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How Baseball Players and Pitchers Can Train for Power with Plyometrics

Baseball Plyometrics

When most of us think of what comprises a great strength training program for baseball players, we think of training force production. While this is crucial to enhance performance, the dissipation (absorption) of force is vital not only to performance, but for reducing the risk of injury as well. We can’t talk about either force production or dissipation without talking about plyometric training. Numerous studies have shown that performing plyometric training for baseball players:

    • Improves soft tissue quality
    • Helps reduce the risk of injury
    • Increases throwing velocity

Continue reading “How Baseball Players and Pitchers Can Train for Power with Plyometrics”

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Re-Conditioning Phase (Hypertrophy)… Training in the Fall

Training in the fall sets up the foundation for later phases of training. The main objective is to elicit a progressive adaptation of the athlete’s anatomy and tendon strength to enable them to safely lift with more load later on. Athletes who skip these months and jump right into training strength in November do not reap the same benefits as those athletes that spend 4-8 weeks in the fall prior to moving into November. With the fall season right around the corner, I thought this would be a great time for me to talk a little bit about the importance of early off-season training, what I call the “re-conditioning phase”.

Continue reading “Re-Conditioning Phase (Hypertrophy)… Training in the Fall”

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Early Trunk Rotation and Losses in Pitching Velocity

early trunk rotation

While performing hundreds of video analysis and mocaps yearly, “early trunk rotation” rears its ugly heads more than 90% of any other disconnect we see. An early trunk puts the upper body in a more compromised position to accept ground reaction force and effectively block with the lead leg while negatively affecting timing issues and transfer of force up the chain. It can also contribute to a late arm or an arm that “drags”.  All this, of course, can ultimately lead to losses in pitching velocity.  The key is finding what is causing this early rotation, training it and putting the arm in its “sweet spot”. Continue reading “Early Trunk Rotation and Losses in Pitching Velocity”

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8-Week Baseball Throwing Program – Maintenance

8-Week Throwing Program

The following 8-week baseball throwing programs are intended for pitchers who are physically mature, physically healthy and pain free with a good base foundation of strength:

    • Ages 17 and older
    • Ages 14-16

Please note, this is NOT a ramp-up, on-ramping or customized program.  Assuming that you were already prepared after a full off-season for spring, the programs are for maintaining your arm health and capacity. Continue reading “8-Week Baseball Throwing Program — Maintenance”

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What to Ask When Selecting a Pitching Program

A few years ago, all you could expect from your pitching program was to help you with your mechanics. That’s just about what most people expected and looked for in a pitching program. Fortunately, times have changed. Today, pitching mechanics are only a piece of the overall puzzle.  There is much more to training pitchers than simply teaching them proper mechanics.  Whether you’re looking for an off-season pitching or throwing program, here are six questions you can ask pitching coaches and some guidance on what to look for… Continue reading “What to Ask When Selecting a Pitching Program”

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The Best of 2019 – Strength Training Articles

By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)

As we get closer to a new year I would like to look back and get a bit reflective. A few years ago, I started a series in which I posted the most popular blogs of the year. These are the articles that received the most traffic, according to our hosting statistics. It seems to be a favorite of everyone, so here we go again with the most popular of our strength training articles for 2019. Continue reading “The Best of 2019 – Strength Training Articles”

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How to Train for Athleticism in Pitchers

Training Athleticism in Pitchers - Part 1 Top

In order to effectively train for athleticism in pitchers we first need to:

    1. Understand Key Points in the Delivery – Understand the key points in the delivery and how to develop effective power by training it in the weight room
    2. Addressing Energy Leaks – Identify and fix energy leaks (mechanics / disconnects)
    3. Customizing Throwing and Strength Training Programs – Be able to assess what “type” of pitcher we are dealing with in order to effectively train them to produce optimum power to throw a baseball

Let’s get started… Continue reading “How to Train for Athleticism in Pitchers”