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Bad Mechanics is a sign of Muscular Weakness

Above average coordination is a sign of fast twitch muscle strength. Fast twitch motor neurons recruit more muscle fibers. This means more control of the body and also more explosive power. The biggest problem for a pitching coach, when working with a pitcher who does not have good hip rotation or who does not load and build a full body stride, is that this is the result of poor core and leg strength and no mechanical drill will fix this problem. Drills only help pitchers who are having a hard time changing flawed muscle memory. It doesn’t help pitchers who have good muscle memory but poor muscle strength. This is why we have weight rooms. This is why any coach who tells you that weight lifting will NOT help you as a pitcher is clueless and is wasting your time and maybe even your money. A good strength and conditioning program that incorporates Olympic lifts, plyometric training and an intense speed training program is estiental to developing good pitching mechanics. Good athletes make good pitchers. Read more

Popularity: 55%

Just Say NO to Long Distance Running

If your Coach or Trainer has you running for longer than five minutes at a SLOW pace then you are training to be just that…………………………………. SLOW! Muscles have a mixture of two basic types of fibers, fast twitch and slow twitch. Fast-twitch fibers are capable of developing greater forces and contracting faster and have greater anaerobic capacity. Anaerobic means exercise without the use of oxygen as an energy source; short bursts of vigorous exercise. Sprinting is an anaerobic exercise. In contrast, slow-twitch fibers develop force slowly, can maintain contractions longer and have higher aerobic capacity. Aerobic means exercise in which energy needed is supplied by oxygen inspired and is required for sustained periods of vigorous exercise with a continually high pulse rate. Long distance running is an aerobic exercise. Read more

Popularity: 32%

Baseball Pitching Workout – Beginner

This is an excellent beginner workout. It focuses on training the body as a single unit. All these lifts support the development of Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers which will make you more explosive as an athlete. This workout was developed for pitchers but recommend for all positions. When starting this beginner program for the first time, make sure you keep your lifting weight down. Use the bar to start and once you gain confidence in your lifts, you can begin to add weight and use the percentages listed. Select the images below the workout of the lifts to view the instructional video. You can also view the Coach Gayle Hatch instructional videos here: Coach Hatch Videos to learn the lifts. Coach Gayle Hatch is a legend in the sports training world. He is most know as the 2004 USA Olympic Lifting Coach and was just named the World Coach for 2009. Some of the lifts do not have instructional videos. Search the web for exercises that would fill the role. Read more

Popularity: 58%

Tim Lincecum Slow Mo

Tim Lincecum is the picture perfect little guy in the big leagues. View his delivery below and notice his amazing ability to generate momentum in his small frame. It looks like his body is taking a ride down the hill. Most importantly watch his ability to control and time the momentum he is generating. Not only is he explosive like a gymnast but he is as efficient as a machine.
Read more

Popularity: 30%

Weight for it!

Momentum transfer is a key component of velocity. There are many different ways to transfer momentum. You could transfer the momentum slowly over a certain period of time, randomly over a certain period of time or in the case of generating efficient and explosive velocity, you must transfer momentum as quickly as possible during your pitching delivery.

Notice pitcher’s like John Smoltz here, he has a delivery that looks effortless. This is because the explosiveness of his delivery comes at a point in time that is so fast it fools the human eye. Think of a golfer like Tiger Woods. When he swings the club back, if you blink your eyes he has already hit the ball and is following through. The same is with pitchers like John Smoltz. He throws in the upper 90’s but it sure doesn’t look like he does.

The question is, “How does this happen?” What these pitchers are doing, as they start to build momentum, is hold all of their weight back waiting for the last possible second to transfer the momentum as quick as they can. The best way for you to get a good understanding of this is with video. I hope this helps. Read more

Popularity: 21%

The Principle of Specificity and Sport

by Chad Englehart

Introduction

Specificity of Training principle is one of the most utilized training principles used by exercise professionals today. (Kramer et al., 2002) discussed the principle of training specificity and explained that the training responses elicited by a given exercise mode are directly related to the physiological elements involved with coping with the specific exercise stress. What this means is that if an athlete’s want to perform better at a particular event or skill they must train specifically for that particular skill. For example, if an athlete wants to become stronger one must lift heavy weights and if an athlete wants to jump higher one must jump. As a strength and conditioning Read more

Popularity: 35%

Sprint Mechanics and the 40 yard Dash

by Chad Englehart

As a strength and conditioning professional one of the most prevalent questions we are asked is “Can I get my 40 yard faster and how fast can I be?” This question is easy to answer, for starters everyone can get faster because speed can be taught and how fast can an athlete become really depends on their genetic makeup. According to Brent McFarlane (1987) sprinting speed can be learnt through motor educability, he goes on to explain that the skills and techniques of sprinting must be rehearsed and perfected at slow speeds and then transferred to sprints at maximal velocity. Most of us know the definition of Read more

Popularity: 34%

The Importance of the fastball

Having too many pitches causes too many problems. Your success as a pitcher is riding on your fastball. Ever pitch you throw should be based off your fastball. This is why a slider is effective. This is why a change up is deceiving. If you are in high school and your best pitch is a curveball, your longevity is very limited. Scouts want to see a 1-4 ratio of offspeed pitches to fastballs. They see throwing offspeed pitches like sliders and curveballs at a young age as a sign of high levels of wear and tear on the arm. This is a big mark against you. Read more

Popularity: 18%

How to Develop Top Velocity

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.
Read more

Popularity: 25%

Olympic Lifting Increases Pitching Velocity

To understand the effects of Olympic lifting on pitchers, you must first understand how velocity is measured. I will use Newton’s second law of motion, along with the Catapult Theory, to explain pitching velocity.

Newton’s Second Law:
States that the acceleration (velocity) of an object in motion is dependent upon two variables – the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. As the force of propulsion acting upon the object increases, the acceleration of the object increases. As the mass of the object increases, the acceleration of the object decreases.

Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion

a = f/m (f = force, m = mass, a = acceleration)

Let’s put this into baseball terms. Newton’s second law of motion would state that to throw a baseball 90 mph would require 6.5 pounds of pressure applied to a baseball, with a mass of 5 ounces, for two tenths of one second (.20). Read more

Popularity: 49%

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