Does anyone know if it is either beneficial or harmful for a pitcher to swim laps on off days? I am not talking about competitive swimming, just a way to work out for baseball.
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it depends on what kind of swimming you're planning on doing. if you do freestyle then its not that good because over time it leads to adaptive shortening of your shoulder which can create arm problems after a while if you dont stretch. if you do too much forward movement of the shoulder it will lead to the shortening, but if you're doin backstroke then that will help stretch your shoulder because it's moving your arm if a different way if that makes sense.
doesn't make sense to me. When you throw, your arm goes forward. When you freestyle the arm motion is almost the same as throwing. How can that shorten your arm. Working in water is kind of a resistance training. The same way resistance tubing is. I can't see how it shortens your arm. But maybe I should let the pros answer.
it's jst like repeated bench pressing, its gonna tighten your chest muscles over time because while working them out they'll shorten because thats how you're muscles repair and get bigger, so if you continue to do the same motion like throwing and doing freestyle then the anterior aspect of your shoulder will shorten and get tigheter over time, while the back of your shoulder will lengthen and become weaker, which can end up hurting you over time
no i'm not you're putting words in my mouth
have you ever seen professional swimmers, and how their shoulders come forword a lot, that's because the more they swim they more they work those muscles so they get tighter and bigger
have you ever seen professional swimmers, and how their shoulders come forword a lot, that's because the more they swim they more they work those muscles so they get tighter and bigger
yeah but don't your shoulders come forward when you throw?
yes, if you throw a lot, its jst the SAID principle. Subjectable Adaptations to Imposed Demands that your body follows, because it gets used to that motion so it shortens, because its shortening in that motion because muscles contract or get smaller to create motion. So when you throw or swim freestyle your muscle contracts or shortens and if you do this a lot it will become shorter if you dont stretch
Yeah, it goes foward when you throw. I'm no expert, especially since I've been having problems with my arm. But anyway, You want your muscles to be balanced. Front shoulder muscles contract when both swimming freestyle and thowing. Your arm may start hurting if there is a big imbalance between the chest muscles that are accelerating the arm and the "back of the shoulder" muscles are trying to decelerate the arm. I think I read that somewhere.
Now it makes sense. That's why I do resistance tubing, it gets all of the shoulder muscles.
*shakes head*
i have a question along the lines of swimming. do you think it is better for a pitcher to swim after he pitches or to run after he pitches? just a thought
My 14 year old son has been a competitive swimmer since he was 7. He quit swimming this year mostly because he just got tired of it and to swim competitively in high school requires so much time he wanted to devote to other things. This is what I can tell you about how swimming helped him.
He has never had shoulder problems in spite of all of the ball he plays. He did suffer minor LL elbow when he was 11 though.
He was always in top physical condition with respect to strength and endurance. He was definately more disciplined than any of the other boys his age no matter what other sport he was involved with.
The conditioning that swimmers undergo is in my oppinion quite extreme and is definately not for everybody. They swam as 8 to 11 year olds 2,500 to 4,000 yards per day, 5 days a week. As a 12 to 14 year old, he swam 4,000 to 6,000 yards per day, 5 to 6 days per week. During the summer he would be in the pool at 7:00 am and 3:00 pm (when baseball didn't interfear) for two-a-days. He would compete in a meet about once a month not including LSCs. He never quailified for a Zone meet. (It's funny in that he thinks swimming is a sissy sport that baseball and football players don't do. Remember, he is 14 year old and knows everything. LOL.)
Other then the overall conditioning that swimming provides, the best crossover benefit to overhand sports are going to come from the butterfly stroke. This is a difficult stroke to learn to perform properly and is very high intensity and requires a high base level of conditioning to do and learn. The butterfly arm motion is very similar to overhand throwing and almost indentically incorporates the same muscles firing in the same order when done properly. Here's the rub, to learn good technique for this stroke almost certainly requires the instruction of a qualified coach and a focused effort on the part of the swimmer over time. It is considered the second hardest stroke to perfect behind the breast stroke but, it definately is the most physically exhausting.
Unless you have the time and determination to achieve the conditioning and the technique, I recommend that you use swimming for the excellent overall conditioning it provides. Swimming has a very low risk of injury. It is a constant light resistance void of the pounding and joint stress that runners endur.
He has never had shoulder problems in spite of all of the ball he plays. He did suffer minor LL elbow when he was 11 though.
He was always in top physical condition with respect to strength and endurance. He was definately more disciplined than any of the other boys his age no matter what other sport he was involved with.
The conditioning that swimmers undergo is in my oppinion quite extreme and is definately not for everybody. They swam as 8 to 11 year olds 2,500 to 4,000 yards per day, 5 days a week. As a 12 to 14 year old, he swam 4,000 to 6,000 yards per day, 5 to 6 days per week. During the summer he would be in the pool at 7:00 am and 3:00 pm (when baseball didn't interfear) for two-a-days. He would compete in a meet about once a month not including LSCs. He never quailified for a Zone meet. (It's funny in that he thinks swimming is a sissy sport that baseball and football players don't do. Remember, he is 14 year old and knows everything. LOL.)
Other then the overall conditioning that swimming provides, the best crossover benefit to overhand sports are going to come from the butterfly stroke. This is a difficult stroke to learn to perform properly and is very high intensity and requires a high base level of conditioning to do and learn. The butterfly arm motion is very similar to overhand throwing and almost indentically incorporates the same muscles firing in the same order when done properly. Here's the rub, to learn good technique for this stroke almost certainly requires the instruction of a qualified coach and a focused effort on the part of the swimmer over time. It is considered the second hardest stroke to perfect behind the breast stroke but, it definately is the most physically exhausting.
Unless you have the time and determination to achieve the conditioning and the technique, I recommend that you use swimming for the excellent overall conditioning it provides. Swimming has a very low risk of injury. It is a constant light resistance void of the pounding and joint stress that runners endur.