By Tyler Tompson –
As a former college baseball player and coach, I have seen so many of my friends from other schools, teammates, and players say they were going to make improvements during the offseason and come back 10x better than before. Guys were saying they’re going to get stronger, gain more velocity, put on or lose weight, etc., but they came back the same or the exact opposite. I would ask them why that was, and they all had similar responses:
“I didn’t have enough time.”
“I got too busy with work.”
“I was busy with summer ball.”
“It was just too much.”
Even I was one of those guys multiple times in my career. I started out doing everything I could to make improvements in the weight room, I followed a strict diet plan, I had a specific throwing/training plan, and then I slowly started to get worn out and eventually just stopped working for it. Here’s the thing, even though I was very much motivated and influenced to work on each individual thing, I completely changed my lifestyle and tried to do a lot without thinking about the effect it would have on my body. I did not continue to do the small things – the little things – on a daily basis. I would cheat.
Back when I was a graduate assistant at Southeastern University, I came across a book on Amazon called The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Hardy explains that if you wanted to make a change in your life, you needed to recognize what you wanted to change, make small choices and decisions every day that affected what you wanted to change, and consistently commit to them every day. While it may not seem like much in the first few days, weeks, or even months for some people, over time, those small adjustments that you made will create a compound effect and you will see some incredible changes.
As a baseball player, we need to understand that doing a little, a lot is much more beneficial than doing a lot, a little. While doing a lot in a short period of time may seem like a huge change, it can really take a toll on you physically and mentally. Small, consistent changes or adjustments to your daily routine or training can make all the difference in the long run.
So, if you want to make a change in your life, you must start making the small choices every single day that move towards that change. Over time, those choices you make will turn into habits and influence you to make better decisions moving forward, not only in baseball, but in life as well.
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Important TBR Updates
- One of the things we do exceptionally well with our Extended Stay Summer Program at The Texas Baseball Ranch is to help young men map out a plan for progress and help them to stay on track. If you or someone you know would like to join us at The Ranch this summer, please check out the program at www.TexasBaseballRanch.com/events.
- Dates for our Elite Pitchers Bootcamps for the summer are available. Our Memorial Day Bootcamp is already sold out but space is still available for our other dates! Watch your email or check our website https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/events/
- Athletes continue to be excited our “Ranch Remote” training. It’s a program for people that would still like to get access to, and ongoing instruction from, the TBR staff but prefer to avoid travel due to the virus or other limitations. Click here to get more information on this NEW, hyper-personalized training option. Space is limited in this program and we only have a few spots open currently so if you’re interested, don’t delay.
for more details or to sign up for any of these options.
