Dick Mill’s says that science today has proven weight training does not increase your throwing velocity. I have yet to find any scientific information on this theory. I would like to ask Dick Mill’s, “Why, when I was a junior in college and training with the Olympic Lifts, after six months my velocity went from 82 to 90 MPH?” During that summer I played on a travel team, I would complete an intense workout and then rush to pitch a full game immediately after the workout. I may not recommend this to other pitchers but it sure did work for me. I then spent the last five or more years trying to figure out why this worked. This is when I wrote the article “Olympic Lifting Increases Pitching Velocity” and also this is when I coined the term “Triple Extension.”

The reason for my velocity improvements did come from the Olympic lifts. This is because, if these lifts are performed correctly, they will max out your core strength potential and promote fast twitch muscle fiber growth. There is no better way to train your core and fast twitch fiber, than with these lifts. If I go a week without performing these lifts, after my first day back I can feel the weakness first in my core. I even have serious soreness in my core the next few days. I also immediately feel more powerful on the field after the soreness goes away. I feel it when I sprint and throw. Just like when you do a lot of squats and your vertical leap goes up.

The biggest miss conception about these lifts are that they will turn you into Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is a fairy tale. The Olympic lifts build defined athletes. Just look at Matt Bruce here, a current Olympian. He is about 5’7 and 170 pounds. He can Power Clean and Jerk over 400 pounds and he looks like a boy in person.

If you are a pitcher and you are looking for these type of velocity improvements, then you need to drop everything you are doing and learn these lifts. You need to start a program like my “Fusion System.” This workout is the main part of the Ace Pitcher Handbook and was developed by my trainer Chad Engelhardt. It is called the “Fusion System” because it isn’t only about these lifts I have described. It is also about building joint integrity to handle more stress from the improved velocity and the sprint work to really define those fast twitch fibers.

So, if you currently have a program that involves you sitting in an air conditioned health club, on a cushioned seat, performing a chest press, then you better ask yourself, “How the Hell is this making me a better athlete?” It isn’t! Athletes are not made in health clubs. They are made in hot sweaty gyms and on dirty ball fields. Remember this, if you want to play with the “Big Guns,” you better train like one!

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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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