Again, it is crucial for pitchers to stay off the mound during this period. %PDF-1.4 %���� 90 ft — 5 throws Building Your Base By Listening To Your Arm. 861 0 obj <>stream Because you are staying off the mound, don’t be surprised how often, and how long your arm wants to throw. 150 ft — 3 throws For example, the more you throw, the more you arm will probably want to throw. This is where many pitchers, who have never truly built their arm the correct way in the off-season, may have a pleasant surprise waiting for them. As you will see below, I have broken down our Throwing Program into 3 phases. 120 ft — 3 throws But I would strongly recommend that every pitcher consider having a rest/conditioning period twice a year, even if it’s only for 2-3 weeks. What matters most is what the pitcher does in this 4-6 week window leading up to the first bull-pen, and understanding how to maintain or strengthen this base throughout the remainder of the Fall, Winter and Spring. Interval Throwing Program for Baseball Players – Phase I . Though I have always resisted allocating a “number of throws” to make, or a “number of minutes” to throw for, I have decided to outline a structured format that does just that — it’s based on a predetermined number of throws at a predetermined distance (though there is always flexibility for any player to deviate from this program if they feel like throwing more or less on any given day). 120 ft — 3 throws Return to throwing following an Upper Extremity Injury2. 130 ft — 1 throw The program is focused on position players, with added notes for pitchers. Because the first two weeks have created such a strong foundation, Weeks 3 and 4 deepen this base because each pitcher will actually go through the conditioning phase of Arm Circles, Surgical Tubing and the Stretching Out phase of Long Toss before the pull-down or aggressive throws that are made coming back in toward your throwing partner. 70 ft — 1 throw The reason for this is that the arm tends to respond better on the mound after a good long toss session — it’s been trained for it. 0000004075 00000 n x��ѡ 0ð4t���:� Simply move away from your throwing partner each time you begin to sense that you are going to throw the ball over your partners head. 0000004730 00000 n Now that the arm is ready to take this stretched out feeling “downhill” with some aggressive throwing, the mentality shifts from one of uphill to downhill. In order to establish the best time to rest and rebuild a pitchers arm, you must establish, 1) what the pitchers’ workload has been like from the previous season/seasons (their past season may have been only the summer, or it may have been the preceding spring, fall and winter season as well), 2) find out how much “pitching” they’ve been doing as opposed to “training” or conditioning (unfortunately, many pitchers “pitch” year round, and leave little or no time for training or conditioning), and 3), devise a plan that gives pitchers a chance to shut down and rest (minimum of 2-3 Weeks), and rebuild their arm for an additional 4-6 week period before getting back on a mound. Others may actually throw further distances the next day because the Pull Down phase actually opened their arm up even more, and they will have an even more aggressive pull down the next day. This manual is a throwing program. But if you feel like only stretching your arm out one day, or just throwing 150 feet, or not throwing at all on a given day, than do so. You have 1 career. 90 ft — 1 throw 75 ft — 10 throws 100 ft — 1 throw 165 ft — 3 throws If you only threw 50 pitches, your arm may want a distance closer to 150-200 feet. If a player feels a need to throw for more than 4 days a week in any givenweek, simply do it. 40-60 ft — 15 throws The reason I mention this is pitchers may often shut down early because of “false” signs. We want them to come back toward their throwing partner 10 feet per throw or so, with the same dynamics they made with their furthest distance throw that day (e.g. As you will see, this program is based on 3 days of throwing for week 1 and then evolves into 4 days of throwing for the next 5 weeks. Ice for 20 min WARM-UP • Begin at 20 ft (6.10 m) and advance 20 ft (6.10 m) at a time, throwing 3–5 times at each distance at 50% effort until reaching the warm-up distance for that workout. That’s because each pitcher has their own unique history. Note: If you choose the option of throwing beyond the predetermined “peak” throw that day (e.g. Jaeger Sports – Off Season Throwing Program, https://www.jaegersports.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/main-jaeger-sports-logo.png, https://www.jaegersports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/jaeger-sports-in-the-news.jpg, Copyright © Jaeger Sports. 60 ft — 5 throws (or any additional throws if needed) Symbolically, your first 10-14 days of throwing should also follow this same mentality: stretching, loose arm action, range of motion, freedom, and so on. 120 ft — 1 throw I strongly suggest pitchers taking at least 10-12 weeks off after your season is over to give your arm time to heal and give you time to focus on your overall strength. Though we still want our pitchers thinking “stretch”, “loose” and “freedom” on their pull-downs, we want them to do it in an aggressive manner. Once the base has been built through the stretching out phase, the arm is in a great position to work from and strengthen this base through the Pull Down Phase of long toss. In addition, all exercises included are specific to the thrower and are designed to improve strength, power and endurance of the shoulder complex musculature. This manual is a throwing program. For example, in the case of a pitcher who throws 90 mph but has never thrown beyond 120 feet or used surgical tubing, I could see where his 120 foot throw could turn into 300, 330, maybe even 350 feet over time. 225 ft — 3 throws This is the focus of this article. PASS – FAIL: If the arm is not ready to pull down in Weeks 3 and 4, continue to build distance and endurance. Phase 3: Deepening The Base: Building Strength and Endurance (10-14 days). 105 ft — 5 throws However, your shoulder and arm must have time to heal and adapt to the imposed demand. 170 ft — 1 throws You may find this program works well for you just as it is, or you may need to tweak it here and there. 210 ft — 1 throw 150 ft — 3 throws 120 ft — 3 throws 100 ft — 1 throw 100 ft — 1 throw Shoulder stretches 6. This is conditioning at its best because we are allowing the higher intelligence of the arm to guide us, and you will almost assuredly find that the more you allow your arm to throw (smartly and progressively), the more your arm wants to throw. Although �c��3�$�`����OfL��} Regardless, if you are in tune with your arm, it will tell you from day to day what it wants to do that day…what it needs to do that day. Level 1 Warm-up throws at 20-60 feet 25 throws at 60 feet 2 sets Rest 10 minutes between sets Warm-down throws Throw on alternate days. This is the essence of getting your arm into a positive “cycle”. <<7422430DE4A7724389288024BC5043A1>]>> The beauty of allowing the arm to stretch out without any aggressive throwing in Weeks 1 and 2 is that it best positions the arm for Week 3 and 4, which is the “pull down” or Strengthening Phase of the throwing program. 0000009188 00000 n 105 ft — 5 throws Your job is to put your arm in a position to throw as often as possible, with awareness and sensitivity to your arm, in order to progressively build a strong base. Again, it is crucial for pitchers to stay off the mound during this period. 0000001807 00000 n The goal of Phase 1 is to focus exclusively on “stretching”, hence the Stretching Out phase. You may be surprised how far out your arm will take you because of the base you’ve developed from the first month. The Throwing Program. 110 ft — 1 throw 70 ft — 1 throw endstream endobj 860 0 obj <>/Size 838/Type/XRef>>stream When a pitcher is doing the wrong things mechanically and Make it the best it can be. 225 feet in Week 5), then once you do peak out that day (e.g. 170 ft — 1 throw Throwing a baseball over hand is a very unnatural movement for the body. 200 ft — 1 throw endstream endobj 839 0 obj <>/Metadata 23 0 R/PieceInfo<>>>/Pages 22 0 R/PageLayout/OneColumn/StructTreeRoot 25 0 R/Type/Catalog/LastModified(D:20090902164016)/PageLabels 20 0 R>> endobj 840 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]/ExtGState<>>>/Type/Page>> endobj 841 0 obj <> endobj 842 0 obj <> endobj 843 0 obj <> endobj 844 0 obj <> endobj 845 0 obj <> endobj 846 0 obj <>stream The premise is the same — work on building your base by walking before you jog, and jogging before you run. 130 ft — 1 throw Because endurance increases through this process as the muscles “get in shape”, recovery period improves because swelling tends to be minimized. 40-60 ft — 15 throws 90 ft + (optional 5 additional minutes of throwing and/or increase distance if the arm “asks” for it) We actually encourage that players throw for 4-5 days in week 1, considering that week 1 stipulates the lightest workload. Things to look for in Weeks 3 and 4 are pacing and recovery period. This was supposed to be from a college in the Carolina’s. Alan Jaeger has worked with over 250 professional baseball players (including Major Leaguer All-Stars Barry Zito, Dan Haren, and Andrew Bailey), consulted with several Collegiate Programs (including 2004 National Champions, Cal State Fullerton) and four Major League Organizations including the Texas Rangers.. Alan founded Jaeger Sports in response to the growing need to address the two most neglected areas of baseball: The Arm and The Mind. 80 ft — 1 throw Also, be aware that at 60 feet, especially if you have a strong arm, it may be dangerous to pull down at this distance. 240 + (optional — 5-10 minutes of additional throwing at same distance or increase distance if the arm “asks” for it) This is a really underestimated facet of developing pitching speed that is greater. Without the proper base in place by rushing your pitchers back to the mound is like worrying about putting a roof on a house that doesn’t have a structure in place yet. 60 ft — 5 throws (or more if needed) Note: Once a pitcher starts throwing bull-pens/innings in the Fall/Winter, he will find that the days he is going to throw off a mound are actually his best Long Toss days because he will have the most amount of recovery period days between mound work. Though the first principle of the previous article was to “listen to your arm” and allow it to guide you from day to day, there are still a number of players and coaches that feel more comfortable with having some form of structure or guidelines to follow — some players simply respond better to having structure and some coaches find it more efficient to have a standardized program that everyone can follow. 140 ft — 1 throws 150 ft — 1 throw In the case of a typical pitcher who just finished his summer season, he should typically take a minimum of 2-3 weeks off to rest (physical and mental) after he’s thrown his last pitch of the summer, and spend the subsequent 4-6 weeks to do nothing but “train” and recondition his arm. What we’ve found with the guys who have gone through our training program, and have been allowed to maintain their long toss (maintenance) program throughout the year, is that they have less of a need to have a significant rest or conditioning period throughout the year. 90 ft — 1 throw 200 ft — 1 throw 75 ft — 10 throws We create a custom, individualized program to help correct your inefficiencies and teach you to throw harder, throw healthier, and move faster. 0000003399 00000 n 110 ft — 1 throw 0 And that’s we want our players to ultimately learn to do….know their arm. It’s as if the better shape your arm gets into, the more it wants to throw — the more it “needs” to throw. Depending on how well he did the first two weeks, it’s possible that he may want to make closer to 20-25 throws on his way back to 60 feet. *** Flat Ground Work Begins on Tuesday/Friday (10-15 Change Up’s), Week 5 — (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) Finally, the following distances are based on a college freshman with average arm strength. Though it would be convenient to tell pitchers to make “x” amount of throws for “x” amount of minutes each Monday, Wednesday and Friday for six weeks, this can be very limiting to the pitchers development (with that said, I have outlined a throwing program that does have structure for those players and coaches who quite simply, want structure — see related story). The Thrower’s Ten Program is designed to exercise the major muscles necessary for throwing. 160 ft — 1 throw 90 ft — 5 throws Also, long tossing on bull-pen/game days is effective because the rest of the days of the week can be used for rest, recovery and rebuilding. The Program’s goal is to be an organized and concise exercise program. Progression is based on type and location of injury, symptoms in response to throwing, and preinjury performance profi le. *** Flat Ground Work Begins on Tuesday/Friday (10-15 Change Up’s), Week 4 — (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) 0000003071 00000 n For those pitchers who have been pretty aggressive in weeks 3 and 4, weeks 5 and 6 are considered to be “more of the same” throwing. 105 ft — 5 throws Regardless, Week 3 and 4 are very personal. 240 ft — 3 throws There is a great deal that goes into a velo program and it’s important that a comprehensive program incorporate all aspects of the process. Again, the priority is RECOVERY. Quite the contrary. Though most throwing programs are formatted so a pitcher has structure throughout the off-season, our throwing program places more responsibility on a pitcher listening to his arm. 75 ft — 10 throws 1. For these pitchers, and even pitchers who have been on a good throwing program, they often find themselves pushing beyond distances they thought they had in them. Phase 1: Stretching Out (10-14 Days). 195 ft + (optional — 5-10 minutes of additional throwing at same distance or increase distance if the arm “asks” for it)