High school and middle school
baseball teams have recently started practice and I’ve been asked by some of these
players what they need to do in between starts as far as throwing, arm care,
and strength and conditioning go. I will
attempt in this article to give you the best routine I can possibly put
together. The tricky thing here is that
you may not be on a regular schedule to pitch.
What I mean by that is that you may start a game and then 7 days later
start again and then it may be 5 days later and then 9 days later. The other tricky part is if you don’t start
but rather pitch in relief. I will attempt
the best I can to give a detailed outline of what to do in between starts. I will give a sample of a 5 day rotation and
a 7 day. Make sure to do a dynamic
warm-up as well as mobility drills every day.
During the season, it is very easy to lose mobility, especially in the
hips and shoulders. These are the two
places pitchers need to have mobility so we must do what we can to sustain as
much mobility as we can over the course of the competitive season.
The 5 Day Rotation
Day
0 – Pitch – Rotator cuff work (Bands and/or Weighted Ball Program)
Day 1 – Light throwing, Total body
workout with more emphasis on lower body strength and light upper body; if you
couldn’t get in rotator cuff work yesterday do today as well
Day 2 –Throwing will vary on this
day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and
easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), Sprints (50 yds) and
agilities (5-10-5, 4 cones, etc.)
Day 3 – Usually your bullpen day;
total body lift with more emphasis on upper body strength and single leg lower
body work (circuits would be ideal); scapula training (i.e.: blackburns, shoulder motions)
Day 4 – Light throwing; extended
dynamic warm-up
Day 5 – Pitch again
The 7 Day Rotation
Day 0 –
Pitch – Rotator cuff work (Bands and/or Weighted Ball Program)
Day 1 – Light throwing, Total body
workout with more emphasis on lower body strength and light upper body; if you
couldn’t get in rotator cuff work yesterday do today as well
Day 2 –Throwing will vary on this
day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and
easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), Sprints (50 yds) and
agilities (5-10-5, 4 cones, etc.)
Day 3 - Throwing will vary on this
day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and
easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), extended dynamic
warm-up
Day 4 - Usually your bullpen day;
total body lift with more emphasis on upper body strength and single leg lower
body work (circuits would be ideal); scapula training (i.e.: blackburns, shoulder motions)
Day 5 - Throwing will vary on this
day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and
easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), Sprints (50 yds) and
agilities (5-10-5, 4 cones, etc.)
Day 6 - Light throwing; extended
dynamic warm-up
Day 7 – Pitch again
*Some of you may want to throw
bullpens twice in between starts on a 7 day rotation. If you want to do that, you will throw
bullpens on days 3&5. Day 4’s
throwing will become long toss and a pulldown option.
Remember, this is just a sample and there are some things
that you specifically may need to incorporate in to work on imbalances during
the season. As you can see there is not
a whole lot of running involved. The
most a pitcher is ever going to run in a game is approximately 20 yards so we
don’t need to waste a lot of time with running.
We do need to throw to keep our arms conditioned, do lots a mobility
drills to keep our hips and shoulders functioning properly, and strength work
to try to keep us as healthy as possible over the course of the season.
