What are some of the exercises that translate best over to performance on the baseball diamond. Anything specifically for pitchers? I play multiple positions but spend most time pitching. I do various rotational trunk exercises which seem to have helped considerably, but I am looking to really take my training and my game to the highest level possible. Also, are there any exercises I should avoid which might cause undue strain to the rotator cuff, like maybe bench press? I do direct rotator cuff and try to balance movements for the front and back of the shoulder. Any recommendations for exercises, drills, or programs would be greatly appreciated.
Internal/external rotations, tricep kickbacks, Deadlift, Squat, tons of torso work, and Forearm work (Farmers walk)
Tricep kickbacks? Just curious as to why you recommended them. As for exercises to avoid, Behind the neck presses and lowering yourself to a FULL lock out on chin-ups are suppose to be bad for your rotator cuff. Have you checked out Tornado Training for in this and last weeks issues? don’t forget your oly lifts as well as your glute ham raises and reverse hypers. check out the articles written by coach davies if you haven’t already.
I just wanted to add this, as it might not get brought up. For pitching, I personally think it’s important to have strong biceps as well as strong shoulders, trunk and triceps. When you throw you biceps decelerate your forward arm motion, and depending on the pitch you are throwing it can be very important to slow the arm down for pitch control and injury prevention.
I think one of the most important areas you need to address is hip power & mobilility as well as rotational work. I use a wide series of 10 hurdle drills that help tremendously with these concerns. Range of Motion work, in both a dynamic and static fashion need to be heavily stressed to ensure maximum rotational speed and arm velocity is upheld. Fill me in on what work you have be doing in & out of the weight room and we can address any weaknesses. In faith, Coach Davies
The tricep is utilized during the throw to some degree, but the bicep of course is used even more, with an imbalance of strength the bicep muscle cannot produce what it should. With a great balance in arm strength you can have great output. Tricep kickback is great for the longhead which is something athletes understimate. Coach Davies, if you have any input on this I’d appreciate it.
Coach Davies: Right now i’m focusing on balancing out the muscles around my shoulder. I have had a bit of a problem with imbalances in that area. I do direct rotator cuff work about 3 days a week. The rotational exercises I focus on are russian twists and a standing version holding a 45 pound plate at arms length while rotating my upper body. I have not done much hip flexibility work and I definitely think I may be lacking in this area. As far as the rest of my body I am mostly working toward injury prevention through ensuring balance of antagonist muscles as directed by a local trainer. Should olympic lifts and hybrids be incorporated in my training or do they not serve a purpose here. Most of the exercises I do are basic presses, rows, etc. as directed by this trainer, though he did not have much reasoning behind this choice of exercises. Unfortunately I have just been initiated into the area of weight training for sports performance in the last year or two. I have had the misfortune of playing under coaches who still see lifting weights as being unnecessary or even harmful to baseball performance. Hopefully this sheds a little more light on my situation.