In 2005 I got the opportunity to train Delin Betances who was drafted by the New York Yankees. While training this young man I got many questions from people observing our workouts on why we used stair exercises. I simply explained that I could use them to train strength, power, flexibility and conditioning. I even remember Delin’s first work out and he actually questioned why we were using stairs because he hadn’t used them while training at the famous Parisi Speed School in New Jerssy. I explained to Delin that after our workout he would understand why stairs were so valuable for training.
I showed Delin many sport specific movements that would specifically help his pitching like stair lunges, stair reaching lunges and a host of other exercises.After our workout Delin explained that the exercises we used were actually more effective than the exercises he did at Parisi and we didn’t even use weights. And that is the great thing about using stairs. Other equipment like extra weight is not even necessary.
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