Pitching Exercises: A Comparison Between Front Squats And Back Squats

The squat, as you may know, is arguably one of the best lower-body exercises for baseball pitchers -- it's ground-based, functional and utilizes just about every muscle from the waist down.  That last part is key.

But while many baseball pitchers focus solely on more traditional back squats (I know I did), this article talks about the benefits of doing front squats, too, as well as some important tips on being smart and using correct form.

No matter how you look at it, squats are my all-time favorite. And at the height of my career in college and pro ball, I could do 2 sets of 455 pounds at 10-12 reps each set (I wanted endurance, not max). Do you squat? How much? How many times?

Shoulder Exercises For Baseball Pitchers

Have you done your Jobes shoulder exercises or throwers 10 today?

Why Many Baseball Workouts Fail To Adequately Condition The Pitcher ... And How To Fix Them!

The problem with most high school baseball workout programs? They're created by the football coach. Now usually there is nothing wrong with these programs from a strength standpoint. But football is certainly different from baseball, and the workout should be adjusted accordingly. That's because in football, the majority of the movements require the athlete to use their chest and "push." In baseball, and especially with pitchers, the athlete needs more balance because he is using his arms to throw. This requires more upper back strength, an area that is often under-worked in most workout routines.

Now let's build on this for a moment. A "push" exercise is normally an exercise used to strengthen the front of the upper body (i.e. the chest). A "pull" exercise is normally used to strengthen the back of the upper body (i.e. a seated row).

As you may know, most people choose to do more chest or "push" exercises because they are easier, more common, and work the muscles that you can see in the mirror each morning.

Think about it for one minute. When you look in the mirror, you look at your chest, biceps, abs, and quadriceps (thigh muscles). We don't look at our upper backs in the mirror.

In addition we sit a tremendous amount during the day. We sit at our computers, sit in our classroom, sit in the car to and from school, sit to eat, etc. Because of this large amount of sitting, certain muscle imbalances are going to occur. Sitting over time causes the muscles in the front of the shoulder to get tighter and the muscles in the back of the shoulder to become longer. Any muscle group that is longer has a tendency to be weak and for a pitcher a weak upper back spells trouble.

To off set these imbalances we want to make sure our workouts incorporate more upper back strengthening exercises. The proper ratio for a pitcher is 3 times the amount of upper back or "pull" exercises as chest or "push" exercises.

For example, if a pitcher performs 3 sets of bench press, then he would need to do nine sets of upper back exercises (example: 3 sets of Ys, Ts, and Bent Ts).

For position players, the ratio should be 2:1 instead of 3:1 but the upper back should always be worked a little more frequently.

To learn more, pick up a copy of my TUFFCUFF Strength and Conditioning Manual for Baseball Pitchers: A 52-Week Guide To Pitching Workouts and Throwing Programs.

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.

5 Ways To Kick-Start Your Off-Season Pitching Workouts Starting Today

Pitchers are made in the off-season. Whether your goal is to cut fat and/or build muscle relative to improvement in pitching and/or become more  flexible and increase pitching velocity, here are 5 ways to kick-start your off-season pitching workouts, starting today:

1. Develop a two to three mile running base. Nice and easy. But your running base is the distance you can do any day, any time, without trouble. If you're not already at 2 to 3 miles, build up to it.

2. Add sprints to your running program. You should have specific days where you're doing specific sprint distances -- i.e., short sprints (7 secs), medium sprints (15 seconds) and long sprints (30 seconds). Generally, you don't want to mix sprint distances on the same day. Just focus on one distance.

3. Medicine ball work will whip your core into shape, but you'll need to start light for a few weeks as your body adapts to the movements. Explosive med-ball work is sneaky. Seems easy at the gym. But it's absolutely killer on your body (in a good way). Just start slowly and progress at an even pace.

4. Got to train the shoulder with tubing or 3 to 5 lb weights (called Jobes, Throwers 10, etc.) These exercises are simply mandatory for a pitcher. They don't do crap for muscle definition or looking good at the beach. And, if done right, they're very time consuming. But pitchers in the big leagues and in college do them routinely ... and you should, too. They're VERY, VERY important, and too often overlooked.

5. How's your diet? Fast food's gotta go. But you still gotta eat. Don't restrict calories as you're trying to gain muscle because it doesn't work. It's one or the other. But some things you can do to be healthier right now include limiting your intake of sodas and energy drinks, getting your daily intake of vitamins and minerals preferably from foods rather than supplements (although there's nothing wrong with a daily multi-vitamin), and getting a good bit of sleep each day (which is when your muscles actually do their growing).

All this stuff and more can be found in my TUFFCUFF Strength and Conditioning Manual for Baseball Pitchers, where you'll find daily workout, throwing, sleep, nutrition, running, stretching, etc., pitching charts. Just fill out as you go.

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.