Workouts For Pitchers: Running Drills

Running to strengthen your legs AND cardiovascular system go hand in hand. It is an exercise that you can do year round. It is a way to know you have worked on your choice of position, every day.

Vary your running programs as often as possible incorporating a lot of sprint work. And make them fun and challenging. You must know the feeling of being in great shape. You will know when you have attained it.

Pitching coaches need to remember that conditioning is essential to any sport. Pitchers can do something very easy like running year round. Be sure your young pitcher understands this is necessary to affecting his total preparation as a ballplayer.

Scouts and coaches can always tell when a player or pitcher is in great shape!

Pitcher's In-Season Running ... Distance Or Sprints?

Both, but to pick one I say sprints. Explosivenes and/or intent are keys to pitching. Sprinting falls in the same line. Developing the confidence provided by working harder than anyone else is essential to taking the mound and battling the hitter. This can be done with both sprints and distance, though I like how distance plays a big part with our military's process of developing warriors.

How Fatigue Effects Baseball Pitching Performance

Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi was once quoted as saying, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Pitching coach Tom House says that "Fatigue is a pitcher's worst enemy."

When looking at fatigue as it applies to pitching, the following observations might be helpful:

* While cumulative total of pitches per game is important, pitches per inning is more important.

* Any time a pitcher throws 30 pitches in an inning, the pitcher is likely fatigued and should be removed from the game immediately.

* The physiological effects of pitching while fatigued are significant and can lead to serious injury, regardless of how mechanically sound a pitcher might be. Because of this, each pitch thrown after one enters into fatigue counts as 3.

* Extreme heat and mental stress can contribute to fatigue and need to be taken into consideration when monitoring a pitcher's pitch totals.

* Common indicators of a pitcher becoming fatigued can include loss of velocity and/or movement, consistently high pitches, the glove "dropping" at release and the more obvious indicators including facial expressions, labored breathing and an increase in perspiration.

Coaches need to remember that most pitchers will claim to feel great even though they don't. It is also important to remember that just because they can go another batter, or inning, it doesn't mean they should.

Training During The Holidays

During the holidays, most of us are forced to change up our training routines, pitching workouts and throwing programs to fit in family activities. Here are a couple of helpful pointers for keeping the training going during the holidays.

1) Don't forget your ball and glove - grab a family member and have a catch. Even 10 minutes, extending it back to 120 feet or so, is better than nothing and will help you keep your touch on the ball.

2) Go early – with a house full of friends and relatives, there is a strong chance you won't make it to the gym for that 5 p.m. workout session. An early dog gets the bone approach might be the answer.

3) Find a gym – the gym near your in-laws house may not have platforms, plyo boxes and flex bands, but you can do alternative exercises instead. If you don't have access to a gym, do some interval running, sit ups, push ups, bridges, body-weight squats, body-weight lunges, etc. Bring along your resistance bands (tubing).

4) Get tough - by all means, if you haven't picked up a copy of my 52 week, year round conditioning program for pitchers, you should consider looking into it. It contains more than 190 exercises and variations of the types of things you can do to get in awesome pitching shape.

No excuses, only gains.  Happy holidays!

Sample 7 Day Throwing / Conditioning Program For Starting Pitchers

Every college baseball program has a different training routines for their pitchers. Here's a sample 7-day throwing/conditioning program that starting pitchers follow at Div. 1 Indiana State University.

Sunday - Game Day Start (80-110 pitches)

Monday - Rest/30-40min run/med-ball abs/rotator-cuff strengthening

Tuesday - Long toss/long sprints

Wednesday - Light throwing/weights/mild flat-ground bullpen to get the touch and feel of pitches/medium sprint work

Thursday - Really light throwing/short sprint work/abs

Friday - 15-25 pitch bullpen (to get touch and feel) at 75-85%

Saturday - Throw to get the arm loose/pregame running (30yd sprints)

Sunday - Game Day Start (80-110 pitches)

Pre-Season Pitching Workouts And Throwing Programs For Pitchers

If you've ever experienced pitching arm pain in the early part of the baseball season, chances are you didn't prepare properly in the pre-season. In this article, we'll take a closer look at pre-season workouts and throwing programs you can do to prepare and be successful.

Your throwing program should have two 4-to-6-week training phases. The first phase should start approximately six weeks before the start of your team's pre-season workouts. Your goal during this time should be to get ready for pre-season workouts, not opening day. The purpose of the second phase is to condition your arm for the season opener.

Pre-Season Pitching Workouts

In the first phase, slowly get your arms, legs and trunk in shape so that pre-season drills will be easy. Warm-up and stretch before and after each workout to reduce soreness and the risk of injury. Condition your total body, not just your arm. Don't neglect your trunk. When throwing, your body is a 3-link chain: lower body; trunk; and upper body. Forces are initiated in the legs, then transferred to the upper body through the trunk and finally applied to the ball by the hands and fingers. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the body, the weakest link is often the muscles of the abdomen and trunk. A weak mid-section will not let you transfer 100% of the forces generated by the lower body to the upper body for application to the bat or ball. The end result is a loss of arm speed, bat speed and power. The only way to compensate for this loss of speed and power is to place more stress on the arm and shoulder muscles.

Pre-Season Throwing Programs

Use the following throwing program in phase one to prepare for pre-season workouts. Play catch and do long toss drills for at least 2 weeks before throwing off a mound. Toss for 17 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and play catch for 10 to 15 minutes on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

Start long toss at 50 feet. Throw for 1 minute at 50 feet and then move back to 60 feet for a minute. Move to 70 feet for a minute and then throw for 2 minutes at 80 feet. Back-up to 90, 100 and 120 feet for 2 minutes each. After 2 min at 120 feet, move up to 100 feet for a minute and then shorten the distance by 10 feet each minute, ending at 60 feet. Make quality throws at the end -- throw the ball straight without an arc. Make 90 to 100 throws in 17 minutes. Use your total body, especially your hips, legs and trunk to reduce stress on your arm.

When To Start Pitching Off A Mound

After you have played catch and long toss for 2 weeks, it's OK to start throwing off a mound. Throw off a mound 2 to 3 times per week for 5 to 10 minutes per day. Throw only fastballs and change-ups for the first 2 weeks. Play catch and do long toss drills on non-mound days. Substitute the 17-minute long toss workout for mound work, if you don't have access to a mound.

Once pre-season workouts begin, you will systematically increase the frequency and volume of your throwing program to include work on the side, pitching batting practice and intrasquad games. Hopefully, your coach will have a systematic pre-season plan. If not, there are several books -- including The TUFFCUFF Strength & Conditioning Manual for Baseball Pitchers and The Complete Pitcher's Ultimate Guide to Advanced Pitching -- that can provide valuable information.

17-Minute Pitchers' Throwing Program  

                                                                                                                                                                                                           

(Feet)	(Min)	Throws
50	1	5 – 6
60	1	5 – 6
70	1	5 – 6
80	2	10 – 12
90	2	10 – 12
100	2	10 – 12
120	2	10 – 12
100	1	5 – 6
90	1	5 – 6
80	1	5 – 6
70	1	5 – 6
60	2	10 – 12

Developing Arm Speed For Pitching

In this post, I want to focus on how to develop arm speed for pitching. Because of what I do, I talk to guys all the time about teaching pitching mechanics. I ask guys what they teach to increase arm speed. Some guys say weight transfer is very important, others say it is rotation. When I work guys during private instruction, I emphasize both as being important.

I strongly believe arm speed is correlated with how fast your body is moving toward home plate, and I think speed and force is increased by a complete rotation of the upper arm, just like a swimmer using a "crawl stroke". I think circling the upper arm is an effective way to generate arm speed because it allows the arm to externally rotate back before the pitch.

On eteamz.com, Gary Adams UCLA's former coach, has a basic drill on doing arm circles with 1 baseball in each hand focusing on the speed of the arm. Then, he talks about working up to 2 or 3 baseballs in each hand, while doing the circles.

If I could pick one sport all my pitchers could participate in when not playing ball, it would be swimming. Can you think of a better sport that promotes arm and force behind the speed? But again, ultimately proper mechanics go a long way in arm speed as well as long tossing.

Pitch Harder With The TUFF CUFF Pitching Manual

Most summer league baseball seasons are coming to a close. Were you satisfied with your pitching this season? Did you perform to your fullest potential?

Even though the season may be ending, you shouldn't stop working on your pitching or strength. Make the most of this time by conditioning your entire body for more strength and flexibility. My TUFF CUFF Strength and Conditioning Manual for Baseball Pitchers can help.

Remember this, a weight-training program is a very small part of the total picture for your success on the pitcher's mound. But if it is done right, it can be a positive factor in your future endeavors on the field. TUFFCUFF can help you gain considerable strength and flexibility. It will also show you what you need to do to throw harder, longer.

The #1 thing that most pitchers are concerned with is velocity improvement. This is an area that TUFFCUFF has had excellent results with. In fact some pitchers have been able to pitch faster and gain 6-13 mph pitching velocity while staying injury free.

But just as important as pitching velocity is endurance. Endurance is important in two areas: 1. First, you need to sustain your average first inning velocity into at least the sixth or seventh inning. 2. Second, you must be as strong at the end of the season as you were at the beginning of the year.

A good weight-training program will do these things, as well as helping to improve recovery time and decrease injury possibilities. It's all here for you in TUFFCUFF, laid out for you in an easy-to-follow format.

Make it happen now. Get tougher. Pitch harder. Make this the fall where you really make something happen with your pitching, and if you ever have any questions about any of the 509 pictures or 190 exercises in your manual, I'm happy to answer them for you. Order TUFF CUFF here.