decrease in throwing speed due to lifting?

I'm just going to throw out my opinion that came to me after I read your post.

You could be loosing velocity because your body isn't used to you lifting for the time being, that being said, once your body adjusts to the fact that it has to work harder on a more regular basis your velocity will come back and will indeed be better because you will of gotten stronger.

Lifting does not cause you to throw slower, look at how many programs lift, look at what major leaguers do, they don't sit around during the offseason they hit the gym HARD

If there wasn't a benefit from lifting no one would do it.

ohhh yea true.. thanks

I have to agree. Your muscles are prob. sore and need to recoop. from lifting. When your body adjust the velo. should come back.

Your "new" muscle must "learn" to throw. It can throw off your mechanics and coordination for a little while until you get used to the strength training. Its also very important to stretch after you lift. This will reduce some soreness and help you keep your flexibility. If done correctly, strength training will not decrease your velocity.

Mike Grifin
http://www.noexcusesbaseball.com

ok, thats good to know. Thanks

For an outfielder heavy lifting is probably the right thing to do, however, i have heard that heavy bench press is the worst thing that a pitcher can do. U don't see to many major league pitchers out there with big chests and arms.

Bench pressing is the worst thing you can do if you are a pitcher. I wouldn't suggest it for position players either. The one thing you must do if your going to bench press is to use light weights and work on the back part of your shoulder as much as your front. If you don't you are more susceptible to having rotator cuff problems.

Don't forget to work on your flexibility as hard as you work on your strength training. It's possible to become muscle bound and loose speed if you ignore maintaining flexibility.

ok i would like to mention that weightlifting for baseball is in some ways different than what most people think. the program i had set up for me goes as follows.

start of offseason: mostly body weight exercises for a few weeks

then heavy lifting and no throwing on the side at all. this phase was to build maximum strength


then came lighter lifting with more reps to get my muscles used to quick and explosive movements

then came the pre season and i started using varius methods that i am not gonna go into detail for too long because i dont want towrite a novel here.

and then in season training which was when i had the time and i left 2 days in between lifting and a game depending on my schedual that was subject to change, but i lifted at least twice a week, one heavy session and one light higher rep session.

the goal of those higher reps was to make quicker movements which is what u do in baseball. when u are usually lifting heavy your body movements begin to get slower. so if that was all you did and you didnt break it down into phases that may be why your throws arent as hard or accurate or whatever the case may be. when i find the program my instructer gave me, i will show you, but i got to ask him where it is again, its actually not the actual program but its general idea is branched from it.

my suggestion is that you might just need to branch your weight lifting exercises off of what movements you will mostly use in the game.

i see alot of teamates doing crazy bicep work, now i know it is impoirtant to do it to keep them lean, but biceps dont do all that much for baseball, u need a strong lower body most importantly, and a strong core and strong triceps and forearms, doing the wrong type of lifting can KILL your game, be careful.

quote:

the goal of those higher reps was to make quicker movements which is what u do in baseball. when u are usually lifting heavy your body movements begin to get slower. so if that was all you did and you didnt break it down into phases that may be why your throws arent as hard or accurate or whatever the case may be. when i find the program my instructer gave me, i will show you, but i got to ask him where it is again, its actually not the actual program but its general idea is branched from it.

This is a common myth. If you use heavy weight, be explosive. You'll only become slower if you lift the weight slowly. In baseball, we aren't looking for endurance, so we need to activate the anaerobic fibers in our muscles. Lifting heavy (almost to failure/under 15 reps, often much lower) IMO is key to strength and speed gain in baseball. This doesn't mean that you should lift to failure every time by any means- a mix of light and heavy days IMO will produce the best gains.

yeah thats what i do , heavy days and light days, but thats true when you do lift heavy you are suppose to be explosive but if your throwing speed has decreased it might have meanth when you were lfiting heavy you were probably not using explosive movements. because if u did use explosive movements, throwing speed wouldnt decrease because of that, thats why i thought that his throwing speed got weaker because he was lifting heavy and slow

If you lift in a school weight room, have a coach or the supervisor teach you power cleans. If not there are a lot of videos online that show great form. With power cleans, you can move heavy weights at high speeds with correct form, unlike traditional movements such as the squat or deadlift. After you start to master the clean, try the power snatch.

Baseball is one of the most difficult sports to train for. Alot of that has to do with the length of the season. It's important to base your training schedule in a manner that won't hurt you on the field. You don't want to lift too close to a game or tourny because you may see a decrease in speed, movement, throwing power, or bat power. The reason why is because you've broken down your muscles too close to a game. Try to give yourself a day in between a heavy lift and a game. If you can't, stick with a light lift. Weight training is important to your game and it will help to improve all aspects, just train right and it will help.