Pitching Routine for Practice

Some practices we just work on 2 pitches or should we be doing that all the time?

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What I used to do with my DD, 14U thru college, was have her stretch, do some running to get the legs working and some soft to moderate o/hand throwing from a short distance; just enough to make sure the shoulders and everything else was loose and warm. After that was her normal pitching warm-up progression.

The practices would vary depending on what we were working on that day. Some days it would be working velocity with long toss, run-thru's and fastballs while concentrating on exploding off of the rubber and good leg drive.

When she was working on movement pitches she would work on two different pitches till she was hitting her spots and the movement was good while changing speeds. I would always work on changes in between the movement pitches to keep it working. If she was struggling with something we'd work that more. Other days if one of the wheels fell of the bus, another was flat and the others were low we'd call it quits.

I've found if a pitcher tries to do too many things everything ends up suffering. Sorta like the Bruce Lee quote about 10,000 kicks that some is using in their tag line.

Goes without saying that a dynamic warm up is important. Like Doug, it really doesn't matter if there is any overhand throwing involved in the warm up.
I probably spend more time on the pitching warm up then any other part of a session. Regardless of how good a student is they almost always have some mechanics issues they could improve on.......I use the warm up for that......and it is a progressive warm up....backward chaining and progressively increasing energy and distance. The warm up can also be used for location and spins with the intermediate/advanced students. Without solid mechanics it is difficult for a student to achieve at a high level on their movement pitches so I describe myself as "death on mechanics". I don't give in on skipping improvement of mechanics........heck, my 33 yr. old DD still has mechanics to work on.....and I can't wait 'cause she is coming home for Christmas and I know there will be some great pitching sessions.....and I know she will have a list when we are done.

I do have my DD(14) warm up overhand... but we do it to double as a fielding mechanics drill. Rolling ground balls and work on proper fielding, Lots of bending and movement to warm up the whole body. She then does the equivalent of Liberty and goes through all her releases. Currently FB, CU, Rise, and Drop. Then she goes to 3/4 throws through the same cycle. Then she pitches full motion through the same cycle. Right now the pitch she's closest to mastering other than FB and CU is the Rise... so we spend most of the workouts there. Then we always finish up with 10 FBs on the radar gun.... and all she is worried about is velocity. Everything she's got. Then some quick stretches to cool down.

Hmm... this is an interesting thread.

I will say this - there is no right way to practice. However... there are MANY wrong ways to practice.

First... what have you identified is the reason you're practicing? People complain of drudgery and kids being bored all the time... and that's because we lack discipline in the most important concept of them all: Collaborative sessions. Not dictated. Not always repetitive. Each session, you owe it to each other to identify what it is the focus is... and then have the discipline to make sure you follow up on it. Once you've done that... you can then go about setting up what it is you will incorporate to achieve the goal for that session.

Some of these suggestions I started reading through seem very "packaged". I think it was riseball that said something about misusing drills. This kills me. A drill is NOT a solution, merely a tool for providing corrections. If you really think about this... why are we wasting to much dang time doing drills? Standing on one leg would only be applicable as a fix... cause I've yet to see anyone ever throw seven innings as a stork. So, it's not repetition of drills that matters; it's the application that counts.

So, this would be my recommendation:

1. Identify what your focus is PRIOR to going out to throw.
2. Determine how you wish to accomplish this together.
3. Warm-up. This means to actually warm your body up. Like... raise temperature in preparation for a physical activity. There is never one right warm-up for all... the degree that you warm-up is a determination of what you identified as a focus in steps 1 & 2.
4. Assessment. For the love of God... take a little video from time to time, before you work on something - hopefully this is how you arrived at what you are working on - or at the very least, it provides a litmus of progress - which is something you both should be obsessed with.
5. Execution: Takes place in 1 of two forms... the first is obvious - you do what you said you would do... -OR- you don't... and you "execute" the session due to lack of discipline... wasting your time, straining your relationship, and killing future motivation.
6. Re-evaluation of time... Focus provides clarity... but it also enforces efficiency. At times you will BOTH want to do more than you set out to do, because you easily reach your goal. If you are currently working on a progression... it's logical to look at and review the next step in the progression. Alternatively, you use this time for generic stuff... or filler stuff, if you will. Mini-games, drills, etc... all fit the bill - but they must be tertiary goals, rather than primary ones.
7. Integration & re-assessment: It's a wise move to see if what you worked on... actually transitions from whatever whacky training paradigm you created... to the full pitch. You could simply do a visual... but save time for both of you and video it. It's a lot easier to justify the time spent then... and in future sessions together... if you know/recognize what you are working on is having a positive effect on her overall mechanics.

IMO... the reason there are so many bad pitchers:
1) They haven't found DFP
2) They waste so much freakin' time doing USELESS stuff. Remember, what is useful to one person for development is often USELESS for others.

Best, ~JS

javasource said:

Standing on one leg would only be applicable as a fix... cause I've yet to see anyone ever throw seven innings as a stork.

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Look here coffeeking, it's called the FLAMINGO drill and its proven to fix hello elbow, wrist snap, bowling, slamming the door AND squishing the marshmallow (we don't talk about violence towards living creatures in my sessions...). Tell you what, I'll post a YouTube video of my Flamingo Drill and we'll see who gets more views--your 2 Step or my fix everything drill!



BTW, can I borrow everything else in your post?

Ken B said:

...squishing the marshmallow (we don't talk about violence towards living creatures in my sessions...).

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[Reflectivity] Ahh... Washingtonians...

The other day I realized that I was telling a 12 year old the proper way to break a nose... in an attempt to explain the importance of ballistic motions.

Two days ago... I think I used the word violence 20 times in one 30 minute clinic.

Liberty Drill? Not here... we call it the, "Show me your guns drill"...

Hmm... perhaps I should bring it down a few notches...

javasource said:

[Reflectivity] Ahh... Washingtonians...

The other day I realized that I was telling a 12 year old the proper way to break a nose... in an attempt to explain the importance of ballistic motions.

Two days ago... I think I used the word violence 20 times in one 30 minute clinic.

Liberty Drill? Not here... we call it the, "Show me your guns drill"...

Hmm... perhaps I should bring it down a few notches...

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I often told batters that hitting is violent act so approach it with agression. I also told them when they step in the box too cop an attitude and I wouldn't let their parents fuss at them for it.