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Improving Speed and Power from the Stretch

The back leg is the initial power source in pitching and when pitching from the stretch, the ability to load and the unload the back leg gives a pitcher the greater advantage with runners on.

Faster more elastic athletes can stretch their tendons quickly and better harness energy while loading without requiring high levels of strength. But for more “strength-based” athletes who like to load slower in order to maximize power mostly from their muscles contracting, the stretch can be a nemesis, especially you have runners on base. So, training to get more elastic can go a long way in putting another essential tool such as getting quicker in the stretch into their toolbox, which brings us to the concept of Reactive Strength and how you test it. Continue reading “Improving Speed and Power from the Stretch”

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How to Increase Pitching Velocity in the Weight Room

In the pitching world the word velocity has become how most pitchers are initially judged. Unfortunately, there is no single thing I could tell you to do to increase velocity as every pitcher is different. What may work for one pitcher may not work for another. Every pitcher is built differently and trying to get there from a different starting point. This leaves no single way to map out a game plan to increase your. However, in this blog I would like to touch briefly on 10 different topics on how to increase pitching velocity in the weight room.

Continue reading “How to Increase Pitching Velocity in the Weight Room”

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Training Force- vs. Velocity-Deficient Athletes… Giving Them What They Need

Knowing the adaptation that needs to occur and knowing what adaptation will occur are powerful decision-making tools when designing a program for an athlete. You need to first decide what effect you want the body to produce and then match it with an appropriate stimulus.  This is referred to as the “SAID” principle. It stands for “Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands” and is the blueprint that we build off of when programming for our athletes here at RPP.

The first question that needs to be answered is “what does the athlete need?”.   Continue reading “Training Force- vs. Velocity-Deficient Athletes… Giving Them What They Need”

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TJ, Taking a Negative Situation and Running with IT

The first trip to the disabled list can leave a young athlete searching for answers. Any athlete worth his weight loves to compete, so when that part of your life gets affected in a negative way, it’s important to get your head together and keep marching. Unfortunately, the “you should just stay out of the weight room for a while” slogan that some (not all!) doctors deliver doesn’t give the athlete much incentive to keep the rest of his body in shape while the injury is healing. After all, we can still make significant improvements in strength without moving the injured limb. Continue reading “TJ, Taking a Negative Situation and Running with IT”

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Baseball Strength Training When Throwing Ramps Up…

baseball strength training

When you get past the on-ramp stage of a combined baseball strength training and throwing program and get into the more high intensity throwing portion, you need to keep a few things in mind. For the few guys that still need to gain muscle/weight, we’ll handle them a bit differently in the weight room but that’s for another blog. For most of our guys that have packed on muscle, this means that weight room work from a volume and intensity perspective can and should be scaled down. Continue reading “Baseball Strength Training When Throwing Ramps Up…”

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Rapsodo Pitching Data, a Comprehensive Report

Rapsodo Pitching

During the past year, we have spent endless hours crunching pitching data and there are some unbelievable and amazing conclusions which we would like to share with you. This report is a summary of approximately 10,000 pitches thrown by 50 high school-level pitchers, randomly selected from our various winter, spring and summer programs. The new Rapsodo pitching camera system exposes a great deal and explains why “the eyes lie”. We are willing to bet that our findings are not unique but rather common place in youth pitchers everywhere. Continue reading “Rapsodo Pitching Data, a Comprehensive Report”

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5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Summer Season

Today I am going to address 5 “do’s and don’ts” for those players choosing to play summer ball. These are generally players that are “on the cusp” (1-2 mph) of where they want to be velo-wise and could and should find a local league / team that will allow them to only pitch 3-5 innings per week and play first base on an additional day. Continue reading “5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Summer Season”