Putting your foot up on a table and stretching out your hamstring might feel good and can give you some temporary relief if done for long enough and frequently, but this newfound “Passive” range-of-motion (ROM) will more than likely NOT transfer to game play. This, requires what we call “Active” ROM.
Why? Let’s get into it…
Continue reading “Passive vs. Active Hip and Shoulder Mobility… Why It Matters?”
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Baseball, like every other industry, is under siege from new technology and it’s making sure the game evolves in many ways. Some love it, some hate it, and everything in between. Whether you’re a fan of technology or not, it’s difficult to ignore. It’s here in full force and it’s changing baseball with it. Those that are too close-minded to take the time to expand their knowledge of the new performance metrics run the risk of being left behind, both in terms of overall knowledge about the game and improving an athlete’s efficiency in performance. Continue reading “Assessing Pitchers in the Age of New Tech (Inside Pitch Magazine)”
As many of you know, senior pitcher Sean Hard and his high school team St. Joe’s (Montvale, NJ) recently won the New Jersey State Non-Public A Group Tournament. They actually won their league, county, sectional and ultimately the state championship, all in the same year. Sean’s record for the season as a pitcher was 8-0, 50.2 IP, 87 K, 2 R, 0.62 WHIP, 0.36 ERA. He topped out at 95 mph at the final game of the year. There are a lot of things Sean has done right during his development and it’s important to highlight how he got here, as no one has worked harder at this craft than this young man. Continue reading “Sean Hard’s Path to New Jersey State Champion”
Similar to t-spine mobility, hip IR is absolutely essential to creating a smooth deceleration path. If the hip closes too early upon foot strike, the arm can open up early, causing an early release and cutting the ball. This can be a killer for not only velocity but spin efficiency and vertical break as well. In addition, a poor decel pattern can cause the arm to “slam shut”, creating damaging forces on the shoulder and elbow. Below are several great hip exercises that every pitcher could take advantage of to get some of that IR back.
Continue reading “Hip Exercises for Pitchers, Improving Internal Rotation”
It’s been a crazy year for everyone, but that didn’t stop us from continuing our efforts to develop great ball players while educating the community at the same time. Here are the top received blogs of 2020. Continue reading “Best of 2020… Strength Training, Pitching and Hitting Articles”
On any given day you can log into your daily feed on Twitter and scroll through a plethora of verbal grudge matches between strength coaches, pitching/hitting coaches and movement gurus arguing. Yes, arguing and criticizing each other’s ideology about athletic performance and how to improve it. These verbal assaults are usually fueled by the fact that one individual’s concept, theory, protocol or whatever you choose to call it may not line up with another’s. In other words, “it’s different”. For those of you that have the insight to be able to “discuss” and not argue, this blog is not targeting you, however you may want to come along for the ride. Continue reading “How to Increase Athleticism… Develop Efficient Movement”
Most people who have observed our movement assessment and 4-camera video analysis believe it’s about as good as you can get. Now, with the addition of our Qualisys motion capture system it’s even better. Getting access to pitching biomechanics data speaks for itself… Let’s review in some detail. Continue reading “Pitching Biomechanics: How it Can Change Training for Pitchers”
RPP Baseball is a high performance baseball training facility located in Paramus (Bergen county), New Jersey. From the weight room to our pitching and hitting programs, we utilize the latest in technology, in a holistic and data-driven approach which allows us to assess, train and re-assess players on an ongoing basis. Our athletes are walking testimonials as to the power of our highly customized programming. Below is a summary of our extensive services for pitchers and baseball players: Continue reading “New Jersey’s Most Comprehensive Baseball Training Facility”
How to throw harder… It’s the one thing that seems to be the most sought after, yet few know how to deliver it effectively. There are many different threads that need to be weaved into a safe and effective program to help you throw a baseball harder.
Today, we’re going to review several requirements on how to throw harder. They fall into several buckets, including a comprehensive upfront assessment (from physical to mechanical), a well-designed strength training program, a proper ramp-up, a well designed throwing program (in sync with strength program), and proper warm-up routines and recovery protocols. Continue reading “How to Throw Harder”
Baseball is an explosive sport where things happen fast and hard. This requires massive amounts of power and finding the best methods to get our athletes there is our number one priority. In this article, I will be reviewing force-velocity profiling in athletes which I believe to be a “game changer” in programming. I will also highlight how you can pinpoint and train the specific strength zones needed with Velocity-Based Training to help maximize the potential in not only baseball players but all athletes to create power / explosiveness. Continue reading “Velocity-Based Training for Pitchers and Baseball Players”
