Eric Chavez was the latest Athletic to link an injury to a weightlifting program. Whereas Blanton's problem might be too many curly fries, Chavy believes his forearm tendonitis is the result of too many "curls". This after we watched Rich Harden get bigger but not better, as whispers of "stop lifting so many weights" became screams of "seriously, we want you to pitch once in a while!"
Weightlifting may be the legal version of steroids: Bulking up the body but not making it healthier overall, just bigger. Now I'm not a conditioning expert nor do I play one on TV, but my understanding is that one problem is that when you overdevelop a set of muscles you cause other muscles to become less used and eventually underdeveloped. At the same time, you have created more weight for the remaining (not developed) muscles and tissues to absorb--leaving fans with tissues that absorb tears when player after player breaks down and guys like Halsey and Scutaro get overexposed.
Extensive weightlifting makes sense for some sports, such as, I don't know, "Weightlifting," or "impressing shallow girls" (ok fine, that might have been jealousy speaking). But why are the "conditioning experts" still so gung-ho about weightlifting in sports like baseball, and how many players have to succumb to weighliftus overzealousae before the emphasis will shift to conditioning programs that are more holistic and well-rounded?
