How much time do you take off for pitcher in the offseason

RubberBiscuit · Oct 22, 2014

Anyone familiar with my DD's history will know this is an area I am fully versed on/in AND will be VERY opinionated (beware).

A primary-pitcher should take 6-8 contiguous weeks off in a year. (based on the simple fact that it takes this span for micro-fractures to re-fuse : spine/foot/etc). Within this 6-8 weeks off there is ZERO torso-torque (including bat swings etc).

Otherwise you are playing Russian roulette with stress fractures etc. AND your health insurance $$.

FP26 · Oct 22, 2014

Last year was the first year that my DD took a real break. She stopped all pitching activities for approximately 6 weeks and came back stronger, faster, and more focused than before the break. It took her a few days to get back in the swing of things, but it was well worth the time off. She has just recently started her break for this year and will be off until Thanksgiving or later. I don't have a goal date in mind, we are just shooting for 6 to 8 weeks. The start up will be up to her.

riseball · Oct 22, 2014

fastpitch26 said:
Last year was the first year that my DD took a real break. She stopped all pitching activities for approximately 6 weeks and came back stronger, faster, and more focused than before the break. It took her a few days to get back in the swing of things, but it was well worth the time off. She has just recently started her break for this year and will be off until Thanksgiving or later. I don't have a goal date in mind, we are just shooting for 6 to 8 weeks. The start up will be up to her.

That is the recipe for success that I have used with my DD for about 6 years. While they are growing it is not uncommon for them to pick up some velocity simply by resting. Years ago in her 1st season of 14U my DD was stuck working in the high 50's. She took off about 6 weeks and started working right at 60-61. Down the road as they get older the time to get back to game form decreases. Now in college she has to force herself to take a break but knows it is in her best interest.

Jojo · Oct 22, 2014

riseball said:
Pure fantasy for an elite level pitcher. The best way to avoid so called "Overuse Injuries" is for the athlete to be properly conditioned and have a proper training and nutritional regimen.

Being in Texas, this is just next to impossible. These girls are playing all year round, there is no "off season".
They start fall recruiting in the summer and as soon as school starts up they are off and playing. There are no breaks, Halloween tournaments, Fall Bash tournaments, Toys for Tots tournaments, it's never ending.

A pitcher cannot tell her team, "Hey I'm going to take 4 months off", then expect to get back on the team.

I do push mine to take breaks, but it is extremely hard to even get 2 weeks out of them.
I wish it was more of a trend for teams in this area to take breaks, but with the weather being so perfect for ball this time of the year, you're not going to get any takers.

cuzmail · Oct 22, 2014

Jojo said:
Being in Texas, this is just next to impossible. These girls are playing all year round, there is no "off season".
They start fall recruiting in the summer and as soon as school starts up they are off and playing. There are no breaks, Halloween tournaments, Fall Bash tournaments, Toys for Tots tournaments, it's never ending.

A pitcher cannot tell her team, "Hey I'm going to take 4 months off", then expect to get back on the team.

I do push mine to take breaks, but it is extremely hard to even get 2 weeks out of them.
I wish it was more of a trend for teams in this area to take breaks, but with the weather being so perfect for ball this time of the year, you're not going to get any takers.

Yep. Maybe the time between Christmas and January tryouts. But then again, if you want to look sharp at tryouts in January, you need to practice.

riseball · Oct 22, 2014

Jojo said:
Being in Texas, this is just next to impossible. These girls are playing all year round, there is no "off season".
They start fall recruiting in the summer and as soon as school starts up they are off and playing. There are no breaks, Halloween tournaments, Fall Bash tournaments, Toys for Tots tournaments, it's never ending.

A pitcher cannot tell her team, "Hey I'm going to take 4 months off", then expect to get back on the team.

I do push mine to take breaks, but it is extremely hard to even get 2 weeks out of them.
I wish it was more of a trend for teams in this area to take breaks, but with the weather being so perfect for ball this time of the year, you're not going to get any takers.

My DD is in college. Last game in mid- May. Back at school and practicing 6 days a week in mid-August. That gives her 3 months if she does absolutely nothing during the summer, in which case she will be hating life when she gets back to school. Sounds like the opinion of a Doc who is totally out of touch with sports in the real world.

maksoftball · Oct 22, 2014

riseball said:
My DD is in college. Last game in mid- May. Back at school and practicing 6 days a week in mid-August. That gives her 3 months if she does absolutely nothing during the summer, in which case she will be hating life when she gets back to school. Sounds like the opinion of a Doc who is totally out of touch with sports in the real world.

I was wondering same thing myself. I think that in Texas a break is: no team practices, no games, do "warm-up" like practices 2-3x a week, and sports specific conditioning including running at least 2x a week. But plan on lots of rest and recovery...

riseball · Oct 22, 2014

Out in Left Field said:
One of the reasons pitching performance is down is that the pitchers are really beat up. Sometimes you have to think of the end goal. If you are signed already in HS you should say I am taking some rest , then do what my college coach wants to prepare. If I am on a TB team and my team won't let me rest (from pitching), find another team. As was posted, if you do your own leg work you can get some college offers. Pitchers are the ones who are in demand and can set boundaries. What is that coach doing for your DD anyway that you need to give up physical health for?

Traina was ordered to rest by Murphy. There is no amount of conditioning that will let you avoid overuse damage. Look at Thomas, Fowler, on and on, barely made it through. Fowler's dad admitted too much pitching when young, and like all athletes some body imbalance or weakness will get exposed by pitching that may not be controlled with exercise.

So when it comes to providing an example of an athlete that was unable to hold off an "Overuse Injury" through a high level of physical conditioning you went with Jackie Traina?

DmystifieD · Oct 22, 2014

August AND December! August is after nationals, PGF and/or ASA (8 on, 1 off, 3 on, 1 off, rinse repeat).....December is after thanksgiving trny's (brenda marsh or surf city pre-thanksgiving in Cali), so on the west coast she religiously gets 2 whole months off a year. No softball, no weights, go be a kid and come back the next season refreshed. The foot aches and back aches seem to be a thing of the past once we started this. We have now done this both 14U seasons and expect to continue this thru high school. Solid hurler on a top org. Giving her this time off is probably tougher on me

Of course, velocity and accuracy got better the further removed from the 1 month off, so I wouldn't expect to pick up a ball after 30 days and start throwing 60.

RetiredCoach · Oct 26, 2014

I am not offering this as my opinion of the optimal training regimen for fastpitch pitchers but as an example of how effective one can be on a lot less work than is, usually recommended. I have two DDs who are pitchers, 16 and 13, and here is their year. March-May they play school ball. June and July they play travel ball. August and September they play on the school tennis team while playing Fall Ball. During this time they pitch their games and practice pitching enough to stay effective. This October they have started running and they play catch with a football with me (who needs sons?). Starting November they will be increasing their training programs and working on improving their pitching technique. December thru February they will continue off season training and will participate in a twice/week pitching clinic, which will probably be all the pitching they do.

How much time do you take off for pitcher in the offseason

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