The NY Times had an article yesterday on baseball players doing MMA training to get in shape. The article entitled, “Mixed Martial Arts makes inroads in baseball training,” examines the fascination with using MMA to train.
Russell Martin is once again identified as a player that trains in MMA. He was featured in a Wall Street Journal article several weeks ago.
Via the NY Times:
Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox, Brad Penny of the Detroit Tigers and Russell Martin of the Yankees have used the sport’s punches and kicks to improve their throwing and swinging. In addition to improving overall fitness, Martin said, mixed martial arts can make an athlete mentally tougher.
Dunn and Penny declined comment on their training although the article notes that Penny trained with Dan Henderson. It would be interesting to know whether baseball players have in their contracts that they cannot do any other physical sports (golf not too physical) outside of baseball. I’m sure teams would not be pleased if a player would get hurt checking a kick or throwing a punch. Can you imagine a pitcher hurting his pitching hand from sparring.
An interesting note from the piece about the fact that MMA training is not utilized by Japanese baseball players:
Bobby Valentine, an ESPN baseball analyst, has managed in the major leagues and in Japan, where one would think mixed martial arts training is popular among players. But that is not the case, he said.
“It’s more prominent in the States,” said Valentine, who said he believes the training is beneficial.
He added: “Most mixed martial arts instructors teach balance, quickness and awareness of your surroundings. There are a few cases in Japan, but most players just play baseball over there.”
Payout Perspective:
The article covers the latest training fad by professional athletes to use MMA as a means of conditioning. We’ve seen the likes of Jay Glazer taking advantage of the MMA training boom by offering their services to professional athletes. Not sure if Matt Leinhart reaped the benefits of training but it is still an interesting story that mainstream outlets picked up on. Moreover, the MMA training trickles down to regular people who want to lose weight or get in better shape. Capitalizing on this, the UFC has opened gyms and developed an interactive video game, the UFC Personal Trainer coming in June.
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