52-Week Baseball Training

Get in better condition for baseball—and watch your game improve! Players are getting bigger, stronger, and faster every season. Their conditioning level is at an all-time high, resulting in more towering home runs and blazing fastballs than ever before. With 52-Week Baseball Training, you can use the same baseball-specific training regimen as the major leaguers to prepare for the demands of today's game.

As the strength and conditioning coach for the Houston Astros, Gene Coleman helped to extend Nolan Ryan's career into his mid-40s, develop Jeff Bagwell into a power-hitting, perennial MVP candidate, and shape Craig Biggio into a warrior-like iron man at the plate and in the field. In 52-Week Baseball Training, Coleman provides a complete year-round conditioning plan to keep in shape in the off-season and for peak performance during the season and playoffs. These day-by-day, week-by-week, season-by-season workouts include resistance training, total conditioning exercises, and position-specific activities. And not only does this baseball-specific conditioning improve performance, it helps you avoid injuries, too.

The training plan conforms well to high school, college, and summer-league calendars and organizes workouts into sequential phases:

- Postseason—Active Rest and Recovery
- Off-Season—Fitness Training
- Preseason—Training to Play
- In-Season—Training to Win

In addition to these detailed weekly fitness programs, the book describes how to perform each drill and exercise and includes more than 150 photos showing proper technique. Use 52-Week Baseball Training to perform better at the plate, in the field, and on the mound—every game, every season.

Gene Coleman has been a Major League Baseball (MLB) strength and conditioning coach for 22 years, working with the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. One of the first strength and conditioning specialists hired in MLB, Coleman has worked with many of the game's stars, including Nolan Ryan, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Ken Caminiti, Joe Morgan, Randy Johnson, and Moises Alou. He was the first to research the physical, physiological, and performance profiles of MLB players.

In addition to 52-Week Baseball Training, Coleman has published 24 conditioning manuals for baseball teams, eight research articles on MLB players, and 50 other articles related to health and fitness. Coleman has worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the men's basketball team at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also worked on the football strength and conditioning staff. He has served as a consultant for several college athletic programs, as well as teams in the NFL, NHL, and NBA.

A college professor and strength and conditioning coach for 33 years at the University of Texas, Texas Tech, University of Houston, and Eastern Kentucky, Coleman received his EdD from the University of Texas at Austin, his MEd From Oklahoma University, and his bachelor's degree in physical education from Lamar University. Coleman has experience outside the sports arena as well, serving for six years as a member of the research team involved in astronaut selection for NASA. He received a Certificate of Recognition from NASA for writing the Astronaut Training Manual and helped design exercise protocols and evaluate exercise devices for space flight. Coleman is currently a full professor and chair of the program in fitness and human performance at the University of Houston at Clear Lake.

Coleman lives in League City, Texas with his wife, Barbara. They have two children, Jarrett and Ashlyn. In his spare time, he enjoys working out and watching baseball and college football.