3 MVP Exercises for Throwing Athletes

In any great strength training program, there should be trends that you pick up over time to help you see where the most value is coming from. While the technical demands of throwing and hitting will vary based on sport, there are also a lot of similarities in the physical demands and sequencing. This article will not dive into sports specific drills as we believe that your strength training should remain general physical preparation (GPP) while benefiting the specific energy system demands at peak times during the competitive season and not year round (this is impossible). These exercises for us have helped improve a large number of qualities for each athlete regardless of age. When you look into any sport that requires throwing, you will see that the throw needs to be at a high velocity, repeatable, and performed safely. To achieve a high velocity, we must build a high power out put. To be repeatable, we need to build capacity so the athlete can keep doing the motion during the game safely. To have both of these, the athlete needs to have a dense base to build their performance off of. In our experience of working with many baseball and softball players, the most common issues from throwing are shoulder, elbow, and low back pain. For athletes who can throw at a higher velocity earlier, these issues can be accelerated because they don’t have the structure to withstand the repeated efforts. Here are the three best exercises we have found for throwing athletes.

Box Squat w/Bands

When many people think of using bands in strength training, they might think it’s only for powerlifters looking to increase their one rep max. While it has great benefit for absolute strength, we have found just as much if not more value in using bands to develop acceleration through an entire full range of motion. The bands create an overspeed eccentric (lowering the weight), which in return creates a higher velocity concentric motion (raising the weight). This effect does two things for the athletes. First, it teaches them to move faster in an attempt to complete the lift before the band tension becomes more difficult due to lower velocity. Secondly, bands have a grounding effect that just weight doesn’t. That means that the body is creating tension from the ground up. When this happens, it improves the the firing patterns of each muscle creating for a more efficient movement. By using a box we’re able to do many things that regular squatting doesn't compare to. The first part is it breaks up the eccentric/concentric chain. In a regular squat, athletes can utilize a stretch reflex to start lifting the weight up. With a box, it takes that away and forces the athlete to start the movement using mainly the muscles of the glutes, hamstrings, adductors, and abs. You’re essentially overcoming gravity + the weight on the bar from a dead stop which creates a great training effect. Another benefit of the box is that you can adjust the height to wherever you want it every single rep. If an athlete can’t perform a full range of motion correctly, elevate the box to meet them where they’re at and build technique and strength then gradually lower the box as strength improves. We like to get our athletes to where they can squat the top of the thigh to 1 inch below parallel. This has lead to a great increase in pitchers and field player throwing velocity with better control.

      Pull Up/Chin Up

Some observational data and tracked data on the pull up and chin up strength of an athlete. Athletes who can perform at least one bodyweight pull/chin up experience less shoulder and elbow pain and are overall hurt less. From our collected data, they also sprint faster and throw harder. Why is this? Because strength in lat muscles help control the arm during the throwing motion and also acts as a braking mechanism during deceleration. Think of it as the muscle that helps create a better start and stop for the throw. Many times, throwing athletes will experience shoulder or bicep pain. When athletes have the lat and bicep strength to do bodyweight pull ups it does miracles for how they feel while throwing. Why are athletes who can do pull ups some our faster athletes? I have two guesses as to why this happens. First, pull ups and sprinting both require a good level of relative strength (strength with ones body). Secondly, if you can do a bodyweight pull up you likely either have better body composition or are very strong. Both of those play very well into throwing harder and more controlled. 

Deadlift

I will let the internet strength coaches argue over which deadlift variation is the best. I really don’t care. If an athlete starts out being able to lift 200lbs for 5 reps from the floor and increases to 300lbs for 5 reps without a huge gain in bodyweight then they are throwing a lot harder while being safer. Deadlift will not hurt an athletes back, but instead will protect the athlete’s back and help create a better efficiency rate during any movement. Here are some of the variations we will use with our athletes and a brief description of why we use them. 

Sumo Deadlift - Feet out wide, simply pick the bar up in a pulling back motion. This has been great to work on hip mobility with athletes and gets the gluten much stronger. 

Sumo Deadlift w/ Bands - All the benefits as the above but now the bands are teaching acceleration from the floor. When starting out, less band tension is better. 

Sumo Deadlift weight on Mats - This is great for getting athletes more strength and comfortable with their feet out wide. Many athletes as they're growing have limited hip mobility and this again is a way to meet them where they're currently at. We will start at 3 inch mats and then work down as proficiency improves. 

Hex Bar Deadlift - “That’s not a deadlift, it’s a leg press!”. Again, the athlete is picking something off the floor which makes it a deadlift. I will say, for decades people have claimed the hex bar to be better because it’s safer. I disagree. I see as much potential injury risk with a hex bar as any other bar if not slightly more. The benefits of a hex bar is it gives the hips a break and the athlete is able to load more weight on the bar. The increased weight can build confidence for any athlete. 

Those are our top picks for throwing athletes. We’ve had great success with these movements and the feedback we get from our athletes is always that improved strength on these carries over a ton to the field. If you have more questions about strength for throwing athletes, feel free to email nick@showtimestrength.com