Chapter Overview:

0:00 Intro
0:10 Early Sports and Choosing Baseball
0:37 Joining LPS Athletic
0:58 First Impressions of LPS
1:19 Previous Training Experience
1:39 Improvements at LPS
2:11 Focus on Mobility and Strength
2:43 Gains in Performance
3:11 Challenges and Injuries
3:41 The Competitive Environment at LPS
4:22 Importance of Conditioning
4:53 Changes in Mentality
5:26 Max Days at LPS
6:00 Team Dynamics and Competition
6:53 What DOMINATE Means to Nathaniel
7:30 Future Goals and Aspirations
8:05 Advice for Aspiring Athletes

Baseball Strength Training Workouts with Nathaniel Chambers

My name is Nathaniel Chambers. I play baseball for Miss Saugatigers HPP. I’ve played baseball as long as I can remember, since I was 3, 4 years old. Started with T ball, and then just went right up the way. So, T ball, rookie ball, pitching from close, and now pitching from the regular distance, MLB distance. I played hockey, football, basketball, volleyball, pretty much everything except for soccer. At the end of the day, I just liked baseball the best. I was the best at baseball out of all the other sports, and that started consuming most of my time. My parents put me into pretty much everything to see what I liked because my dad’s an athlete and he played baseball and football coming up through high school and in college. I liked baseball the most. I think he kind of wanted me to go the football route, but it didn’t really work out. I did play tackle football for about two years, but it started bleeding into the baseball season. We had to pick one or the other. I was better at baseball, so I took that over football.

When I started with the Tigers about three years ago, our coach, Sean Travers, had an info meeting for all the parents and players coming into the program. One of the things he mentioned was LPS. He recommended players going there because he knew it was a great environment. With Clance here and all the other coaches, it was going to really help us get to the next level. So me and my dad came here one day to check it out, really liked the environment. We started with the assessment and the rest is history. I was terrified, like the music, everyone in here, real big guys. It was an awesome environment, completely different from anything I had seen before. In a public gym, everyone is doing their own thing. Here it was so structured and everyone was doing pretty much the same thing and doing it really well. The coaching atmosphere was awesome. I fell in love with it as soon as I walked in.

Before I came to the Tigers, I was playing for the Minnesota Twins. We put in a little bit of extra work. My coach really wanted to push us to the next level. In the summer, he’d set up three-hour practices for just a few of us. We’d train baseball, run, do full mobility, work on our stretches, and he encouraged us to get our conditioning up and lift weights. Before LPS and the Tigers, I was lifting on my dad’s old program. I put on about 10 pounds, but it just wasn’t frequent enough. It was in my basement, and it just wasn’t enough.

At LPS, everything’s gotten better. I’ve gotten stronger. I’ve put on about 30 pounds since I started here, and my mobility is much better. I couldn’t squat down to the floor before. At LPS, they told me on my squats, “ass to grass,” so I started working on that immediately. It helped. Before, I was doing a half squat. My dad told me to get a little lower, and it got better but nowhere near what it is now at LPS.

Baseball is interesting when it comes to lifting. As a pitcher, mobility is crucial. LPS helped with that night and day difference. When I came to the Tigers, I was throwing about 72 miles an hour. After working on mobility at LPS, I gained 12 miles an hour on my fastball in the first year. With mobility came strength, which helped with other pitches and going deeper into games. I gained weight, and my arm can handle the stress better. I started at LPS at 153 pounds and now I’m 180. I feel the best I’ve ever felt.

When I started at LPS, I was weak and light. It translated to the field. I pitched one, maybe two innings, and I’d run out of steam. At LPS, that changed. My conditioning was better. We conditioned with the team, which helped with running. LPS helps with stamina. When you’re pushing it in here, doing your reps, the stamina needs to be there. It translates to the field. As a starter, you go from one to seven innings if it’s a good game. As a reliever, one to three innings. Closer, one inning. With the team I’m on now, everyone’s a starter, and coaches change it up. You can find yourself in a five-inning situation, where in the fifth inning, you need to be just as dominant as in the first inning.

This is my second full season at LPS. My mentality has changed completely. When I first came here, I was always chatting with the guys and not really working. The only person I was hurting was myself. The mentality changed. I realized it’s now or never. I have to push myself. Max days are interesting, especially when it’s full. On a Monday or Tuesday night, when there are a bunch of guys in here, everyone’s pushing it. I’ve been told not to ego lift, but it’s hard not to when guys beside you are moving a lot of weight. With the music and everyone’s hype, it’s an awesome environment.

In a team sport, you’re told to go out, have fun, and do your best. But as you get older, the dynamic changes. You get a higher level of respect for your teammates, but you’re still competing against them. At LPS, everyone has different goals, but everyone wants to go as heavy as possible and beat the guy beside them. When we’re running with the sleds, we want to beat each other. The guys who work out here have an advantage when they go back to their team. We want to beat everyone. We have a few pitchers here working towards the same thing. We all love each other and want success, but we still want to kick each other’s asses in the gym and on the field.

When I started here, I thought “dominate” meant to dominate in the gym and do the best you can in your sport. Now, I’ve realized it applies to every aspect of your life. In the gym, classroom, on the field, you have to dominate. If you have that mentality, you’ll be the best version of yourself. The coaches here know when to joke and when it’s time to go. When everyone’s getting their work in, it becomes fun and addictive. Even when you’re not beating the guys, you want to keep working until you can. When you get there, you want to stay there.

My goal is to go to school in the U.S., preferably D1. Every kid’s dream is to play D1 or professional. I want to go to school where I’m ready to set up my life. Straight to D1, do my four years, finish with a degree, and maybe play baseball at the next level. A piece of advice to my younger self or an athlete coming up is to start early. Work hard. People will say you’re too young to lift weights, but start with bodyweight work, conditioning, and get in here. It’s better to be used to it than to be dropped in and look like a deer in the headlights. Start early, be a dog, and work hard.

Watch more of our success stories here.

About the Author: Jeremy Choi

CEO & Coach at LPS Athletic – The Pro Maker™. A father, husband, entrepreneur, mentor, best-selling author, and an irredeemable golf addict. Jeremy’s big hairy audacious goal is to create GOATs (Greatest of All Times). Growing up playing Basketball with a dream of making it into the NBA, Jeremy competed in various sports, including Volleyball, Soccer, and Tennis. After University, he focuses on competitive Golf and is the 2024 Station Creek Golf Club (ClubLink) Men's Champion. He leads & inspires others to focus on becoming the best at what they do, to be extraordinary in their zones of genius. He makes you become so great, you can't be ignored.

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