I apologize for only revealing half of my beautiful face – I wanted to get this video up immediately to instruct a few of my clients, and didn’t realize what had happened to after the upload. Blame my camera – it’s not so intuitive for a first-time user.

The rep scheme is as follows…

1 set of the 6 positions, 10 reps each with a 6 second hold at the top. You could certainly do more sets if you want, but one is a great start, and 6-7 minutes is all this will take. Shoot for 4-6 days per week while you’re just starting off, and when you get strong enough to use a 1lb cuff weight, you can back off to 3-4 times per week (this will probably take a month or so).

Also, you need to go through the whole circuit without rest. Sound easy? It’s not – I promise you; your back will burn in a way it’s never burned and you’ll want to set your arms down (the ground is sooooo close). But, when you stand up, you will feel your chest opened up and your shoulders back in a way you haven’t experienced before. Athletes and parents alike will get tremendous benefit from this – try it and you’ll see.

**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only tips, tricks and/or special offers on services and products.**
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Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett

First, get some blood flowing. 5 minutes of moving around at a good pace to build some muscle and joint warmth will improve all of the stretches.

I am listing these exercises in the most fluid and logical sequence, so do them in this order and they will flow together nicely.

1. IT Band

IT Band Stretch

The IT band is an aponeurosis, or flat tendon band, that stretches from the lateral hip to the knee. This is tight on many athletes, and can restrict the thigh in multiple planes of movement, as well as cause knee problems.

To stretch, straighten one leg and cross the other in front. Lean into a wall while keeping the stretching leg straight, and you will feel a stretch down the outside of the leg.

2. Hip External Rotators

Hip External Rotator Stretch - Finish Position

If you don’t know why you should be stretching these, check out my article on hip flexibility. This hits the external rotators hard.

Keep your feet flat, toes facing forward. Bottom of the feet never leave the ground. Bring your knees toward the midline of you bottom as far as you can, and hold.

3. Sleeper Stretch

Sleeper Stretch

From the external rotator stretch, roll right onto your side into the sleeper stretch. If you haven’t read my article on performing this properly, make sure you do…

4. Thoracic Spine Mobility

From the sleeper stretch position, stay on your side and pull your hips up to 90 degrees.

5. No Money

Sit up and cross your legs indian-style. This will help open up your hips as you perform the No Money, which stretches the chest and activates the scapulas.

Start

Pin your elbows to your side, and open your arms up as far as they will go, keeping your elbows at 90. Hold at the finish position.

Finish

6. Sumo Squat

Sumo Squat

Stand up. What you started while sitting indian-style will improve as you perform the sumo squat. Widen your feet beyond shoulder-width and squat, getting your thighs parallel with the floor. If you can do this easily, widen your feet for your next two repetitions (more on sets and reps at the end). This doesn’t feel good, but opens up your hips laterally.

7. Warrior Lunge

Warrior Lunge

Move to a box, bench or whatever, and put one foot on it, keeping one foot on the ground. With arms overhead, lean in as far as you can to stretch your hip flexors.

8. Quad-Lunge

Quad Lunge. Notice the Knee is Behind the Hip

Kneel in a lunge position behind said box or object, and position your back knee BEHIND your back hip. Pull your back foot to your butt and lean forward into the stretch. This is the mack daddy of quad and hip flexor stretches.

9. Spiderman with/hamstring kickback

Big Step to Hand then reach to floor with forearm

Kick your knee back to straighten, and lift your front toe

Move into a pushup position, and bring your right foot up next to your right hand. Lean into the floor with your right forearm parallel to the ground. Next, plant your right hand OUTSIDE your right foot, and kick your right knee backward while lifting your right toe off the ground. The goal is to straighten the right leg. Return foot when done, and repeat on left side.

10. Calf and Soleus

Stay in pushup position, and cross the right foot over the left, and shift weight back while keeping leg straight to stretch the left calf. Then, slightly bend the left leg and continue stretching, to hit the soleus muscle and ankle.

11. Shoulder Joint / Lats

From pushup position, go to your knees. Lay your forearms on the floor in front of you, parallel to each other. Keep the forearms completely on the floor and push your hips and weight back. You will feel a good stretch through your armpit region. Arise when finished.

12. Triceps / Lats

Triceps / Lat Stretch

Make your arm into a chicken wing above your head, and pull your elbow across the midline of your body. You’ve done this since middle school gym class.

13. Shoulder stretches

Arm Across. This gets the posterior deltoid and rotator cuff muscles.

Arm behind, pull at the elbow in line with the forearm. This gets the middle deltoid

Arm back and down. This hits the anterior deltoid. Gently pull the arm down straight from the wrist and keep your posture tall and upright.

14. Forearm flexors and extensors

Flexors: Point fingers to sky and pull palm and fingers back.

Extensors: Point fingers down and press the hand down toward the bottom of the forearm.

Note the author's disgusting range of motion. Actual stretching results may vary.

So there ya have it. Run through those stretches and you will be loose and ready to go. Every exercise should be done 2-3 times with a 20-30 second hold in the stretched or finish position. Problem areas might need more attention, and very loose areas may not need as much.

There is research out there saying that static stretching reduces a muscle’s capacity for contraction immediately after, but the harm done from inflexibility, especially in pitchers, is much more serious than that concern, which is negligible at best. A good dynamic warm up with CNS activation after stretching should wake your muscles up just fine. I usually run through this stretching routine 1-1.5 hours before a start, then start my dynamic warm up 35-40 minutes before a game.  If you’re a reliever, then doing this before the game starts or early on in the bullpen is probably the way to go. This same routine can be done after an outing as well, either in whole or in part with emphasis on your tightest joints.

As I was in there, it suddenly dawned on me: Pitchers are just unlike everyone else in the sense that what they do is so physically violent, that they have to do what is called “prehab” just to reduce the likelihood (or in reality, delay) injury.  

Its pretty much a fact that if a pitcher doesn’t do regular rotator cuff, scapula, and forearm work (basically the whole pitching arm), he is doomed to inevitable, catastrophic arm injury.  Doing prehab doesn’t guarantee health by any means, as tons of diligent pitchers still injure themselves regularly, but its our insurance policy, and at the very least gives us a better chance of not being injured.Other athletes don’t do this.  Soccer players play soccer, and when they get hurt, they do rehab and return to action.  Lacrosse, football, tennis, you name it, these sports all allow their athletes to play, with nothing intrinsic in the sport that injures them.  Sure, football and martial arts are violent and injurious, but the injuries are general and not caused by any specific physical act.

Baseball position players are also allowed to play.  Sure, they come down with the occasional arm problem, but with not nearly the regularity as the pitchers. 

No, pitchers are the only athletes that aren’t just allowed to just play their sport.  They simply can’t show up at the ballpark and leave when they are done.  They have to spend extra time strengthening and stretching their throwing arm just so it’s less likely to rip itself out of the socket.  Ever seen a pitcher’s arm lay back, parallel to the ground in external rotation?  Try replicating that in your living room, and you’ll start to understand…

The pitching motion is just ungodly stressful and unnatural for the human body.  Its  interesting how in the entire athletic community, this one position in one sport is so different from the rest.  Sure, all athletes have to strengthen their bodies to compete at a high level, but none but the pitcher are at such an injury risk where they must go above and beyond just to have a chance at longevity, and even then it’s often a losing battle.  

The only other trends like this are in knees of female athletes and football linemen.  Women are predisposed to ACL injury due to their natural body shape and unique biomechanics, and have an ACL injury rate something like 10x that of men.  A good friend of mine just tore hers for the second time.  Football linemen are so heavy and get pushed around so much that they suffer a similar fate.  

I, for one, am ready for titanium ligament replacements.  Maybe one day that will be possible.  I’ll gladly call myself a cyborg if it allows me 20 more good years.  

Posterior Deltoid and Infraspinatus Stretch

Pull the arm across the chest to feel a stretch in the back of the shoulder.  This will get the infraspinatus (a rotator cuff muscle) and the posterior deltoid.

This stretch can also be done at different angles across the body to get the muscles in a new direction.

Middle Deltoid Stretch

With the arm at 90°, grab the forearm and pull the arm across the back.  The range of motion won’t be very long, but you will feel a stretch in the middle aspect of your shoulder.

Anterior Deltoid Stretch

Keep your arm straight and pull directly down the middle of the back.

The key to this stretch is keeping good posture – maintain a high chest and keep your shoulders square.

You don’t want your shoulder to sag or rotate backward as you pull.  This would take the muscle out of proper position to  stretch.

Notes

In addition to standing, these three can also be done laying face down on the floor.

The perfect time to do them is right after sleeper stretches, as you can just stand up or roll over onto your stomach and complete your shoulder stretching circuit.

Shoulder pops and clicks when you move it? Those  are a result of weak stabilizers. Good thing is, the following shoulder circuit is going to make those a thing of the past, and add a few MPHs in the process.

This shoulder circuit is done for 2-3 complete cycles of 12-15 reps per exercise.  For beginners, this is going to probably require only 2lb dumbells, and the goal is to build up to using 3, and then 4lb dumbbells with perfect form for 3 sets of 12-15. The circuit is performed straight through, but I have grouped the exercises according to the body position (prone or standing).

Prone Segment

This segment is performed on a tall bench, training table, or bent over with a flat back. Notice it consists of the LYT circuit plus prone skiers and scapula pushups.

L-Raise

Start with back flat. Pinch shoulder blades and raise arms. Finish by externally rotating

Y-Raise

Keep shoulder blades tight and reach out with hands

T-Raise

Tightly pinch shoulder blades together

Prone Skiier

With arms straight, extend arms back toward your butt and up to the sky

Scapula Push Up

In pushup position with arms locked, let shoulderblades slump together, then press up fully keeping arms straight

Standing Segment

Front Raise (thumbs up)

Thumbs up front raise

60° Scaption (thumbs up)

60 degree raise on the scaption plane

30° Scaption (thumbs up)

30 degree scaption plane

Abduction (palms down)

Side raise with palms down

Open Palm Rotation Raise

Start with arm at opposite side, palms down; Raise and gradually rotate to finish with palms up

Sword Raise

Start with arm on opposite side, raise up as if unsheathing a sword. Be careful to not go behind the body, which would stress the elbow.

Side Lying External Rotation

Pictured with left fist propping the right arm up. Use fist or a towel to keep the arm off the torso

Internal Rotation (pictured with band)

Starting position

Ending position. Note fist under the arm to bring humerus forward

Yes, the circuit is 13 exercises long and takes the better part of an hour,  but it is worth it.  Being diligent with this circuit 2-3 times per week is going to bombproof the shoulder and rotator cuff and make you a stronger, more durable, and more than likely, harder throwing pitcher.

I want to thank Michelle Daniels, who was my athletic trainer at UMBC.  She taught me these exercises and brought me back to life following my surgery.

Pitching is a rotational activity, and the hips and core are the chief couplers of power to the arm.  As the stride foot lands the internal rotators of the hips, along with the core, rotate the midsection to face the plate.  The hip external rotators, if tight and inflexible, will impede this rotation.  (Remember that the hip internal and external rotators are antagonist muscles, which means they oppose each other and that one must stretch while the other contracts.)

So while the internal rotators fire, the external rotators relax and stretch.  If the external rotators are tight and do not stretch to their full and normal range of motion, the whole kinetic sequence is impeded.  This, in turn, makes the arm bear an extra burden by being in the valgus position longer while trying to catch up and get in the proper position to deliver the pitch. Dr. Morgan and others told me that they believe this leads to elbow problems, including UCL tears.

Ed Bach's arm laying back in the valgus position

Having tight hips is a bad for arm health and detrimental to one’s throwing velocity.  Having loose and fluidly moving hips will make anyone a healthier and likely harder throwing pitcher.  Rotating against tight muscles causes a loss in transferred power, which in turn is a loss in velocity.  Get it back with just a few sets of stretches done daily.

Do you have a problem?

First thing’s first: You need to find out if your hips are tight.  Now, when I say hips, I really mean the singular hip on your stride leg.  Because of the constant rotation around that hip from so many throws, the stride leg will get tight but the back leg will remain normal.  

So, you compare.  At the doctor’s or PT’s office this will be done with a goniometer, but you can get a general Yes or No diagnosis without one.

Test # 1: Lie on your back, bend your knees to 90° and let them fall to either side as far as they will go.  Do this facing a mirror, or have someone assess you from behind.

This photo shows a significantly tighter left hip

If your hips fall like this (nearly symmetrical) you're in great shape.

Test #2 (and Stretch #1): Try the knee-in stretch, and self-diagnose any differences.  If one hip is tight, you’ll feel the difference and see that it won’t go down or over toward the midline very well.  

Note that while stretching, the left knee is higher revealing inflexibility

The goal in the knee-in stretch, which I feel is the best stretch to cure hip external rotator tightness, is to pull the knees down and in while maintaining your feet flat on the floor, toes pointed straight, and lower back flat on the floor.  You can vary the stretch by arching your back while on the floor, or sitting.  You’ll feel a difference each way.

Knee-in start

Knee-in finish

Knee-in angle variation

Stretch #2: Knee Cross-over

This is one where I feel a glaring difference between my left and right.  Start on all fours and cross your tight leg behind the other.  While maintaing good posture squat back until you feel the stretch in the side of your hip, while keeping your knees on the floor.

Cross-over start

Cross-over finish

Note that in the pictures the difference between start and finish is small.  I actually had to use my loose leg (my right) for the picture to show a difference.  On my left I can only squat back about 4 inches or so, which is hardly a perceivable difference on film.  It really takes a lot of stretching to gain symmetry on this one.

Stretch #3: Hip Mobilization

This mobilization drill was shown to me by my friend Nick Tumminello.  It works the hips in a similar way to the knee cross-over, and really shows the difference between legs.

To perform, you get on all fours with back straight and arms straight.  Point your off leg straight back, and then squat backward as far as you can while maintaining straight arms and a straight back.  Hold for a few seconds, then come back up. Dont let your body roll to either side, and go straight back, hinging at the knee. Repeat for 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps.  

Coach Nick's hip mobilizer start

Coach Nick's hip mobilizer finish

This exercise is easy on my right, looser hip.  I can sit back all the way with no problem.  It’s downright difficult on my left, both in range of motion and in stabilizing myself.  When an exercise is hard like this, though, it means you’re really going to benefit from it.

Stretch #4 : Seated piriformis stretch

The piriformis is a strong external rotator that also acts as a hip abductor (helps move the thigh bone away from the body).  This stretch and the next one I’ll show you target the piriformis.  To perform, sit in a chair and cross one leg over the other. GENTLY press the knee down, while pushing your chest out and sitting up very straight and you will feel the stretch.  It is important, as Coach Nick was explaining to me, to keep the knee within the body, so the piriformis can relax fully.  If the knee is outside the body, then the piriformis will engage as an abductor, thus preventing it from relaxing and ruining the stretch.

GENTLY press down to feel the stretch

Stretch #5: Wall figure-4 stretch

This is another stretch pioneered by Nick Tumminello, and stretches the piriformis better than the laying figure-4 stretch (not shown).  It is again imperative, as previously explained, to keep the knee within the body.  One slides up close to a wall, and with legs straight crosses one over the other at the thigh.  Then you press your butt into the ground and bend your knee.  Pull the crossing leg in to the chest if more stretch is desired.  The closer your butt is to the wall, the stronger the stretch will be.  

Coach Nick's improved figure-4

Final Thoughts

Be gentle with all these stretches, as they all involve the knees.  If your knees hurt on any, back off and maybe choose another that works for you. I recommend the knee-in, one on all fours and one of the piriformis stretches, but try them all and find out which ones work best for you.  The seated piriformis tends to give me some problems, but the knee-in and both on all-fours get me in great shape.  Everyone’s different.  

If your hips are far from symmetrical like mine once were and sometimes still are, it’s necessary to do a few of these stretches everyday, 3x each for 30 seconds.   Remember that the goal is symmetry and not hyperlaxity.  We’re ballplayers, not dancers, so don’t go overboard. There are also a few dynamic stretches for the the same symptoms that I’ll post in the future.

One major adaptation of the pitcher is in shoulder range of motion (ROM). Pitchers have incredible, otherworldly external rotation.  The average person couldn’t dream of contorting his arm in such a way.

My buddy Andrew Germuth showing off his external rotation

My buddy Andrew Germuth showing off his external rotation

And what price do we pitchers pay for enjoying such lavish external rotation?  You guessed it! A tight rotator cuff and a subsequent deficiency of internal rotation. (there is always a catch!)

So what?  Does it matter if a pitcher has poor shoulder range of motion internally?

The answer to this question is unequivocally “yes.” Any trainer or physical therapist will tell you that a lack of ROM in any joint is pathological and indicative of underlying problems.  Normal ROM should exist in all one’s joints, and if not, there is a probably a problem as to why.  In many populations these imbalances in flexibility might not impair day-to-day functioning, but for athletes and especially pitchers, inflexibility poses major problems.

Dr. Craig Morgan and colleagues are researching the link between elbow pain (up to and including full blown ligament tears requiring Tommy John surgery) and internal rotation.  What he is finding (as he found in me) is that a huge amount of pitchers coming to him have significant GIRD (glenohumeral internal rotation deficiency), and once that GIRD is reduced to an amount within 20 degrees of the internal rotation of the non-throwing shoulder, the pitchers very often return to throwing without pain.  Internal rotation deficits are caused by posterior shoulder capsule tightness, which can be alleviated using the sleeper stretch.  Restore your internal rotation ROM and you will be throwing healthier and harder.

The Sleeper Stretch

The basic form is as follows: lay on your hip with knees bent, with ankles in line with your spine.  Prop your head (or don’t if you like being uncomfortable) under a towel or pillow, your glove or whatever.  Extend your throwing arm out in front of you at 90°.  Keep your chest out and don’t lean back.

Sleeper Stretch Starting Position

Next you need to pinch your shoulder blades together, hard, and hold them that way throughout the stretch. This is crucial, and the stretch is useless without pinched blades because your shoulder will be in improper position.

The WRONG Way – Blades not pinched, shoulders misaligned

The CORRECT way - blades pinched, shoulders in better alignment

CORRECT – blades pinched, shoulders in better alignment

I held a pencil in the middle of my back for effect – think about holding something there while you perform the stretch.

Once your blades are held together, take your other hand and GENTLY push your arm toward the ground.  Don’t force it, just give it enough of a push to feel a stretch. I have to stretch mine 3 times daily to keep it loose, and from the beginning it will take a few weeks to really loosen up.  Forcing it won’t help, it will just cause more problems.

A good sleeper stretch

A good sleeper stretch

Notice how much internal rotation I have in the above picture: about 45 degrees. Once I go through this I gain about 10° more, but that’s it.  Watch what happens when I don’pinch and hold my blades together:

The WRONG way. If you look like this, your shoulder blades are not pinched

The WRONG way. If you look like this, your shoulder blades are not pinched.

If you see someone at the field doing the sleeper with their palm almost on the ground, correct them, because they are doing it wrongly.  Try it the right and wrong way so you feel the difference.  In proper position with blades pinched, if you have 45 degrees like I do, then you are looking great.  When I go in for checkups I measure symmetrical to my left. Everyone has a different setpoint, but no one can put their palm to the floor. It looks about the same, though, which is why players so often do it incorrectly.

Variations and Reps

So now you’ve mastered the form in the 90° position.  The three positions from which you will stretch are 90°, 70°, and 110° from your shoulder to your body. Stretch your arm for 3 sets of 30 seconds at each position.  Even at 70 and 110, keep a 90° angle with your forearm and upper arm.

Correct angle between forearm and upper arm

 Correct angle between forearm and upper arm

INCORRECT angle between forearm and upper arm

INCORRECT angle between forearm and upper arm

Proper stretch at 70 degrees from body

Proper stretch at 70 degrees from body

Proper stretch at 110 degrees from body

Proper stretch at 110 degrees from body

The orientation of muscle fibers in your rotator cuff varies, which is why stretching three positions is recommended.

So do your sleepers daily, and do them correctly.  If you do, you’ll be taking a huge step toward both keeping yourself injury-free, and picking up some MPHs. Flexibility plays a big role in velocity, and I picked up 3-4 from increasing my ROM in my shoulder and in my hips.

Additionally, check out my great new article and video on Sleeper Stretch Variations!

Update – Here is a video from the Morgan-Kalman clinic, where I was taught this stretch. Watch it!

**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only tips, tricks and/or special offers on services and products.**
Sign up for my free newsletter!

Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett