loss of flexabilty

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can he regain his flexabilty and still do the workouts that are required?

He needs to be stretching. Weight lifting is not a reason to lose flexibility.

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Originally posted by ghoti:
my son is a lefty pitcher who has lost alot of flexabilty from being in the weight room. he says he has no option but to do what he's told. it has hurt his abilty to pitch with loss of velo and command. he looks like a linebacker. can he regain his flexabilty and still do the workouts that are required?

Don't know much about your son's program, but I find it hard to believe that someone who truely knows what he is doing (trainer or pitching coach) has forced your son to train more like a linebacker than a pitcher. Has this happened to other pitchers, or just your son? Does he play another position? When did he lose velocity (this fall) and how much? He shouldn't really be near full velocity at this time if he has begun throwing.

I agree with the loss of flexibility not necessarily due to weight lifting, but an over abundance of the wrong stuff on top can cause an issue for pitchers. How much does he actually lift in weights in upper body? How often does he lift upper body. Is his condtioning all weight training? His lower body should be much better developed for pitchers, and that takes a really long time.

You might want to consider a serious discussion with your son to make sure that he has not brought this upon himself, which athletes often do. They tend to do what they need to, ust too much of it. And make sure he isn't taking something that he shouldn't.

Get him into a yoga class right now! He needs to go to a class since kids will not be able to push themselves on their own IMO. Minimum 3 times per week and he can just go into a maintenance mode on the weight lifting so he does not lose his muscle mass. He is going to find out that he is not as “strong” as he thinks he is. It will take him several months to regain some flexibility, but if he keeps it up he will get it all back plus some.

I have started doing yoga with my son the past three weeks and the results amazing. I have thrown BP to him for years and have always been tight in my shoulder with mild pain and for the first time I can throw to him pain free.

He is also going to learn some techniques that will help him be more mentally focused.

As TPM has mentioned he is most likely not working with the right program, but if he focuses on regaining his flexibility and starts to work on more balistic type of lifting he will be fine(Cleans, core, legs)

thanks for the replys i will tell him or talk to the coach about yoga see if they have somthing at the school or close to it tpm sent you a pm

I thought I read that you could regain flexibility from weight training in only a few weeks. (Just going on memory here, so ...)

Does he do any type of dynamic stretching before and after workouts? This keeps good flexibility and she be done on a daily basis. Great for pitchers but all players as well. If you need any help send me a message. I would be glad to point you into some things I used when I played.

No offense Roger but dynamic stretching before and after workouts are for getting the body prepared for physicial activities and preventing injuries, not creating additional flexibility. Don't get me wrong they are needed. Creating greater flexibility should be done away from actual competition after the body is warm and static stretching is required to increase flexibility. There of couse is some dynamic aspects to it, but it is my experience that kids will never take the time to properly stretch, which is why I like yoga classes as they take a player through a routine that they would not otherwise do on their own. You are breaking the body down when doing them which is why it should be done away from competition days.

hopefully he will improve he is working on it now and has got a little lighter on his lifts. thanks to all again. pray for a injury and illness free year.

quote:

Originally posted by BOF:
No offense Roger but dynamic stretching before and after workouts are for getting the body prepared for physicial activities and preventing injuries, not creating additional flexibility. Don't get me wrong they are needed. Creating greater flexibility should be done away from actual competition after the body is warm and static stretching is required to increase flexibility. There of couse is some dynamic aspects to it, but it is my experience that kids will never take the time to properly stretch, which is why I like yoga classes as they take a player through a routine that they would not otherwise do on their own. You are breaking the body down when doing them which is why it should be done away from competition days.

Good advice, BOF, imo ... My son has superior flexibility today from his years of regular static and dynamic stretching employed in all Eastern martial arts teachings.

The old flexibility non-sense that has been argued about for 60 years is still flaming and the evidence that there is no loss of flexibility from exercise is now fact and back where the original testers of these theories had the answers then as in now! The stretch crowd pulled one over the true science on this one but is now corrected as usual.
What is the argument? Do you perform athletically better when you can move your bones past their normal range of motion, answer-no? Ligaments are not the limiting factor anyways the bone is. Flexibility is a false science when dealing with athletic performance when normal range of motion is adequate and seldom reached fully in mechanics athletes use.

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“static stretching is required to increase flexibility”

For non athletes this is great, for athletes this is bad training technique

Dynamic stretching or mobilized blood flow warm-up routines that do not take your joints past their normal range of motion are excellent.

All static stretching should be avoided in athletes especially just before competition where as much as a 6% drop in performance is it’s affect. All shoulder capsule (and other) ripping stretches that have been the rage in baseball for the last 25 years are particularly bad for the capsule in that it micro tear lengthens the ligaments making your shoulder unstable, this is a velocity killer and labrum grinder.

And not according to the CDC and all reputable academic institutions

http://www.drmikemarshall.com/...sMuscleInjuries.html

Ghoti

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“my son is a lefty pitcher who has lost alot of flexabilty from being in the weight room.” “it has hurt his abilty to pitch with loss of velo and command.”

This is not what has happened, your son suffers from anticipated and accepted training regression that is normal and why your son should not be competing or show casing during times of training regression.

quote:

“can he regain his flexabilty and still do the workouts that are required?”

He cannot gain what he has not lost, at this time he should be working more on his ballistic (mound work) training while maintaining with his resistance training at half the reps and weight.
He will end up faster and with better control than before, give it 5 weeks and you will see.

ghoti's son is a college pitcher.