sinple lifting modifications

Ask his basbeall coach to speak with the teacher and explain the reasoning behind your request. If that does not work then go to the Administration or AD. I am sure that someone can reason with him. I made changes in my sons weight lifting training during fall baseball workouts, explained why to the coaches, and they were very acceptbale.

Yeah... the baseball coach doesn't want to step on toes, and won't go talk to him again. Apparently he asked the weights teacher about working with the baseball players and he said no. I hate being that parent who goes to Administration to get this done, but I truly am worried about his elbow and shoulder. Hes the QB, too, so that left arm needs to be treated right!

What kind of heavy lifting are you afraid of, and why?

I would not allow him to lift heavy weights over his shoulder under any circumstances, period. End of story.

Do what you have to do.

I don't know what's the reason behind setting your mind that lifting heavy weigh is not good...It's not necessary in every case that lifting heavy weight causes problem..The instructor very well knows what weight should be lifted by whom..

Momof,
Could you give an example of some of the exercises that you are concerned about?

Last year the weights class coincided with baseball season, and I ended up taking him in for elbow and behind the shoulder pain a few times.
I am mostly concerned about his bench-press form putting extra torque on his elbow again, (I don't know how to explain it: arms all the way back and lift vs chest level and lift), and maxing the weight with this lift. His shoulder-press is the other concern.

I think that wieght training is essential, but taking care to not re-irritate the issues he had last year is my big concern.

quote:

Last year the weights class coincided with baseball season, and I ended up taking him in for elbow and behind the shoulder pain a few times.

Likely had something to do with his throwing mechanics too...

I totally agree. He was a freshman last year pitching Varsity.

If he is benching heavy weights, he should not take his elbows below his body. If he does push-ups the lighter weight will allow him to go farther for a little better range of motion. A lot of bench press is not great for baseball. Some is fine and benefitial. As for shoulder press, he should not have the weight behind his head as can cause shoulder impingement. If he does the shoulder press he should use an incline bench and keep the weight in front. His form is very important as are his pitching mechanics. A flaw in either one could lead to the types of problems you saw last year.

If bench press hurts him, he is probably doing it wrong. I'm not going to painstakingly describe it here, but the basic cue is to tuck in the elbows so that they're at about a 45 degree angle to your torso instead of being 90 degrees/perpendicular. The other thing to think about is to have the bar hit your chest right around the bottom of your breast bone.

If elbows are flared and/or weight is touching the chest too high (these are related flaws, hard to have one without the other), a lot of undue stress will be put on the rotator cuff. If he fixes those and the RC still hurts, that probably means there is an injury.

Another option for shoulder relief is decline bench press. Ever seen guys arching their backs while benching? They're essentially creating a decline bench by doing so. They do this because it transfers more of the weight bearing to the chest muscles instead of the area around the front shoulder. I would suggest simply using a decline bench instead of arching the back like that, though.

Shoulder pressing (from the front) should be safe for just about everyone. If it directly induces pain, it would be okay to cut it out. It shouldn't cause pain, though, and is a great movement for shoulder/upper chest/upper back development.

While I am a big fan of moving heavy weights, form is critical to baseball players as well as everyone else. He should be comfortable doing the movements correctly at non-maximal weights before pushing it too hard. It is hard to say whether the wrestling coach can give good advice on form, there are a ton of people that coach high school sports that just don't know much of anything about lifting weights.

Another thing that is important for all lifters but especially pitchers is to balance pushing/pulling movements. To explain this briefly, bench pressing is a push movement. The corresponding pulling movement would be something like a bent-over row. Shoulder press is another push movement, and a corresponding pull would be pull-ups or lat pulldowns. If you are bringing weight towards your center of gravity, it is a pulling movement. If you are moving the weight away, it is a push. The reason to do this balancing is that it can throw off your alignment - this will manifest itself as impingement for pitchers. I had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Last thought - get those legs strong! This is more important than anything else for pitchers. Squats and deadlifts should be son's favorite lifts. Again, though, form is important to save the joints and back. If performed correctly, these things are NOT dangerous to the back. Keep in mind that the back should get sore (like any other muscle) from deadlift especially and possibly squat too. These two lifts work your core muscles unbelievably well - enough so that people like professional bodybuilders will sometimes do no direct ab work because their squat and deadlift routines work the core muscles so well.

If anyone wants to talk to me more specifically about form, etc. I'd be happy to entertain those questions here or by PM

There are a lot of responses to this. I didn't reead many of them, apologies if this has already been covered.

1. I wouldn't worry about increasing weight. In fact, lower reps and more sets will allow for better technique. If he is getting stronger that is a plus! More reps generally leads to more technique errors. That being said, so does adding weight when he is not ready for it.

2. Here are some options you can arm him with to take to the coach.

- Barbell Back Squat - Request To Front Squat
- Deadlift - Shouldn't technically be an issue if done correctly but SUMO deadlifts are generally easier to perform. A Trap Bar would be great.
- Overhead pressing really shouldn't be done at all. He could offer to substitute Chin Ups
- Barbell Bench Press is also a poor choice but he could ask to do DB Bench Presses and should be fine. Push Ups (loaded with a band if needed) would be the best choice in my opinion.