If we compared the pitching delivery of a power pitcher to a high powered riffle then the force vector would be the barrel and triple extension would be the trigger. Without either one, your high powered riffle is junk. It also doesn’t matter how much gun powder is in the gun, without the barrel or the trigger, it is useless.

Most young pitchers have very poor stride power because they do not achieve triple extension in their strides. This component along with the gun powder, which is our muscles, produce power in our strides. Without this component and poor leg and core strength, our power production is limited.

What is the Force Vector?

This is the angle of the ankle to knee. Starting in the drive leg, this is the direction that force is being produce. If the ankle to knee is vertical then the force will be produced in a vertical direction. Because the stride moves in a linear direction, towards the target, a pitcher can not produce force or power in the stride until the force vector is linear. The force vector is also important in the landing leg. When the landing leg stabilizes and produces force back into the hips, the force vector must also be angled in a linear direction instead of a vertical direction.

Why is the Force Vector so important to increase velocity?

The National Pitching Association in their 2005-2006 Velocity Study here, proved that 80% of a pitchers velocity is based on the degrees of separation between the hips and shoulders at front foot strike. The 3X pitching approach has proven that triple extension before front foot strike, along with triple flexion of the landing leg at front foot strike, is what enhances this hip to shoulder separation. Therefore the force vector must be in a linear direction for triple extension to occur in the drive leg and optimal stabilization to occur in the landing leg.

How to Implement the Force Vector into the Pitching Delivery?

Most young pitchers struggle with this critical component. Their force vector stays too vertical through their strides. The reason for this is the lack of power and mobility. Power and mobility is pretty much a catch 22. You cannot have mobility without power but you can have power without mobility and to have a linear force vector in your drive leg during your stride, takes both power and mobility to implement.

The best way to improving your force vector you must first start with building a base level of strength through the entire body and then start enhancing power production by introducing speed and power movements. Once you have developed some explosive power which can be measured in a vertical jump then you want to start training this power through full range of motion to enhance mobility. This must be done with both a throwing program and a strength and conditioning program. This is the foundation of the 3X Pitching Velocity program. This is why this off-season program is so effective in increasing velocity. If you are serious about your pitching career and you want to develop an explosive stride to help increase velocity and prevent arm injury then you must start this 16 week program today.

For more information of the 3X Pitching Velocity program continue visit the home page.

Last week the Assistant GM for the New Orleans Hornets called me about implementing a core strength and flexibility program for the team. My reply was not taken well by him because I laughed. After I regained my composure I explained that if you have a well thought out strength and conditioning program, core strength and flexibility components are built in and done on a daily basis. I felt it was a waste of the teams time for me to go in once a week for thirty minutes to train explicitly on core and flexibility work. Needless to say; he was not very happy with my reply.

This conversation did trigger a host of thoughts about past training concepts, present training concepts and future training concepts. I remember the days when strength coaches had a background in either power lifting, olympic lifting or bodybuilding. Then high intensity training became the fad of the day. That was followed by sport specific training. Sport specific training gave way to core and stabilization training, which gave way to functional training. What do all these training methods have in common? A lot of books and videos have been sold. Yes, I am jaded and sarcastic by nature. I just want to know; what ever happened to a basic well thought out training cycle? I think coaches and athletes are so impressed by the latest line of training equipment and the latest training fad that they forget about the basics of performance: power, strength and speed. This is not an indictment of training philosophy, but an article to provoke thought.

I incorporate some faction of every training philosophy in my training cycles. I pride myself on being able to steal from the best and worst programs. If I can find one thing to make my training cycles better than my athletes are getting better. When it comes to training I do not dismiss anyone or any system. I will learn from anybody, anywhere, anytime.

Now if you employ this technique when writing a training cycle things still have to mesh and it has to be logical. I have seen training cycles thrown together that made absolutely know sense. There are facets of training programs that you can use to enhance your training cycles. For example:

Bodybuilding – a ridicules repertoire of exercises
that can be performed.

Power lifting – absolute strength lifts, max effort
lifts and dynamic effort lifts.

Olympic lifting – explosive power and speed lifts.

HIT – lifting for muscle hypertrophy, endurance
and volume.

Core/Stability – building your athletic foundation.

Functional Training – isolateral and balance training.

Rehab -joint stability work.

Sport Specific Training – there are few exercises that truly mimmick sport. This has always been a catch phrase that I have true distain for. If you’re an athlete who is getting stronger, more powerful and faster then your getting better athletically.

You can take bits and pieces of different training philosophies and mold them into a coherent and concise program. Do not pigeon whole your athletes into one training system. Let your guard down and absorb knowledge form non traditional sport training areas. Don’t be swayed by entire training systems that come around every two to three years. Stick to your basic philosophy and enhance it with sound practices of other philosophies.

Dick Mill’s says that science today has proven weight training does not increase your throwing velocity. I have yet to find any scientific information on this theory. I would like to ask Dick Mill’s, “Why, when I was a junior in college and training with the Olympic Lifts, after six months my velocity went from 82 to 90 MPH?” During that summer I played on a travel team, I would complete an intense workout and then rush to pitch a full game immediately after the workout. I may not recommend this to other pitchers but it sure did work for me. I then spent the last five or more years trying to figure out why this worked. This is when I wrote the article “Olympic Lifting Increases Pitching Velocity” and also this is when I coined the term “Triple Extension.”

The reason for my velocity improvements did come from the Olympic lifts. This is because, if these lifts are performed correctly, they will max out your core strength potential and promote fast twitch muscle fiber growth. There is no better way to train your core and fast twitch fiber, than with these lifts. If I go a week without performing these lifts, after my first day back I can feel the weakness first in my core. I even have serious soreness in my core the next few days. I also immediately feel more powerful on the field after the soreness goes away. I feel it when I sprint and throw. Just like when you do a lot of squats and your vertical leap goes up.

The biggest miss conception about these lifts are that they will turn you into Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is a fairy tale. The Olympic lifts build defined athletes. Just look at Matt Bruce here, a current Olympian. He is about 5’7 and 170 pounds. He can Power Clean and Jerk over 400 pounds and he looks like a boy in person.

If you are a pitcher and you are looking for these type of velocity improvements, then you need to drop everything you are doing and learn these lifts. You need to start a program like my “Fusion System.” This workout is the main part of the Ace Pitcher Handbook and was developed by my trainer Chad Engelhardt. It is called the “Fusion System” because it isn’t only about these lifts I have described. It is also about building joint integrity to handle more stress from the improved velocity and the sprint work to really define those fast twitch fibers.

So, if you currently have a program that involves you sitting in an air conditioned health club, on a cushioned seat, performing a chest press, then you better ask yourself, “How the Hell is this making me a better athlete?” It isn’t! Athletes are not made in health clubs. They are made in hot sweaty gyms and on dirty ball fields. Remember this, if you want to play with the “Big Guns,” you better train like one!