4 Great Ways to Improve Your Pitching Mechanics in the Weight Room

Over the past few months, I’ve released several videos demonstrating how we can use the weight room to help get our pitchers into better positions during their delivery. This article outlines some of the most popular videos in that series and provides some commentary on their relevance to becoming a better pitcher.

Quadruped (All Four) Breathing

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Scapular winging can have a negative effect on the prime movers (such as the serratus and mid/lower traps) and their ability to create leverage during upward rotation. Breathing drills such as Quadruped Breathing or All Four Breathing can help get the ribcage down and recover that much needed leverage when trying to get the arm overhead.

Split Squat Iso Holds

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Telling a young athlete to “post up” at foot strike can turn into a daunting task, especially if they don’t possess the strength to quickly get themselves out of low positions. Working on concentric quad strength in the weight room can do wonders for helping to transfer the ground reaction forces up through the core and into the arm.

Single-Leg Deadlift

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Hip abductor strength and internal rotation can make it difficult to fully load the back leg while coming down the mound. This can cause the front leg to take over, contributing to an early lead leg action as well as early trunk rotation. Here’s a great exercise that works on both abductor strength as well as internal rotation.

Core Stability at Stride Length

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Creating anterior core strength and stiffness can help an athlete “hold down” and prevent opening up early as the hips initiate rotation towards the plate. This is an absolute must for creating adequate torque via maximizing hip/shoulder separation. Our guys love this one.

Much of a pitcher’s success on the mound is tied to movement and how well their body can adapt to getting in and out of key positions. Get in the weight room and build a good foundation of strength and mobility. Then we’ll see what’s left from a mechanics standpoint and deal with it on the mound!

READ MORE:

• This Pitching Recovery Workout Will Help Maintain Your Throwing Shoulder
• The 2-Workout In-Season Strength Training Plan for Baseball Pitchers
• How to Throw Harder: 4 Exercises to Gas Up Your Fastball