Hey, i am a 15 yr old freshmen and i play third base. I was wondering are their certain drills i can do to build my arm strength or anything like that? or should i just play long toss? any help would be appreciated thanx
ristud13

Throw, throw, throw. Thera-bands, arm stretches and cirlces, and a good long toss program for the off season. Work hard and get strong.

Coach

I could not have said it any better

Long toss, long toss, long toss.

The key is to throw the ball on a line. do not rainbow the ball to your partner. Better to two hop it on a line than to put a lot of arc on the ball to get it there!

Sports Specific training that will target the small stabilizing muscles in the shoulder that traditional strength training programs miss will improve are strength.
Weighted baseballs are a great tool at short distances (10-20 ft)
A progression based long toss program is also very key.

In addition to lots of good old fashioned throwing/long-toss as mentioned above, I'm going to recommend two programs which could very well have great, great results for your age (parents would need to fork over some $, though!!)

www.theathleticpitcher.com (doesn't matter if you're a pitcher - fantastic throwing program.

combined with

Unbreakable Abs (www.baseballtrainingsecrets.com)

Combined with throwing, throwing, throwing, I can't imagine a better combination of winter workout regimens for a ballplayer. Best of luck to you.

quote:

Originally posted by Coachric:
Throw, throw, throw. Thera-bands, arm stretches and cirlces, and a good long toss program for the off season. Work hard and get strong.

coach.....does throwing a football in the off season help build arm strenght...or is this a waste of time.

Thanks

I think Nolan Ryan mentions always going around throwing a football as a kid (and rocks and whatever he would come across).

Im against throwing a football simply because youre holding it different than a baseball.. throw with a baseball either outside or into a net-- keep the action very long and feel it stretch from start to finish

drew henson could throw a football a mile, but when he played 3rd base with the yankees organization - he threw a baseball just like a football, and his arm was average at best (with some cut to it - i wonder why)

Ryan and Tom House espoused the football throwing theory but I think House has since dropped it.

Ristud13, Many responses on here saying throw, throw, throw. So, what do they mean???? They really mean long toss!!!!! The program that my 16 yr. old son has followed is the following and he has picked up five + miles an hour. From Oct - Dec of his sophmore year him and I threw long toss on the following program.

Before I get into the porgram he was throwing 78-79 MPH consistently for most of his games prior to Oct. of his sophmore year.

Conduct a nice warm-up and begin throwing at 30 yards until arm feels nice and loose.

We usually conducted this training on the football field just to make it easier to know how far he was throwing and to keep some consistency for each session.

He would move back to 50 yards (150 ft) and throw 10 balls with some arc.

Then I would move back to 60, 70, 80 yards and he would throw 8 balls at each distance. (Go further if you can)

To finish up we would come back in at 30 yards and throw 15 balls on line as hard as he could.
RUN ONE MILE FOR HELPING THE BUILD UP OF LACTIC ACID IN HIS ARM.

GO HOME AND ICE THE WHOLE ARM DOWN FOR 30 MINUTES AND REPEAT THREE TIMES A WEEK.

He touched 87 a few times as a sophmore, but mainly crused at 84-85 MPH all season long (Lefty trying to touch 90 for his junior year).

He has been working this same program again this year and to my amazement he is not peaked out yet. Were as last year he topped out at about 80 yards this year so far he has reached 100 yards (ball in flight) goal line to goal line, pretty allsome so far to see this ball leave his hand and go the whole length of the field.

Could have been other factors involved he did lift weights and he attended palates and yoga twice a week for core strengthening and flexability improvement.

HOPE THIS HELPS AND ALWAYS WORK HARDER WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS!!!!!! EVERY TIME YOUR NOT WORKING OUT YOU CAN BET ON IT SOMEONE ELSE!!!!!!!!

would anyone else like to share their off-season throwing programs?

quote:

Originally posted by deldad:
Ryan and Tom House espoused the football throwing theory but I think House has since dropped it.

Nolan Ryan has also said that he thinks its a bad idea to throw a football... heard him on a talk show one time and he said that he "was sorry he ever made that baseball card".

I really agree with Krakatoa on this subject. The athletic pitcher program is great for any player that wants to increase his or her arm strength. On top of that you will be working on the continued health of your arm with this program. It also incorporates or suggests long toss along with this program.
The second program unbreakable abs, is also highly recomended, we have been doing this one for less time but the kids, including my son, that are using it swear by it. Having bought it from Jon Doyle I have been impressed with his program but also his ability to answer any question in regards to physical training.
One thought on the athletic pitcher program, you should use this with a qualified person monitoring what you are doing. Both programs also use a mental approach to the work you are doing.
As far as parents having to lay our a few bucks, well yes this is true, however I would rather lay out a few bucks for good quality instruction for a son that is willing to work hard to improve than money layed out for a trip to the mall or worse yet the orthopedic surgeon becuase I did things incorrectly or cheap. Honestly botj programs are realtively inexpensive. Good luck!

One question regarding the Athletic Pitcher program. If you use the Velocity training cycle recommended, you start out throwing a 2 lb ball and finish with a 4 oz ball. To go through this cycle, you end up throwing 180 times with weighted balls. With all the talk about limiting pitch counts, would this be safe. The program suggests throwing long toss or a bullpen when this cycle is finished. I have the program but am a little nervous about using it.
Any advise would be appreciated. thanks.

I know it seems like a lot, however you don't really make full throws as each different set uses part of the throwing motion. Also keep in mind that you are not pitching you are throwing so I am not sure pitch counts come into play. I would recommend that as you start work your way up the 5 throws up and 5 throws down, probably start with 2 per side. Also once again have someone monitor the program just as you would with a weight program for your son. You might check with Ron and see if someone esle in your area is doing the program and you could hokk up with them the first couple of times.

throwing with a weighted ball is one of the worst things you can do to build up arm strength... sorry to be so negative on the matter, but the only thing that i've ever seen through out my entire professional career, was pitchers using the weighted balls to go throw range of motion when trying to loosen up.... you throw a ball that is a specific weight -- i played with a guy in A ball that severly screwed up his elbow and shoulder by doing that (he was a high school bonus baby).....

if you want to long toss, then long toss... focus on keeping the arm long and loose and make sure you extend and finish.... this will build arm strenght -- please dont reinvent the wheel again

justhitits post hit the nail on the head... thats what i did from high school through college - long toss a specific amount of throws at different distances and keep progressing.. just remember to increase the height of the throw as the distance gets greater

and i will check out the athletic pitcher program... if it produces results id be interested in hearing more... i might agree with the small ounce balls if the ball isnt thrown hard..... if it is for range of motion purposes as in the jobe exercises then i agree, but the arm can get really injured if you start throwing balls that weigh actual pounds.... send me some more info though and i'll keep an open mind

catcha, been through this before, I guess we will agree to disagree and will keep using the program.