Strength exercises for beginning 9yo pitcher

[John 800]

9yo DD is starting to pitch, and was wondering what anyone suggests to build some strength for a very, very petite kid. She is short and thin but pretty strong for her size from being a pretty hard working gymnast from a young age, but being so small it sure can’t hurt to gain a little bit more strength. Any ideas?
How many pitches is it safe to have her throw in a session?

 

[DrRiello]

Body weight exercises and use of TRX, med balls etc are great for young kids.
Pitch count depends on the kid and their tolerance.


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[John 800]

Pitch count depends on the kid and their tolerance.

She was on a roll a few weeks ago and wanted to keep going and going, was not tired or sore, but it was getting dark when she hit 130 pitches. I am not sure if is a god idea to do that on a regular basis or not.

 

[Bonesaw]

9yo DD is starting to pitch, and was wondering what anyone suggests to build some strength for a very, very petite kid. She is short and thin but pretty strong for her size from being a pretty hard working gymnast from a young age, but being so small it sure can’t hurt to gain a little bit more strength. Any ideas?
How many pitches is it safe to have her throw in a session?

I've been acquiring some equipment for myself for home workouts and ended up picking up a 6 lb one of these for my DD. (Almost 9)

SET™ Fitness Slam Ball - PERFECT COMBO WITH KETTLEBELL WORKOUTS

SET™ Fitness Dead Bounce Slam Balls. Strengthen your core, improve conditioning & explosiveness. FREE SHIPPING! Perfect for Crossfit® workouts.

www.kettlebellsusa.com

It's fun and relativley safe. We'll do a little circuit where you pickem up overhead and slam 5 times. Throw sidewys 5 each side and then throw backward over head 5 times. (X3 or 5).

 

[DrRiello]

She was on a roll a few weeks ago and wanted to keep going and going, was not tired or sore, but it was getting dark when she hit 130 pitches. I am not sure if is a god idea to do that on a regular basis or not.

If she does 130 and feels ok the next day it’s all good. Really depends on the kid. There will be a breaking point when they get real sore or you see a breakdown on energy or accuracy or velocity. You’ll know it’s time to shut it down.
Their mechanics will break when they get tired.


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[Tango]

I think a functional movement screening is a great way to start with any athlete. Correct the issues before thay become issues.

 

[John 800]

I think a functional movement screening is a great way to start with any athlete. Correct the issues before thay become issues.

What is a functional movement screening? Never heard of it before

 

[DrRiello]

What is a functional movement screening? Never heard of it before

It’s a physical movement screening that chiropractic or personal trainers may use to determine areas of physical restrictions or concerns.
It’s a bunch of movements that are rated.


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[Tango]

They use the FMS to develop a program for each athlete. Has helped my DD and son greatly, IMO

 

[BT3100]

If we had to do it over again I would have DD start doing core work sooner. You can never have too much core strength. I do like the TRX system mentioned above. At 9 years old body weight should be plenty to build strength. The other things I would focus on are sprints and a mile or two run every other day to build up endurance. Add that to some long toss and you have all the right things to get off to a great start.