Are olympic lifts good for baseball players–are they worth the risks? Should players swing at the first pitch of an at-bat? What does lifting look like after a baseball career comes to an end? These questions and more are answered on Dear Baseball Gods 86. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at [email protected]. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Dear Baseball EP86 Full Transcript – Olympic Lifts for Baseball Players, First Pitch Swinging & Lifting Advice You’re listening to the dear baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett. And on this show, you’ll learn advanced concepts in baseball. Explain simply I’m here to guide you on your baseball journey and help you paddle through. What’s now an ocean of misinformation, guru wisdom, an overly technical diamond babble. Welcome back to dear baseball gods. So today’s topic is, uh, the Olympic lifts for baseball. So if you’re unfamiliar, obviously the, the power clean is well it’s actually not technically technically an Olympic lift. It’s a variation, but the Olympic lifts are the snatch. And the clean and jerk. So those two are the ones you’ll see again in the Olympics. You know, guys trying to throw and gals, trying to throw hundreds of kilos over their head. And it’s an incredibly impressive, explosive lift. Uh, it’s a fascinating thing. I, I love actually watching slow motion. Um, clean and jerks and snatches, um, on one TV, like the Olympic lifting is it’s incredible how fast and strong and explosive these athletes are, but Olympic lifts get thrown into their own separate category. Um, and it’s sort of, uh, it’s sort of a misnomer. So a lot of people think that Olympic lifting is this really important thing. And that plyometrics in general. Which Olympic lifts are not plyometrics, but, uh, these explosive type exercises. And that’s, I think what people, most associate, um, power cleans with as being explosive, that they’re essential to being a good athlete. In reality, uh, these exercises are only essential to Olympic lifters. Now, this is what I want to impress upon you today as a, as a parent or an athlete, or as a coach, all of these exercises that you’re going to do in the weight room a...