Roger Clemens’ training has achieved legendary status. Roger Clemens has not only managed to stay in shape for over 15 years, but he has also remained injury free for most of it. See, it wasn’t that long ago that he was skinny and small and regardless of the drug issues surrounding his training, there’s still a lot we can learn from Roger Clemens’ training.
Most people have seen the clips played over and over again of Roger and his trainer performing crunches, Smith machine squats, and agility drills, but I bet there was a lot more involved than just those few moves. I would be willing to be that Roger Clemens workout focused on a few principles like rotator cuff and shoulder health, upper body strength, and lower body explosive power and agility. So what could Roger have done?
Well, for starters, chances are you’ve squatted or deadlifted quite often, as those movements are the absolute best for building explosive lower-body power. Any pitcher would be smart to pick one of those lifts and train at least twice a week in an effort to improve those areas. They really should be the foundation of any lower body program. You can lunge and do single-leg movements all you want, but without a squat or deadlift, your lower body workout will lag behind the others.
Roger Clemens’ workout should also include heavy upper body movement. Too many people think that throwing is all about lower body strength and that is incorrect. While lower body is important without upper body strength and flexibility, then that’s it. Throwing comes down to shoulder health, so if Roger were to go through a dedicated lower-body workout and then try to throw with his legs, the ball would have been hit out of the park every time.
Your upper body routine should consist of both chest pressing movements and cable pressing and cutting. In this way you can work both functionally and strength. Getting him to trust one or the other wouldn’t necessarily make him strong enough. Another important aspect of Roger Clemons’ training is rotator cuff health. You should warm up with various shoulder external rotation movements and mid-back strengthening exercises like rows and single-arm rows.
There should also have been a fair amount of stretching to the shoulders, upper pecs, neck and back involved as well. Throwing the way Roger did would surely have toughened up those areas, so to keep him healthy, all those components should have been part of Roger Clemons’ training.