"Hi, I have a question. I'm 16 years old and around 5'10, 120 lbs. I recently went down to Florida and discovered that I couldn't pitch more than three innings without my arm becoming sore."
Does that usually happen? How many pitches were in those three innings? How's your conditioning?
"I was wondering if there was any way for me to train myself to increase my stamina."
First, if you're not throwing the amount of pitches in your bullpen that you're required to do so in a game, you're putting yourself at a defecit.
How many times do you pitch a week?
I'd pitch more if I were you, try to get at least 2 (and try for 3) pitching sessions (100% intensity while videotaping with the goal to improve), as pitching is a two-phase motor skill.
Out of 7 days, it's as many (I'd say at least 2, try for 3) as you can. The Japanese throw 100+ pitch bullpens, Korean youths pitch over 200. They're able to do that in games as well.
I'd recommend doing it on non-lifting days (IE. if you work out mon/wed/fri, I'd throw tue/thur/sat). It depends on the individual, it's what's known as the Principle of Individuality. Some people need 48 hours (IE. Throw on Tuesday at 6 PM, Thursday at 6 PM would be 48 hours), while some need 72 hours. Some can throw back to back. It depends on how you're feeling. I can't tell you, only you know.
Do you just stretch before you throw and then pitch?
"Stretching reduces the strength-endurance capability of a pitcher (Kokkonen, Nelson, & Arnall, 2001).
Excessive stretching in warm-ups inhibits strength performance (Kokkonen & Nelson, 1996) and force production (Behm, Button, & Butt, 2001; Evetovich, Nauman, Conley, & Todd, 2003; Fry, McLellan, Weiss, & Rosato, 2003).
Stretching routines should be moderate to minimal and cease at least one hour before the game (Fowles & Sale, 1997).
Stretching reduces throwing velocity (Noffal, Knudson, & Brown, 2004).
Stretching does not prevent injuries (Herbert & Gabriel, 2002; Wilkinson & Williams, 2003).
Some researchers have said that no stretching should be performed at all before explosive activities (Young & Behm, 2003)."
What you want to do is a dynamic warm up:
High knees
Butt kickers
Side shuffles (feet nearly touch in between each rep)
Backwards running
Lunges (get low)
Karaokes
Arm Swing, circles
Running, sprints
Push ups
Or, if you live close enough, take a 10 minute hot shower. The goal is to raise the body temperature 1 - 1 1/2ºC, enough where a light sweat breaks out on the back of your hands, upper lip, and forehead.
For pitching, sprints are great. You'll have to work the anaerobic system the most. I'd suggest doing ultra-short interval training.
3 sets of 5 repetitions of running 20 meters at 100% intensity, with a 25 second break inbetween each rep (so no lactic acid builds up), and after every set, walk for 2 minutes.
Then 4 sets of 5 reps of running 10 meters at 100% intensity, with a 20 second break inbetween each rep, and jog 2 minutes between sets.
Finally, 2 sets of 10 reps of running 10 meters at 100% intensity with a 15 second break inbetween each rep, and jog 2 minutes between each set.
If your performance begins to deteriorate, the set should cease and the two-minute break should begin.
And you should also do some aerobic fitness as well (ie. running long distances, try to run continuously for 60 minutes. Start off at first at a pace quicker than a walk, and do that for 60 minutes, then keep increasing the speed as the weeks go by), as it helps in quicker recovery from and increases the capacity to perform skill trials at practices, as well as increases mental alertness and tolerance to heat.
From 28.6 of The Science and Art of Baseball Pitching: "Skill learning is determined by performing skill repititons and obtaining feedback (meaning, the catcher asked for a fastball low and away. Was it there?) in the absence of fatigue.
For skill learning to occur, learning has to take place in blocks so that feedback from one trial can be used to modify the next trial. That feedback gradually causes good elements to be retained and poor elements to be altered. The essential feature of learning is that the proximity of trials allows the learning benefits (the feedback) from one trial to transfer to the next. However, when other activities intervene between repititions of a skill, the benefits of feedback are disrupted. This interference means that what is experienced in one trial quickly becomes masked by the intervening unrelated activities. Consequently, sporadic trials wth unrelated trials in between do not foster learning. This is a major reason for skill development not being an artifact of a game experience. A block of repititions of the same skill should promote learning and improvement.
Fatigue is the other main feature that must be considered when planning or conducting skill development in a training session. Fatigue impedes learning. Skills and tactical elements are learned faster and retained better when learning occurs in non-fatigued states. All learning should precede (be before) any occurrence of fatigue in a training session... it has been shown that techniques and tactics learned in non-fatigued states produce better performances in fatigued states than do skills that have been learned in the persence of fatigue (Barnett, Ross, Schmidt, & Todd, 1973; Williams, McEwan, Watkins, Gillespie, & Boyd, 1979). The phsiology of learning supports this finding. The formation of neuromuscular patterns is inhibited by increases in acidity of the supporting physiological environment. Thus, when lactic acid accrues (increases) because of physical fatigue, the potential for learning is reduced. The other and more common complication of fatigue involvese neuromuscular patterns. Each skill trial lays down catecholamines at the nerve synapses in the evoked neuromuscular pattern. On the next trial, nerve impulses find it easier to follow the "chemical trail" than when there was none. That is why specific skill warm-ups and mental imagery work. They invoke the appropriate chemicals pattern of a movement and make it easier to perform the skill reliability.
However, if each skill trial is varied, the catecholamines are laid down in several patterns, some of which might be better than others. In time, the body becomes confused as to which neuromuscular pattern should be invoked because there are so many possible pathways to be followed." Once that happens, you'll want to stop and rest for awhile, if not the rest of the day.
What all that above explained is if you want to get better (velocity, control, able to throw more pitches), you're going to have to throw in blocked sets - with rest in between so as not to fatigue - and to also go over what you need to work on during the next block in order to improve.
You'll want to throw 5-10 of the same pitch in the same location (and it'd be nice if you had someone watch you to offer advice, or what would be better is videotaping, so you can see yourself what you need to fix), then take about 1 1/2 to 2 minute break, then do this again.
Keep record of how many times you hit the desired location, and always try to become better than the pitch before.
This will all help you improve. The more you pitch (and with good feedback so you know what to do to improve), the better you'll become.
If you're expected to throw 100 pitches in a game, you better be able to do it in practice. If you don't, you won't be fit to pitch those 100 pitches. That's where people hit the so called "wall", their control goes south, their velocity might lower, and their chance for injury (because your body might not be using the same motion because of fatigue) increases. That's why you should build up your bullpen pitches higher and higher (not right away, but as I said, build up the number of pitches gradually).
As your mechanics are improved, and your skill improves, then start pitching both in non-fatigued and fatigued states. "Arnett, DeLuccia, and Gilmartien (2000) showed that males and not females benefit from practicing in fatigued conditions. Performance in fatigued situations improved after condition-specific practice. A coach must be wary not to practice only in fatigued states but to balance the two experiences and to err on the side of too little rather than too much fatigued practice."
Best of luck.
"In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail."
"They call it coaching but it is teaching. You do not just tell them…you show them the reasons."
"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender." -Vince Lombardi
