My Thoughts on A-Rod and Bonds

Strength & Conditioning 6 Comments

I am a huge New York Yankees fan. Have been since the day I was born. But I honestly don’t want to hear another word about Alex Rodriguez as long as I live. I’ve had enough of it. And you know why? Because it’s all nonsense.

The fact that most people are failing to realize is that there is no drug or chemical substance in existence that can help you hit a baseball or throw a perfect strike. Everyone who is crying about A-Rod and Barry Bonds has probably never stepped foot on a diamond before and has no idea what it takes to excel at that level.

These are the excuse makers. “I could have been that good (ripped, lean, muscular, strong, big, fast, whatever) if I only had better genetics or had taken that pill.”

If all it took were brute strength then you would see powerlifters and strongmen competitors dominating the Major Leagues. Instead, guys like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle were able to drink a case of beer and still come to Yankee Stadium the next morning and dominate the game. Daryl Strawberry said he used to have relations with females in the dugout between innings, for cripes sake! Baseball, unlike a lot of sports, is a game of skill more than it is a game of athleticism. It’s closer to golf than it is to football or basketball. Its hand eye coordination, timing and decision making.

When you don’t swing at bad pitches and always put the bat on the ball, racking up hit after hit, like Bonds does, you are a great baseball player, period.

Was he taking something illegal? I have no idea. Did it help him become the all time leading home run hitter? Maybe. But as someone who understands the game of baseball, and more importantly, what the human body is capable of, I will argue ‘til the day I die that what Barry Bonds did could have been done with or without chemical assistance. If he knew how to train, eat and recover properly, the gains he made over the last twenty years would actually be considered below average for my clients. He gained a pound or so a year for two decades.

Big deal! I have guys who gain that much size in a single summer.

“Yeah but look how much better a baseball player he became!”

And your point is what? People can’t improve over the course of twenty years? Michael Jordan didn’t continuously get better? Tiger Woods isn’t always improving? Kobe Bryant is no better now than he was six or seven years ago? It’s an absolutely asinine argument and the only way someone could make it is if they haven’t improved in any aspect of their lives for the last twenty years. And then you could see where the bitterness stems from…

There is nothing out of the realms of reality about what Barry Bonds did. It was all very, very possible, in fact.

While drugs will not help you hit a baseball, they will probably turn some warning track fly outs into homeruns. The more strength you have and can transfer through your bat and into the ball, IF you are a great hitter already, can definitely lead to the ball going further.

If the great Hank Aaron’s record fell due to drug usage I would be very disappointed, as I am a huge fan of Hammerin’ Hank and not particularly fond of Bonds (or A-Rod for that matter).

Although I too, long for the days of The Babe and The Mick, the fact remains that those days are gone. As a baseball fan I say it’s time to move on. So A-Rod used Primobolan for three years. Being a professional strength coach, it’s my job to know about every performance enhancing substance there is and believe me, this one would have had very little effect. But that’s beside the point. He is a great baseball player. And I haven’t seen all of the other guys who tested positive put up his kind of numbers.

I am not condoning cheating or using banned substances at all. I have trained professional baseball players and some of them were chemically assisted when they came to me. The first thing I did was get them off drugs. When I taught them how to eat and train properly, and naturally maximize their bodies own hormone production they got even better results naturally than when they were on something.

It’s really not that hard to do when you have the right plan to follow with unrelenting dedication and bust your ass every day in pursuit of your ultimate goal.

Let the excuse makers continue to whine. Let the drug users continue to cheat. But never let their negative attitudes creep into your psyche or stop you of doing what you are capable of. Anything is possible.

Train hard,

Jason Ferruggia

PS. To see how I get guys bigger and stronger in 12 weeks than a lot of steroid users get in 12 months click HERE now.