Symptoms of Pattern Overload for Pitchers

If you are a pitcher who is experiencing these issues then it is possible that you could be suffering from Pattern Overload:

• The Loss of range of motion in your throwing arm.
• Your coach is telling you that you are not getting enough arm extension.
• You are struggling with throwing strikes.
• When you lift weights your throwing arm is weaker than your non-throwing arm.
• When you throw, your shoulder pops and clicks and has pain in certain positions.

Pitching Pattern Overload

If you have never heard of Pattern Overload then you need to stop what you are doing and study this condition because it could end your pitching career. In layman’s terms this condition occurs when the same pattern is repeated over and over again, like when throwing a baseball. What happens is the rotator cuff muscles begin to fatigue, the larger muscles of the shoulder, chest and back start to take over the joints movements. This not only changes mechanics but it creates instability in the joint. Instead of the joint rotating efficiently, it then begins to rotate off its axis. If the pattern continues than this can lead to the dislocation of the joint or the joint pulling away from its capsule. This would be like pulling a can from a six pack and then trying to stick it back into the plastic ring that held it in place. It doesn’t work because the ring has been overstretch and is now bigger than the rim of the can. When this occurs, muscle and tendon/ligament damage is likely to occur which could lead to serious injury.

Pattern Overload is also detrimental to accuracy because of the loss of stability in the joint, the brain begins to loss control of the joint because of a proprioceptive deficit. This would be like changing the angle of the Axel on a remote control car. When you use the remote control to tell the car to turn right, it will over turn now because the Axel is not in its original position when the remote or brain was programed. This would be the same issue for a pitcher who is trying to hit the outside part of the plate but he continues to miss and miss.

How to recover from Pattern Overload?

If Pattern Overload leads to major muscle or tendon/liagment damage then surgery will be necessary and the joint will never be the same. If muscle or tendon/ligament damage isn’t as serious then rest and the termination of the pattern causing the issue is the first step. Here is the rest times for muscle or tendon/ligament damage.

Muscle Tissue: Strains and minor tears heal quite quickly. This is predominantly due to the fact that muscle has an ample blood supply. Research shows only 7 days after a muscle strain, strength levels are 92.5% of maximum.

Ligaments and Tendons: It’s generally accepted that there is little, if any, regeneration of these tissues once injured. The healing times of ligaments and tendons follow the natural, four phase progression of scar tissue development and maturation. The inflammation, granulation and fibroblastic phases begin within 24 hours, with wound closure happening in 5-8 days. The final stage, maturation, lasts between six months and one year. The scar is most responsive to stretch and remodeling for 8-10 weeks, and scar tissue shrinkage completes itself between 6 months and 1 year. Healing times for tendonitis will vary depending on how long it takes to identify the etiology of the problem! (1,2)

Once you have given the joint the proper time to rest and recover from the Pattern Overload and there is no more pain then it is critical that you build stability in the joint. This is when you must use a joint integrity program to strengthen the rotator cuff and rebuild integrity in the joint. The 3X Pitching Velocity program has a great joint integrity program.

Contraindicated Training

Studies have shown that most machine exercises in weight training facilities can enhance Pattern Overload. If a machine is putting you through the same movement where the path of the movement is not changing then this is promoting Pattern Overload. This is why these studies suggest Free Weight Training over Machine Training. When an athlete performs a lift with a free weight the athlete never takes the same path of movement through the exercise. This has to do with the brain controlling the movement to prevent Pattern Overload. It has been proven that no athlete ever takes the same path during a free weight lift or exercise.

Pitchers are always working against the effects of Pattern Overload. This is why they must avoid any type of machine training on the throwing arm especially in-season. It is also important to avoid any type of heavy loads on the throwing arm if a pitcher is suffering from Pattern Overload. Throwing heavy loads on the unstable joint will either force the larger muscles to take over more control of the joint and continue the detrimental effects of Pattern Overload or it will damage and injure the joint. This is why a Pitcher should not train with heavy loads in-season when Pattern Overload is most common.

If you are experiencing symptoms of Pattern Overload you must stop the pattern immediately and rest. If there is pain I recommend you see a sports medicine doctor. Once you are cleared and rested you must start a joint integrity program like in the 3X Pitching Velocity Program.

References

1. Pattern Overload Part 1 by Paul Chek
2. Pattern Overload Part 2 by Paul Chek

In my career icing always shortened my recovery time. I did continue to test this therapy though. Mainly because it is a pain in the butt to ice your arm after ever game and I also was a little curious as to why we do this.

If someone challenges your opinion on this argument, or you want a final answer, you need to look at the study that the American Journal of Sports Medicine has posted here on Cryotherapy on rats. I know we are not rats but muscularly we are similar.

To prevent your brain from exploding when reading this study I have posted my layman’s explanation below. I hope this helps!

The American Journal of Sports Medicine states that Cryotherapy for 6 hours significantly restored diminished functional capillary density, markedly decreased elevated intramuscular pressure, reduced the number of adhering and invading granulocytes, and attenuated tissue damage. If this sounds Japanese to you then I have given you some definitions here that should help you understand the results.

Definitions:

• Cryotherapy – is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part.
• Intramuscular – within the muscle.
• Granulocytes – category of white blood cells. White blood cells fight bacteria and fungi in the body.
• Attenuated – reduced in strength.

Here is my explanation in layman’s terms.

The healing process is generally broken into three stages: inflammation, proliferation, and repair. The problem is prolonged or intense inflammation can cause cellular damage. This is what icing will prevent from happening if you ice within 48 hours of the injury or overuse of the muscle. Icing will then prevent further damage of the soft muscle tissue so the healing process can continue with minimal damage. Therefore icing supports the healing process and does not inhibit it.

Before this article I also wrote an article in response to something that Dick Mill’s posted on icing. He is probably the one who has started the roomer that icing is bad for healing. I suggest reading this article as well because it talks about Dr. Meeusen’s studies on prolonged icing. This is why I recommend icing for only 10-15 minutes at a time.

Why Pitchers should ICE their arms?

Before I give you the secrets to top velocity you must first understand how important it is to train the body for this ability. Your training program should be made of lifts and drills that are training fast twitch muscle fibers. I am sure you have heard me say this a million times but there is no better training than the Olympic Lifts. This involves all types of Cleans, along with Squats and some Split Jerks. These lifts force you to move a good amount of weight very quickly, therefore making you a more explosive athlete. Once you have maxed your explosive potential as an athlete you are then ready to find your top velocity as a pitcher. Purchase the 3X Pitching Velocity Program for all these explosive training routines and much more.

In layman’s terms, Velocity as defined by Newton, is force divided by mass. So for you to develop more velocity you either need to increase the force applied to the ball or the application time with the same amount of force. I recommend we do both as pitchers but here I will break them down separately in two questions.

How do we increase force to the ball?

This may seem complicated but in theory it is very simple, so stay with me. To increase force to the ball we must add momentum to our delivery and then stablize that momentum for transfer to ball. Now, this is where we as pitchers go wrong. Most young pitchers when wanting to add force to the ball only add the momentum to the arm. Momentum must be added to the lower half of the body for it to be efficient and effective when delivering the pitch. Let’s use a Javelin thrower to understand this lower half momentum. What a Javelin thrower does is he can run as quick as he possibly can to a point where he must plant his leg and stabilize the momentum to transfer it to the Javelin. Watch the video!

A Pitcher is not allowed to run to develop the momentum so we must do what ever we can to develop the momentum on the mound. This is where you should watch AcePitcher.com’s 5 Components to Pitching. This video will show you how to develop momentum as a pitcher by using the lift leg, triple extension in the back leg and most important, stabilizing that momentum and allowing it to transfer to the ball.

How do we increase application time?

The answer to this questions will give you the final big picture to understanding top velocity. Application time means the amount of time a pitcher holds on to the ball through his full range of motion.

If a pitcher applied 6.5 pounds of pressure to the ball for .20 seconds as the arm is moving towards the target this would have more velocity than a pitcher applying 6.5 pounds of pressure to the ball for .15 seconds.

The question now is how do we hold on to the ball longer while keeping the same force applied. This is called separation. This is the 3rd Component in the Ace Pitcher Handbook. Separation, which is occurring in the picture here, is separation of the back throwing shoulder to the back hip. If you notice the back hip is almost pointing to the plate and the back shoulder is almost pointing to second base. This is important because it is building the majority of the torque developed from the lower half momentum in the core or stomach. Now when the shoulders commit to the catcher and the chest hits the wall like the picture below, the arm will have full range of motion. Notice Nolan Ryan’s arm 180 degrees behind his head. This is the increase of application time with the same force applied.

By building more torque in the core, instead of the shoulder, this is not only increasing velocity but saving the arm from serious wear and tear.

In conclusion, developing top velocity is every pitcher’s right but not every pitcher has the natural understanding of this skill. With this article, the Ace Pitcher Handbook, and some hard work it is possible for any pitcher to throw 90 plus mph.