We are a little over a month into our new in-season Healthy Heat format. We made the decision to slightly alter our offering because we understand the time constraint that comes with playing amateur baseball. Unlike the college and professional level, schedules are anything but predictable. The offseason was spent focusing on building volume, cleaning up inefficiencies, and training the body to move faster. As we transitioned to our in-season format the primary focus became my go-to cliche of “maximizing the week."
High level athletes train every day. Every day doesn’t have to be a maximum effort day, but every day they are working on their craft. This provides more opportunities for guys to experiment and feel their way through new movements. We wanted to give this opportunity to our throwers. It has also allowed us to give athletes full recovery days, where they primarily work on their body while using their throwing work as active recovery.
Results have been amazing! We have seen huge improvements in the way that guys feel, not only on training days, but also on pitching days away from us. When throwers show up, they have to self report: when they pitched last, when they will throw next, and how they have felt on pitch days as well as on that given day. This information has allowed us to provide them with an even more individualized plan for exactly what they need on that day.
While we do not test velocity regularly, when guys haven’t pitched in a week, and have a weekend off, we can have full push days. The early results have been staggering. Guys are up an average of 5 MPH on a double hop and 3 MPH on their positional throw. While initially we thought it would just be maintaining the gains that guys had achieved over the offseason, we have seen that they can still make huge progress.
These early results have really fueled our fire as to why we think it is critical for guys to continue to train, as often as their schedule allows, during the season. Even big leaguers have things that they work on in between starts, so amatuer athletes certainly do. They can continue to do arm care to maintain strength and alignment. They are able to benefit from power building workouts that train them to move better in the specific planes of motion that baseball requires. Most importantly they are able to remove mechanical inefficiencies and remodel their new tissue that is built as a result of throwing in season so that they are able to throw at a higher intent, without pain, more often.
Consistency is key. The best pitchers on any team are good more often than not. If a guy is lights out one game and then seemingly ineffective the next, it is not a mental issue, it is a recovery issue. Mechanical inefficiencies, improper warm up or recovery processes, improper build up to the season, or too great of a workload are the main contributing factors. While the only one with control of workload is ultimately the coach, the first three factors can all be addressed in season. Inefficiencies can be cleaned up with a proper throwing plan. A bad warm-up can be fixed tomorrow by simply doing what it takes to prepare the body to throw, as well as developing a recovery routine. They can continue to build volume in season, by simply managing stress, and gradually increasing it throughout the week.
To sum it all up, development never stops, it can’t. And, more importantly, most guys do not need a total overhaul. Changes can be made quickly in-season, without regression, by identifying issues and developing a plan of attack. Our in-season plan is off to a good start and it will continue to change and adapt as players do. We want to plan for anything that could possibly come up so that athletes are able to adjust without having to think about it. While we want them to own it, we simply want them to work hard during the week, and compete their tails off on the weekend. When they allow it to be that simple, the sky's the limit.
If you or someone you know needs to improve performance, increase their fastball velocity by 3 plus MPH, or eliminate arm pain. Get in touch with us. Become a part of the best throwing program in Colorado. http://www.bardosdiamondsports.com/healthy-heat.html