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How
Often Should I Do My Pitching Drills?
Dear
BioForce Faithful,
Your questions really are the lifeblood of our
online community and I thank you very much for them.
This week, a fellow BioForce faithful asked about
how often you should do the pitching drills in our
videos.
Here's the email from Max….
Dear
Bill,
"I recently purchased 3 of your DVD's (How
to Become a More Explosive, Athletic, & Powerful
Pitcher and
Level 1-3 of the shoulder & elbow conditioning).
Last night I had a chance to watch the
How to Become a More Explosive, Athletic, &
Powerful Pitcher DVD. My question relates to
the 6 steps in the reverse regression training.
How often should the player work on this and how
many reps of each step should be done, you do
not cover this on the DVD. If you could give me
some guidelines for this it would be greatly
appreciated. Also both my 13 & 15 year old sons
have started the Level 1 shoulder and elbow
conditioning, they both say they can really feel
the burn and are finding muscles they didn't
know they had. Thank you in advance for your
time."
Sincerely,
Max W.
Max, I'm
very glad to hear that you have watched the DVDs and
they are working the program. My goal is to get a
companion manual published this summer to help plan
the workouts, both in-season and off-season. This
email should help give you some insight on how to
use the program in-season.
In-season, it is time to maintain what we have
gained over the off-season in both strength and
mechanics. The goal is to stay sharp and enhance
your timing mechanism (a great drill for timing is
pitching drill 3 in the DVD.)
Last night (Tuesday), my younger son Craig came into
our academy to do a tune up and prepare for his next
start on Friday. His high school team doesn't do a
lot of pitching preparation in between starts.
Sometimes that is a good thing if you like working
your own system. There isn't anyone to get you off
course and try to put band aids on the bad curve you
just threw.
I can't believe his high school baseball career is
coming to an end in a few short weeks. The bright
side of the equation is that he is following his
brother to go play college baseball. Still not sure
where yet, but I think he is ready to make a
decision very soon. It's been great for him that he
has some options right now and four schools are
interested in him. He's feeling very good about all
the hard work he has put into his game. But, I
digress. Back to the subject at hand.
Three weeks ago, he did the same thing on Tuesday in
preparation for a Friday start, a short bullpen
working all his pitches, fine tuning his pitching
mechanics, and getting his timing down. The result?
Well, a two-hitter against one of the best hitting
teams in the state with maybe one or two walks. The
following week? Didn't do the bullpen and the
result? He got a win, but couldn't get the curve
over very well. He walked a few more batters than he
should have. Craig certainly didn't have his best
stuff, but competed through it well. Last night he
was feeling good working on his timing. Something
came out of his mouth that put a huge smile on my
face….well inside at least. Couldn't show him I was
jumping up and down for joy! He said he better get
back to doing his mid week workout because he
noticed a difference in his performance between the
two games.
I've seen a phenomenon with both of my two boys.
They work real hard preparing, have a great game and
feel…ok, now I've got it….found the groove. And then
take a little step back and relax a little. Less
drills, the routine changes, and BAM, have trouble
finding the strike zone again.
Then they get frustrated and can't figure it out….
DUHH…
Develop a working routine and stick with it. Every
day. Every week.
What did he do last night? After a good warm up,
like some of the physio ball circles in the
12-Minute Shoulder and Elbow Endurance Solution
dvd Level 1, and a few choice other warm up drills
like the internal and external rotator cuff band
exercises, he threw a few drill 4 step behinds until
his shoulder felt good and loose.
He went right into about 10 to 12 pitching drill 2's
to work on waking up the body and getting the glove
side active and ready to work. He was also focused
on his posture at release point too, keeping his
head over his knee and foot at release.
After that, he went right into drill 3 from about 45
feet or so. His focus on the first 5 to 10 was to
get his equal and opposite timing down at foot
strike and making sure his glove side was working as
we talk about in the DVD.
Once he felt comfortable with his timing and tempo,
he broke off a few curves to wake up his release
point, then a few change ups too.
At this point, he felt ready to progress to
pitching. He got up on the mound and threw about 10
to 12 fastballs from the stretch. He was only
throwing about 50 to 55 feet at this point. We
didn't want him to over throw and stress the arm and
shoulder too much. The purpose of this session was
to enhance his timing and keep his touch and feel
going.
He proceeded to work all his pitches from the
stretch and wind up making sure he took a little
break after about 15 pitches…because that's what we
do in a game. We certainly don't crank off 40 to 60
pitches in a row in a game right?....hopefully not.
Overall, he didn't throw more than about 30 or so
off the mound. He was throwing about 70% effort too.
He did cut loose on a few at the end, but the
purpose for this session was to stay sharp.
What will he do the rest of the week? Today he has a
game, and will play a position. So he'll throw a
little as usual. Not a bad idea to keep the arm
loose. He might do a few of the pitching drills with
a partner as part of his warm up routine. He plays
catch with a purpose. Tomorrow, the day before his
start? He'll take it easy with the throwing. He
might do a few towel drills with pitching drill 2
and pitching drill 3 as well as some with the
stretch and wind up just to enhance his timing, but
for the most part, he'll rest the arm and shoulder.
He might spin a few curves and change ups to feel it
coming out of his hand, but not too many. He needs
to be physically fresh for Friday.
Pre-game. More drill 2's and pitching drill 3s to a
catcher at a short distance. And then on to the
mound.
Then go out there first inning and kick some arse.
By the way, if you own our
How
to Become a More Explosive, Athletic, & Poweful
Pitcher DVD, my younger son Craig is our athlete
performing the pitching drills in the DVD.
You might be wondering about why he doesn't do our
pitching drill 1. I use that drill primarily for
kids who have trouble with the active glove side.
Once they get that part of their game down, we focus
a lot on the other drills. For some people, that
drill 1 can actually promote an open shoulder while
throwing. I would use it with the sole intent of
working on stacking and an aggressive glove side.
Max, I hope this helps you. Thanks for the great
question.
Until next time….
Train like a champion today!
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