by Coach Griff

Pitching is a tough gig. All eyes are on you, and you’re often the key element in determining which team will win.

Improving your pitching fitness will allow you to throw more accurately for more pitches, going far deeper into a game.

When you get good enough, you give your team a great chance at winning each week.

<aside> 🤕 As with all exercise, if any of the below information causes you pain, stop and seek advice from our coaches.

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The importance of fitness in pitching

Pitching requires a combination of fine-motor skills and muscular endurance. You don’t need to be the fittest player on the field, but you need to be able to repeat your pitching motion again-and-again, pitch after pitch, inning after inning.

Personally, the weakness point in my own pitching fitness is my landing leg. It absorbs a significant amount of momentum each pitch (and because I’m too lazy to go to the gym), it is often the first part of my body to experience fatigue. This fatigue means I “sink” at the point of release, reducing velocity and causing me to get under the ball and miss “up and away” to a right-hand hitter. If you’re a left-hand hitter, it means you’re in a dangerous position (because I’ll miss “up and in”).

Understanding the importance of pitching fitness can help explain some of your mechanical issues. Your body may not be able to pitch with the right mechanics, simply because you are not yet strong enough to do so.

Building your pitching fitness from the ground up will make the mechanics taught in this clinic far easier.

A word of caution on weights

Pitching fitness is the opposite of heavy weights. It’s a nimble activity, like gymnastics, and requires strength throughout mobility.

Lifting heavy weights for pitching is a recipe for failure (especially for younger players), and I recommend players only lift weights once they’ve mastered their mechanics and built substantial stabilising muscles through Therabands. My pitching coaches prevented me from lifting weights until I was 17 years old.

The reason we do not recommend weights for young players or pitchers is because they can accelerate your road to injury. As an example:

• If your pitching mechanics are not yet sound, you are placing stress on the incorrect tendons and ligaments, ones that are not designed to absorb the strain you are placing upon them.
• If you then lift weights on top of this, you are building stronger muscles that place even more strain on these incorrect tendons and ligaments.

<aside> ⛔ No bench press. Bench press is perhaps the worst-possible exercise you can do for pitching. Pitching velocity doesn’t come from pectoral strength, and if your muscles get too big, you won’t be able to properly follow through with your mechanics.

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Pitching fitness

To get you started, here are some of the best exercises to improve pitching fitness.

• Running, 200m at a time at an 80% effort
• Push ups, in various hand positions
• Pull ups, wide and slow
• Sit ups, in various feet positions
• Planks, front and side
• Pistol squats, in the slowest possible descent and ascent.
• Jump squats, as big and high into the air as possible.
• Ski jumps, as far and wide as possible.
• Burpees, as fast as possible.

<aside> 🏃🏼 You can’t get enough running. Any activity that involves running will help improve your pitching.

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Therabands.

Here’s an excellent routine for improving arm strength with your Therabands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4uEX-TaIU4

Equipment required

Stretching