http://www.pponline.co.uk/ency…..uscles-965

Here is a link to a website with some very good information on fast twitch development. The reason I started researching more on my own, instead of just on this site, is because of some regression in my lifts and velocity due to the some of the slow twitch development exercises in your fusion system (especially level 2). I believe the fusion system is great for people who have never lifted before or are under the age of 14, but I also believe that there is a better method to developing fast twitch muscle fiber than your current fusion system.

1) Unless you are completing 75% of your max weight you are developing slow twitch muscle fiber.

2) The majority of exercises in your program keep you under load in excess of 10 seconds. Any time you are under load over 10 you are no longer recruiting fast twitch muscle fiber.

3) In order to give max effort there must be rest in between sets of 4-5 minutes.

4) For speed/sprint development it must be max effort with 1 minute rest for every 10 yards sprinted, but not exceeding 5 minutes. Sprints, like lifts, should not exceed 10 seconds. Therefor the optimal distance would be anywhere from 30-70 yards for most people. Once your sprint times have begun to decline, the exercise should end. So, the number of sprints for the majority of people would be 4-7 with a distance of 40 yards, with max effort and appropriate rest time.

5) Plyometrics should be directly after each lift, with upper body lifts there should be some sort of upper body plyo.

6) The same rules apply to the core. The core, like the upper body and lower body, should be totally fast twitch. The best way to develop fast twitch for the core is isometric exercises such as torture twists, or pillars for those not strong enough for torture twists.

7) The deadlift is the most efficient lift in the weight room. You can lift the most weight with this exercise and it works the more muscle groups than the squat. Another advantage over the squat is that you can do 2-3 reps of 90% of your max without exceeding the 10 rule. With a squat you can only do 1 rep of 90% due to being under load as soon as you lift the bar of the rack. As well as the increased safety of the deadlift, and there is no weight directly on the spine like the squat.

8) The powerclean is a good lift for motor memory but does not actually develop fast twitch muscle fiber because you can not put much weight on the bar in order to complete the lift. Therefor I would recomend not spending much time and energy with this exercise and focus more on the lifts in which you can do the most weight.

I agree with your mechanics exercises but I think could also be altered for more optimal fast twitch development, although they do resemble a pitchers work load during an actual game. I also feel that in the level two program you went too far outside your philosophy. There as many upper body lifts as lower body, and the mechanics exercises are a little much.

I would also recomend picking up the ebook on http://bearpowered.com/ and start using the techniques he uses for his sprinters to increase speed and strength. He has worked with Dr. Weyand, a researcher that was endorsed by one of your articles concerning sprint speed and ground contact forces.

I believe that your program is the best out there for the pitcher right now but if you do not focus more on the true way of developing fast twich fiber, then someone will surpass you with better, faster results. What your program has accomplished that no one else's has is that you have integrated strength in the pitching world and seen good results. That is what makes it revolutionary. Hope this helps.

Zedoryu,

I agree that pitchers must have some conditioning. The reason for my post is because I feel that the fusion system is not enough fast twitch oriented. Brent says that it is all fast twitch but if you look at the lifts, their number of reps, weight, rest time, and find the amount of time that you are under load and then look at the science behind fast twitch development, they don't match up.

I believe some lifting is better than no lifting, but there is definitely a better way.

The conditioning/stamina can be developed through the mechanics drills since there is a high number of reps that are very similar to a pitchers motion. However, unless the athlete performing these drills is fast and strong enough to move explosively through these drills they are rendered useless. This is the basis of Brent's philosophy and also mine. An elite athelete with ok mechanics will out throw a poor athelete with very good mechanics.

The reason for my post was to point out some of the flaws that I see in the strength portion of the program in hopes that Brent would build an even more effective pitcher.

Also, on the subject of my decline in velocity, I attribute most of it to the almost impossible work load of the level 2 program. It's just too much for one person each day. You reach fatigue halfway through and the rest is just developing big, slow muscle which is the opposite of an elite athelete.

The mechanics work and sprints should condition a pitcher to be able to pitch at least 90 pitches, I know because before the level 2 program I was able to maintain my regular velocity through 100 pitches without touching the conditioning portion of the program, this was also after two games earlier that weekend.

My goal in my post was not to bash the program, I love that Brent has brought strength and conditioning to pitching and I owe my arm health to him, my goal was to help improve it.

Thank you for your response Brent. Although you are very convincing, I do have more points to make in regards to the last post.

Brent Pourciau USAW Certified said:

The level 2 training program focuses more on mobility and endurance than fast twitch remodeling. This is why it incorporates more lifts and reps and more big movements. You should have experienced most of your velocity and fast twitch increase in the level 1 program.

Mobility is important because it is of no use to a pitcher if he can move fast but not through a full range of motion. You have to have the mobility to go with your speed if we are going to hit full strides and optimal hip to shoulder separation.

The endurance is important because we need to not just throw 90mph but we need to be able to do it over and over and over again.

The level 2 program also incorporates more upper body lifts because after we have built a powerful lower half from the level 1 program we can now build up the upper body more which will also promote velocity and integrity.

I have a question that I don't believe you have covered in an article yet. How much mobility and cardio actually contributes to the pitching delivery? If I had to guess about 20% would be dependent on mobility, and at most 10% would be cardio. So what is the other 70% dependent on? The answer would be strength and speed, which are both improved with fast twitch training. So why would you devote an entire program to these two aspects? In my posts above I said that enough cardio could be developed during the mechanics/med ball drills and I still hold this to be true.

I believe that mobility and flexibility have a direct correlation. If you are flexible, then you should have a good amount of mobility during exercise. An example would be a cagefighter. They must have very good flexibility in their hamstrings to be able to kick the other fighter's head. And according to one of your articles increasing your strength increases flexibility (I totally agree). So then wouldn''t increasing your strength increase your mobility?

Now to the upper body. How much upper body (pecs, triceps, biceps, and forearms) strength is needed to throw 90 MPH? One thing that I don''t think you have written an article about is how the arms contribute a major amount of force to produce velocity. That''s because they don't. I understand that you would want to strengthen your rotator cuffs for injury prevention but that isn't what I'm talking about. This is what I meant by saying that you were getting away from your original approach to velocity in the level 2 program. You have written about how the upper body will take over because it is the strongest of the muscle groups, this is what the level 2 program is causing.

Ok that's my review for level 2. Now onto more important things.

I whole heartedly believe that the power clean should be in every weight lifting program, but I do not believe that they are a strength builder. By that I mean that you can't increase its max by only doing this lift. My reasoning is that you can not possibly powerclean enough weight to build leg strength. The greatest weight gains in this lift are done by learning the technique. This is why someone who is extremely strong on deadlift can easily make large gains in their power clean max in a short amount of time. This is what I experienced when I started your program. The gains in powerclean were not from actually getting stronger so much as learning proper technique and teaching my muscles the motor coordination to perform a heavy clean. Deadlifts will increase your power clean max, but power cleans will not improve your dead lift max.

Where I believe the cleans are very important is in conversion from pure strength to power. They teach your muscles to move in a way that no other lift does, atheletically. This is why they are so crucial for a pitcher and atheletes as a whole. I also agree that the cleans do not require plyo's because you have explained it to me.

By saying max effort I was inferring something that I did not actually mean. The correct word to have used would be top speed. This would mean no resistance and only a number of reps that you would be able to run at top speed.

When I look at your core routines I do not see any true isometric other than the pillars. Some consider the russian twists an isometric but they really aren't due to the constant movement side-to-side.

Like I said earlier, the power clean's source of strength is the deadlift. They are the same lift from the ground to hips. Only when the bar passes the hips do they differ. An example of why I say the deadlift is the source is because of this: say you deadlift 400 pounds. 225 pounds would then be very easy for a deadlift. If it is easy, then you should be able to move it with substantial speed. If your power clean technique is very good then 225 would be an easy max even if you do not work on power cleans regularly. But, of course, unless you work on them regularly you won't have good technique.

I know the stats on the measurement of power of the clean versus the deadlift. The reason I say the deadlift is the most efficient is because you can do more weight than any other lift and it works the same amount of muscles as the clean. (The arms are not actually used in the clean for lifting the weight, the momentum built from the lower body is what makes the bar fly up.) The deadlift strengthens every other leg lift.

As far as the recovery week goes, I don't feel that it should exist. Either it should be a pure rest week (no lifting or exercise period) or the program should just move on to the performance week. The weekend provides suffient rest for the body to recover. The recovery week is just a waste in my opinion.

I didn't say that I could/would make a better program. I said that someone with baseball pitching knowledge like yours, and combines the power lifting (what you call strength lifting, and what I've been trying to promote) and Olympic lifting could definitely challenge yours.

I could send you a copy of a program that I would make if you're interested.

Hope this helps.