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Arm strength and arm care exercises are CRITICAL for keeping a baseball player healthy over a long career. Especially for pitchers, developing an arm strength routine is a must.
How do you strengthening your arm as a pitcher and reduce the chance of injury? By performing a balanced routine of shoulder and rotator cuff exercises consistently, 3-4 days per week for YEARS on end. It’s longterm preventive care that really makes a huge difference.
In this article, learn eight great arm care exercises that will improve arm health and help to reduce the likelihood of injury.
1. Band External Rotations
The band external rotation is a great exercise for the deceleration muscles of the rotator cuff. Staying healthy while pitching is all about having balanced musculature in the shoulders, and having strong decelerators helps balance out those power accelerators.
2. Band Internal Rotations
The internal rotation exercise strengthen the accelerator muscles. Though we don’t need as large a dose of internal rotation strengthening, it’s still important to include in an arm strengthening program.
3. W-Y-W Scap Strength Exercise
Your shoulder blades, lovingly referred to as your “scaps” in the baseball world, are responsible for controlling movement in the arm. Weak scaps with poor endurance lead to bad mechanics as fatigue sets in, and having strong, stable, endurant scapulae is a crucial aspect to staying healthy.
4. Blackburns
Blackburns are one of my favorite exercises for young baseball players because they can be done in groups or in front of the TV at home. They start out with no weight necessary and players can add light dumbbells as they get stronger and improve the endurance of the shoulder blades.
5. Prone Scarecrows – GREAT for Pitchers
Prone scarecrows are great for the upper and mid-back muscles, as well as the external rotators of the rotator cuff.
The arm needs excellent rotator cuff strength and this exercise is easy to perform yet targets the external rotators exceptionally well.
6. The Scap Push Up
The scap push up is great for arm strength because the protractor muscles, which are often overlooked, get strength and endurance. This prevents “scapular winging” which is when the shoulder blade peel off the back like wings.
7. Scaption Raise
The scaption raise is a combination exercise – it looks very simple (and it is) but it hits both the deltoids and serratus anterior (a protractor) equally well.
8. Shoulder Alphabet
But, it’s not just about slow and controlled arm strengthening exercises–rather, some exercises that focus on increasing the stability of the shoulder is very important. The shoulder ABCs accomplishes this quite well.
9. Forearm 6-Way for Elbow Health
The dreaded Tommy John surgery is not completely preventable, but having strong forearms with excellent endurance is known to directly strengthening the muscles that protect the UCL (ulnar collateral ligament).
This is like having strong body guards protecting the President, rather than puny weak ones. Forearm training should be part of every pitcher’s arm care regiment.
Putting Your Baseball Arm Strengthening Workout Together
Follow the guidelines below. Position players and pitchers alike should have an arm strengthening routine that they follow religiously.
- 3-4 workouts per week
- 2-3 sets per workout
- 12-20 reps per exercise
These general guidelines are good for players of all ages, in-season and off-season.
More Arm Strengthening Exercises for Pitchers & Position Players
The video below walks you through a complete arm care workout for baseball players – be sure to check it out!
Building a basic arm care routine is critical for staying healthy over a long baseball career. Don’t take it for granted and get started on an arm care program today.
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Thanks for reading! – Coach Dan Blewett