Why Grandma's Advice May Be The Key To Unlocking Proper Baseball Pitching Mechanics

If your family is anything like mine, then I'm sure growing up, a mom, dad or grandparent has told you to "Stand tall" or "Chin up" or "Don't slouch."

Well, it looks as though grandma was right all along!

You see, proper posture is a key element in having good baseball pitching mechanics, which are, in turn, a key to pitching success on the pitcher's mound.

The better mechanics you have, the better your ability to throw strikes, utilize your body for velocity and have better accuracy on your pitches.

Think of the rotator cuff (the four tiny muscles that comprise the shoulder used in throwing a baseball) as a wheel hub on a bike.

The wheel only spins correctly if the wheel hub is properly aligned.

Now, take the baseball pitcher with poor posture, shoulders rounded forward from slouching. Because the hub, in this case, is rounded forward as well, the alignment of the arm path of a pitched baseball is now altered resulting in poor pitching mechanics and an increased risk of shoulder injury.

For a baseball pitcher to properly execute a pitch, the shoulder alignment MUST be aligned properly.

A good check-point for proper shoulder alignment is to take a baseball bat or a broom stick and rest it along the top of your back with each arm on either side wrapped over the top of the bat a la Bo Jackson's 1987 Topps baseball card for which he is famously wearing football gear in the picture, too.

In this check-point, a pitcher should be able to draw an imaginary line directly through both shoulders. (From one shoulder, through the pitcher's chest and through the other shoulder.)

However, if a baseball pitcher has poor body posture and his shoulders are rounded forward, then that straight line from shoulder to shoulder looks something more like a half crescent, not a straight line.

The bottom line is this: in order to achieve an optimal pitching delivery, proper posture is required...

So pitchers, next time grandma says, "Don't slouch," take her advice. It'll help you out on the pitcher's mound, too.

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

"I debated about whether to post a response to this baseball parent's question for 2 days..."

Here's a baseball pitching question I received Wednesday afternoon (March 16) from the parent of a baseball pitcher who was responding to our March 16 FREE Baseball Pitching Tips Weblog post titled: “Should Baseball Pitchers Perform Pitching Drills, Flat Ground Bullpens & Throwing At Shorter Distances?”

The baseball parent’s question was direct: the parent had purchased an expensive baseball pitching program from a popular online pitching instructor, but had noticed that the instructor’s views had changed considerably in the past year about pitchers' training routines, the use of training drills and skill-development techniques.

I debated about whether to post a response to this baseball parent’s email on my Weblog for two days because I found it difficult to answer the pitching question in a way that provided a good-solid answer, which is what this parent was asking for, without coming across as taking a “cheap-shot” at the other online instructor’s views on pitching, which is certainly not my intention.

However, it’s a great question. And I decided to re-work the original question leaving the other online pitching instructor’s name out, but leaving the integrity of the original email intact.

Here the question; my response follows…

Coach Ellis,

Is your post from the 16th in reference to [another online pitching instructor]? I bought [the other online instructor’s] program for my son last year. He is 16 now. The problem that I have with [the other online instructor] is that he has changed some of the advice he was giving just last year. I don’t know what year [the other online instructor] wrote his book. Although there’s nothing wrong with changing your ideas, perhaps [the other online instructor] has learned more about something. [The other online instructor] confuses me though because he is almost completely opposite in what my sons’ pitching coach (it’s not his high school coach) tells us. [The other online instructor] is completely against drills unless you’re just learning how to pitch. So far I think I’ve stuck with everything my son’s pitching coach is telling us. Some of [the other online instructor’s] beliefs look well on paper. I assume that [the other online instructor] has trained his son the same way. He talks about his son’s success … and I’m not cutting him down but just wondering if [that other online instructor’s] advice is all that it’s cracked up to be. Obviously, his son is a talented pitcher or he wouldn’t have pitched past college.

Thanks

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

Thanks for the question.

In baseball, like anything else in life, the process learning is life-long. Baseball pitching instructors and coaches are constantly changing their beliefs and philosophies because new and different ideas about different and better ways to train pop up all the time -- and backed by loads of scientific research that wasn't previously available.

For example, creatine was a little known supplement until the mid-1990s and today a lot of pitchers and hitters use the stuff. Some love the supplement, others do not. (My March 15 Weblog post is "All About Creatine Supplementation For Baseball Pitchers")

Then, there are new baseball training devices like the BodyBlade, B.O.I.N.G. and threaband tubing exercises (thera-band tubing exercises) that pitchers pre-1990 didn't perform because the stuff wasn't around, but have shown to be great training tools.

Stretching has also been “reinvented” recently: Should pitchers perform static stretching? Or dynamic stretching? And when should pitchers stretch? Prior to the mid-1980s these questions weren’t raised – there was just one way to stretch (it was just static -- or no stretching at all).

The bottom line is this: 

     It's OK for a coach to change his views and the way he instructs over time because the principals of training are constantly changing, too.

However, when it comes to pitchers throwing strikes on the hill, the principals that applied to pitchers in the 1920s and 1930s, 1960s and 1970s do still apply today... and those don't really change.

Elements like proper pitching mechanics (that baseball pitching drills are used to perfect) are one example.

So, should you be concerned if your baseball pitching instructor up and changes his philosophies and principals about pitching over night?

Yes and no.

But remember this: learning is life long. Learning to become a better, more complete baseball pitcher, coach or parent is a life long process, too.

Simply ask the “other online instructor” why his views have changed? And see what you can learn!

Never stop learning!

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

Should Baseball Pitchers Perform Pitching Drills, Flat Ground Bullpens & Throwing At Shorter Distances?

I was recently reading a blog post from a baseball pitching instructor who advises his students to “do away” with flat ground bullpens, short-distance pitching and pitching drills all together.

His argument is that because baseball pitching velocity comes from a pitcher’s ability to move his body from a stationary position (initial stance or set position) toward home plate (rocker step phase of the pitching motion through the release and follow-through phases) and release a baseball in an explosive, anaerobic manner, training at slower speeds, which is how pitchers train when throwing at shorter distances, performing flat ground work or performing pitching drills, will “train” the body to move slower, not faster.

In essence, the argument is that a baseball pitcher will “de-train” the explosiveness that he needs to throw faster by performing flat ground bullpens, short-distance pitching and baseball pitching drills because they’re not pitching-tempo specific.

However, here’s where the argument is flawed:

          Baseball pitchers simply cannot train at game-intensity or game tempo every time they pick up a baseball, just like a starting pitcher cannot pitch in a game every single day of the week.

An element of periodization is required.

In other words: there needs to be different types of training on different days of the week in order to be in optimal throwing shape come game day itself.

Ask yourself this:

          Should baseball pitchers pitch a full-out 100% maximum speed bullpen the day before a game performance? Of course not. Should baseball pitchers pitch a full-out 100% maximum speed bullpen the day after a game performance? No way!

With this being the case, are there other things a baseball pitcher can do that does not require "all-out throwing" but helps to train the pitcher’s body for improved control, better pitching accuracy and greater command?

YES!

This is where flat ground bullpens, shorter distance pitching and pitching drills come into play.

In fact, most of the baseball pitchers in the Chicago Cubs organization with whom I played – and I’m talking about relievers and starters alike – did some sort of short work, flat ground work or baseball pitching drill every day of the week.

Why?

Because these baseball pitching routines are designed to save the pitcher’s arm for the game but allow the pitcher to develop the all-important “touch” and “feel” that pitchers need to have when trying to execute a baseball pitch two inches off of the outside part of the plate for a strike… Or, when a baseball pitcher is trying to drive a hitter off of the plate (without hitting the hitter) to open up an off-speed pitch at the knees on the next pitch.

Now, like anything else, flat ground bullpens, throwing bullpens from shorter distances and baseball pitching all have their time and place in the periodization cycle of a baseball pitcher.

Of course, a starting pitcher will want to work a solid bullpen at game speed at some point in between starts (some organizations like the Atlanta Braves have their starting pitchers throw two bullpens in between starts and have implemented it with great success), but the reality is, other types of throwing are needed on the days when a pitcher shouldn’t be throwing all-out that can still give the baseball pitcher the ability to work on developing a good “touch” and “feel” on the baseball while saving his arm.

The execution of flat ground bullpens, short-distance mound work and baseball pitching drills are a good way to do that – as are mirror drills where a pitcher will work on his pitching delivery at game-speed without throwing a baseball.

Still, with the mirror drill, as with throwing a baseball, I don’t recommend performing it the day before or after game-pitching performance because even without throwing a baseball, there are added stresses on the throwing arm and shoulder.

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

A Baseball Pitching Question From a Cuban Coach About A Micro-Cycle For Starting Pitchers In A 5-Man Rotation

Coach Ellis,

My name is Gustavo Ricardo Martinez, and I am baseball trainer and professor at International School of Physical Education and Sports in Cuba.

I am very glad to find people like you that can provide advice and so on. Your Web page is excellent. I learn everyday with you.

Pitching is my main area of interest, and I would like to ask about:

• How do you plan your pitchers in season micro-cycles if you have 5 starting pitchers on your staff?
• How do you plan the pitch volumes all year around?

(I read about Biokinetics in Tom House' books) and we do not have that technology.

Here is an example of a micro-cycle (in season) for my baseball pitchers (we have 5 starters). I’d like your opinion about that.

__________

In season 5-man micro-cycle for starting pitchers:

• Day 1: Game (100 – 110 pitches). Aerobic endurance 30 minutes 65% - 70% MHR.
• Day 2: Rest
• Day 3: Bullpen in the amount of 60% of pitches thrown in the game. Speed work: 4x40 meters, 4x60 meters, all (1:6) work/rest ratio.
• Day 4: Bullpen in amount of 40% of pitches thrown in the game. Interval training: 6x30 seconds, rest 30 seconds or 120 bpm (for aerobic power).
• Day 5: Rest
• Day 6: Game (100 – 110 pitches). Aerobic endurance 30 minutes 70% - 75% MHR.

__________

Thanks in advance,

Gustavo Ricardo Martinez

Cuba

From the desk of Steven Ellis, The Complete Pitcher™:

Thanks for the baseball pitching question Gustavo. I'm pleased that my Web site has been a help to you in Cuba.

The day-to-day routines of starting pitchers differs greatly amongst baseball pitching staffs. And with that the case, there is not necessarily one end-all-be-all pitching routine that works more than another. In the Chicago Cubs organization, starting pitchers were on a 5-man cycle, like your pitchers, and threw two bullpens in between starts, like your baseball pitchers.

If a pitcher threw in a game on Day 1, he'd throw a 52-pitch bullpen on Day 3 and a 22-pitch "tune-up" bullpen on Day 4. Resting on Days 2 and 5. However, the difference with the Cubs starting pitching routine and yours is in the department of pitcher's running.

Instead of starting pitchers running immediately after a game-performance for 20-30 minutes (what we called a "flush run"), the Chicago Cubs starters ran their flush run the next day (Day 2) and long tossed to loosen the arm and alleviate any stiffness and lactic acid build-up.

If a starter was sore or fatigued, the Day 4 "tune-up" bullpen of 22 pitches would be eliminated -- and only added at a later date if the pitching coach and pitcher felt it was necessary to work on control, an off-speed pitch, keeping the baseball low in the strike zone, etc.

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

Conflicting Views On Baseball Pitching: Who Is Right & Who Is Wrong?

Coach Ellis,

Thank you again for all the advice and wisdom that you freely give to all of us aspiring players.

I am currently working with a private instructor in all aspects of my baseball play, specifically pitching. The instruction I have received from him has drastically changed my ability to not only throw the ball where I want it to go with significant velocity, but also, I am now able to keep hitting the same spot pitch after pitch. My concern however, comes from the differing views between what my instructor is teaching me and what my high school coach is telling me to do. The differences, though minor, are enough to change my form and how I pitch the ball. I'm wondering who you think I should rely on/listen to on how I pitch and what I should do if/when conflicts arise with my form.

Thanks again,

Skyler V.

Ft. Wayne, Indiana

From the desk of Steven Ellis, The Complete Pitcher™:

What feels the best for you and gives you the most confidence to throw strikes when standing on the pitcher's mound? That's ultimately the question that you have to answer for yourself.

The problem you're facing is common in baseball. Because baseball pitching deliveries are specifically unique to individual pitchers, there is not necessarily one right way (although, there are certainly common checkpoints of all good pitching deliveries). And because there is not one right kind of pitching delivery, there is not only one right kind of pitching instruction. However, it ultimately becomes the task of the pitcher himself to process the information and instruction he receives and use only that instruction with which he feels most comfortable -- and throw the most strikes with the greatest velocity and/or movement.

It's a short answer, I know, but there's no right one in this case.

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

7 Ways Baseball Pitchers Can Increase Pitching Velocity By Strengthening Their Rotator Cuff

The following article is a press release from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons about baseball pitching velocity improvements. It contains some helpful baseball pitching information that we feel may benefit youth pitchers looking to make velocity improvements.

For more free information about baseball pitching workouts, please visit our FREE Pitching Workout Videos online at http://www.pitchingworkouts.com.

PRESS RELEASE – Feb. 25, 2005 – Whether it's working on the fundamentals of throwing a baseball, practicing consistently or staying physically fit, baseball pitchers at all levels are always searching for ways to perfect their game, improve their command, increase velocity and remain injury-free.

During a podium presentation held at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Feb 25, orthopaedic surgeons discussed how improving and strengthening the biomechanical movement of the rotator cuff can impact baseball pitching performance by enhancing a pitcher's overhead throwing velocity.

A study by Michael Q. Freehill, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Sports and Orthopaedic Specialists in Edina, Minn., and a team of researchers evaluated whether a specialized baseball strengthening program focused entirely on the rotator cuff and periscapular muscle, which help make up the shoulder joint, can increase baseball pitchers' arm strength and improve baseball pitching velocity throughout the season.

Participants were male athletes from four Minnesota high school and college baseball teams, who listed baseball pitching as their primary position.

The players’ ages ranged between 14 and 25 years old with an average age of 19.2 years old. The baseball pitchers were split into two groups: a treatment and a control group, both consisting of 15 players. The control group performed standard conditioning programs, as directed by their respective baseball coaches. Along with standard conditioning, the treatment group also participated in a rotator cuff and scapular stabilization program three times a week.

The program consisted of a series of seven rotator cuff exercises -- executed without the use of weights or added resistance -- until maximum repetitions were achieved.

For those exercises that required weights, players progressed to performing exercises with a baseball in hand and slowly increased reps, eventually moving up to one and two-pound weights.

All athletes in the study participated in pre- and post-season pitch velocity and rotator cuff strength (Isobex) tests and several physical examinations to access strength development.

"The mechanics of a baseball pitch are extremely complex, involving the use of several different muscles and a series of body movements," Dr. Freehill said. "The more we learn about the rotator cuff and the impact strengthening has on the arm, the greater the chance to increase the overall performance of the pitcher."

The pitch velocity in the treatment group increased significantly throughout the course of the study. The average increase was 2.5 miles per hour with 11 of the 15 pitchers maintaining or intensifying their baseball pitch velocity throughout the baseball season.

There was no significant improvement of baseball pitch velocity in the control group, however.

At the completion of the baseball season, the four pre-season physical injuries found among the treatment group had either subjectively improved to a significant extent or completely disappeared, despite active baseball throwing throughout the season. The one baseball pitcher in the control group with a pre-season physical injury did not improve or dissipate at post- season.

According to Dr. Freehill, "Adding a focused periscapular muscle and rotator cuff strengthening program to a pitcher's existing core conditioning program can have a positive impact on the pitch velocity and reduce the risk of potential injury, extending the health of the throwing arm, pre- and in- season."

The baseball pitcher strengthening protocol includes performing the below exercises:

1. Flexion (up to 50 repetitions): Start with arm midway between the front and side of the body, thumbs down. Raise arms diagonally to shoulder height and lower slowly.
2. Flexion (up to 50 repetitions): Start with arm at side, thumbs forward. Raise arm to shoulder level and lower slowly.
3. External Rotation (up to 50 repetitions): Lie on your side with elbow bent to 90 degrees, keeping the elbow pressed in to the side of the body. Squeeze shoulder blades together as you lift your hand away from your stomach towards the ceiling and then lower slowly. Repeat with the other arm.
4. External Rotation (up to 50 repetitions): Lie on your stomach with your elbow bent to 90 degrees. Squeeze the shoulder blades together as you raise your hand up, and then lower slowly. Repeat with the other arm.
5. Internal Rotation (up to 50 repetitions): Place a stretchy exercise band that will offer resistance in the door. Squeeze the shoulder blades together, keeping the elbow pressed to side of the body. Then pull hand toward stomach and slowly return. Repeat with the other arm.
6. Horizontal Abduction (up to 50 repetitions): Place opposite arm on a table that is approximately the height of your hip. Start with arm hanging straight down with the thumb pointing to the side, then lift arm to shoulder height. Lower slowly and repeat with the other arm.
7. Push-up Plus (up to 20 repetitions): Perform standing push-ups against the wall. As you straighten your arms, press through the shoulders and round the chest. Progress to a counter top, floor with knees bent, then a floor with legs straight.

To see some of these baseball pitching exercises right now and others, check out our FREE Baseball Pitching Workout Videos online at http://www.pitchingworkouts.com.

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

College Baseball Pitching Advise: School Should Come First... The Scouts Will Follow

This College-Bound Baseball Pitcher Wants To Know If Scouts Will Follow Him To A "Smaller" Four-Year College...

Coach Ellis,

First of all, I'd like to thank you for all the help that you have given me. I have been able to use the information that you give to drastically improve my pitching (and I LOVE the curveCAN!).

I am a lefty with the opportunity to pitch for several different colleges and I KNOW that I have what it takes to play in the major leagues someday if God's willing, and I'll work myself to death to get there.

I found a small 4-year college that I really like and my question is...What are my chances of being seen by major league scouts at a small college compared to getting seen at a big university and how should I go about finding these scouts and getting seen at either college?

Thanks,

C.J.

From the desk of Steven Ellis, The Complete Pitcher™:

YES, you can and will be seen by scouts (if you're good enough, of course) no matter where you go to college.

Would you have a slightly better chance to get seen by attending a bigger university?

A little.

But, if you take a look at the Major League Draft, there are always million- dollar signs by high school kids living in towns of populations of less than 1,000 people and the scouts still find them!

Trust me, if you're good enough to make it, you'll make it. Word will get out and you'll be seen. Don't worry about where you go to school from a baseball perspective. But... I would take into consideration other elements when considering a school like the kind of education that you'll receive. If the programs and classes the school offers is going to make you a better student.

When all is said and done, the dream of playing professional baseball is a good one, but make sure you have something to fall back on. Get your education, first.

Choose where you go to school with a focus on the education it offers. THEN, work hard at baseball, continue to improve, and you'll give yourself a good shot to make it!

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

Are Coach Bill Thurston's Baseball Pitching Tips Transferable To Infielders, Outfielders & Catchers?

Baseball Coach and Pitching Instructor Bill Thurston's Pitching Principals Work Wonders For Pitchers, But One Instructor Asks If Thurston's Principals Apply To Position Players, Too...

Coach Ellis,

Do Coach Bill Thurston's pitching philosophies relate to other position players as well?

From the desk of Steven Ellis, The Complete Pitcher™:

Some of what he teaches works for some positions and some does not.

For example, Bill Thurston teaches a baseball pitcher to separate his hands by bringing the throwing hand DOWN out of the glove, fingers on top of the baseball. That's how a baseball pitcher is able to develop a long, fluid backside-arm-swing into the high-cock position.

This baseball throwing technique would work for baseball outfielders, too, because they are required to make long throws from the outfield on a line.

Infielders, however, may not want to have such a long arc with their throwing hand when their hands separate after fielding a ground ball because "time" becomes an important factor in baseball fielding success.

By "time," I mean an infielders ability to transfer the baseball from his glove to his throwing hand, and then make the throw to first base. That's why you see a lot of infielders (except third basemen) throw side-arm (or at least from a lower 3/4 arm-slot.

Now baseball catchers are an entirely different breed of baseball thrower.

The first thing catchers should do when making a throw to a base is separate the hands with the throwing hand coming UP out of the catcher's mitt (to the ear), not DOWN like baseball pitchers and outfielders. That's how the good ones can get the baseball to second base in less than 1.9 or 1.7 seconds.

So Coach Bill Thurston's baseball pitching philosophies do and do not transfer to other positions.

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

WARNING! Here's Why The Bench Press Is Dangerous For Baseball Pitchers

Why I Think The Bench Press Is The Single-Most Dangerous Weight Room Activity For Baseball Pitchers. Trust Me Pitchers, This Special Baseball Pitching Report May Be The Most Important Instruction About Baseball Pitching Workouts, Conditioning & Training Programs You'll Ever Read, Period!

Coach Ellis,

My 14 year old son loves baseball but is also a proficient football player. The football coaches like his speed and strength and have him lifting three days/week. Of course, one of the strength benchmarks is the bench press. I noticed in an article that you mentioned that pitchers should never bench press.

Could you explain why and, if possible, direct me to a good weight lifting program. He pitches but also plays shortstop & catches.

Thank you,

H. Krantz, Michigan

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

Why all the fuss over the bench press?

This is a great baseball pitching question that lies at the center of much debate in baseball circles.

Some baseball coaches, pitching instructors and strength coaches say, “Go for it.” Others, like myself, say, “No way, Jose! Not for baseball pitchers!”

Let me ask you this: what does the sheer amount of weight that someone can push while lying flat on their back have to do with anything related to a baseball pitching movement?

It doesn’t, at all.

Now, I am perfectly aware of the impulse to perform the bench press. Young kids are sitting with a bunch of their friends at the weight room and someone strong walks in. It’s common to hear, "I wonder what he can bench?"

When I was in college, I can’t tell you how many times I was asked how much I could bench by my non-baseball friends.

It was always fun to see their reaction when I told them, "Never done it, but I can throw 90 mph!"

Unfortunately, an over-emphasis on the bench press over the years by the bad advice of baseball coaches taking their cues from football strength-training programs, often coupled with poor technique, has led to a very high incidence of shoulder injuries in baseball players (and non-athletes, alike).

This is especially problematic for baseball pitchers whose livelihood depends on the health of their throwing shoulder.

A tweak or an impingement caused by poor bench press technique means time spent on the disable list, not on the pitcher's mound where baseball pitching obviously needs to happen.

The problem with traditional bench press technique?

The bar is lowered until it touches the chest, both elbows drop behind the back and the straight bar is then pressed back up to the start position. Everyone is expected to lower the bar to their chest. Some weightlifters even cheat and “bounce" the bar off of their chest, which makes the movement easier, in other words, they can add more weight than proper technique would normally call for because they use the momentum of the bar to lift the weight back to the starting position.

However, to perform the bench press exercise under such guidelines requires a greater range of motion (ROM) than is typically found in the shoulder joint of baseball pitchers.

(The movement-restricting factor during a bench press is not the muscles of the shoulder; it is the special connective tissue casing around the shoulder joint called the "joint capsule." This highly specialized structure is anatomically designed to not only allow just the right amount of motion to prevent joint damage, but also contains thousands of specialized nerve endings called "proprioceptors." Proprioceptors are special nerve endings that communicate with the brain to inform it of joint position and speed of movement, as well as pressure, tension and pain in and around the joint. Loading the shoulder and forcing it beyond the functional ROM limit will stretch the shoulder joint capsule. In most people this will occur by letting the bench-press bar travel until it touches the chest.)

Additionally, because the bench press is performed on a flat weight lifting bench, normal movement of the shoulder blades (scapula) is disrupted. This demands that more movement must occur in the shoulder joint itself.

As the bar is loaded with heavier and heavier weights, the shoulder blades are pressed into the bench harder and harder, further disrupting the normal mechanics of the shoulder girdle joints and overloading the shoulder.

What’s so important about training within your given range of motion (ROM)?

What most lower-lever baseball trainers, baseball pitchers, baseball coaches and instructors don’t seem to respect is the fact that training beyond the shoulder’s passive barrier with heavy loads will stretch the shoulder joint capsule.

Once stretched, the joint capsule can no longer stabilize the shoulder joint with common arm movements such as throwing a baseball.

If these arm movements are repeated without the stability provided by a functional shoulder joint capsule, an impingement syndrome develops, resulting in inflammation and pain in the shoulder joint.

Bursitis and rotator cuff tendonitis commonly develop secondarily – both of which are the most common baseball pitching injuries.

Because the shoulder joint capsule provides critical information about arm position, baseball pitchers with a loose joint capsule often lose their ability to accurately sense joint position.

This will result in a loss of baseball pitching accuracy, command and control of the fastball, as well as the “touch” and finesse requires to master off-speed pitches.

Baseball pitchers rarely ever reach a loaded end-point in the same position twice in the same game. Because the loads in baseball pitching are both brief in duration and seldom as high as those encountered during a bench press session, the shoulder joint capsule can recover from intermittent exposure to end range loading.

For baseball pitchers with insufficient range of motion (ROM) to perform the traditional bench press (often characteristic of lower level baseball pitchers), going to the gym and lowering heavy loads to your chest with slow speeds of movement, 30-50 repetitions or more per week is like repeatedly crashing a car into a brick wall at slow speeds just to prepare for the one day you may actually have an accident!

Sources: Essentials Of Strength And Conditioning (National Strength and Conditioning Association) by Thomas Baechle and Roger Earle; Paul Chek of the C.H.E.K. Institute and conversations and notes taken in 2003 with Danny Stinnett, the head strength and conditioning coach of the Chicago Cubs Minor League Baseball Organization.

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com

P.S. Part 7 of our 10-Week Exclusive Tuesday Article Series on Steroids and Nutritional Supplements in Baseball, which was supposed to appear today, will appear next Tuesday, March 7.