Triple Extension – 3X Pitching
January 27, 2010
The topic of Triple Extension in the Pitching delivery is growing more attention. I first brought the teachings of triple extension from Olympic Lifting into the Pitching world when I launched TopVelocity.net. I continue to believe that Triple Extension, or the acronym 3X, is a major component of velocity. Triple Extension is the extension of the ankle joint, the knee joint and the hip flexors. The best way to understand and visualize 3X is when jumping. When you jump, you triple extend these 3 joints as your body drives itself off the ground. The problem with learning 3x and pitching is that it must come after good hip to shoulder separation. The reason most coaches do not coach driving off the mound is because they do not know how to teach hip to shoulder separation before teaching driving the back leg. Teaching 3X without teaching good separation is like putting the cart before the horse. It doesn’t work and therefore most coaches totally avoid the entire 3X approach. Read more
Popularity: 6%
The Adventures of Long Tossing!
January 23, 2010
Long tossing has been a heated debate on Topvelocity.net in the past month. The day I posted my first article against the practice of “Extreme Long Tossing” I was contacted by Alan Jaeger with Jaeger Sports. Lets just say he wasn’t happy with my research. The problem is Alan Jaeger and I have totally different back grounds. He played a little college baseball and I played a little pro baseball. Jaeger is a yoga instructor and I am a strength and conditioning specialist. It isn’t that I do not agree with everything he teaches, I just don’t agree with a lot of it but that is the best part about the internet. We can all have our own opinions and programs. Read more
Popularity: 5%
The Phenomenon of Speed Mechanics!
January 9, 2010
We have all heard about the importance of Momentum in pitching but do we really know what it means? Velocity is a product of Momentum and Rotational Torque. I believe that Top Velocity is achieved when both rotational torque and momentum meet. The problem is we all understand rotational forces when throwing but momentum seems to be a lot harder to truly understand and implement into our deliveries. To truly understand Momentum, I have coined a new term, along with its description. Read more
Popularity: 6%
Alan Jaeger is teaching Voodoo!
October 31, 2009
In today’s day and age you can’t walk around proclaiming your greatness without either showing results or providing scientific information supporting your claims. In the case of Alan Jaeger scientific information isn’t in his vocabulary or on his website or videos, I guess this means he has results. Let’s look at his results.
Alan Jaeger has three major pitchers on his website who I assume used his program. One of them is Joel Zumaya. Joel Zumaya is quoted on Jaeger’s website saying:
“The Jaeger Sports Training Program has helped me improve the health and strength of my arm..”
Joel Zumaya’s career has been plagued by injury and he just recently broke off his shoulder bone while pitching a game. I have honestly never heard of this injury until this happened. If I was his pitching coach, I would personally take responsibility for his injury’s because bad mechanics is what is causing them. Chris Oleary will tell you why here. Jaeger’s next victim or should I say poster boy is Barry Zito. Read more
Popularity: 13%
Major League Baseball is all growns up. Almost!
June 22, 2009
Greg Bishop for the NY Times wrote an article, “When Radar Gun Hits 100 M.P.H., There’s More Than Meets the Eye.” View the link to the article below and read my response.
It feels like us online pitching guru’s are being let out of our caves into the new world when the main stream media starts to ring our bells. Reading this article I also wondered if Topvelocity.net is being plagiarized but who really cares. I am just glad that Major League Baseball (MLB) is growing up. The article quotes Rick Peterson, the founder of 3P Sports, who has worked with Dr. James Andrews for years on the bio mechanics of pitching. He is the first guy within the MLB to take a different approach to pitching than the conventional wisdom that hasn’t changed for decades. Read more
Popularity: 17%
What it takes to gain velocity.
June 17, 2009
If 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
Popularity: 23%
What is Momentum Pitching?
June 14, 2009
The online world of pitching experts have been throwing around the buzz word “Momentum pitching” recently. This isn’t anything new unless you are up to date on the breakthroughs of pitching science. Pitchers have been trying to find better ways to generate more momentum in their deliveries for years but what is changing is the science behind this matter.
During the prime of the likes of Nolan Ryan, the popular way of generating more momentum back then was the “Stand Tall and Fall” style developed by Nolan Ryan and his pitching coach Tom House, who may have coined the term. This proceeded the popular style of “Drop and Drive” used by the great Tom Seaver. These two styles of pitching are still used today. What is changing is pitching mechanics are evolving from an art form into the world of science. Read more
Popularity: 22%
Bad Mechanics is a sign of Muscular Weakness
February 10, 2009
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%
Pain in Triceps and Biceps when Pitching
February 1, 2009
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. Read more
Popularity: 51%
The Major Misconception of Pitching
January 30, 2009
Pitching is a very complex sequence of movements that involve building torque and force to generate velocity. So many things happening during a blink of the eye within the pitching delivery. What is even harder than pitching, is explaining this stuff. This is why every coach has his own interpretation. This is also why science wins over conventional wisdom. If you can prove it scientifically then conventional wisdom is forced to listen. If you eliminated ever coach in baseball who could not explain pitching scientifically you would have about 2% of them left to coach the position. This is why so many misconceptions plague baseball today, especially pitching. Read more
Popularity: 45%
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