Holaday hunts down unusual training method

By competing at such a high level of competition on a daily basis, athletes push themselves to find different ways to gain even the smallest edge over their opponents.

Mud Hens catcher Bryan Holaday can attest to that, as a change to the daily routine this past offseason helped him gain further perspective about baseball as a whole, while also helping to hone some skills that every athlete needs to have.
Alongside Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler and pitcher Daniel Norris, Holaday found himself at a ranch in Southwest Texas with no real idea of what was going to come over the course of their stay.
"It was honestly kind of a surprise trip. We were talking about doing a trip, but we didn't really know what we were going to do. I had no idea what we were in for, but we pulled up to an ex-Navy Seal's ranch and it kind of went from there."
After eating dinner and doing a bit of hunting on the first night, the plan for the day was laid out: Holaday and his teammates would be running through a gun range stress test.
"He ran us through some Seal training and we did different things to spike our heart rate, then you have to try to calm yourself down and make your shot. You're trying to control your breathing and control your heart rate and it's hard to concentrate to make a shot, so it was a lot of fun and I think I learned a lot from it."
While Navy Seal training is not generally a part of a daily baseball routine, Holaday feels that the connection between the two became more evident as the exercise went on.
"It was really interesting seeing the correlation between that and baseball because you wouldn't really think there's much of a connection, but in baseball your heart rate spikes and your adrenaline kicks on and you have to find a way to control your thoughts and control your body and get the job done."
Overcoming the various obstacles and working through the assorted physical tests, Holaday noted that training like this helps far beyond the increases in strength or stamina that be gained.
"It's more of a confidence thing. You put yourself through that kind of training and you build the confidence and you know you can do it. When you get in a situation it's more about just breathing and focusing and it starts to work itself out the more you do it."
Along with the test aspect of it, Holaday and his teammates were able to further reflect on the importance of the mental side of the game, namely being able to put things and keep things in perspective.
"Keeping your perspective is definitely one of the hardest parts about this game. We've been doing it our whole lives and it never gets any easier. It's just one of those things that you kind of chalk up in the mental toughness category."
He continued, "Everyone handles it a little bit differently and does it a little bit differently and I don't think there's one way to say 'this is how you put it into perspective and move on', it's tough, that's why this game is so hard because it's such a mental game."
The stress test as a whole helped to further emphasize the importance of the mental side of baseball and Holaday believes that going outside the box during the offseason can pay off tremendously once games pick back up in the spring.
"I think it can be extremely valuable and I think it can help everybody that plays any type of sport. You can always learn new things and you can always learn in new ways."
"You do the same things over and over again in baseball and it can kind of get a little routine, so if you venture out and try something new then you're going to definitely learn some stuff from it."