I’m sick inside, watching the continuing parade of immensely talented pitchers wreck their elbows and shoulders. I’m sick of attending youth tournament games and watching young players with arms hanging in pain. And I’m tired of hearing pitching injuries described as if they’re some kind of accident. Pitching injuries are predictable, not accidental, and they have specific causes.
I’m weary of hearing that ‘overuse’ is the dominant force behind pitching injuries. Overuse, as a concept, is simply an attempt to justify the mantra, ‘pitching is an unnatural act.’
The billion dollar question: DOES PITCHING HAVE TO BE AN UNNATURAL ACT THAT WRECKS ARMS? If so, then the best we can do is employ arm care and prehab and recovery strategies that attempt to mitigate inevitable damage. Here’s the problem: if arm care programs were working and if pitch counts worked, we should be seeing injury rates diminish. But we’re seeing arm injuries continue to escalate.
It’s time to look for a different approach instead of implementing increasingly sophisticated versions of the same thing. WHAT IF THERE’S AN ANSWER TO SOLVING BASEBALL’S ARM INJURY PROBLEMS?
Am I really being so bold as to claim there’s an answer to ending baseball’s current climate of pitching injuries? Yes, and let me prove it to you. I implore you to leave your mind behind and think about this problem differently.
My students throw more than anyone would think wise. If anyone is going to experience ‘overuse’ it’s my guys. The difference: my students aren’t wrecking their arms and they’re not in pain. They’re learning a different way to use their arm and body that protects them while delivering high performance. Because they’re using their arm and body differently, they can throw a TON and actually get stronger by throwing more. It’s possible to throw a 100-150 pitch bullpen, working hard on skill development, and then throw a complete game two or three days later.
I know this sounds radical.
But before you criticize me for having guys throw 150 pitch bullpens you might want to replicate 15 years worth of hands-on experimental research I’ve conducted, systematically altering pitching mechanics, one piece at a time. I can show you it’s possible to throw high volumes, and you’ll learn why it’s actually wise to train this way. It’s no coincidence that training harder and smarter, with very specific mechanics, right now, today, is producing dominating, healthy results on the field. I want to show you how.
By stepping out of baseball’s self-imposed box and questioning the idea that pitching has to be an unnatural act, I’ve looked for solutions that no one else has explored. I’ve learned that the real frontier for ending pitching injuries is found in altering pitching mechanics as we know them. I want to share what I’ve learned.
If you use the arm THE WAY WE DO NOW—the way we always have—and throw higher volumes, you’ll just blow it up more quickly. However, if you get out of the box and use the arm DIFFERENTLY, you’ll find it’s possible to throw a ton and actually keep arms safe. Changing technique makes this possible.
Teaching technique differently opens up radically better ways to train pitchers. I’ve learned it’s possible to throw heavy weighted balls at maximum intensity, day after day, without wrecking arms. I know it’s possible because my students have been doing it for 15 years. This isn’t opinion, it’s fact. And I can prove it.
It’s also fact that if weighted ball programs don’t teach very, very specific mechanics that protect arms, injuries are going to accelerate. Based on my research, I haven’t seen another weighted ball program I would recommend. Contact me and I can explain.
Food for thought: I’ve discovered that if you can’t throw a heavy weighted ball with everything you’ve got, again and again, day after day, it reveals technique flaws that are going to hurt you, whether you throw weighted balls—or not.
When I hear otherwise knowledgable baseball people criticize the use of weighted balls for training pitchers, I already know what they haven’t figured out: they don’t know how to use the arm and body in a way that protects arms. You’d be correct to think that if coaches and trainers don’t understand how to protect arms while throwing heavy weighted implements, they’re most likely teaching something that wrecks arms.
I’m not interested in blaming anyone for baseball’s arm injury epidemic. For the good of this game, the only thing that matters is we fix the problem.
It’s time to shine a light on why arm care and rehab and recovery strategies will never protect arms over the long haul, and help you learn real arm injury solutions. I’ve already done the hardest part of the work for you.
If you or your organization have arm issues, shoot me an email ([email protected]) and we’ll talk about how I can help. You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain. Let me prove to you I know what I’m talking about.
If you’re serious about ending arm injuries and lessening the economic and human costs for your organization, this represents an opportunity to lead. Challenging? Yes, and the rewards can be measured on a legacy scale.
If this sounds like your kind of challenge, let’s band together and work toward ending the arm injury epidemic.
I’m looking forward to getting acquainted.