FastpitchFan
Softball fan
How's the weather in your part of the country? Here, it's been depressing! Lots of rain and no sunshine. I've been stuck indoor but I'd rather be soaking up on vitamin D. At least, I got some work done.
Yesterday, I was talking to the parent of a young pitcher. During our conversation, he asked me: "What are the common characteristics of the best pitchers in the game?".
My answer was very simple: "They all have these 4 things in common: a) love for the game, b) some genetic advantage (whether be height, athleticism, natural strength/power, etc.), and c) mental toughness, and d) they're extremely hard-working."
You see, it takes 10 years (give or take) to train a world-class pitcher. We're talking about years of training and practices. And this almost year round (with usually 4-8 weeks off per year).
And training includes a) pitching workouts and b) strength and conditioning workouts. While most elite-level pitchers do a decent job of doing this in the off-season, they fail to keep doing that during the competitive season.
Most pitchers ditch the physical training component as soon as the season starts because they get too busy with practices, games and traveling. THAT'S A BIG MISTAKE!
Practices and games alone are NOT enough to maintain and preserve your strength and power and keep your body healthy. If you stop working out during the competitive season, you'll lose strength, power, velocity, endurance and physical resilience.
Now, you don't have to work out as much as you did during the off-season. The goal during the season is to maintain results. To maintain, it is recommended to keep working out 1-2 times per week.
Please, don't stop your workouts!
Coach Marc ;-)
Yesterday, I was talking to the parent of a young pitcher. During our conversation, he asked me: "What are the common characteristics of the best pitchers in the game?".
My answer was very simple: "They all have these 4 things in common: a) love for the game, b) some genetic advantage (whether be height, athleticism, natural strength/power, etc.), and c) mental toughness, and d) they're extremely hard-working."
You see, it takes 10 years (give or take) to train a world-class pitcher. We're talking about years of training and practices. And this almost year round (with usually 4-8 weeks off per year).
And training includes a) pitching workouts and b) strength and conditioning workouts. While most elite-level pitchers do a decent job of doing this in the off-season, they fail to keep doing that during the competitive season.
Most pitchers ditch the physical training component as soon as the season starts because they get too busy with practices, games and traveling. THAT'S A BIG MISTAKE!
Practices and games alone are NOT enough to maintain and preserve your strength and power and keep your body healthy. If you stop working out during the competitive season, you'll lose strength, power, velocity, endurance and physical resilience.
Now, you don't have to work out as much as you did during the off-season. The goal during the season is to maintain results. To maintain, it is recommended to keep working out 1-2 times per week.
Please, don't stop your workouts!
Coach Marc ;-)
