The following six exercises are prescribed to any ballplayer with elbow pain.  Be it tendinitis, UCL strains, sprains, or surgery, these forearm exercises are the ones that strengthen the whole forearm and ward off future elbow problems.  To the untrained thrower doing this prehab can also add a few MPHs, as the forearm and hand are the last mechanical parts in the delivery of a throw.  Today is the perfect time to start doing these exercises regularly.

These exercises can be done with dumbbells or a flat or tubular Thera-band (Flat is preferred). You can find Thera-Bands here: Thera-Bands 6 Yard Box (6 in. wide)

Pronation, supination and ulnar deviation are best done with a ban, mini-sledge hammer or baseball bat (though they are shown below with a dumbbell).

Update: Watch the following video as a supplement to this article. It clearly explains all the exercises shown in both band and weighted implement versions:

Forearm Flexion

With palms facing up, curl the weight toward you using your wrist.

Forearm Extension

With palms down grip, curl wrist straight up

Radial Deviation

With a thumbs up grip, curl wrist straight up

Ulnar Deviation

Stand with palm facing the thigh (neutral grip), curl wrist straight back, as if taking your pinky to your elbow

Forearm Pronation & Supination

Start with palms up, raise to neutral; lower on other side until palm faces floor, then raise back to neutral

Sets, Reps and Tempo

It is important to do all six of these exercises 3-4 times per week to ward of elbow problems, but you may have to adjust your volume during the season depending on how well your arm recovers.

Pick a weight or band thickness to allow 12-15 reps with a controlled tempo of 2 sec concentric (up) and 4 second eccentric (down).  Going slow with these makes a big difference.

Using a 12-15 rep range isn’t going to fatigue your forearms too much after the initial first two weeks, so it’s okay to perform 2-3 sets of these regularly, even close to your next game outing.