College Baseball Pitcher Asks My #1 Favorite Post-Pitching-Performance Food

This NAIA College Baseball Pitcher Want To Know More About Lifting Weights, Nutritional Supplements And In-Season Baseball Training For Pitchers

Coach Ellis,

My name is Tyson. I'm a 20-year-old pitcher at the NAIA collegiate level. I've been strictly a pitcher for three years now. My mechanics are sound, I'm in the best shape of my life, I lift and condition hard, eat right, and I'm on a good throwing program that I have confidence in.

But, I'm looking for something to help prevent injury, recover quicker after starts, and hopefully add some lean muscle and a little weight if possible. I'm 6', 175 lbs. with a lean frame. What kind of supplement would you recommend? I've never taken anything besides a little protein, and regular multivitamins and stuff.

Our season doesn't start for another three weeks. Should I be taking anything? Is it okay to start now? How should I be lifting during the season? Do you recommend lifting the day before a start? Later the same day of a start?

I would appreciate any answers to any of my questions if you have time.

Thank you,

Tyson Durm

From the desk of STEVEN ELLIS, The Complete Pitcher™:

Thanks for the baseball pitching question(s). There’s a lot here, so I’ll do my best to touch on each one.

What’s my favorite nutritional supplement for post-game baseball pitching performance recovery?

100% All-Natural Smuckers Peanut Butter on two slices of whole-wheat bread. Add a glass of milk (and maybe a second peanut butter sandwich) and you have a well-balanced, high protein, high carbohydrate meal with a lot of good unsaturated fat (which is important after a strenuous pitching performance).

Like you, I have taken protein shakes, but never really found one that I liked the taste enough to stick with. Plus, in college, it was difficult to travel with it and then find a blender to mix it up.

(In professional baseball, our athletic trainers traveled with blenders, but, again, taste has always been my biggest hang-up with protein shakes.)

Athletes need a well balanced diet containing protein, complex-carbs (oatmeal, whole wheat pastas, whole wheat breads) and good fats (nuts, peanut butter). Your performance on the hill, and your ability to recover from the strenuous activity of pitching requires more nutrients than just the amino acids found in protein—so mix it up and try more balanced food sources that contain all three: healthy unsaturated fats, proteins and complex-carbohydrates.

Do I recommend lifting before the day of a pitching start?

No way!

Weight room training, conditioning and workout programs are more-or-less designed to be used in the off-season; to prepare you for games when the season rolls around. In-season is for pitching and honing your pitching skills on the bump.

Any workout program that is done in-season should just be one to maintain strength for the duration of the season, not continue to build strength—especially on the day before a pitching performance.

If you’re looking for ways to implement a baseball training workout MAINTENANCE program, then aim to do it the day after you pitch in a game, or immediately following a pitching performance.

Yours in complete pitching success,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher, Inc.
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com