Winter Conditioning - Baseball

Question
Is there a winter (Off season) Conditioning Program that you can suggest for HS Pitchers.

Thanks,
DR

Answer
Hey Dave,

Thanks for your question!  HS pitchers are actually my specialty so you have come to the right place.  I assume that your HS pitchers are like all other HS pitchers that play spring summer and fall which leaves little time to train.  The winter is a very valuable time to recover and train for the following season.  Recovery is the most important aspect to the training program.  If you never fully recover you will never achieve full potential.

Assuming that you are dealing with a healthy HS pitcher with no injuries you will want to include quite a bit of lower body strength and power work such as squats, power cleans, deadlifts.  One of the mistakes that many young pitchers make is thinking that throwing is done with your arm.  Since all power is transfered from the ground up a solid lower body will help pitchers with throwing power as well as endurance.

Next on the list is core work.  Pitching is a rotational movement from the hips and torso so adding cable rotations, russian twists, and rotational medicine ball exercises will help transfer the power from the legs to the arms.

Finally move onto the upper body with the major movements of the shoulder (chest press, rowing, shoulder pressing, and pulldowns) along with bicep and tricep work.

I know this is a very vague overview, but I would like to learn a bit more about your specific pitchers so that I can give you more specific details.  Also, we offer online performance programs at www.hufftrainingonline.com.  If you have any other questions feel free to let me know.

Happy Training,

Coach Dan
[email protected]
www.BaseballStrength.com