5 daY ROTATION STRENGTHEN ROUTINE

This is what my highschool does....

Day 1- towel drill, long toss, run 30 min, lift lower body
Day 2- towel drill, long toss, 30 bullpen pitches, run 14 poles, lift upperbody and abs
Day 3- Runs 10 poles, long toss, towel drill, 5 minutes touch and feel pitching
Day 4- 12 90 ft sprints, long toss, towel drill
Day 5- Pitch Gameday

This is the way my highschool does it...and the coaches are pretty good when it comes to lifting and running and that kind of stuff. Its hard work and a lot of running but it paid off for me.

Here is what I have done/do.
I am a college pitcher so I dont usually go on a 5 day rotation during the season, but in summer ball I am.

Pitch
day 1- no throwing, 10-15 min cardio (bike ride or running poles) full body lift
day 2- longtoss and bullpen, around 30 pitches, then sprints
day 3- bullpen, maybe 25 pitches, 2 or 3 simulated hitters, full body lift
day 4- light bullpen, only 10-15 pitches from 60 feet, light running (few sprints)
day 5- pitch

also, when I lift, it is a circut lift, which will help with stamina and is a good cardio workout in itself

you're going no throwing the day after, but you can full body lift?? If you think it is too stressful or whatever reason to not throw the day after you lift, why in the world would you lift for your arm? That is pretty bad for your throwing arm arm, it needs some rest. As for throwing you can throw on flat ground. Throwing off the mound gives you 6 times the stress on your arm it does throwing off flat ground.

NVlefty13,

Great point about doing a bullpen on flat ground rather than from the mound. However I disagree with your comments about not doing upper body lifting the day after you pitch. Upper body lifts the day after he pitched were a way of life for Nolan Ryan and he credits this routine for prolonging his career.

I have never heard not to lift upper body the day after. That is what I always did at my high school (a top team in the nation) and at my D1 college. Its not that my arm is too tired to do any physical activity, but instead it gets my muscles tightened back up a little after being stretched pretty good on my pitching day. My bulpen on day 2 is always pretty long, but my arm feels really strong the day after I lift.

Any more oppinions on this? I would like to learn from others on here and get some more ideas.

also, I dont like throwing to a catcher from flat ground at all. I have not noticed any benefits from throwing off of flat ground. Why use a different motion while practicing then you do in a game? I found that I have mechanical problems if I throw off of flat ground more then once or twice a week inbetween starts.

I like throwing up to about 180 feet, then get on a mound and throw to a catcher while getting a feel for game situations.