Today on social media I saw a post by a training facility of a “trainer” manipulating / stretching a 12-year old’s shoulder into external rotation. His reason was because and I quote “the athlete was experiencing arm pain due to inflammation in the shoulder”. Just watching it made me feel like this. Continue reading “Mobility or Stability… Should You Stretch Your Shoulder?”
Over the past few months I’ve released several videos demonstrating how we can use the weight room to help get our guys into better positions in the delivery while on the mound. Today, I thought I would put together a few of the ones that were most popular. Continue reading “4 Great Pitching Mechanics Fixes in the Weight Room”
When talking about how force is transferred from foot strike up into the arm, I like to use the “crashing a car into a wall with crash test dummies” analogy. Continue reading “5 Things You Need to Create Stability and Power at Foot Strike”
In Parts 1 (click here) and 2 (click here), we talked about what the Force-Velocity curve is and why it’s important. We also introduced VBT (velocity-based training), discussing how it’s different from conventional 1RM testing and some of the benefits in using it to train your athletes. Today, we’ll dive a little deeper and talk about the specific “zones” used to train different traits on the Force-Velo curve as well as how they relate to specific movements on the field. Continue reading “Training with VBT… Understanding and Training in the Zones (Part 3)”
Not all mechanical cues are, or should be, created equal. Many times, size and mobility (anthropometrics) need to dictate how different positions of the delivery are cued. Continue reading “Cuing Stride Length… Different Strokes for Different Folks”
How often have we heard so and so throws hard but his ball is flat? They are talking about movement. Velocity is a pre-requisite but movement and relative movement is the other half of the equation.
Continue reading “Pitch Design… What is Relative Movement? And Why is it Important?”
An inside look at pitchers training at Rockland Peak Performance in Sloatsburg N.Y. (Andrew Maclean | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
By Richard Greco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com on April 20, 2018 7:30 AM, updated April 20, 2018 12:20 PM
Continue reading “HS Pitchers Endure Grinding Schedules to Get Special Training and it Pays Off”
Over thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan went to West Berlin and gave a very famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate. It was about freedom and peace. The Soviet Union was in decline and President Reagan famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall”. Continue reading “Is Your Baseball Coach Keeping up with the Times?”
As far as athletic performance goes, it’s getting clearer and clearer that strength, speed and power are king (click here for Part 1). That’s why maximizing training protocols for a sport with movements as quick and explosive as baseball is paramount. Increasing strength and power involves:
Continue reading “Training the Force-Velocity Curve with VBT… How it Works — Part 2”
I’m sitting here in my office analyzing pitching video and thinking to myself “are folks understanding what I’m talking about when I tell them they’re not using their lower half pitching mechanics efficiently?” It prompted me to write this quick tutorial as to how lower half rotation unfolds, helping to initiate the power that ultimately gets transferred through the core and into the arm. As we go through this, we will also review what type exercise might be helpful. Continue reading “How to Create a More Powerful Lower Half in Pitching”
