Posts Tagged ‘Sports’

Unilateral leg training is great for you.  Plain and simple.

For the athletic population, and especially one-side dominant athletes like baseball players, a big differential can develop between legs.  Pitchers will often have increased tightness in their stride leg, especially in the hip joint (from rotating on it with each pitch), yet higher strength in their balance leg (chiefly from balancing, loading, and pushing off with it 100 times per game).

The disparity can be in flexibility, mobility, or strength, but no matter the symptom, unilateral training is always a big part of the cure.  And, if you have a weak leg your regular bilateral lifts (squats, deadlifts, etc.) are needlessly suffering.  Big strength gains can happen in those regular lifts from strengthening the weak link.

The two most prevalent uni-leg squats are the Pistol Squat and the Peterson Step-Down, but I’m also going to throw the rear-reaching uni-leg squat into the mix, which is a better variation of the pistol squat for a few reasons.

Pistol Squat

Take a close look at the above video.  It’s important to notice two things about the pistol squat:

1. The back is very rounded, which might not cause problems if done with bodyweight, but would be a serious injury risk if additional weight is used.

2. Weight shifts way back on the heels, which puts more force on the knee than if the weight was more centered.

For the above reasons, I am not a fan of pistol squats.  If the off-knee is bent it allows better weight distribution, but even then I think there are better options. Read the rest of this entry »

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).

Forearm Flexion

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

Forearm Extension Read the rest of this entry »

Novelty in the weightroom isn’t always a good thing, but sometimes can provide a fun pick-me-up when routines get stale.  

The following are two of my favorite exercises that aren’t very well known, both of which, ironically, start with a Z.  These were introduced to me by my strength and conditioning coach at UMBC, Fred Cantor.  

The Zercher Squat

The Zercher Squat is a front squat in which you carry the bar in the crux of your elbows.  Yeah, you could put a pad or towel there, but that takes the fun out of it.

It’s a great exercise because it easily allows proper and deep squatting form, and it requires more core recruitment to prevent forward lean.

And, it is fun to do with a partner because you can laugh as you both grimace in pain.  You can also compare pain tolerances and find out which one of you is the soft one.  

The Dreaded Zercher Squat

The Zottman Curl

This is a cool exercise because it combines a concentric bicep curl with an eccentric reverse curl.  Gives a nice blast to the brachioradialis and the forearm extensors.

A special thanks goes out to Andrew Sacks, the bad mofo demonstrating in the video.  Without an intact ACL or a working pancreas, he still had the courage to do the video .  Commitment.

Some pitching instructors like Dick Mills claim that long toss is a waste of time, as it doesn’t replicate the mechanics used when throwing from a mound.  This anecdotal argument is actually the reason long toss is effective – because it gives the arm a different stimulus: while throwing at max distance it stretches, reaches and works at peak efficiency all at the same time, which when compressed into a 60 foot throw requires the arm to move faster than it ordinarily could.

The Long Toss Benefits

1. Stretches the arm out while under tension

2. Utilizes a slightly different motion compared to mound throwing, allowing for a new muscle stimulus

3. Teaches one to reach out and really extend toward the target

4.  Allows the body to find peak arm slot efficiency in throwing the ball as far as possible (i.e if you pitch over the top, but throw farthest at 3/4, maybe it’s time to pitch at 3/4)

5. Develops synchrony in the body’s movements, which helps cure mechanical timing issues

6. Teaches to pull the arm down hard when coming back in, developing more arm speed and even more forward reach Read the rest of this entry »

Picture this: You set a goal to bench press 200 pounds.  To accomplish this goal, once or twice a week, (maybe three times) you go into the gym and bang out 5 hard reps of bench press and call it a day.  Would this manner of training get you to your bench press goal?  No way.  Why?  Because your muscles aren’t getting enough of a stimulus to grow or get stronger.  Duh.

Throwing is the same way: throw sparingly and you won’t develop your arm to its potential.  Throw often and your arm will be strong and durable.  Ever see an infielder, especially a catcher, go down with arm problems?  Probably not too often. But if you’ve been around baseball long enough, you’ve surely noticed that outfielders complain about their arms hurting as much as anyone.  The reason for this is that outfielders infrequently throw, both in practice and in games, and when they do it is often with maximum effort.

Why, physiologically, does throwing a ton make you throw harder?  Your body just recognizes the need to build strength because the muscle group is consistently stimulated.  This is why climbers have incredible hand strength, and cyclists have monster calves and thighs.  They’re both just doing what they do for hours a day, and their bodies respond by sending the muscular reinforcements.

Pitchers should not consistently go hard and rest on alternate days.  It’s stressful, the arm doesn’t learn to recover quickly, and the repetition needed for growth isn’t there with too many off days. Off days are needed every week, but limiting them to 1 or 2 is ideal, and the other days should be filled with high volume, low intensity throwing to keep your muscles working. Read the rest of this entry »

Above all, I am trying to write about what I know, and I know how to squeeze more velocity out of an unexceptional arm.  

How do I know this? Because I have an unexceptional arm, and I’ve done a lot of squeezing.  I learned how to get the absolute best out of it, and for me, I believe the best is yet to come.  

As a high school senior I pitched at 78-81.  As a college sophomore I pitched at 85-89.  By Junior year (before my elbow went) I was sitting at 89-92.  

Thing is, I’m not special.  I just had good coaching, a great strength and conditioning coach, and a terrible, desperate desire to throw harder and develop into a good pitcher, one worthy of a chance at pro ball.   Read the rest of this entry »

You may have heard of the Y-T-W-L circuit, which develops scapular stability by strengthening the shoulders and upper back.  Scapular stability is of the utmost importance for overhead throwing athletes like pitchers.  Talk to someone with healthy shoulders, and they probably have been using the YTWL.

Yet despite it’s popularity, the YTWL circuit is often done improperly, and actually contains some movement patterns that aren’t useful: specifically, the W.

My shoulder routine has consisted of the YTWL for a few years, coupled with an additional standing shoulder/rotator cuff circuit.  However, for the YTWL, it is time for a upgrade, and that is why I have made the switch to the YTLP.

My friend Nick Tumminello at Performance University has been evaluating the YTWL for a while now, and has done a series of videos on how to perform his newly developed L-Y-T-P circuit perfectly, many of which are featured below.  Read some of his other great training articles on this page.

Nick has made a lot of changes to the circuit, which I am going to highlight in this article.  The biggest is a call to eliminate the W pattern, which he swaps for the (P)ivot Prone.  Rest assured, adopting the new circuit is going to give you stronger shoulders and more scapular stability than you’ve ever had before, even if you’ve already been doing the YTWL.

Read the rest of this entry »

Steroids get a bad rap in sports, and rightfully so.  After all, they give athletes an edge over their competition, and can subsequently take jobs away from “clean” athletes who are physically overmatched by “dirty” athletes.

Yet, a fundamental reason we spectators watch athletics is to witness, and vicariously share in and celebrate, the limits and athletic prowess of the human body.

This is one reason the Olympics has forever been successful, despite the fact that it often features sports that are obscure to the masses for the better part of 4 years.

Thing is, increases in human performance are beginning to taper down as we reach our genetic potential.  Back in the 1900s one could break a world record in the 100m dash by a half second.  Now, world records are lowered only by the hundredth, maybe a tenth if we are lucky.

Where is the fun in that?  We can no longer go out and see something we haven’t (basically) seen before.  If not for the actual stopwatches, no one would know the speed difference between Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis if not running against each other, because the speed difference that translates to even a huge 1/2 second difference in the 100m is likely not perceivable by the human eye.

And sure, sports have incredible value beyond just the limits of a singular performance, but thats not what is at issue here.  I’m talking about the single physical events: the sprint, the distance of the homer, the throw, the swim. These are objective, relevant and salient without mention of other competitors.

Thus, I would like to make an appeal for the greatness of steroids on the grounds that they allow us to continue to explore the limits of the human body, knowing that our natural genetic potential for athletic feats will one day, if not already, be tapped without them. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had a run-in during a game, in which I threw behind (I missed) a batter who had gotten a hit off of me earlier and then ran his mouth about how easy I was to hit. A brawl nearly ensued, but he didn’t feel safe coming all the way out to me. Understandable. Read the rest of this entry »

Most good things in life can arise from something bad.  So is the case with Tommy John surgery. TJ is unique among major  arm surgeries in that it potentially provides a greater than 100% recovery.   Getting to 100% or above, however, is a matter of capitalizing on the time off, and making the most of a bad situation.

So here I’ve compiled a list of the top 5 good things one can get out of a little elbow-slicing action… Read the rest of this entry »