Im after some advice on improving my strength & conditioning to aid in baseball. Basically I want to be able to hit further & throw the ball faster. I pitched for the first time on the weekend & went reasonably well, our team is short of pitchers so I can see my coach calling on me pretty often. I've been sore as hell in my thighs & abs the last couple of days & I know its due to my poor conditioning. Im not playing major leagues here but like anyone who plays a competive sport you obviously want to improve.
So I guess what im asking for is advice on improving my leg & core strength to generate power for hitting & pitching. Also ways to improve my shoulder strength to aid in injury prevention. My core strength is terrible & after doing a little Reading it seems that a strong core is the key to overall body strength.
Im about 5'9" & 74kgs, not overweight but have a little bit of tub that I should shed. All advice is greatly appreciated
Hi Mr Raditch,
Hope I can help you hear somewhat. I had been a pitcher for over 10 years and also had a short stint in the old ABL before it went bankrupt and then went on to do my own arm injury and if I had my time over again would have better maintained my arm.
The main area to concentrate on is the legs as it's where you get all your power from in baseball. You need strong legs for driving off the rubber on the mound and for hitting a 400 foot homerun if you're lucky enough. If you decide that pitching is the way you want to go, then concentrate on legs, upper back and shoulders. My downfall was trying to look good in the gym and did too much chest and not enough upper back. Unfortunately with baseball, some people have a God given gift and can throw 90mph. You look at some of the kids, they are skinny rakes but can throw darts, so someone like yourself has to work harder to increase velocity. Picture someone like Roger Clemens, he has tremendous leg power and stride to create velocity.
The key to arm health though is to get onto a throwing program, it's like anything, the more you do it the easier it becomes and your arm will become more accustomed to the action. We use to throw 5 days a week. 60ft for 5 mins throwing on the flat, then 90 ft for 3 mins on the flat, then 120 ft for 2 mins on the flat. It's only 10 minutes but arm strength and velocity were increased.
Also if you can get your hands on a rubber band, concentrate on doing rotator cuff exercises as these are critical to pitching health along with icing your arm after pitching. The strength training will no doubt help improve your pitching but the maintenance is critical to longetivity and that's where my career was cut short. I developed Bursitis in the shoulder which after a very long rest still is chronic. I had to learn how to pitch submarine to continue to pitch, it's interesting to say the least.
Anyway, hope that helped somewhat.
Cheers
