How to Develop Top Velocity
June 21, 2008
To develop top velocity you must first understand it. Newton’s Second Law is the best definition of velocity. Read my article “Olympic Lifting Increases Pitching Velocity” to get a detailed description of Newton’s Second Law.
It is a major challenge to take the scientific definition of velocity and put it into motion within the pitching delivery. The only way I made this happen was through constant trial and error.
Before I give you the secrets to top velocity you must first understand how important it is to train the body for this ability. Your training program should be made of lifts and drills that are training fast twitch muscle fibers. I am sure you have heard me say this a million times but there is no better training than the Olympic Lifts. This involves all types of Cleans, along with Squats and some Split Jerks. These lifts force you to move a good amount of weight very quickly, therefore making you a more explosive athlete. Once you have maxed your explosive potential as an athlete you are then ready to find your top velocity as a pitcher. Purchase the AcePitcher Handbook for all these explosive training routines and much more.
In layman’s terms,Velocity as defined by Newton, is force divided by mass. So for you to develop more velocity you either need to increase the force applied to the ball or the application time with the same amount of force. I recommend we do both as pitchers but here I will break them down separately in two questions.
How do we increase force to the ball?
This may seem complicated but in theory it is very simple, so stay with me. To increase force to the ball we must add momentum to our delivery and then stablize that momentum for transfer to ball. Now, this is where we as pitchers go wrong. Most young pitchers when wanting to add force to the ball only add the momentum to the arm. Momentum must be added to the lower half of the body for it to be efficient and effective when delivering the pitch. Let’s use a Javelin thrower to understand this lower half momentum. What a Javelin thrower does is he can run as quick as he possibly can to a point where he must plant his leg and stabilize the momentum to transfer it to the Javelin. Watch the video!
A Pitcher is not allowed to run to develop the momentum so we must do what ever we can to develop the momentum on the mound. This is where you should watch AcePitcher.com’s 5 Components to Pitching. This video will show you how to develop momentum as a pitcher by using the lift leg, triple extension in the back leg and most important, stabilizing that momentum and allowing it to transfer to the ball.
How do we increase application time?
The answer to this questions will give you the final big picture to understanding top velocity. Application time means the amount of time a pitcher holds on to the ball through his full range of motion.
If a pitcher applied 6.5 pounds of pressure to the ball for .20 seconds as the arm is moving towards the target this would have more velocity than a pitcher applying 6.5 pounds of pressure to the ball for .15 seconds.
The question now is how do we hold on to the ball longer while keeping the same force applied. This is called separation. This is the 3rd Component in AcePitcher.com’s 5 Components to Pitching. Separation, which is occurring in the picture here, is separation of the back throwing shoulder to the back hip. If you notice the back hip is almost pointing to the plate and the back shoulder is almost pointing to second base. This is important because it is building the majority of the torque developed from the lower half momentum in the core or stomach. Now when the shoulders commit to the catcher and the chest hits the wall like the picture below, the arm will have full range of motion. Notice Nolan Ryan’s arm 180 degrees behind his head. This is the increase of application time with the same force applied.
By building more torque in the core, instead of the shoulder, this is not only increasing velocity but saving the arm from serious wear and tear. Please watch AcePitcher.com’s 5 Components to Pitching to learn this in detail.
In conclusion, developing top velocity is every pitcher’s right but not every pitcher has the natural understanding of this skill. With this article, AcePitcher.com’s 5 Components to Pitching, and some hard work it is possible for any pitcher to throw 90 plus mph.
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Loading ...Written by Brent Pourciau · Filed Under Pitching Articles
Tagged: application time, athlete, baseball, detailed description, explosive, explosive training, fast twitch muscle fibers, fast twitch muscle, handbook, hips, ing, javelin thrower, jerks, layman, learning, legs, million times, momentum, muscles, newton, Olympic Lifting, olympic lifts, pitch, pitcher, pitchers, pitches, pitching, program, second, separation, shoulders, squats, stabilization, target, throwing, timing, torque, training, training routines, transfer, trial and error, Velocity, Videos, weight
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4 Responses to “How to Develop Top Velocity”
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Recent Comments:
- Brent Pourciau: I answered this question in comment 38. I said 1-2 mph but it would take a dynamic before... Read more
- mariners: yes.. but i’m asking if an increase in flexibility can add velocity to your ball. Also..... Read more
- Brent Pourciau: You should perform a good Dynamic and Static stretching routine before any event. Practice... Read more
- mariners: are you talking about stretching before a game?? Or gaining flexibility over time a long period... Read more
- Brent Pourciau: No not 8-10mph. 1-2 mph maybe but this is a sensitive issue. Cold static stretching has... Read more
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This is really a great article. I wish I was taught all of this stuff when I was younger. I’m trying to get back into pitching now for my team and I know I wouldn’t be able to if I didn’t read this article. Now I have a chance haha.
Brent, how do i purchase the AcePitcher Handbook? We have been throwing the football bs both boys are quarterbacks and they do the olympic lifting in football as well with the supervision of the coaches at school. As soon as 2 a days are over we want to start working with some pithcing exercises to get ready for spring and summer baseball. thanks mike
You can purchase the AcePitcher Handbook now at http://www.AcePitcher.com.
[...] shoulder. The reason for this is to develop majority torque in the core. Read my article on “How to Develop Top Velcotiy?” to learn more about [...]