Should pitchers train biceps? Social media guru’s say it’s bad, but as is often the case, actual research says the opposite: “The biceps contract eccentrically along with other elbow flexors to help decelerate the rapid elbow extension that peaks during arm acceleration. This is an important function because weakness or fatigue in the elbow flexors can result in elbow extension being decelerated by impingement of the olecranon in the olecranon fossa, which can lead to bone sp

While new velo touch PR’s are important, an even greater indicator of growth is a pitchers FB average. The MLB average FB velocity this year was 94.0; while even some low level pitchers have touched that once upon a time, what seperates the guys who climb the levels of the sport vs those who get released, is that they throw hard consistently : every pitch, every outing, month after month. What most are missing is that a pitchers velo consistency is closely tied to strength. S

Unless you understand periodization and how to correctly combine means and methods, most programs look pretty good on paper But even many programs that are actually good often fail The reason is many times they’re being performed in a lackluster environment Training to the brain is sympathetic: fight or flight So if you place an athlete in an environment that’s aggressive, where the music is loud, you’re slamming weights, and your training partners are pushing you with posit

It only makes sense looking back When you look back you’ll see how all the dots connected and how God put it all together for you But in The Process, you can’t see the conclusion. So there WILL be frustrations. And sometimes it will feel like it’ll never happen If you get lazy; if you complain; if you quit; then you forfeit the blessing But if you stay faithful, God has ordered STEPS for you This is why PERSEVERANCE is such an aspect of maturity (James 1:2-4) because you have

You’ve probably heard the saying “you are what you eat” After over a decade of reviewing athletes diets, I can say that it’s very true-an athletes body, for good or for bad, always reflects their nutrition habits And every skinny weak kid who “just can’t gain weight” makes the EXACT same mistakes: -they eat a lot of protein shakes and bars, the biggest trash products out there -they don’t understand the importance of meal timing -they eat junk like fries/shakes/cookies/cheezi

A kid this past week was talking about his friend that washed out of baseball “He liked to pitch, but I don’t think he really liked everything else” You could write that on 99% of failed players gravestones Of course they like playing That’s what they enjoyed about baseball in the first place But what so many lack is having the will to prepare They fail to do what they need to OUTSIDE of games- an effective throwing program, consistent work on their swing, baseball specific d

Running poles, “triangles”, and the other endurance based activities that go on at the low levels of baseball is a complete misunderstanding of the bio-energetic demands of the sport. Baseball is NOT a lactic sport It’s an Alactic-Anaerobic sport It’s pitch, followed by rest Pitch, rest. Pitch, rest. So what baseball players need is not low output lactic based endurance training like running poles that robs the body of critical Type II muscle fiber, but rather, to develop ala

The Tommy John epidemic in baseball has skyrocketed from 1 in 7 pitchers 15 years ago, to now 1 in 3 Many things have been blamed: the overall emphasis on velocity; greater horizontal ball movement (sweeper/splinker popularity); even the pitch clock While some of those may have validity, the research pins two major catalysts: ➡️ Pitching more than 100 innings in a year increases injury risk 3x ➡️ Pitching more than 8 months out of the year increases injury risk 5x The key wor

We recently had an athlete join that came in with an all too familiar backstory: injury from his team workouts He had been told that the team workout for the day was “go heavy” and he had loaded up the bar with a weight he guessed to be “heavy” Little to no warmup, the coach busy with other athletes, and a teammate unsure how to properly spot him He squatted down with it, and then dumped the bar over his neck on the way up The back pain was so intense he wasn’t able to practi