I have heard many opinions both ways...what do I do?
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being healthy is always a good thing. i think "weight lifting" is a very general term. what did you have in mind? pushups, sit ups and running are all good exercises for young children and it will help you develop muscle to be able to do more later on. i myself do not feel that weight lifting is ever a bad thing, you just have to use the right program. for a 13 yr old pitcher you will want to work on core exercises and obviously getting bigger and stronger, but you do not want to sacrifice flexibility.
you can do a search on bodybuilding.com and "good baseball workouts" and get some solid programs. if you get your child on a solid healthy diet and he begins to workout, you will see some amazing growth quickly. make sure to eat lots of protein. whey is an excellent post workout meal. if you can get your son eating healthy and working out, the results will only be good, for baseball and a long healthy life. it oftentimes will improve grades also because it gives your life more of a schedule. i know i wish i knew these things when i was a 13 year old.
you can do a search on bodybuilding.com and "good baseball workouts" and get some solid programs. if you get your child on a solid healthy diet and he begins to workout, you will see some amazing growth quickly. make sure to eat lots of protein. whey is an excellent post workout meal. if you can get your son eating healthy and working out, the results will only be good, for baseball and a long healthy life. it oftentimes will improve grades also because it gives your life more of a schedule. i know i wish i knew these things when i was a 13 year old.
i started lifting weights at 13 for Jr High football. that spring after football i was a stud on the field. since i was the only one lifting a hit and threw the ball further than anyone else. IMO go for it. but if you do lift especially at that age it must be controlled and monitored by some one that knows a little about lifting and safety.
Would the bench press be part of regimen for the weight lifting for a 13 year old pitcher?
No, I would not recommend bench presses, lat pulls, or anything else that may impinge the shoulder. If you must, at least lower the weights dratically and go for higher reps.
Focus on mechanical work, athleticism, core, plyometrics, long-toss, cardio, leg work.. these are what makes a pitcher successful. Upper-body work is okay in moderation and in age-appropriate stages.
Focus on mechanical work, athleticism, core, plyometrics, long-toss, cardio, leg work.. these are what makes a pitcher successful. Upper-body work is okay in moderation and in age-appropriate stages.
Bum pretty much summed it up best. Pitchers do not need to risk impingement of the shoulders.
Our high school coach will let the Pitchers do bench presses but only if they put a very thick phone book on their chest so the elbows will not go past the shoulders.
Our high school coach will let the Pitchers do bench presses but only if they put a very thick phone book on their chest so the elbows will not go past the shoulders.
My son had a shoulder injury at 13 and part of his rehab was a rotator cuff series done with light weights. Series is one of the many spelled out in Tuff Cuff. You might want to look into it.
Let's see at 15yo my son was coming off an arm injury and didn't lift with the rest of the team. Only one player had a big jump in power on the team going from a singles type hitter with the occasional double to a doubles type hitter with the occasional home run. Yep, that's right the only one who didn't lift. They also lost the first game of the post season double elim tourney when the available pitchers had overdone the weight lifting a couple days previously under the direction of the conditioning coach and came into the game with tight, tired arms.
Weight lifting can build bulk and that can increase bat speed, but gaining significant bulk is rare when sticking to natural means for the younger teens. The strength gains, especially the upper body strength gains, don't do much for bat speed or throwing speed and even the bulk gains usually have little effect on throwing speed.
Core work generally can have the most impact as it can help the player rotate the hips faster and also help them transfer that momentum more effectively.
JMO.
Weight lifting can build bulk and that can increase bat speed, but gaining significant bulk is rare when sticking to natural means for the younger teens. The strength gains, especially the upper body strength gains, don't do much for bat speed or throwing speed and even the bulk gains usually have little effect on throwing speed.
Core work generally can have the most impact as it can help the player rotate the hips faster and also help them transfer that momentum more effectively.
JMO.
I am not a doctor but what does weight lifting to to the growth plates at that age?---they are far from being closed
TR,
Very good point, and that's one of the reasons they suggest only doing body weight types of exercises and going with high reps rather than high loads at that age. There's real risk for very little reward as at 13 the boys usually haven't matured enough to make rapid strength gains since they don't tend to gain much if any muscle bulk when weightlifting until around 15 or 16 when the testosterone really kicks in. They can still gain strength but not to the degree the older teens can.
Very good point, and that's one of the reasons they suggest only doing body weight types of exercises and going with high reps rather than high loads at that age. There's real risk for very little reward as at 13 the boys usually haven't matured enough to make rapid strength gains since they don't tend to gain much if any muscle bulk when weightlifting until around 15 or 16 when the testosterone really kicks in. They can still gain strength but not to the degree the older teens can.
I would stay away from any programs on bodybuilding.com. While that is a great place to get supplements, the info is more geared towards a bodybuilder...and even their baseball programs are generic and more of a bodybuilding style.
There was some good advice in these posts. You can strength train at age 13 and the results can be profound, assuming it's done correctly.
The goals should be to increase neurological efficiency, overall body awareness and power output (athleticism) and conditioning.
It's true that heavy weights simply aren't needed at this age, but that does not mean that "power" movements shouldn't be performed. Exercises such as squats, power cleans, power snatches, push presses, etc should be done, but with a medicine ball and/or a wooden dowel/very light bar and not heavy weights.
The work done now will translate into performance down the road.
Also, you hear much about "balance" training these days. Usually you see someone doing a stupid balancing act on a wobble board or BOSU ball that isn;t reallty doing anything. True is one canot increase balance after puberty. You can increase the ability to right yourself in a certain skill, but your balance ceiling is all but determined by the age of 15.
So at 13 "balance" exercises should be performed. Now this does not mean standing on a balance board. This is done by playing as many sports as possible, performing tumbling exercises, and drills such as med ball drills that force the user to learn how to accept and redirect submaximal objects with maximal force.
I would stay away from plyometric exercises at this point. They are far too taxing on the Central Nervous System (CNS). In addition, plyo's are the most misunderstood aspect in training today and are used as nothing more than a selling tool for most. Jumping over a line 50 times or up and down off a box 50 time is not plyometrics. It's training for an injury and shouldn't be done.
True plyometric training starts off by learning how to land (after all how can you jump if you don't know how to land?) and then progresses from there. True plyometrics involve sets of 1-3 reps, not 100.
Young athletes can build a tremendous amount of usable strength, but as mentioned they will not put on bulk at this age. This, again, is due to the immaturity of their Central Nervous System.
So in closing focus on med ball drills, baseball-specific core drills (not crunches!), conditioning exercises and multi-joint power movements.
There was some good advice in these posts. You can strength train at age 13 and the results can be profound, assuming it's done correctly.
The goals should be to increase neurological efficiency, overall body awareness and power output (athleticism) and conditioning.
It's true that heavy weights simply aren't needed at this age, but that does not mean that "power" movements shouldn't be performed. Exercises such as squats, power cleans, power snatches, push presses, etc should be done, but with a medicine ball and/or a wooden dowel/very light bar and not heavy weights.
The work done now will translate into performance down the road.
Also, you hear much about "balance" training these days. Usually you see someone doing a stupid balancing act on a wobble board or BOSU ball that isn;t reallty doing anything. True is one canot increase balance after puberty. You can increase the ability to right yourself in a certain skill, but your balance ceiling is all but determined by the age of 15.
So at 13 "balance" exercises should be performed. Now this does not mean standing on a balance board. This is done by playing as many sports as possible, performing tumbling exercises, and drills such as med ball drills that force the user to learn how to accept and redirect submaximal objects with maximal force.
I would stay away from plyometric exercises at this point. They are far too taxing on the Central Nervous System (CNS). In addition, plyo's are the most misunderstood aspect in training today and are used as nothing more than a selling tool for most. Jumping over a line 50 times or up and down off a box 50 time is not plyometrics. It's training for an injury and shouldn't be done.
True plyometric training starts off by learning how to land (after all how can you jump if you don't know how to land?) and then progresses from there. True plyometrics involve sets of 1-3 reps, not 100.
Young athletes can build a tremendous amount of usable strength, but as mentioned they will not put on bulk at this age. This, again, is due to the immaturity of their Central Nervous System.
So in closing focus on med ball drills, baseball-specific core drills (not crunches!), conditioning exercises and multi-joint power movements.