Muscle and Fitness discusses spring training tips to quickly and safely get into outdoor game shape according to Lawrence V. Gulotta, MD, chief of the Shoulder and Elbow Division of the HSS Sports Medicine Institute, and head team orthopedic surgeon for the New York Mets.

“Warming up is an important ingredient in improving performance and preventing injury,” noted Dr. Gulotta. “Most veteran Mets players have a pregame or workout routine that involves some element of cardio, and then a muscle activation program that ‘warms’ up those muscles that will be required to perform.”

If you’ve been enjoying the off season a little too much, you may have found that being sedentary has decreased your flexibility, and this can lead to injury sooner rather than later. “Flexibility is important to prevent injury and to increase performance,” explained Dr. Gulotta. “However, it is equally important to ensure the muscles around the joint are strong enough to support that range of motion. Having the strength to control a joint throughout its entire range of motion is what we call ‘owning that motion.’ Often, adolescent baseball players will have a lot of flexibility, but they do not have the core strength to control that flexibility," he added.

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