Off Season Conditioning

Question
I have a 15-year old son (turned 15 in Sept) who pitches and plays shortstop for a school team in the spring and rec team in the fall. What kind of off-season conditioning program would you recommend for him to protect his arm from the dangers of overuse?

Also, during the season, what kind of workload should he be able to handle and is there anything he needs to do between starts?

Timothy P. Robson

Answer
Timothy,

Thanks for your question and I hope I can provide some answers for you.

Off season is the time to strengthen and increase velocity.  My son is only 12 and our fall season has not yet ended, but we had about 6 weeks in between summer and fall seasons that we worked on conditioning and strength.  I feel that weight lifting is OK even for pitchers.  Concentrate on legs and lower body, which when strong increase the pitchers stamina.  Also work low weights and high reps on the upper back, shoulders, chest and arms. This will increase strength but maintain flexibility.  Do a lot of stretching as well. Running is a must to increase stamina as well.

Our off season throwing routine includes long toss, weighted ball, flat ground pitching and mound pitching.  We will only work off the mound in off season once or twice per week for only about 30-50 pitches per session.  When we work off the mound, we do nothing else that day.

Long toss and weighted ball toss will help increase arm strength and velocity.  Long toss is essential for this.  Studies show that such a program in off season can add 2-6 mph as the young pitchers grows from one season to next.  

Here is what we try to do.  Obviously, homework, other sports and other interests sometimes put a crimp in the program.

Monday--Long toss, weighted ball throwing 45 minutes
        Run 1 mile

Tuesday--Weights, Run

Wednesday--Long Toss, Flat ground pitching (maintains control) 45 min
Run 1 mile

Thursday--Lower body weights

Friday--Mound pitching

Saturday--Long toss, Weighted ball

Sunday--OFF

We also mix in fielding ground balls and flys and batting practice.  We have a cage that makes hitting easy and quick.

Variate your program a little as well.  Some days, we will just go out and shoot baskets for 30 minutes or so instead of running, or throwing.  We will also take 2-3 days off or even a week if I feel he needs it.  Remember, this is not his job.  But if he is like my son, he wants to improve and he will put in the work.

As for protecting his arm, the best protection against overuse or injury is proper pitching mechanics.  If you need, find a good pitching coach who will emphasize mechanics, or get some books on the subject.  Nolan Ryan has a great book on mechanics.  Additionally, count his pitches in games.  As a 12 year old playing in a 13 year old division, I keep my son to 85-95 pitches per outing followed by a minimum of 3-4 days rest.   Even if we are playing a tournament, we stick to these rules.  If he is going to pitch 2 days in a row, as in a tournament, we drop the pitch count per outing to about 40-50 and use more pitchers.  

This is to save fatigue, which then changes mechanics, which leads to injury.  Proper mechanics will stop injuries from happening.

As he grows and matures, he will become a little more prone to injury.  I am a chiropractor who has worked with a University athletic program for over 7 years treating there athletes.  After each outing, he should immediately ice.  The next day should be stretching and easy tossing about 50-75 throws.  Second day is regular throwing and even long toss.  Third day and flat ground pitching session.  Fourth day is mound or game throwing.  This scenario is if he is  a starter who is throwing over 80 pitches per game.  This will keep him from injury and keep his arm fresh.  

If he ever experiences any injury or problems, let me know, I will be glad to answer any questions for you.  I hope this helps somewhat for your offseason.  Go slow and easy and have fun with it.  Remember, your relationship is more important than baseball, but you sure can develop a great one through baseball together.  Encourage him and be tough when you need to be.  Maybe one day your son will be throwing against mine in the Majors.

God Bless,

Mike Boss