If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a baseball player in the offseason, Clint Barmes is here to tell you, courtesy of SB Nation Colorado Rockies site Purple Row. I've always wondered if taking time away from hitting a baseball is sort of like riding a bike. If it comes back to immediately or if it takes time...
RMN: To start things off, can you describe an offseason day in the life of Clint Barmes?
Clint: Well, the way my offseason starts... the last few years, I've usually taken a few weeks off where I do nothing. Just give my body a chance to recover and spend as much time with my family I can. From Spring Training up and through the season, the time that we're away and the time that baseball takes away from the family...it's nice to either go hide in the mountains or just get away and spend some time with family. After that time, about 3 weeks, I start easing into weightlifting and try to get a solid base of strength back. After the first of the year, I get into the swing of all the baseball stuff, and also working out and running, and really pushing to get in shape for the season. Once I start back up, after the time off, I usually go into the stadium - I live downtown, so I work out of the stadium with a few of the players - I'm usually in there 8-noon, 5 days a week, weekends off. That's pretty much the involvement of baseball in my workouts during the offseason, that's how it is for me, personally. All the other downtime is pretty much spent with my family and any other different things I need to get done. Through an offseason, I always like to do at least 1 or 2 camps. Sometimes I do more. I've spoke and other things in that way with kids in my hometown and also with kids in high schools out here as well. I find things to do to stay involved in baseball to fill up some time. The offseason isn't as exactly as most people think it is, but I do get the chance to be with my family pretty much every day during the offseason, and that's very important to me.