Arm Health and Conditioning

Arm Health and Conditioning
By guest author: Sita Ram

Arm injuries have become a major issue in youth sports. With the development of year-round baseball, travel teams, playing on multiple teams and a complete dedication to baseball specialization, issues caused by repetitive stress are becoming both more prevalent and more severe. With the arrival of Major League Baseball opening day and youth baseball in full swing, examining overall arm health is more important now than ever. That's why I want to share with everybody the teachings of Alan Jaeger and his viewpoint on arm strength and conditioning.

Mr. Jaeger, as a personal trainer and consultant for nearly 20 years, has worked with over 70 professional baseball players, including Barry Zito, Andrew Bailey and Dan Haren, and countless amateur athletes. There are three significant components to the complete Jaeger Program:

1. The Mental Game
2. Yoga
3. Arm Development

Obviously, all three elements are highly interrelated and the ultimate accomplishments in each facet will contribute to the overall success of each athlete in the program. Yet, because of its unique aspects, after touching on Alan's philosophy on the Mental Game and yoga, the focus of this article will be on the Arm Conditioning curriculum.

The Mental Game. As previously discussed, baseball is the ultimate "spotlight sport" (Pressure in Youth Sports, May 2005) and creates tremendous stress on young kids. As players continue to develop and mature, they are separated less by physical differences and more on mental differences. The ability to stay focused during their preparation and throughout the game is the missing link between having potential and realizing potential. To maximize performance, Jaeger emphasizes meditation, breathing and visualization. These calming techniques work to simplify the game and can be transferred, through breathing, from practice into game situations thereby enhancing focus and performance.

Yoga. Yoga provides the bridge between mental preparation and game performance by coordinating breathing, flexibility, balance, strength and endurance. Alan notes that "if a player wants to maximize their arm strength, then they also need to build strength in their lower back and core muscle groups that are all a critical part of the kinetic chain." The core of Yoga is proper breathing, allowing increased concentration and focus, which provides the connection between physical and mental well being. The increased physical conditioning, along with better oxygenation, will help in injury prevention. In addition to the obvious strength and flexibility benefits, Jaeger also believes that properly incorporating yoga into the program will add at least 3 MPH to a pitcher's fastball since a relaxed muscle is obviously quicker and more efficient.

Pros Learning New Yoga Techniques from Alan

Arm Strength and Conditioning. A cornerstone of the Jaeger Program is the idiom that players shouldn't be throwing to warm-up, but should instead be warming-up to throw. Arm strength is a key element of any complete player and is just as important to work on as hitting or fielding. Unfortunately, most players, especially kids, neglect their arms. The goal of the Jaeger Program is to have players "thrive on throwing" by following a strength and conditioning agenda designed to build a strong base in the off-season and to establish a maintenance program in season by using a series of arm circles, J-Bands, mechanics, and a committed long toss plan.

Arm Circles. Arm circles must be completed properly before there can even be a thought of picking up a baseball. General physiology now requires a dynamic warm-up before any type of static stretching can take place. A set of arm circles is the first exercise that is done to warm up the smaller muscles in the shoulder to maximize the benefits of the J-Bands. Essentially, arm circles consist of 16-20 revolutions in progressively larger rotations, from very small, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and then full circles. This should be done both forward and backward to build flexibility, balance, strength and stamina in the rotator cuff muscle group.

J-Bands. Exercises with surgical tubing (J-Bands) are an important part of preparing for long tossing. Originally made popular by the renowned orthopedist, Dr. Frank Jobe, J-Band exercises are a series of strength, conditioning, and flexibility movements designed to isolate the specific muscles in the arm, back and shoulder that are used while throwing. The purpose of these exercises is to rehabilitate, develop and prepare the arm before any throwing takes place.

Long Toss. There are two main phases to this part of the program:

1) stretching out; and
2) pull-downs.

While stretching out, the goal is to "massage" the arm as you move further away from your throwing partner. This is done by listening to the muscles and throwing as far as your arm allows. Rather than straight baseball throws, each repetition should be made up in the air and allowing the arm to make a full range of motion. As distance is added, throws should be with proper mechanics and using a "crow-hop" to reduce any stress on the arm. As each player opens-up, the muscles begin to lengthen. It may take a few weeks to build up a solid base and substantially increase distance, but that is the goal of this part of the exercise. During the pull-down phase, you'll throw on a line as you move back toward your partner about 10 feet each toss. This will help generate arm speed, strength, and acceleration through the release point. Doing this program regularly will certainly help any players arm health and strength. Alan Jaeger states that "arm health is about being proactive, being really smart about a few things, including using proper mechanics and what you're trying to accomplish with long toss".

Pros Focus on Alan Jaeger's J-Band Workout

Throwing so much (a solid long toss session may take 45 minutes or longer) seems to contradict much of the current philosophy relating to repetitive stress arm injuries. Yet, Jaeger contends that properly conditioning the arm by throwing is preventative, not causational. If a proper base is built in the offseason and maintained, a player can consistently throw. However, Alan also acknowledges that it is imperative to understand the variables related to pitch counts and the suggested American Sports Medicine Institute ("ASMI") recovery periods, which among other things, recommend no overhand throwing at all for 2-3 months a year. Perhaps most importantly, Jaeger states that kids need to try to be more aware and that they should not be throwing on sore or fatigued arms.

The training program should be done frequently. While throwing off a mound is contingent on pitch counts and recovery, for the most part, everybody should simply throw at least five times each week, but at least three times each week if they want to develop their arms. While it may take 3-6 weeks to get into shape and build the base, after that it is okay to throw almost every day. Jaeger explains it this way: "runners want to run, bowlers want to bowl, the muscles want to work and the more a player throws the better they will feel".

Alan's message to kids is that if they're truly committed to finding out how good they can be and care about the game, then they have to be proactive in some of the more neglected parts of baseball. While each player has to hit and take grounders, the truly successful players are the ones that work hard at the more subtle parts of the game. Kids need to know, if they want a future in baseball that they can't play if they can't throw so they need to learn how to take care of their arm. Also, they cannot ignore the mental part of the game, which becomes even more important as they get older. So, they need to learn about breathing and mental conditioning. Given the busy schedules that all kids have, make the mental game a priority, even if it's only for five minutes a day.

Coaches and parents have to be more aware as well as begin to understand that all sports performances should be evaluated on the "process" rather than the "results". This will allow for a healthier mental approach to baseball. The bottom line is that today's players have a tremendous amount of information on how to improve and stay healthier. The Jaeger Program is a great example of how kids can stay healthy, improve arm strength and begin to truly excel through mental conditioning and yoga. Needless to say, other than a glove and a bat, the most important baseball-throwing arm conditioning equipment belonging in your baseball bag is the J-Bands.

Http://www.sportskids.com

sitaram has been actively involved in coaching youth sports for many years. Focused primarily on coaching and teaching baseball, football and basketball, Kaiserman has served on the Board of Directors for the Beverly Hills Little League, the Beverly Hills Basketball League and the Rancho Park Advisory Board. After graduating from UCLA, Ken obtained his JD/MBA from USC. He practiced law at the prestigious, Houston based, law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski before founding the biggest sports products for kids website for SportsKids.com. SportsKids is a leading website focusing on sports for kids and their families featuring coaching tips, a Sports Camp Directory, Youth League Sponsorship Program, featuring uniform sales and free youth league websites, sports games and the biggest store for sports products for kids where there are more than 250,000 sporting goods products including all types Fan Gear, and all major league beddings for all teams.

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Baseball Pitching : How to Throw a Slider

Baseball Pitching : How to Throw a Slider
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Mechanics have a big role in throwing a slider in baseball. Strike out batters with a wicked slider with tips from a former major league baseball pitcher in this free video on baseball.

Expert: John Riedling
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Baseball Pitching and Warming-Up Properly

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By Nate Barnett

Many baseball players warm-up the wrong way before they start playing catch. They tend to throw to warm-up and not to warm-up before they throw. Warming up the wrong way can cause injury to your throwing arm or any part of your body. Many injuries occur during spring training games or just before big super league tournaments when multiple consecutive games are played. Players often think they already warmed up enough from a previous game earlier in the day and they aren't as loose as they think.

Before a pitcher or any position player begins to play catch they need to warm up their entire body. Why? Players with good mechanics understand that you don't just throw with you arm, you throw with your entire body. Warm up the entire body to throw not just your arm.

What I like to do is start warming up my legs, hips, core, shoulders, arms and then fingers; yes fingers. I am not about to share with you all warm up exercises you should do because there are many. I just want to share some with you so you can get a fairly good idea how you should be warming up to play catch.

I will start with a light jog around the field followed by high knees forward and backward for about 30 yards each way. This gets the blood flowing. I will continue warming up much like football players do. Karaoke forward and back, jumping jacks, high knee skips, form running etc.

Warming up your core is also important before you play catch. I won't do old school sit ups anymore like I used to throughout High School and College. Prone holds serve the purpose, side prone holds with one leg in the air and so on. There are literally hundreds of core warm ups you could do, but I prefer the prone holds to simply activate the core and get it warm.

To get your shoulders and arm simply do arm circles forward and back; thumbs up for a set, thumbs down for another and then palms down. This ensures you warm up each of the three shoulder muscles. Front and forward claps are great and then fence shakes palms out, palms in and palms down.

When you feel loose you can start playing catch with your teammates. Again it is imperative that you warm up to throw and not throw to warm-up. Don't just start playing catch right away, you will increase the risk of injury.

Nate Barnett is co-owner of The Pitching Academy.

You can find The Pitching Academy's articles, blog, and videos on baseball pitching, and hitting mechanics when you visit the website.

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Important Pitching Mechanics Tips You Need to Know

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Important Pitching Mechanics Tips You Need to Know
By Nate Barnett

One of the most important steps to becoming a successful pitcher is to ensure you throw with proper pitching mechanics. Great mechanics begin with appropriate balance and weight transfer toward the direction you are throwing. If there is any inappropriate head movement up or down, left or right or even any weight going in any other direction than toward home plate, you are mechanically insufficient. Many pitchers tend to struggle with their throwing mechanics. Are you one of them? Here are some helpful tips you should know about pitching mechanics.

1. Pitchers need to make sure their momentum is going in one direction, forward! However, there is more to pitching mechanics than merely making sure your momentum is going toward home plate. Pitchers need to use explosive movements to create sufficient energy for an explosive fastball. Many pitchers are lazy and get in the habit of getting to foot strike tortoise like. This creates no power in their delivery at all. These pitchers are often seen giving up the long ball and throwing batting practice in games as hitters tee off on their lackadaisical approach.

2. During a pitchers transition to foot strike, using these explosive movements; it is imperative that a pitcher keep his head over his center of gravity, belly button, or slightly behind the center of gravity when they transfer their weight from one foot to the other. Many pitchers have the issue of staying back to long which can create arm lag.

3. We talked about explosive movements toward home plate, but how long should your stride be? Your stride should be as long as you are tall. If your stride is shorter than 100% of your height you should be working on lengthening your stride. A longer stride creates more power toward the direction of your throw, a shorter stride places more stress on your throwing arm because you have to rely on your arm for the velocity as apposed to first using your legs to generate it. Another advantage of having a longer stride is perceived pitching velocity. Every foot closer you are to the batter at release of the baseball at sixty feet six inches away, it "appears" like 3 mph faster to the batters eye. This gives the batter less time to react to each pitch you throw.

4. The next step to create optimal balance in your delivery is making sure your throwing arm and glove arm mirror each other. I believe pitching instructor Tom House coined the term "equal and opposite" for this mechanical process. This means that your glove arm and your throwing arm create the same angle at foot strike. You will see different styles of how to do this in our pitching mechanics DVD. You have to see it!

5. One of the more challenging aspect coaches face when learning about pitching mechanics is their misunderstanding of mechanical terminology. For example, there is still a lot of confusion about arm slot and arm path when a pitcher releases the ball. What arm slot is the best? What does this mean exactly? These are common questions pitchers ask me all of the time. The answer is whatever arm slot is natural for you. You don't want to force a 90 degree arm slot on a pitcher when they naturally throw three quarter. In fact, most pitchers tend to throw with a natural three quarter arm slot.

There is a lot of science to pitching mechanics. The Pitching Academy breaks this all down for you if you're looking for more information. Pitching mechanics should be easy to understand for anybody who is eager to learn; we keep the science into pitching, but you will be surprised how simple it is to learn proper mechanics.

Nate Barnett is co-owner of The Pitching Academy.

After finishing a professional career in the Seattle Mariners Organization, Nate pursued his coaching and motivational training career. You can find The Pitching Academy's videos, blog, and more articles on pitching mechanics the website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Barnett

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Youth Baseball Digest - Pitcher Having Control Problems - 3 Pitching Delivery Flaws I Check First

You are a youth baseball coach. One of your pitchers is having trouble throwing strikes. When a pitcher is having a bad day on the mound, there has to be a reason. In most cases bad days are caused by simple pitcher delivery flaws. Often times these flaws can be quickly identified and corrected. What are the first three things that a coach should check in the pitchers delivery? Here I discuss the first three things that I always check first.

1) Target Focus and Concentration
2) Front Leg and Landing Foot Action
3) Release Point Consistency.

These three elements of a pitcher's delivery are extremely important when it comes to becoming a good pitcher with good control.

Target Focus and Concentration - Many pitchers let their eyes wonder during their delivery. They get their sign from the catcher and start their motion. At some point they may look away from the target. They do not keep their eyes zeroed in on the catcher's mitt. When a young pitcher takes his eyes off the target, even briefly, the results can be poor concentration and inconsistent control. Coaches should always watch the eyes of the pitcher. Make sure that the younger pitchers keep their eyes on the target throughout the pitcher's pitching motion.

Front Leg and Landing Foot Action - The second element of the pitchers delivery encompasses the action of the stride leg and stride foot. The lead or stride leg should can be locked or stiff during the final stages of the delivery. There must be some give or a slight bend in the stride leg knee. A stiff front leg tends to "pole vault" the player's body upward causing the pitch location to be altered. The stride foot should land flat. Many times a pitcher will get the bad habit of pointing the toes upward and landing on the stride foot's heel. Landing on the heel will in most cases cause control problems. Make sure that the stride foot is landing on the ball of the foot with the entire foot landing flat.

Release Point Consistency - I first check to see if the pitcher is properly releasing the baseball out front and in the same spot pitch after pitch. I want to make sure that the pitcher is consistently releasing the ball in the same location. It is impossible to have good pitching control without perfect release point execution. Stress to your pitchers to get the ball out front. The pitcher should practice enough to master a consistent release point that never varies.

I hope that these tips are helpful to you. The main thing you need to remember as a youth coach is that if strikes are not being thrown, there is a reason for the problem. Every pitcher is to have his great days and bad days. But, the key is to make sure that the bad days are not caused by a simple pitching flaw that can be quickly identified and corrected.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. For more articles like it, you can visit the Baseball Coaching Digest, Youth Baseball Digest, and Little League Digest. Good luck to you and your team. Thanks for taking the time to read my articles. Have a great day, Nick

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Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

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Tips to Become an Effective Pitcher

Tips to Become an Effective Pitcher
By Nate Barnett

We have always consistently emphasized the dramatic increase of arm injuries with youth pitchers. Many of these injuries can be avoided with proper education and healthy, yet competitive environments. I constructed a brief list on missed opportunities coaches and parents have to train their youth to be better all around athletes and pitchers.

Pitching Mechanics: Of course this would be first on the list. I travel a lot to different youth baseball games to watch some of the pitchers I work with. I also observe pitchers on opposing teams and I am very aware of the lack of education youth pitchers have about pitching mechanics. It is concerning that so many pitchers throw to throw and don't know how to throw correctly. Their arm takes the beating and this can all be avoided with proper education about pitching mechanics. Parents and Coaches need to show their pitchers where to go for that education.

Pitching Workouts: I have also written a lot lately about the importance of strength and flexibility. It is imperative that all pitchers have enough strength to support the pitching workloads pitching requires. If not, they are prone to injury. If you have been receiving our training newsletters regularly you will also know how important of a role core strength training plays in becoming a complete pitcher.

Mental Game of Baseball: Many of life's lessons can be learned by playing Baseball. Parents and Coaches, I believe, have the obligation to teach the youth these valuable lessons during practice and games. We all know Baseball is a game of failure; hall of fame hitters success only 30% of the time. The best pitchers at that level succeed half of the time. Youth baseball players can learn just as much from losing as they can from winning. Of course, there is much more to the mental game of baseball than just that; we will review more of that later.

Nutrition: Nutrition is more important than most athletes, parents and coaches understand. There are so many missed opportunities to teach nutrition. The best way to teach proper nutrition is through example. If you are a soda drinker, your kids and athletes will be as well.

Nate Barnett is co-owner of The Pitching Academy.

After finishing a professional career in the Seattle Mariners Organization, Nate pursued his coaching and motivational training career. You can find The Pitching Academy's videos, blog, and more articles when you visit the website.

The Pitching Academy's pitching mechanics DVD.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Barnett

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A Dominant Baseball Pitcher's Workout!

By Brandon Richey

A pitcher's workout program should focus in on the stability of the shoulder and elbow while increasing pitching velocity at the same time. As a strength and conditioning specialist I can think of no better way to do both than by implementing the overhead kettlebell snatch lift into your program. This single lift will completely change your baseball pitching workouts forever.

If your pitching exercises aren't explosive and dynamic in nature then you are wasting your time, as far as, I am concerned. The overhead kettlebell snatch is a lift that helps you to develop superior core strength, explosive hip power, and shoulders that can take and dish out more punishment than anything. By implementing this lift you will give your competition constant headaches. To execute this lift you must have the availability of a moderately heavy kettlebell. In order to snatch the bell you must vertically lift the bell from either the ground or from between your legs up to a held position above your head in a smooth explosive movement. This movement is accomplished by you forcefully flexing and then extending at both your hip and knee joints to generate the necessary force to lift the bell to a high pull lateral position next to your head. Once the kettlebell is elevated at this peak spot next to your head you must then complete the lift by vertically punching your palm towards the sky. When you do this you must make sure to suck your shoulder into the socket and lock out your elbow. As a pitcher looking to add some REAL velocity to your throwing you will quickly see why this particular exercise is so effective. Make sure that you take the time to fully understand and learn the technique that is involved in this lift. Once you do this your progress will soar and your pitching ability will become more dominant than even you could imagine.

Take the time to learn about how to implement the overhead snatch and other kettlebell lifts into your baseball pitching workouts if you are serious about winning. I will even make it easy for you by asking you to access the rest of my articles on the matter for free. Kettlebell training is only for those that are serious about their strength and conditioning program and getting better. Remember that anyone can train hard, but only champions train smart my friend!

To learn more about how to utilize your body, Kettlebells, and to achieve Mind Blowing fitness get your copy of My "Better Than Steroids Ebook" by clicking here: http://www.betterthansteroidsebook.com/www.betterthansteroidsebook.com/Better_Than_Steroids_Ebook.html

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Baseball Pitching - Coaching Pitchers to Succeed by Starting With the Basics

By Nick Dixon

The coaching of baseball pitchers does not require a degree in "pitchingtology". There is no such degree to my knowledge. I just made that up. My point here is that coaching baseball pitching is not rocket science. However, having a basic knowledge of the terms and mechanics is a must. Having a commitment to be attentive to details in instruction and and to have frequent quality practice sessions is a good start toward becoming a coach of a successful pitcher at any level.

Here are the 5 basics elements of pitching success:

1. Beginning with the basics and keeping it simple

Let we first say that one of the basic rules on our high school team is that if you make our team, you are going to pitch. Every player participates in pitching workouts until it is determined that player simply can not help us on the mound. Over the years about 75% of our players pitch at least 10 innings during the season. With that said, I want you to know that my philosophy is to keep the terminology simple, the technique simple, and to make the process of pitching as easy as possible to master.

2. Balance is Key

The first thing we want out kids to understand is the importance of balance. Pitchers must learn to achieve and maintain balance from the start to the finish of their delivery. This is done by learning to keep the weight evenly distributed on the balls of the feet. Nothing happens on the heels. Keep head and body movement to a minimum. The head should stay still. This allows the head to stay over the ball of the pivot foot and over the body core or center. Special attention should be directed at eliminating any tendency to lean back, lunge forward, or to arch the back.

3. Knee Lift and Proper Stride Leg Motion

The lifting action of the stride leg should be smooth, straight up, and to a point of perfect balance. Make sure that the leg is not swung. The stride foot should go downward and then out. Many you pitchers want to lead with their hip and this cause major problems. Make sure that the leg action is down and out in smooth path. The stride foot should land on the ball of the foot. The stride should be in a direction with at least part of the foot landing on a straight line toward the catcher. Some pitchers will land more closed and some will land more open. The main point to remember here is consistency. A pitcher must land in the same spot time after time. If the landing spot is all over the place, control problems will be evident.

4. Elbow Dynamics

Much has been written and many studies have been made on the dynamics of the pitching process. To keep it simple, we want the following to occur. When the front foot lands both elbows should be up and even with each other on a direct line. The glove and ball may be above or below the elbow, but both elbows serve to reverse mirror each other. If the front elbow is tucked when the front foot lands, then a problem is evident. Both elbows should be extended away from the body in perfect opposite directions from the body to form a perfect straight line.

5. Late Break of the Hips

What I mean by this term is that we want the weight out and onto the front foot before the hip and trunk rotation occur. This late rotation generates velocity. Early rotation causes the pitcher to throw with all arm and will cause arm problems.

COACHING POINT: Make sure that the pitcher finishes low with the throwing arm finishing outside the stride knee. Many young players want to lock the front leg thus pole vaunting or lifting their body up and over the front foot. The stride leg should bend slightly.

As mentioned before, make sure that the stride foot is not heeling- out or landing on the heel. This is a flaw that causes jar and control problems. Also make sure that pitchers set up on the pitching rubber in the correct location. We want right-handed pitchers on the right of the rubber and left-handed pitchers on the left. This makes the ball more difficult to pick-up by the batter because of the increase in angle. It gives the pitcher more plate to work with.

Check out the Bat Action Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages and has a full year warranty.

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