Almost one-third of the exercises in the entire program are for Pujols’ arms, which is counter-productive and a waste of time. It’s no wonder that Pujols’ has been battling a chronic elbow problem for the past 3 seasons.
Robert Stephens, CSCS and a Director of an NSCA Performance Center who has worked with Division 1 scholarship and Olympic athletes says that this program would have been fine for Pujols when he was an untrained kid. “Anything is better than nothing,” says the Atlanta-based Stephens.
But Stephens adds, “Eventually Albert will start to have adverse effects from this training such as loss of range of motion, joint problems from wear and tear, muscle imbalances, muscle pulls and tear, etc. There is no mention of explosive training, core training, ground based training, multi-joint and multi-dimension training.”
When you consider that Pujols missed almost a month of the 2006 season from an oblique pull and had a hamstring issue late in the season, as well as suffering from the cranky elbow, some of the adverse effects might already be rearing their ugly head.
There is certainly no reason to follow the descending rep scheme from 20 to 8 reps that is used in almost half the program. Different rep schemes require that different energy systems within the body are used to fuel muscles, and performing this wide range of reps in the same workout is counter-productive, and doesn’t address the needs of any energy requirements.
One of the major principles of designing an effective training program is to use ground-based, multiple-joint exercises. This means machines and isolation movements should be at a bare minimum. With the exception of the EZ-bar curls, every exercise in Albert’s Monday morning session is performed either sitting down or lying down.
This program consists of 3 ground-based, multi-joint exercises out of about 60 total weekly exercises. Pujols spends way too much time using machines and sitting and lying down during his workouts, especially for an athlete. The body can’t be prepared for activities that occur with feet on the ground, by lying and sitting.
David Githens, CSCS a strength coach with 17 years of experience says, “I find the number of exercises and the volume of sets performed to be excessive. If this program contained the proper exercises you would cut the workout in at least half and actually achieve more benefit.”
Which goes back to my initial comments about how a program can’ t be both high-volume and high-intensity. To really train with high-intensity makes it impossible to complete anywhere near 36 sets in a single workout. A true high-intensity workout consists of no more than 12-16 total sets, including warm-ups, with exercises that incorporate large muscle groups and result in 100% maximal oxygen consumption.
Article comments
1 - Pujolsfan
Dang Albert,chill a bit...that's why you've been off too a bad start to 2007
2 - FK
Nice article. I too, even as a novice weightlifter, found Pujols' workout a little surprising. I've read over and over again the need to do functional and compound exercises when preparing for a sport.
Was wondering if you could illustrate a better "ground based" weights workout for baseball training? I assume it would involve leg work (squats, lunges) abs (side bends, crunches), back (upright rows), shoulders (military press) and triceps and forearm work.
Is a day of recovery still advisable?
3 - sal m
FK:
thanks...
you picked ground based movements that are appropriate for any athlete, and i would add explosive movements such as the split jerk, clean, high pull and/or snatch.
including the appropriate amount and type of ground based barbell and dumbbell exercises minimizes the need to do much arm work.
a day of rest is always advisable with 2 days rest at key times in the program. elite athletes really need to rest and recover in the off-season.
the amount of volume in this workout is really incredible.
4 - Ben Connole
First off, I was a player at Maple Woods CC in Kansas City for Chris Mihlfeld in 1996-1997. I left high school, sat out a year after high school, tried out for the Kansas City Royals at a closed tryout camp where Mihlfeld was a scout. I signed a scholarship at MWCC where Mihlfeld was a coach. I got there at 140 pounds. By the time i left I was 175 pounds of lean muscle. My power numbers where up, Homeruns, RBI's, Doubles, etc.....This is the reult of Mihlfeld's workouts. By far the best coach I ever played for. His workouts consist of very explosive movements very similiar to Pujols's. I never broke down, in fact I was stonger as the season went on. You can't tell me that what Pujol's is doing is wrong, had it not been for Mihlfeld's training program I do not believe I would have done as well as I had. Everything that Mihlfeld teaches are explosive movents. I am very gracious to play for him. In fact, at 31 today, I still use most of his training ideas in my workouts and I have absolutley no complaints and if you talked to other former players they would say the same thing. B/C of his ideas we all believed Mihlfeld would move on to bigger things in which he has. There are a million so-called trainers in this world who have many ideas on how to train, what makes you think his don't work. Did you take into account the oblique strain that Pujols had maybe had something to do with the fact he takes about 500 hacks a day at a baseball.. He just doesn't go to the park and puts on a uniform and goes to the plate do you. He hits of a tee, then in the cage, then soft toss, then batting practice, then back into the cage, then back on the tee. Everyday of his life, same routine. Pujols already had an existing elbow problem thats why they moved him to first. I'm not understanding the your purpose for saying Pujol's wokkout is totally wrong. Until you experience it first hand you could never gather the benefits of Mihlfeld's traing program.
5 - joel
um- have you ever tried this workout? i didn't even read this whole article- i stopped at the part where he says- "since all albert does in the second session is shrugs, there's no need to split it up". try this workout ONE time, and you'll be begging for it to be split up more than once...
6 - bruce
For what it's worth, Mihlfeld is Mike Sweeney's trainer and he is constantly hurt.
7 - Sam
This article is the only thing "wrong." There is so much misinformation written in here I can't believe it was published at all. First off, Pujols is a 1st-ballot Hall-of-Famer if he keeps this up, and he's had 8 straight spectacular seasons already. His elbow problems are due to a partially torn Ulnar collateral ligament that could go out at any time. If you remember, Pujols was originally a 3rd basemen and outfielder but was moved to first after the injury. To date Pujols has not elected to have the surgery and go through a long and grueling rehab.
8 - Bradley
Albert is such a natural talent but I have to believe his workout regiment contributes a little to his success. And what a year he is having!!!