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Cluster Training

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The other day, I broke bread with a very good (and very strong) minor league baseball player. Over the meal, we discussed lifting. He shared his off season routine with me, and I realized how much more efficiently players are training these days. They are far better educated than when I was a moppet, and it was quite refreshing.

I vividly remember a 1996 workout in Lakeland Florida with Craig Caballero, a Grand Canyon University product. He and I found the heaviest dumbbells in the place and pressed them as many times as we could. Then we curled with straight bar. After some tricep extensions and pulldowns, we called it a day. Our rep schemes had no rhyme or reason; we were simply trying to wear ourselves down and produce soreness in our beach muscles with as much volume as possible. Brilliant.

Now, this player at least is doing a sensible workout that is far closer to how repetitions work in a baseball game than what I considered training as a Tigers’ prospect in the mid and late 1990s. This young man spoke of a workout that I had never heard of, dubbed “clusters.” From breakingmuscle.com:

Cluster training involves using short, inter-set rest periods (usually ranging anywhere from 10–30 seconds), which act to allow us to do more reps with a heavier weight.

The young player broke down how he approached a cluster workout, using squats as an example. It’s simple, one repetition at 80% of max, then rest thirty seconds, then repeat. Total repetitions, ten. Each rep is powerful and explosive. Three rounds and you’re done.

Why would we ever train for baseball by doing twelve or fifteen repetitions in a single set? A hitter steps into the batter’s box, explodes once and then rests. It’s going to be 20 seconds before he has a chance to swing again, and it may be much, much longer. Clusters may not be the perfect way to train for sport, but they’re certainly better than anything I did to prepare for or maintain during a season. From poliquingroup.com:

Cluster training is primarily used to develop relative strength, which is the ratio of your strength to your body mass. It should be one of the primary methods of training for those athletes who want to be as strong as possible at the lightest possible bodyweight.

Granted, baseball players aren’t optimizing to be light, per se. If you’re just as powerful at a lighter weight, however, that outcome could prove advantageous.

I’ll keep playing with it and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, stay nimble.

Kap

  • Msquared

    Interesting. So how would you know when to go up in weight?

  • Pete

    very cool stuff!

  • Steve

    Love this.

    Clusters in a sense relate to the Westside Barbell protocols. Westside bases their workouts around the Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift…consisting of “speed” days which you work lighter weight and focus on bar speed, and “max” days which you focus on moving the heaviest weight possible.

    Remember, this program is not necessarily meant for hypertrophy. Obviously hypertrophy is bound to happen but achieving an aesthetic physique lifting the “Westide way” is not the goal (you’ll notice that in their YouTube videos, Hah). The goal is training the CNS to be explosive…moving weight and getting stronger. Isn’t that what matters most for anaerobic athletes? Besides, as baseball players we get to wear baggy jerseys anyway.

    I have had tremendous success utilizing some of the Westide Barbell protocols.

    Try it out and break some PRs!

    Here’s a link that briefly explains Westside Barbell: http://mensfitclub.com/westside-barbell-workout/

    Love you all.

    #MassUp

    #ThoughtsBecomeThings

  • Ben

    Great article. One thing I noticed after major reconstructive elbow surgery was I gained some body fat. I went from 200lbs to 228lbs. It wasn’t muscle. When I began training again, I was hitting balls 40 feet or more further. I always felt that if I didn’t lose speed, more mass (regardless of muscle or fat) would allow more power. When the weight eventually came down, my power wasn’t as great. I don’t know about others but that is what I noticed. Cluster training makes sense too Gabe. As always, a great read.

    • Cody

      Force= Mass x Acceleration
      More mass with the same acceleration is going to equal greater force

  • Kyle G

    Very interesting, as a baseball player you will have to give us an update, thanks Kap.

  • James

    This all seems very useful for baseball players! My only query is do you start at 80% of max; if so, even after a good stretch and warm up, would you not be more likely to pull something? Would it not be better to start at 40/50% or lower for example and build up? The idea of going straight into a heavy lift seems a bit odd?… Although I do understand the point of the workout to imitate quick, explosive exercises like in baseball. any help would be great, thanks.