5 Pitching Workout Myths That Waste Pitcher’s Time And Don’t Lead To Improvement
by Dick Mills on September 10, 2008
Designing the correct pitching workout plan during the off-season is important so that pitchers do not waste time on activities that do not lead to improvement or reduce the risk of injury.
What both parents, coaches and pitchers must first understand is that there are no pitching velocity exercises that will help improve a pitcher's fastball. None. Hopefully you know why. Here is the reasons proven by the latest sports science research. Pitching is not a strength activity. So after a pitcher has gained some level of average general strength, any additional time spent on getting stronger is time wasted on strength that cannot be used.
The large majority of high school, college and professional coaches do not understand that. They all believe that extra strength is important.
Why Pitchers Do Not Need Much Strength
Pitchers throw a 5 oz. baseball...not a 50 lb. ball. Strength is required if there is resistance to overcome. Do you actually believe that 5 oz. is not easily resisted? If a ten year old can pitch a baseball at 70 mph or some 12 year old pitchers we have seen this year in the Little League World Series can throw them 80 mph, then why is strength required. It is not.
What do pitcher's need then? They need a more general but impressive form of general fitness with less but particular attention given to more specific fitness.
The bottom line is that pitchers need some aerobic conditioning, which allows the body to do more work. And it needs full body explosive exercises such as medicine ball or lower body plyometrics since pitching is a full body explosive action.
Pitchers who go into the weight room to build impressive strength are wasting their time and possibly getting closer and closer to injury.
Pitchers Are Wasting Time In The Weight Room
So pitchers who spend their off-season in the weight room and do not attend to more general forms of fitness including full body explosive exercises...will waste valuable time. I guess that probably includes about 90% of all pitchers.
Pitching right now is tainted with myths that are propogated by instructors and coaches who have beliefs which they cannot back up. This of course is true online.
Our book The Science And Art Of Baseball Pitching - A Coach's Handbook For Scientific Pitching</A> was written to dispell these myths while presenting verified and useful knowledge so coaches do not waste time on activities that have no known basis in fact.
There Are No Special Exercises That Improve Velocity
The hype you will hear about how a certain set of "power exercises" will increase velocity is one of those myths or should I say hype. No instructor or strength coach can verify how any exercise will improve throwing velocity since velocity comes from elastic energy from the whole body.
The purpose of conditioning is to prepare the body to do more work and be conditioned to do the explosive movement of pitching so the pitcher does not get injured.
Here are five myths about conditioning the pitcher:
- Strength is important for pitching - there is no reputable research to support this
- Flexibility is important for pitching - excessive flexibility exercises have shown to be harmful to performance. They can reduce velocity and create loose joints.
- Strength and flexiblity work prevents injuries. Again, recent research proves they cause rather than prevent injury.
- Aerobic fitness is not important for baseball. Aerobic fitness aids in recovery and increase the ability of the body to so more repetitions of pitches.
- All fitness work intended to assist pitching is good exercise. Concepts such as cross-training and strengthening are only beneficial for those who are not fit...like a couch potato.
You will find deeper explanations of why this is all true in our book in the section on conditioning - Role of Conditioning section 29.5. This is all backed up by scientific references within each section and in the back of the book.
Our conditioning program - Conditioning The Pitcher For Power contains over 3 hours of various exercises that help produce full body explosive movements many which are specific to pitching.
Watch for any hype you might hear or read about how certain exercises help produce velocity. Remember conditioning is designed to get a pitcher fit to pitch...velocity is the result of transferring forces from the larger muscles to the smaller muscles and can only be accomplished from good mechanics.
It is extremely important that you listen to only coaches who first of all understand the five myths and those who are certified and understand good form and technique. My wife Ginny is certified by The American College Of Sports Medicine...the toughest certification process in fitness training and has studied the National Academy Of Sports Medicine's DVD and manual course but is not certified in that.
Not following proper form and technique when doing exercises is a leading cause of sports injuries. Be very careful here.
Remember for high school and college pitchers, an off-season conditioning program is designed to get them fit to pitch. However, in order to improve their pitching they must pitch from a mound at least twice a week while being videotaped in order to keep improving their overall pitching skills.
