BALLISTIC TRAINING FOR PITCHERS - Driveline Baseball

1 BALLISTIC . TRAINING . PITCHERS . FOR. A GET STARTED GUIDE FOR SMART. WEIGHTED BALL PROGRAMMING. Baseball BALLISTIC TRAINING FOR PITCHERS : A Get Started Guide for Smart Weighted Ball Programming Copyright 2016 by Driveline Baseball All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author. BALLISTIC . TRAINING . PITCHERS . FOR. A GET STARTED GUIDE FOR SMART. WEIGHTED BALL PROGRAMMING. Baseball TABLE OF CONTENTS. Book Information and Disclaimers v Who Should Do This Program? Who Should Not? vi How to Get the Most from This Program vii How to Train Ballistically Badly viii Introduction: Why Train Ballistically? 1. More About Stress: Progressing Loads 2. How This BALLISTIC TRAINING Program Works 4. Getting Started: Assessing the Athlete 6. Program Overview 8 Weeks 10. Drill Overview and Video Series 11. Equipment List 24. Importance of Recovery 26. Bonus: Getting the Most Out of the Program 27.

2 Weeks 9 and Beyond: What Do I Do When I'm Done? 28. Thank You 29. Appendix: 8 Week On-Ramping Program 30. BOOK INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS. Consult a physician before starting any new workout regimen. This information is present- ed as a template only and not a specific recommendation for any individual athlete. THIS EBOOK IS. DISTRIBUTED FREELY! The book should be undertaken only by physically mature athletes who are medically If you paid a single dollar for this, cleared to throw. please get a refund and tell us Driveline Baseball will not be held responsible for injuries that happen as a result of fol- ) where you purchased it. lowing this or any other workout program. By voluntarily following this program, you agree to hold both Driveline Baseball , it's owners and employees harmless. All athletes should seek medical advice before beginning this workout program. If you are under the age of 18, seek parental or guardian consent before starting this program. v WHO SHOULD DO THIS PROGRAM?

3 WHO SHOULD NOT? This program is designed for biological- Arm Injuries ly mature high school aged PITCHERS and Any athlete that has recently undergone DO NOT DO THIS PROGRAM IF: up. As a general rule of thumb, we rec- a significant throwing arm injury needs ommend the program in this book for 14 to first finish any prescribed physical You are younger than 1 physiologically 14 or pre- year olds who have a solid base of throw- therapy and complete a physical thera- pubescent (use Hack- ing and sound mechanics. pist's throwing program all before start- ing the Kinetic Chain . ing this program. Youth instead). It is also recommended to put athletes through a detailed Functional Movement You must be medically cleared to pitch. You are not medically Screen to detect any functional deficien- 2 cleared to pitch (use your cies and asymmetries the athlete may have. We have a free 31 day Return to Throw- PT program or give them ing Program that is a more gradual on- our Return to throwing Importance of Screening ramp to address any underlying arm fit- Program ).

4 If you have an athlete with extreme defi- ness issues post-PT which you can bring ciencies, we recommend addressing these to your PT or consulting physician for with mobility and stability exercises and guidance and clearance. then re-testing on a regular schedule. If you do not know whether or not you or your athletes possess mobility deficits, investing in a comprehensive screen from a physical therapist is an inexpensive way to learn. Do not skip a program created by your doctor or physical therapist in favor of starting either our Return to throwing Program or this On-Ramping Program. Consider it an investment in the length of your career. vi HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS PROGRAM. If you want to have the most success with the program, follow these guidelines: 1 Do the program as it is laid out. 2 Do the program exclusively. Find 8 weeks to on-ramp yourself Resist the urge to mix and match. well. Resist the urge to do more simply because you feel great. If you find yourself panicking be- cause you NEED VELOCITY FAST, At the end of 8 weeks, you want there are hundreds of people on the your arm to feel great and to feel like internet who will let you buy some- you are ready for more work.

5 Thing to scratch that itch. Your actual results may vary. Velocity creation and improved per- formance is a deliberate, slow pro- cess with many weeks of self-doubt and despair. vii HOW TO TRAIN BALLISTICALLY BADLY. The overwhelming mistake we see when coaches and athletes encounter velocity pro- If a little is great, and a lot is better, grams is the tendency to do too much too fast. then way too much is just about right! . Mae West Driveline 's programming works because it is a blend of work and recovery. Results do not come from either in isolation. 3 Common Mistakes with Velocity TRAINING and This Program Doing this on-ramp program Doing this on-ramp program in If you are regularly throwing in games 1 in addition to other velocity 2 addition to playing games. and want to train for velocity, you are programs . risking that your in-game performance This is too much work. We wrote our If you are playing games, do our suffers, your injury risk increases, or both. program to be done by itself.

6 Other in-season starter program. programs are to be done by them- Getting to the season and realizing you selves. There are three states for a pitcher: (or your team) needs more velocity is competing, TRAINING and resting. Mix- a mistake in planning committed six Mixing them doesn't give you the best ing any of the three together likely months prior. of both worlds. It gives you the worst. lessens your results. You will be overworked and unrest- Our best advice: play out the season and ed. You are massively increasing your If you are competing, do not train for train with us when it is over. risk of both seeing a decline in veloc- velocity with this or any spreadsheet ity and injury. program. Or stop playing and start TRAINING . It is your career. viii Doing this on-ramp without 3 warming up or not doing the CASE STUDY Unnamed Team Fails at Weighted Ball TRAINING prescribed recovery work. Warm Up. Train. Recover. A professional Baseball team implemented a weighted ball program 3 times a week with some of its PITCHERS : The real work is not done when you are throwing the ball.

7 The real Warm-Up: Catch Play work is done on your rest days. throwing Program: 20-30 weighted ball running throws Recovery: None There is a specific reason warm-up and recovery drills are over 50% of After several weeks, 60% of the PITCHERS who participated had some form of arm the program time. They matter. injury. Why? A significant contributing factor was a program designed with little warm-up and no recovery. Minimal warm-up, no recovery, only high-output throwing . Again, we can't stress enough that this is not the correct approach. ix INTRODUCTION: WHY TRAIN BALLISTICALLY? Weighted balls as a TRAINING tool are But, if you're new to weighted balls, we For an untrained, over-tired or unrecov- largely misunderstood. understand the associated fears about ered athlete, stress is a negative, leading getting started. the athlete on a downward spiral to poor Most of the associated fear stems from performance and risk of injury. bad program design or implementation The Role of Stress and a misunderstanding of stress on a For the properly prepared athlete, stress pitcher's arm.

8 Is a benefit. It creates positive tissue ad- aptations through the mechanism of su- At Driveline , we use overweight and un- percompensation stressed tissue (giv- derweight implements to both improve en sufficient but not too much recovery an athlete's efficiency of movement and time) will add capacity, increasing its their ability to produce and accept force. overall fitness. Create a simple, actionable path from untrained ath- 1 lete to on-ramped and fit athlete. THE PURPOSE OF THIS. GET STARTED GUIDE Clearly explain the logic and methodology behind the IS TWO-FOLD: 2 program's creation so coaches and athletes can make an informed choice about using it. 1. MORE ABOUT STRESS: PROGRESSING LOADS. A pitcher's body will adapt to the specific The benefit from TRAINING with the 5-ounce impact for arm speed development. That stressors/stimuli being applied to it if a Baseball is that it is the competition weight. risk associated with underload tools stressor stays exactly the same, week af- needs to be evaluated in the context of ter week, month after month, adaptation However, just like in the weight room, the arm speed it also develops.

9 Comes to a halt. varying the weight of the TRAINING im- plement can build arm fitness and pro- We use underweight balls in our pro- This makes intuitive sense you wouldn't mote a more efficient movement in ath- grams, but introduce them later in the lift the same weight for the same reps letes by varying the feel of the throwing programming and in small doses. every week and expect to keep getting motion. stronger without needing to add weight Review of Available Research or reps. Are weighted balls dangerous? On the following page is a list of different What shines through in research, both studies of TRAINING methods and their ef- Any thrown ball is a weighted ball. A at Driveline and at ASMI, is that throw- fects on throwing velocity. You will notice 5-ounce Baseball is not optimized to ing underweight or lighter balls increases that for a population of novice trainees, maximize throwing velocity and mini- the peak stress on the UCL. For that rea- high school and college-age, both lifting mize injury risk.

10 Son, you will notice that the bulk of the (isotonic) and overload/underload train- programming here is overload heavier ing increased throwing velocity. Five ounces is an accident of history. We than 5 ounces. know of no weight of Baseball that opti- Dr. Coop Derenne is the foremost expert mizes the performance/injury risk curve However, despite the increased stress, in this field and has published a num- for all or even most athletes. underload throws also have a positive ber of research papers that indicate that 2. weighted Baseball TRAINING creates a sig- nificant increase in velocity for those SUMMARY OF throwing VELOCITY RESISTANCE TRAINING STUDIES. TRAINING with underweighted and over- STUDY SUBJECTS TRAINING METHOD. STRENGTH VELOCITY. CHANGE CHANGE. weighted baseballs. Bagonzi High school Isotonic Increase Edwards College Isotonic Decrease His most popular paper is Effects of Un- Jackson High school Isotonic No change No change der and Overweighted Implement Train- Newton and McEvoy College Isotonic Increase Increase GENERAL.