Jay Bruce has added MMA to his off-season training

I remember the first time I had heard of MMA becoming a form of off-season training for a baseball player. Several years back when David Justice was an Indian and came into camp Spring Training pretty chiseled, word circulated that he had been doing MMA. We all thought the idea of it was ludicrous.

Now, if I still played baseball I’d probably be considering it over off-season treadmill work. As Bruce says, you get cardio without even realizing it.

“I am mostly just punching bags and pads at this point,” Bruce said. “I have been interested in it for a while because of Cody (Williams). I can’t say that I will actually start training for it, but it is awesome for my conditioning. I like the boxing stuff, and I am definitely looking forward to learning some technique.”

Bruce thinks that the training regimen works on some things that translate to his game. “All the rotational stuff. It will make me more limber, more flexible. I also think the balance stuff will help out too. There is a lot of stuff that can make me better on the field.”

Bruce has been training with Beaumont, Texas’ own Cody Williams; owner of a 2-0 professional fight record.