Increasing Pitching Velocity

This is not an easy task. It takes a good understanding of velocity mechanics and the will to work and train hard and smart. If you are looking for a quick fix then you are wasting your time. I spent five years of my career only working on reaching my velocity goal of 93 mph and it was the hardest thing I have ever done. If increasing velocity was easy then the web would not be full of people claiming to have the secrets to its success. If you are going to reach your velocity goals it will be by learning how to become more total body in your pitching delivery and by developing more fast twitch muscle fibers with a good strength and conditioning program.

The problem with most pitching coaches or strength and conditioning coaches claiming that they have the program to help you increase velocity is that these programs lack a major phase in the process. This phase is adapting your new fast twitch muscle fiber that you developed in the weight room and on the field into your pitching delivery. It is not an easy job to take your strength gains from the weight room and apply them into your pitching delivery. Just like it would almost be impossible to teach an Olympic lifter, who has never pitched, how to throw 90 mph. This is also why most baseball coaches tell you to stop wasting your time in the weight room, this is because they do not understand how it correlates to pitching. The only program that I have ever found to how this keystone to a legitimate Velocity Enhancement program is the Ace Pitcher Handbook. This is because I spent my career working with very talented coaches and trainers to develop the missing link.

If you are determined to find the answer to your question here on How to increase pitching velocity and you will stop at nothing to find the answer then I promise you the answer is here in the Ace Pitcher Handbook. I have sold over 10,000 copies thus far and have received countless testimonies praising its success. Here is the latest testimony from a excited parent that I received yesterday.

“Reed has hit 90 mph for the first time this May. These velocity drills are working. The Ace Pitcher Handbook has been the answer!”

Reed bought the Ace Pitcher Handbook 6 months ago and followed up with me on a weekly basis during the program. He went from 86 mph to 90 mph by the end of the program.

There is no reason that Reed’s success and the countless others who have benefited from the Ace Pitcher Handbook could be yours as well. If you are determined the I suggest you purchase the Ace Pitcher Handbook TODAY!

How to increase pitching velocity? answered here!

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Last week the Assistant GM for the New Orleans Hornets called me about implementing a core strength and flexibility program for the team. My reply was not taken well by him because I laughed. After I regained my composure I explained that if you have a well thought out strength and conditioning program, core strength and flexibility components are built in and done on a daily basis. I felt it was a waste of the teams time for me to go in once a week for thirty minutes to train explicitly on core and flexibility work. Needless to say; he was not very happy with my reply.

This conversation did trigger a host of thoughts about past training concepts, present training concepts and future training concepts. I remember the days when strength coaches had a background in either power lifting, olympic lifting or bodybuilding. Then high intensity training became the fad of the day. That was followed by sport specific training. Sport specific training gave way to core and stabilization training, which gave way to functional training. What do all these training methods have in common? A lot of books and videos have been sold. Yes, I am jaded and sarcastic by nature. I just want to know; what ever happened to a basic well thought out training cycle? I think coaches and athletes are so impressed by the latest line of training equipment and the latest training fad that they forget about the basics of performance: power, strength and speed. This is not an indictment of training philosophy, but an article to provoke thought.

I incorporate some faction of every training philosophy in my training cycles. I pride myself on being able to steal from the best and worst programs. If I can find one thing to make my training cycles better than my athletes are getting better. When it comes to training I do not dismiss anyone or any system. I will learn from anybody, anywhere, anytime.

Now if you employ this technique when writing a training cycle things still have to mesh and it has to be logical. I have seen training cycles thrown together that made absolutely know sense. There are facets of training programs that you can use to enhance your training cycles. For example:

Bodybuilding – a ridicules repertoire of exercises
that can be performed.

Power lifting – absolute strength lifts, max effort
lifts and dynamic effort lifts.

Olympic lifting – explosive power and speed lifts.

HIT – lifting for muscle hypertrophy, endurance
and volume.

Core/Stability – building your athletic foundation.

Functional Training – isolateral and balance training.

Rehab -joint stability work.

Sport Specific Training – there are few exercises that truly mimmick sport. This has always been a catch phrase that I have true distain for. If you’re an athlete who is getting stronger, more powerful and faster then your getting better athletically.

You can take bits and pieces of different training philosophies and mold them into a coherent and concise program. Do not pigeon whole your athletes into one training system. Let your guard down and absorb knowledge form non traditional sport training areas. Don’t be swayed by entire training systems that come around every two to three years. Stick to your basic philosophy and enhance it with sound practices of other philosophies.

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The two greatest pitchers of our time is Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. Their success came from their genetic make up and also their work ethics. Both of these pitchers had intense training programs. Roger Clemens was even using illegal drugs to enhance his work ethic and increase his improvements. Both of these pitchers grew bigger, stronger, faster in their careers and they both threw harder the older they got. This is because their work ethics improved their overall strength, which helped keep their flawless mechanics consistent and efficient. If they had slacked on their off-season training programs then you would have noticed a decline in their careers. This wasn’t the case and it is known today that they both where extremely hard workers.

Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens careers are proof that proper weight training and plyometric training will lead to a successful career. So why do coaches ignore this fact? Because they usually do not have first hand experience. If you want to be a high performance machine then you must train your body to become one.

Why should pitchers use a good strength and conditioning program?

1. To enhance pitching mechanical efficiency, which will lead to more consistency and increased longevity.
2. Help the body heal faster.
3. Develop fast twitch muscle fibers which have a higher capacity for explosive energy.

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• Boost your Testosterone and Growth Hormone Levels Naturally

I am not talking about hormone levels like body builders talk about hormone levels. I am speaking for athletes who are always looking to grow more athletic. Your hormone levels are a major component to your athletic ability, so it is essential that you learn about your Endocrine System. The chart below comes from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. This chart describes how to manipulate your hormone levels naturally to gain athletic benefits.

What this chart teaches us athletes is that performing lifts that recruit major muscle groups and as many muscle fibers as possible, will cause more muscle fiber damage overall. In return the body is forced to heal this massive  event of controlled muscle damage as quickly as possible, to prevent damage from continuing. The body then sends out and army of natural occurring anabolic hormones to heal up the damaged muscle fibers.To make sure this event doesn’t continue, the body builds more muscle fibers for future events.

The difference in training muscles without recruiting as many groups of muscle fibers per repetition, like with aerobic conditioning or light weight training, is the body dumps only a small about of testosterone and GH to heal the small amount of damage. This is why body builders are bigger and more powerful than long distance runners.

To take advantage of this new information, it is important that you train smart. Training smart is not going one extreme to the other. So DO NOT take off with this new information and start throwing on weight that you can’t handle and perform 1-2 reps a set. That is unsafe. Just like pitching everything must be controlled and you must make small adjustments for a healthy career. This information should motivate you to start working for quality lifts instead of quantity. Another important piece of advice is not to take this mentality of bigger, stronger, faster into the weight room while in season. This is an off season mentality only.

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Having pain in the biceps and triceps when pitching is a sign of overuse or weak muscle development. This can come from a poor strength and conditioning program and or poor mechanics.

I am not a Doctor but I have dealt with pitching injuries my entire career and have studied strength and conditioning science for years. I recommend that when pitching with an annoying pain in the biceps and triceps you should first, take a few weeks off from pitching and then follow a strict diet of good whole food nutrition, along with icing the arm to help  stimulate the healing process.

Ice the arm on top of the bicep muscles for 10 minutes and then remove the ice for 30 minutes and then ice the top of the triceps muscles for 10 minutes. DO NOT ice the ulnar nerve. This is the “funny bone” nerve just under the elbow. Make sure the ice is to the left or right side of the ulnar nerve when icing. Ice once or twice a day for a week and then start to strengthen the arm again initially with light arm curls and extensions. As you grow stronger, try to increase the weight while lowering the repetitions. Within a couple of weeks, work to push the muscles to fatigue within 5 reps of 3 sets. This will force the muscle to grow bigger and stronger.

This pain has more than likely occurred because the biceps and triceps muscles are not big enough or strong enough to handle the resistance of weight generated from the pitch. This also can be a sign of bad mechanics. If you are throwing with more arm than body, then the arm is forced to handle more stress or weight resistance. To prevent this pain from being a constant occurrence in your career, you must follow a core based strength and conditioning program that also builds integrity in the shoulder and elbow joints. Most importantly you must work to correct your bad mechanics of pitching with mainly your arm. There are many articles on this site that can help you with all of these adjustments. It is great that you are listening to your body and searching for answers to this problem but now it is extremely important that you make the proper adjustments so this does not plague your season or career.

If the pain you are experiencing is more than an annoyance, it is more like knives going into your arm, then you could have a tear in the muscle, or ligament. If this is the case, I recommend you see your doctor about this pain.

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What makes a BAD pitching Coach?

Someone who has no experience in playing the position at the top levels of the game, or someone who has no certified education of how to coach the position.

How can a BAD pitching Coach effect a pitcher?

Pitching takes a tremendous amount of muscle coordination. The body must naturally understand how to build maximum momentum and torque, to deliver an above average fastball to a specific location. It is a pitching Coaches job to guide the pitcher to reaching his athletic potential. This takes an expert understanding of the position and the athlete. If the pitching Coach is far from an expert then the chances of him being a guide to the pitchers athletic potential, is very poor. This could be detrimental to a young pitchers career because promoting bad mechanics, due to the lack of experience or education, will decrease velocity and cause injury. It happened to Me.

What are the signs of a BAD pitching Coach?

1) No experience in the top levels of the game.

2) No certified education in the world of pitching and athletic training.

3) A poor understanding of Physics Driven Pitching Mechanics.

4) A poor understanding of the physiology and psychology of his pitchers.

5) Over throwing his staff of pitchers.

6) Discouraging his pitchers from using a strength and conditioning program.

7) Forcing his pitchers to throw more breaking balls than fastballs.

8 ) Using Long Distance running to build endurance in his pitchers.

9) Excessive amounts of long toss.

10) A poor warm-up and dynamic stretching routine.

11) Not educating his pitchers on proper athletic nutrition and rehabilitation.

12) Not educating his pitchers on the mental game.

13) Uses a lot of poor conventional wisdom to coach his pitchers.

What are the signs of POOR conventional wisdom of pitching mechanics?

These are old techniques of pitching, that have been proven throw science, to decrease velocity or cause injury.

This would be Coaching the pitcher to:

1) Take the ball out of the glove and reach it to the sky.

2) Get into the T position. Glove hand to target and ball to center field.

3) Pull the glove hand in hard to your body, while pulling the throwing arm down to throw.

4) Kick the back leg up high after release. He may even use a chair for the pitcher to kick his leg over, after release, to force this bad pitching mechanic.

5) Keep your landing leg bent at release. Do not let it straighten!

6) Pull your head down hard during pitch.

7) Wipe your arm.

8 ) Slam your chest into your landing leg.

9) Move your arm faster.

10) Drive your glove hand to the target.

How to PLEASE a BAD Pitching Coach?

I will be the first to tell you that this isn’t easy. Due to the high percentage of BAD pitching Coaches in all levels of the game, ever pitcher will deal with a BAD pitching Coach a few times to many in their career. The best way to deal with a BAD pitching Coach, without him having an effect on your career, is not to avoid him but to please him. Here is some TIPS that will help.

1) Do whatever he says when he is looking and then do what you think is best when he isn’t looking.

2) Study the game, the position, physics driven mechanics and strength and conditioning. Become your Coach.

3) Do not let him catch you educating the other pitchers. Especially if he is a HOT HEAD.

4) Do not screw around when he is around you.

5) Do not talk bad about him to other players.

This is the MOST IMPORTANT TIP:

6) You must IMPROVE.

The hardest thing that any pitcher or athlete must learn, is that it is a rare case for you to find a Coach that will propel your career to the top levels of the game. This is because, they are just as concerned about their job, as you are about your job. So if you want to make it as a professional one day, you are going to have to knock down a lot of doors. You will always find support but the only person that is going to help you get their is yourself. I will leave you with this quote from Nolan Ryan.

“Pitching in the big leagues is a dream. Preparing to pitch in the big leagues is a nightmare.”

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Pitching can have the characteristics of both anaerobic and aerobic conditioning. The issue is conventional wisdom and has been training athletes like long distance runners for years. When I think of a top level pitcher, I see an athlete built more like a sprinter than a cross country runner. When we pitch we do push into aerobic exercise. The problem is this usually means we are pitching to fast and throwing to many pitches. This will effect velocity because after 8-10 seconds of performance without rest, the body uses oxygen to produce ATP. This involves the heart, lungs and blood vessels. This is a slower process and effects the amount of ATP levels in the muscles. This is why the longer we perform a lift in the weight room, the slower our contractions. This is the  same for pitching. The longer we pitch without rest, the slower our bodies are moving, which in return decreases velocity. This is why it is important to pace yourself in between pitches and condition your system to run more anaerobic.

If pitchers train their systems to run more anaerobic than aerobic then they will pitch more anaerobic than aerobic. This means pitching with controlled explosive strength as opposed to pitching more like a batting practice pitcher. To train more anaerobic, do not run long periods of time at a slow pace. This is developing slow twitch muscle fibers and training your system to be conditioned for aerobic performance. Instead perform short explosive sprints and rest a good 2-3 minutes between sprints. This will develop more fast twitch muscle fibers and your system will be conditioned for anaerobic performance.

Purchase the Ace Pitcher Handbook for an excellent anaerobic training program.

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