this unstable surface training habits place beyond sort of like rehab.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:08:31] Uh, you’re talking about like within regards to, um, like the weight room or in like practice or like skill

Bobby Stevens: [01:08:37] development.

Dan Blewett: [01:08:38] Uh, let’s go either any anywhere you want to talk about it. Cause I think unstable service training is very misunderstood by parents.

You think, Oh little Johnny could use more balanced. That seems great. But I don’t know, is it?

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:08:49] No, I, I think that cause a lot of people like utilize Bosu balls as a way for like stability training. And like, I think bouncing on a Bosu ball in LA, I think Alvin Camaro did a thing where he’s bouncing on a Bosu ball and like catching like a Baton that has like different colors.

That’s not gonna translate to the sport. You want to get better at your sport. Your sport is on a stable surface. So yeah. So we want to train on that surface because the amount of, if we’re talking about spreading, you want to someone’s mouth force, you put it in the ground by putting it in like actual ground.

If you put it on a Bosu ball, there’s the forest it’s unstable. So I think, uh, it’s, it’s relevant in kind of the rehab setting. Um, um, when you’re trying to get back like certain characteristics, but then eventually you want to bridge the gap and build back into hard ground and hard surface training. Um, we utilize it for guys like, like slide board.

I think it’s a good way to kind of, um, develop in the, in the lateral plan. We do like a lateral, lateral lunges or a lot of slide board squats. So, um, it’s a great way to kind of develop balance and target certain muscles. You may not. Neat get, but at the end of the day, training on a flat ground is probably gonna translate a little bit more than translate that an unstable service.

Um, okay. I think some coaches have used like Bosu balls or like unstable stuff for guys, like on the back foot, if they, if they’re like putting their weight too much, which on their back foot, um, and getting stuck in their swing, um, I think it can help with like balance, but in my realm where strength and power is super important, I think unstable surface training is not kind of the best solution for what you’re trying to get out of it.

Dan Blewett: [01:10:43] Gotcha.

Bobby Stevens: [01:10:45] Well, for training. So I want to go back to the youth side for a second here, because I work with a lot of youth kids. I have tons of younger players that maybe are just seeing the weight room for the first time. And aside from like the. The basic

you

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:10:58] have to do pushups at

Bobby Stevens: [01:10:59] home, or, uh, you know, do some pull-ups at home.

Are there some baseline things that you would tell a, like a freshmen in high school

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:11:08] that’s just getting started

Bobby Stevens: [01:11:09] to, to work on to perfect before he starts throwing weight around or

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:11:15] power lifting? Yeah. I honestly think one of the best resources out there, um, is moving over matches by Zach at TCU. Um, I was able to talk to him over the COVID as well and get to know him pretty well.

But that book, if you want to get better at the fundamental movement patterns, which for him is squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling ISO core ISO aside, abs single leg, single leg, ISO. Those are the best ways to develop yourself because those are the foundational movement patterns. Those have proven to work.

And those will never go away because once, because even I use them, we still squat, we still hinge. We still push. We still pull, we do single leg work. We do core work. So that book from, from a foundational movement standard is awesome. And he’ll go into things like free hand squat, a landmine squat, the kind of goblet squat.

They’re kind of. Pattern them position them and then load them. And I think that’s what people need to understand you to pattern it. I don’t know you to position them, then you need to pattern it and then you need to load them eventually. And I think there’s certain exercises that he has in that book that put you in a position to succeed.

So when you graduate to the more kind of, um, coral Grove, more advance or higher level, more intense kind of strength work, um, that stuff is, is. Oh, just a blueprint to help you out. And it, and it’s meant he though he wrote it for kind of high school, um, high school kids, but he also wrote for like baseball coaches who have to write the string program.

So I like travel coaches. So it’s pretty simple. And it puts you in a good spot to kind of understand that, um, it’s the, it’s the most foundational thing you could do and. Movement is way more important than what your max is. And I think that’s just a very fitting, um, description for his book. So I utilize that, but that book is probably the biggest reference for people who are in high school.

Dan Blewett: [01:13:30] Okay. So as we kind of wrap up here, what are some, I want to hear something that you used to believe that you’ve now maybe don’t believe we’ve gotten away from something you would like to instill. And a coach or a player and any last advice you’d have for someone who wants to play perhaps at the level of, you know, university of Maryland, so big D one baseball.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:13:58] Yeah. So one thing that I used to believe was of, I mean, we’ve touched on this before. I used to think like, Every workout needed to be hard. Cause like, that’s basically like when I was in high school, I was like, I enjoyed working out. I was like, I need to get after. Like if I’m not like sore as hell after every workout, like I didn’t work hard enough.

So using soreness as an indicator of how good a workout was, um, was kind of the big thing. Uh, what was it was the next point? It was what I, what I learned, what I changed them or what I’ve done new now. Well, what

Dan Blewett: [01:14:35] would you instill into, uh, what, what, what wisdom would you instill to someone who’s maybe gonna play D one baseball and also, what would you impress upon someone who, um, I think I’m just making them new questions.

I just want to hear what your good takeaways are, um, from, you know, working with a lot of really high athletes and developing as a coach and any of that. So let’s not make it any specific question, but just what what’s some good blanket, well, frankly advice.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:15:04] I think the biggest thing is okay. One of our core values of our, of our team in our, uh, coaching staff and our players is having a growth mindset.

So we have to be open minded about everything. And I think where a lot of kids struggle is when they come into the university of Maryland, they were, they were a good player. Like you were freaking good, like. You wouldn’t play it if you were a good player, but now everyone now you’re playing against is pretty damn good too.

So a lot of kids fail early on in Austin and it, I think it really messes with their mentality because they were, they were the top dog for so long for high school and travel ball, like, Oh, I was the guy that got recruited to Maryland, but you’re going to fail in life then. The quicker, you can understand that fare earlier is a prerequisite to success that is going to help you much longer, and I’ve made mistakes.

And I’ve been in a, and I’ve learned from my past failures and I’ve been in situations where I’ve been the dumbest guy in the room, but being that dumb guy actually made me much smarter than I actually think I am. I’m still not smart in general, but yeah. Yeah. Again, those, those be in those rooms. Has really helped me because you’re when you’re a growth mindset, you’re going to be around people that are much smarter than you and better than you.

But those people are going to elevate you because of your openmindedness and new ideas and trying new things and not being afraid to fail because those things are so pivotal, not only like baseball, like baseball, you fail seven out of 10 times. You’re a hall of Famer baseball. You, you’re not going to strike out every guy, but you did it summer ball, like.

You’re you’re going up against guys who are going to get drafted and you’re playing in it’s borderline professional college baseball now with how good kids are. So you need to understand that you need to maybe change things that you did and understanding the game game, having the game IQ. I think that that helps people a lot, like having a feel for the game.

And understanding, Oh, I need to hide my ball. So the guy at second base and pick my sign where now kids are good enough to pick up on and read it and coaching staff. So knowing, knowing the IQ and knowing that you’re going to fail, but it’s going to be okay. Like that failure is going to help you out so much more down the road.

Dan Blewett: [01:17:39] Well, well, we really appreciate you being on the show. Um, I mean really wide ranging topics. I think a lot of really good advice. Bobby, do you feel like you got the advice that you need for your flock? Did you get it

Bobby Stevens: [01:17:52] like you come back on, will you, I’m gonna need you for another hour and a half. I have to have

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:17:56] some

Bobby Stevens: [01:17:56] real specific questions from some of these parents.

I need the bunks by, uh, by a strength guy, better than myself.

Dan Blewett: [01:18:03] Yeah, no.

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:18:04] Sorry. Well, you usually the pod cast them on a music, very add friendly. So I kind of jumped around a little bit. So, um, I appreciate you guys having me on I’d love to be on again and keep doing your thing. I’ve listened to a couple of you guys, his episode, so I really enjoy it.

Uh, it was great to meet you guys as well, which is awesome.

Dan Blewett: [01:18:22] Yeah. So, uh, you know, you’re in the DC Syria, so we’ll have to grab coffee or something, but, um, but yeah, I mean, like I said, a lot of really good advice for parents, for other coaches and we, uh, we’re just always trying to find good people who can, can condense ideas, which you’ve done a great job of today.

Making things seem really simple and relatable because training conditioning is not that simple. It’s very complex. And when you start breaking down the programming and. Dealing with all these different personalities and players and positions and seasons and goals, there’s a lot going on there, but I think you made it really, really simple today for our audience, which I know everyone will appreciate.

So, well, thanks again. And, uh, talk to you soon, man.

Bobby Stevens: [01:19:03] Thanks. Well,

Will Franco, University of Maryland: [01:19:03] appreciate it. Yeah, no problem guys. Have a good one. .