Arm Speed Drills

Looking for a few drills that can be used to increase arm speed. DD has been working this winter on picking up her arm speed. Here are some of the drills we currently use

1. Long toss
2. Run through's
3. Stationary arm circles

We have recently added throwing a lighter ball. She does the same drills using a tennis ball. That has seemed to help the most.

I also have used in the past, the ball in the sock drill. I think that may put some stress on the shoulder. Not certain about that. Any help would be appreciated.

Does she have a slight bend in the elbow all the way through the circle? If the arm is straight and the elbow is locked, she can speed up the arm with that little bend. It will also keep her from getting hurt.

Also, the arm 'circle' really isnt a circle. It's more like an oval as the body is moving forward. If the stride is strong enough and fast enough, it takes next to zero effort to bring the ball up to 12:00. A lot of folks havent fogured that out yet. The slower the stride, the harder it is to bring the ball up in front.

How strong and fast is her forward momentum / stride speed? That is probably your culprit that is holding her speed down.

Does she have a slight bend in the elbow all the way through the circle? If the arm is straight and the elbow is locked, she can speed up the arm with that little bend. It will also keep her from getting hurt.

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Agree with that !!! and would like to add, that if she wants to add to her stride speed, she needs to fuel it by using her upper half, to load the lower. If she is single pumping,or bringing the ball back past her hip, it slows the momentium,and that causes her to the lock the elbow. Drop the sock too as it imbeds the locked elbow in muscle memory, as do drills.

Consider that velocity is created more by mechanics than "arm speed". One of the most important aspects of how much speed is generated occurs from elbow to fingertips in the last 1/4 of the circle and not an overall focus on arm speed. It is why some hard throwers look so relaxed and effortless.

This is why recently I have been looking to long toss as a means of improving speed. Not because it is strengthening the arm but because it helps develop the whip needed in the last 1/4 of the motion to impart more velocity. When the temperature gets above 45 degrees where I am we will be out side and incorporating long toss (not over doing it) with a focus on explaining to pitchers why.

Just a thought.

I really appreciate the feedback. I have shot video in the past, and she definitely has a bend in the arm. The reason we are focusing on arm speed, is weare really trying to pick up that last few MPH. Currently she is low to mid 50's on her FB. She has been working so hard on taking that next step. We discovered that her pitching usually goes in steps. Couple years ago, she found consistency. Last year she developed other pitches. This year she is trying to add a little speed. We also see a sharper break on her movement pitches, when she is really popping the glove. Together we sat down a month ago, and came up with our offseason goals. 3 mph on the FB and 3 more inches on the breaking pitches.

joemcq51 said:

Looking for a few drills that can be used to increase arm speed. DD has been working this winter on picking up her arm speed. Here are some of the drills we currently use

1. Long toss
2. Run through's
3. Stationary arm circles

We have recently added throwing a lighter ball. She does the same drills using a tennis ball. That has seemed to help the most.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you're on the right track with getting your DD to HER full potential. Your 3mph and 3" goals sound like reasonable and obtainable goals.

One thing to remember is not everyone can pitch at 65mph or run a sub-ten 100. With that thought in mind I would suggest that once you feel like your DD has reached her max speed then figure out what she needs to do to be successful in the circle. If she's maxed out in the high 50's then she needs to really learn how to make the ball move well in multiple directions, hit her spots and change speeds. She will have to learn how to sneak the ball passed hitters.

Never stop working on the speed. It helps keep her breaking pitches crisp and breaking late.

arm speed drills

How about she was not blessed with speed. All pitchers are only capable of throwning as fast as their genetic makeup allow.

Fredrica said:

How about she was not blessed with speed. All pitchers are only capable of throwning as fast as their genetic makeup allow.

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Not quite ready to say what she has or hasn't been blessed with. All I can say right now, is she is one of the hardest working 13 yoa pitchers I have ever seen. This site has been a huge help in her development as a pitcher. Thanks again for all the help.

Some of the best advice given me that has really helped my DD (14u) was to make sure she does her work outs at 100%. If this means she is only working for 20 minutes because that is all she has then she works at 100% for 20 minutes. As it was put to me, "Why work for an hour and a half at 80%, she is just training her body to throw better at 80%. If she wants full speed then throw at 100%" I found that this alone picked up a couple miles an hour fairly quickly. The caveat is, of course, that she needs to be aware of her mechanics and keep her mechanics sound at 100%. This advice came from a dad who has a 16 yr old daughter that throws 65mph+ and is only 5' 4". Radar was from nationals last year.

Working hard and throwing 100% are different things. My DD, like yours, works her tails off. She didn't throw at 100% every pitch and it took a little bit for her to make the transition. Once she did it made a huge difference. She now throws 100% and does her best to push her limits every practice. She has gone from regularly throwing 52/53 in practice to 56/57 based on her PCs gun.


Leftiesdad

Fredrica said:

How about she was not blessed with speed. All pitchers are only capable of throwning as fast as their genetic makeup allow.

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THAT is a commonly used excuse by instructors when they are not succesful in bringing out the most the player can give.

I am going to quote Bill Dance here, a world reknown bass fisherman; "It's not that people are ignorant, it's just that they have accumulated alot of knowledge that JUST AINT SO."

Someone, especially if its an instructor, that blames the student's genetic make up for the instructor's own failure to teach is an insult to their profession and that applies to every sport, softball, bass fishing, all of them.

At one time I had a 6-year-old student. The next student fallowing her was a 10-year-old that was the exact same height. The 10-year-old was short for her age. However, the 10-year-old could FLAT BUTT BRING IT! She would stop the the other instructors and their studentys for a minute or two because they couldnt believe who was throwing and making the glove sound like thunder!

The desire to throw with authority is in every student. The ability to do that is also in every student. The ability to bring all that out in a student is definitely NOT in every instructor.