Interesting take on long toss from Nolan Ryan and Tom House...basically throw it as long as you can without arching it.
(9:45)
This, of course, differs from Jaeger. Would love to hear thoughts on this.
Right now my "program" for my son comes from my arm being dead, sadly. He throws to me. I hit to him. This culminates with him taking fly balls until he brings it back in based on comfort. Very loose workout but keeps it fun and unpredictable.
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I honestly don't think it matters whether you throw 100 feet or 400 feet, what matters is how hard you throw. Throwing max distance is just an easy assessment of intensity without a radar gun while at shorter distance you can get lazy.
As I understand it, throwing the Jaeger method doesn't mimic a pitching motion because of the high angle of launch. So, the "pull-downs," which cap off a session bring the arm to the more proper release point. Throwing max effort but on a line makes every throw come from the pitching release point (theoretically).
One problem with any program (weighted balls, Jaeger, etc.) is the instructor employing it; the less the instructor understands the purpose of an exercise, the form needed to successfully accomplish the exercise, the physiology of both his student and the typical pitcher (e.g., side arm is taught differently from overhead, 3/4 is different from 7/8, etc.), the most likely "failure points", and many more variables, knowledge isn't being passed to the student; it becomes a "monkey see, monkey do" approach. To me, this is very risky for many reasons, one of which is the kid needs to develop an understanding of his delivery (to take ownership, if you may) - not limiting understanding to simple mechanical chains - but understanding whether (eg) he has fast loose hips, slow twitch muscles, big fingers or small, etc. That's why so many different methods have success and failures - it's more about knowledge and understanding once basic mechanics are in place.
S's PC has his pitchers (as part of their programs) throwing off a mound up to 120 feet to a standing or squating catcher (fbs). Results have been good; but the players also follow whatever program their organizations require (some are real long toss, others are the "throw on the line" philosophy).
(When I was no longer able to long toss, I too hit fly balls or he took a bucket out to CF and I was reduced to being a bucket filler and fly ball hitter.)
Goosegg posted:As I understand it, throwing the Jaeger method doesn't mimic a pitching motion because of the high angle of launch. So, the "pull-downs," which cap off a session bring the arm to the more proper release point. Throwing max effort but on a line makes every throw come from the pitching release point (theoretically).
One problem with any program (weighted balls, Jaeger, etc.) is the instructor employing it; the less the instructor understands the purpose of an exercise, the form needed to successfully accomplish the exercise, the physiology of both his student and the typical pitcher (e.g., side arm is taught differently from overhead, 3/4 is different from 7/8, etc.), the most likely "failure points", and many more variables, knowledge isn't being passed to the student; it becomes a "monkey see, monkey do" approach. To me, this is very risky for many reasons, one of which is the kid needs to develop an understanding of his delivery (to take ownership, if you may) - not limiting understanding to simple mechanical chains - but understanding whether (eg) he has fast loose hips, slow twitch muscles, big fingers or small, etc. That's why so many different methods have success and failures - it's more about knowledge and understanding once basic mechanics are in place.
S's PC has his pitchers (as part of their programs) throwing off a mound up to 120 feet to a standing or squating catcher (fbs). Results have been good; but the players also follow whatever program their organizations require (some are real long toss, others are the "throw on the line" philosophy).
(When I was no longer able to long toss, I too hit fly balls or he took a bucket out to CF and I was reduced to being a bucket filler and fly ball hitter.)
Actually, I wish I had started hitting to him this way sooner. This way, we start with ground balls and move to ground balls. Much better work out for him. Kicking myself for not being smart enough to see it earlier.
A piece about long toss that I have seen beneficial is taking the same effort it took for your longest toss all the way back in on the pull down phase. Bring the same effort back to 60 ft and off the mound.