Prior to the start of the off-season we always assess every pitcher’s mechanics and pitching velocity. We feel that this can give the athlete a good idea of the progress that was made during the off-season. In regards to velocity, many often see the same velocity at the end of the program as in the beginning, causing slight looks of panic among the mortals. Continue reading “5 Reasons Pitching Velocity Increases during the Season”
At this time of the year, after a full off-season of strength training, and with upcoming tryouts and practices, erratic throwing schedules are a few of the variables that can wreak havoc on an athlete’s body and more importantly his arm. The fact is, if you don’t participate in some sort of in-season baseball lifts and quality weight room work trails off, so will power on the mound and/or on the field. It will likely leave an athlete vulnerable to a cavalcade of maladies including a gradual drop in velocity, mobility, and possibly injury as the season moves along.
Continue reading “In-Season Baseball Lifts, Managing a Controlled Fall”
It seems that just about every pitcher, these days, has experienced pain at various points of their pitching career. For a pitcher or a position player, pitching shoulder pain can be a result of one or a combination of three things, lack of strength/mobility, mechanical disconnects and/or overuse. Does the following scenario sound familiar? Continue reading “Pitching Shoulder Pain… Strength, Mobility, Mechanical or Overuse”
Today my interview is with Jeremy Sheetinger, the College Division Liaison with the American Baseball Coaches Association (www.abca.org). I had the pleasure of meeting him recently at the “Be the Best” Conference in Atlantic City. Jeremy has a wealth of knowledge that I think is extremely relevant to what we are doing here at RPP. Continue reading “Interview with Jeremy Sheetinger (College Division Liaison w/ABCA)”
As we look forward to hopefully another great year here at RPP, it’s a good time to review where we have come from and how we got here. RPP’s youth clientele has increased nearly 6-fold since 2012. By any measure, that’s great and we are very proud of what we have accomplished. But explosive growth doesn’t happen for NO apparent reason; it certainly doesn’t happen overnight, and it definitely doesn’t happen without sleepless nights. Continue reading “Growth Doesn’t Happen Without….”
When talking about a complete or comprehensive training or throwing program, the conversation has to begin and end with “recovery”.
Many coaches believe that throwing strikes is more important than increasing velocity and that the two can’t be trained at the same time. I disagree. I believe that training both are equally important and can be trained at the same time. Sometimes it comes down to increasing the efficiency of an athlete’s throwing motion, so that their body works more in sync. Continue reading “Increasing Velocity and Command with a more Stable Stride Pattern”
One of the biggest mechanical disconnects I see when analyzing video from many of our pitchers is the ability to increase leverage on the front leg, from the time of first foot-strike to ball-release. Everyone has different opinions of what is an adequate amount of extension. For me, after analyzing hundreds of high school, college and pro pitchers, I’ve come up with what I consider to be an appropriate range of 20-30 degrees of additional knee extension between first foot-strike and ball-release. Continue reading “Half-Kneeling Overhead Med Ball Throw”
At our recent Pitching Seminar held at RPP, I presented a PowerPoint presentation on Identifying energy leaks in the delivery. The response from players and coaches alike (thanks Sean McGrath – Pitching Coach at U. Mass Lowell) made me realize there is a bit of a void when it comes to reviewing mechanics based on movement. This prompted me to start a series on the topic. Today is about “Knee at First Foot Strike”. Continue reading “Identifying Leaks in the Delivery — Knee at First Foot Strike”
Dear Remote Athlete,
*** Please read entire letter.
Welcome to Remote Training at RPP! We’re very excited to be a part of your journey. We are 100% committed to your development and looking forward to helping get you to the next level. During the next several months, with a high degree of commitment and consistent effort, you are going to see significant gains.
Your monthly remote training programs will be placed inside your folders in the Client Portal. Depending on your programming, you will find some or all the following files: Continue reading “Welcome to Remote Training”
