What it takes to gain velocity.

June 17, 2009

plategroupIf you haven’t figured it out yet, velocity doesn’t come in a pill. Sorry to bust your bubble but it takes a lot of hard and smart work to develop it. If you are looking to gain 4-5 mph on your fastball then you must work to improve in all facets of pitching. These facets include: Read more

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“Triple Extension” creates optimal “Separation.”

June 6, 2009

roy-oswalt-030707For all of those pitchers who are trying to develop more separation in back hip to back shoulder you will only achieve this with triple extension of the drive leg. “Triple Extension” is extension of the ankle joint, knee joint and the hip flexor. You must perform this in your drive leg so your back hip can open completely to the target. If you keep your shoulders and weight back while you perform”Triple Extension” optimal “Separation” will occur. Read more

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What you need to know about the shoulder.

January 9, 2009

This article is for every athlete out there. I am an athlete, who overcame a career ending rotator cuff tear in college, to pitch again and make it to minor league ball. I was told, I would never pitch as hard as I did before the tear. I topped out at 94 mph my last season for the San Diego Surf Dawgs, over eight years later. That was more than 8 mph from before surgery. It was a long road and I am here today, to teach you everything you need to know on how to prevent this from happening to you. Read more

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Just Say NO to Long Distance Running

January 8, 2009

080220bb-preview_t2201If 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

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Can working out increase pitching velocity?

December 10, 2008

I was sent one of Dick Mill’s newsletters today and it blew my mind that someone of his knowledge really believes what he said here about pitching velocity. Read more

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Baseball Pitching Workout – Beginner

December 9, 2008

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

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Pitching Velocity Drills – The Sled

December 8, 2008

The main purpose of a Drill, is to practice a component of the delivery that will help to correct a mechanical flaw. I also believe it is important to add resistance to a drill to help imprint the new muscle memory.

The drill below should be performed 2 – 3 days a week, for at least 3 – 4 months. The drill should also be performed after completing the “Flexibility Training” portion of the Fusion System which can be found in the Ace Pitcher Handbook.  You can also find more drills in the handbook. Try to push each drill to muscle fatigue, if possible. Read more

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The Pitching Workout for the Athlete

December 5, 2008

There are NOT many pitching workouts out there made for the athlete. This is why most of them or ineffective. The reason they are ineffective is because they do not train athletic performance. I am not a certified trainer but I have spent the past 15 years learning from some of the best in the business. I have also tried just about every workout available. The only time I every noticed an effect on my velocity was after training with the Olympic lifts. Read more

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10 Legitimate tips to Pitching Velocity

December 1, 2008

If Velocity could be administered with a syringe, then every pitcher in baseball would be an addict. Oh wait, it is and it is called steroids but steroids is NOT the answer here. Just look at my ex-teammate’s life Jose Canseco. He is now having medical problems. His body’s production of testosterone is failing. He will be forced to fight severe depression for the rest of his life.

The question is how do we develop velocity legitmately?

There are hundreds of articles on the web titled something similar to this article, but most of them are worthless, because they focus mainly on upper body mechanics as the only means to developing velocity. Any hard thrower will tell you, there is a lot more to velocity than just your arm. If you want to see significant gains in velocity read this entire article and the articles linked to it. The only way you are going to see improvements, is if you develop a good understanding of how velocity is generated.

Remember you are bound by nothing. You have the ability to throw 90+ mph. Doctors told me I would not be able to and I proved them wrong. These tips will help you do the same. Read more

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Bigger, Stronger, Faster!

November 26, 2008

It is almost December, so this is your last chance for athletic improvement before the season begins. For all those college pitchers and ball players getting ready for the 2009 season, don’t be that guy who walks into spring with the Thanksgiving, Christmas belly. I am not saying, “Do not eat this holiday” but I am saying, “Do not sit on your ass!” You may think Coaches have their lineup and starters set pre-season but the truth of the matter is, this can change if someone drags their, out of shape butt, into spring training.

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