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Pitch from the ground up
Most of us make the mistake at a very young age, that to throw a baseball solely takes the arm to perform the job. Then as we grow bigger and move up levels in the game, we find ourselves continuing to only use our shoulders and arms to throw the ball. This is a serious problem. For this reason we still have a unusual volume of shoulder and elbow injuries in the game. You need to alter your perspective. You will need to teach your body to recruit bigger muscle groups when you require more velocity out of your delivery. This begins in mastering to pitch from the ground up. Velocity is produced by forces added onto the ball. These forces result from momentum in your lift leg along with your push off the ground or what is called ground reaction forces. You then must be able to transfer these forces into the ball. This is certainly learned from the 3X Pitching Velocity Program.
This pitching clip talks more info on the throwing mistakes we make at a young age.
Loading your weight back until launch
Timing and efficiency of weight transfer, during delivery, certainly is the essence of velocity. This is where velocity lives. Most beginning pitchers don’t load at all. Whenever they lift their leg they fall towards the target. This causes poor velocity and arm injury. Browse my article “Lift for Show, Load for Doe” to learn “The Load” position.
Building Core Torque
A very powerful component of velocity, is generating majority torque inside the core. The core is the region from just above the knees to just below the chest. This area contains the strongest muscles in the human body. So it makes sense that you need to use this section of the body to build velocity. In the event the core will not be primarily utilized to construct torque, then the shoulder and elbow will likely be forced to support the torque needed to generate velocity. For more information on “Separation” or the significance of building core torque, read the article “Pitching Torque and the 3 pivots” and also watch this video.
Create more Elastic Energy
As soon as you have built core torque and your weight remains to be loaded back, rotate and thrust your chest forward while your arm externally rotates behind your head. This stretching of the stomach and shoulder is creating elastic energy in the body. The more relaxed you are, the more elastic energy can be produced. To explore more about this read the article, “Pitch Velocity = Elastic energy.”
Momentum Transfer
What’s the benefit of creating momentum when you can not control or transfer the momentum into the ball? The condition with coaching someone on how to create more momentum when pitching is they have no concept how to control it and they go downhill before they get better. For this reason correct momentum transfer is vital for good velocity. Should you leave any momentum inside your body, then you have left some velocity behind. The 3X Pitching component of “Stabilization” describes how this momentum transfer must happen.
Early elbow extension and Internal Rotation
A lot of throwers believe that if they pull their arms down at release this will create more velocity. The contrary is true. High velocity pitchers release the ball earlier than low velocity pitchers following external rotation of the throwing arm. Which takes place after momentum transfer when their chest is out over their toes and their arms are externally rotated. Meaning after your body has done its job you have to release the ball as fast as possible by letting your elbow to extend up and away from your head. You need to also begin internally rotating your arm, when your elbow extends, so you’re able to release the pitch with your thumb pronated down. This will guard your arm throughout the deceleration phase. Read the article “Pulling down is slowing down” for more information.
Fast Twitch Muscle Fiber
A proper strength and conditioning regime like the 3X Pitching Velocity Program, is based around remodeling fast twitch muscle fiber. This is very important for velocity, because when adding a bit more velocity to a pitch, you must recruit more muscle fiber inside your muscular system for making this occur. Now we have already pointed out where that muscle fiber ought to come from, you now should try to learn a way to remodel more muscle fiber in the correct places of your system. Spending much of your time in the weight room sitting on cushioned machines, isn’t the solution. Get started with the “Beginner Pitching Workout” and you can move to the “Fusion System” in the Ace Pitcher Handbook.
Refuel your ATP
ATP is the main supply of energy for all muscle contraction. There are many chemical reactions that occur to create ATP. Every time a muscle is utilized, a chemical reaction breaks down ATP to produce energy. You can find only enough ATP residing in the muscle cell for 2 or three slow twitch contractions, or one burst of power from a fast twitch contraction. More ATP must be created.
To comprehend rest between throwing a pitch, initially you should be aware of what happens throughout the delivery of the pitch. Initially your muscles use ATP to power the contractions but the levels of ATP available are limited. The cells have got a limited capacity to replenish ATP throughout the activity before being forced to change to other solutions to fuel the activity.
Fortunately, the body can replenish ATP when you’re resting. About 50% or half of the exhausted ATP is replaced after about a minute of total rest. Almost all of the ATP that the body can replenish (just over 95%) will be renewed after around three minutes of rest. I’m sure pitchers can’t wait that long between pitches, though the longer you are able to wait, the better the opportunity to develop more velocity.
Speed your recovery
By boosting your recovery time between starts or appearances, you are making sure you won’t ever enter a game below 100% recovery. If your system is completely rebuilt and rejuvenated, this is a better chance you will possess the ability to produce your top velocity. This is the reason it is important to keep a strict program of a good strength training and conditioning program, in addition to a well balanced alkaline focused diet. You want to learn about alkaline based foods. These are green vegetables and more, that really help restore the PH levels in your system. Whenever your system gets very acidic, you may not recovery as rapidly. Diet is extremely important to recovery. Read this article on “Pitching Nutrition and Supplements” and begin consuming more alkaline foods using this chart.
Change speeds
This should always be your first step in developing velocity as there is no risk involved. This creates an false impression of velocity. By changing the speed of your pitches this will throw the hitter’s timing off and will make a 70 mph fastball seem like a 90 mph fastball. Pitchers like Trevor Hoffman have made long major league careers off of this one rule. He is a master of the fastball change up combination. Utilize this tip for fast effect while you work with the other velocity tips.
Lay off your arm
Cease wearing your arm out. It’s going to take enough abuse on the mound. You must make certain your strength training program isolates the core and legs more than the shoulders and arms. In case your arm is constantly sore and tired, the reason is , you use it to much. Try changing habits, like brushing your teeth with your non-pitching arm and do not arm wrestle your roommates using your pitching arm. Look after yourself and it will take care of you.
I realize every one of these pitching velocity tips failed to go into much detail. The goal of this article was to provide some advice for building efficient and effective velocity, without having to sacrifice the body in return. If you need more information on any one of these points, then sign up for the FREE newsletter at TopVelocity.net and begin reading the articles. If you’re really serious about pitching then buy the 3X Pitching Velocity Program to take charge of your career. Good luck!