Photo by Dani Christensen

In the case of all power pitchers or athletes, to prevent wasting precious time when learning a power movement like pitching at high velocities, it is important to understand that strength or power development must come before the power motor skills of the power pitching mechanics. Attempting to train the power motor skills before the pitcher has the strength or power to move through them efficiently and effectively, is not just a total waste of time but it also can end ones pitching career.

The Detrimental Effects of Motor Skill Training Over Power Training in Pitching

There are many coaches, parents and athletes in the pitching world that believe pitching mechanics are more important than strength and power development. The truth of the matter is that this perspective may work for the elite athlete but NOT for the young pitcher. If a young pitcher is coached with this perspective, it could possible end his career. The reason for this claim can best be supported with the analogy of the crawling baby.

Why the Baby Crawls Before it Walks

The baby must first learn to crawl before it walks because it does not have the core and leg strength to push off of the ground when standing upright so it can practice the motor coordination of walking. Until it develops this core and leg strength all it is capable of doing is moving itself over the floor by pushing and pulling at the ground with what strength it has in its core, legs and arms. An act of moving on one’s hands and knees or dragging one’s body along the ground is defined as the Crawl. Even if the baby was able to understand and train the movements of walking upright on two feet, it still could not perform the skill because it lacks the core and leg strength to hold itself up during the movement. Crawling or standing up right overtime develops the babies core and leg strength which gives it the strength to train the motor coordination around the skill of walking.

This analogy is the reason behind the old expression, “Crawl before you walk!” The problem is most young pitchers want to “Run before they Walk” and some even want to “Sprint before they Crawl.” The reason this could end a pitchers career is because trying to walk before you crawl could frustrate the young pitcher to the point of giving up. Think of the baby taking his first steps without any help. The baby starts by using the furniture to pick itself up and then attempts take its first steps alone. This is the day that the baby will learn about real pain. Not only the pain of their face hitting the floor but the emotional pain of not accomplishing the goal of walking. If the baby continued to try and walk this way, without any support, the consistent beating of their face on the floor and the consistent emotional feeling of failure could force them to regress back to the crawl. This regression is the human spirit giving up in the face of failure and in the case of the pitcher this could be enough to change ones career.

If the coach, parent or pitcher could understand that it is easier and even possible to develop the motor coordination around power pitching mechanics, like the 3X Pitching mechanics, if strength and power development comes first then the game of baseball today would have less injury, more competition and better pitching education in all levels of the game. The problem is until this understanding of “Crawl before you Walk,” when it comes to developing the power pitcher, makes its way into the conventional wisdom of the game, there is going to be a lot of young pitchers, those even on this site, who are going to continue to beat their heads against the floor.

More than likely your Pitching Coach has no idea what Force Vector Pitching is and why it is so critical for velocity. I would love to see the look on his face when you ask him what force vector pitching is and why is it so important.

I have talked about the Pitching Force Vector many times on this site and in my analysis. It is also in the 3X Pitching Velocity program and the fact is, I really can’t talk about this critical component enough.

What is the Pitching Force Vector?

The Force Vector is the angle of the line from the ankle to knee. It is called the Force Vector because in any athletic event, yes pitching is an athletic event, the athlete must use ground reaction forces to produce force which will initiate body movement. Therefore the drive of the leg from the ground is what I like to call Force Production. The more force you can apply into the ground, the faster and harder we move as athletes, but this force must be guided in the direction that the athlete intends to move. This direction of movement is based on the angle of the Force Vector. If your Force Vector is vertical, you move vertically like a basketball player, if your Force Vector is horizontal, you move along the surface of the ground like a pitcher in his stride phase.

Force production in pitching will occur in both legs during the delivery, which if performed correctly, will rotate the hips. If we compared these pitching mechanics to an engine, the legs would be the pistons and the hips would be the drive shaft. We apply force to the piston and it then rotates the drive shaft.

Improving Pitching Mechanics and Velocity

In 3X Pitching, triple extension is the movement to create force production in the drive leg and triple flexion is the movement to create force production in the landing leg. The 3X Pitching eBook which is a part of the 3X program defines this into more detail. What is important to understand is that triple extension followed by triple flexion, where the force vectors are both in line towards the hips, like in all the pictures here, is what produces a high velocity pitcher. This is why I put together these animated clips of some of the games hardest throwers and labeled their force vectors so you can see how similar they all are. If I was to label the force vector of a low velocity pitcher, the force vectors would not be in line with the hips at any point in the delivery. They would be more vertical. These high velocity pitchers are able to keep their force vectors in line with their hips because of both leg power and they have developed the motor coordination to use this leg power effectively. Why this c0nverts to velocity is because these pitching mechanics create more explosive hip rotation than any other mechanical movement in the human body. All they have to do after the stride phase is to make sure that the shoulders have separated from the hips during this explosive hip rotation and the rest will come very easy. Most velocity loss and inconsistency is due to the loss of leg power and the breakdown of the Pitching Force Vectors during force production.

I highly recommend that you either film yourself pitching to analyze your force vectors or educate someone who can be that third eye for you, especially your coach. You can also post your videos in the forums for a video analysis but don’t forget that this has as much to do with strength than with motor coordination. You need a strength and conditioning program like the Fusion System in the 3X Pitching Velocity program to make it possible for you to implement these mechanics on a consistent basis.

* The first person to post who these pitchers are here I will send you a 50% off coupon to the 3X Pitching Velocity program.

Roger was in high school and Nolan Ryan was his favorite pitcher. He always wanted to see his rocket arm up close and personally, so one day he got a ticket to watch him pitch in Houston for the Astros. He showed up early to the game so he could watch him throw his bull pen. Roger went over to the pen and waited for Nolan to up show up. He was expecting to see this long explosive arm rocketing the ball to the catcher. What he noticed immediately when Nolan started to throw was the size and power of his legs. He could not believe that he had not notice the essences of Nolan Ryan’s power, which was his legs. This convinced Roger that if he was going to have a rocket arm like Nolan, then he too would have to develop big and powerful legs.

Unfortunately, it took surgery for me to have this epiphany. I had to completely tear my rotator cuff to realize that the arm isn’t enough. The legs are so much bigger and more powerful than the arm. The key is training them to be more explosive and then developing the motor coordination to use this power when throwing a baseball.

Most hard throwers use their incredible leg power to convert to the velocity of the ball. When I say power, I am referring to speed and strength. It isn’t enough to just be strong or to just be fast, you must be able to use them both, at the same time, which I call explosive strength. If you know how to build explosive strength, through your legs during your stride correctly, then this can be converted to rotational forces through physics and not through voluntary rotational movements. This would be the same as using a transmission to convert combustible power into the rotation of the tires.

If you want to learn more on how to use your leg power to through harder then you need to start learning about Triple Extension or 3X. This is a component of hard throwers that was discovered here at TopVelocity.net and along with separation is the main key to reaching your top velocity. I highly recommend you read through this site to learn more about 3X and you also sign up for the FREE Velocity Secrets ebook at the top right corner of this page.

Arm Strength and Velocity

To answer the question, YES, more arm strength will increase velocity but it could prevent you from reaching your potential top velocity. The arm muscles that are responsible for generating arm velocity is the Pectoralis major, Subscapularis, Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres minor and Latissimus dorsi. Technically these are not arm muscles because they are more apart of the shoulder, but these muscles are responsible for moving the arm. This is one of the problems with using the phrase “arm strength” when talking about throwing velocity.

Conditioning these muscles to grow stronger and faster will increase velocity but it is a double edge sword. It would be like a sprinter strengthening his arm muscles to increase his running speed. This will help in the beginning but it will eventually have a counter effect. The counter effect is in the kinematics. When the upper body becomes the more dominate force, then it drives the rest of the kinetic chain. This would mean if the sprinters dominate force is coming from his swinging arms, then his legs will be conditioned to grow more passive. This would have a counter effect on increasing speed because the legs have more potential to generate speed than the arms. The reason for this is that the legs are pushing off of the ground and they have bigger muscle groups to do this more explosively. This applies to pitching because pitching is a similar explosive movement. The only difference in pitching is that the explosive movement of the body must then transfer into the velocity of the ball. If a pitcher focuses mainly on “arm strength,” he will see a bit of an improvement initially, but it will eventually start to work against him. This is because the kinematics, or pitching mechanics, are changing. The arm is becoming more of the dominate force and the legs are becoming more passive. Just like sprinting, the legs will have a bigger impact on building power and velocity.

The lesson here is that these arm muscles must grow stronger to increase velocity, but they also must not be the dominate force when generating velocity. The foundation of a velocity focused training program must be built around leg and core lifts. The upper body or arm lifts must be a part of the program, but not the main focus. The Fusion System in the Ace Pitcher handbook, which is apart of the 3X Pitching Velocity Program, is a perfect model of this approach.

Every single pitcher who starts the 3X Pitching Velocity Program has this issue. Their upper body is the dominate force in generating their velocity, which is limiting their potential. Once they reverse their kinematics their velocity begins to increase again. This reverse is training them to use the legs as the dominate force and the arms as an elastic reaction to that force. You will see these type of kinematics with pitchers like, Tim Lincecum, Aroldis Chapman, Flex Hernadez. This type of approach to pitching mechanics will not only increase velocity, but it will also help reduce injury to the arm. This is because the arm is now being used as an elastic tool instead of a flexed contractile force to reach your top velocity.

Speed Mechanics:

Speed Mechanics is the act of accelerating the body, through the delivery, to produce more speed or velocity.

The reason I do not call it Velocity Mechanics is because when we think of Velocity, we think of throwing and when we think of throwing, we think of rotational forces. Speed Mechanics makes us think of momentum which is the point of the term.

To better understand Speed Mechanics you must understand momentum. The definition of Momentum, by Google, is the product of a body’s mass and its velocity. It is essential that to generate more speed or velocity you must continue accelerating your bodies momentum. This is where most young pitchers fail. Check your own delivery to see if your bodies momentum is accelerating. The most important time to check for acceleration is after your front foot lands. This is when low velocity pitchers slow down their bodies momentum and rotational forces take over. If both momentum and rotational torque do not meet at this point and continue increasing force to the ball, then velocity suffers.

Notice in the animated sequence of Tim Lincecum that when his front foot lands his head stays up above his shoulders and his momentum transfers from his legs into his chest. You can tell his bodies momentum is continuing to accelerate because his weight is still moving forward after front foot strike. There are no forces rotating down or across his body at this point. We can also tell his weight is moving forward because when he releases the pitch his back leg is flying forward over his head. This doesn’t mean after you release the ball to kick your leg over your head. This would be like using your hands to spin the wheels faster to speed up the car, just hit the gas and use the engine. Your engine when pitching is the muscles in your legs.

I originally brought the term Triple Extension from the Olympic lifting world into the pitching world to explain the mechanics of pitchers legs. Triple extension is the extension of the ankle joint, knee joint and hip flexor. This is anytime we push off of the ground. Like when we pitch or sprint. The reason for the picture above of Tim Lincecum and Jeremy Wariner, the USA Olympic sprinter, is to help illustrate Speed Mechanics. If it is the act of accelerating your bodies momentum to increase your speed or velocity, then this means as pitchers we should move like sprinters. Consider your stride as no different than a sprinters stride when he is up and running for the finish line. Both the pitcher and the sprinter are using the same tools to produce a similar outcome. The only difference is the pitcher is transferring his bodies speed into the ball. This is why after the pitcher’s stride he stops and the ball continues but after a sprinters stride, he continues and strides again. So just like the sprinter, if a pitcher wants to accelerate his bodies momentum to increase his speed, he must triple extend his back leg harder and faster.

The negative behind Speed Mechanics is that it is an advanced level of pitching and trying to learn this as a beginner could cause serious problems to your delivery. This is not for young pitchers or even older pitchers, it is for experienced pitchers who have been sitting at a plateau on their pitch velocity for a few years.  The reason for this is because learning Speed Mechanics before learning momentum transfer and hip to shoulder separation, is like learning how to pull the trigger on a double barreled shotgun before being taught how to hold and aim it. This means your delivery will be a train wreck if you do not learn momentum transfer before Speed Mechanics. So if you are still learning how to transfer your momentum into the ball efficiently and effectively then bookmark this article and come back to it later. It might not be valuable to you now but when you are ready for it, learning Speed Mechanics may give you those few miles per hour to get you over the 90mph mark. In the meantime, you should always train to develop more explosive power in your body.

Instructions:

Start with your basic leg lift. A slight bend in your back knee and shift your weight more over your back leg.

As you start your hips to the target, squat hard on your back leg. Hold this position as you lower your front leg to the ground with your hips moving towards the target.

The goal is to land in this position. This is a difficult drill so it will take time to be able to land the drill in the position in the picture. Notice that the back leg is turned over and the hip is pointing towards the target. Also notice that the front knee is not bending over the front toes. The upper body is in full “Separation.” Glove arm pointing towards target and throwing arm is relax with a pinch of the shoulder blade to hold it back.

* Do not allow yourself to fall into the final position. Control the stride and focus on holding the load position in picture 2. This is the only way you will be able to match the final position of the drill.

During the prime of the likes of Nolan Ryan, the popular way of generating more momentum back then was the “Stand Tall and Fall” style developed by Nolan Ryan and his pitching coach Tom House, who may have coined the term. This proceeded the popular style of “Drop and Drive” used by the great Tom Seaver. These two styles of pitching are still used today. What is changing is pitching mechanics are evolving from an art form into the world of science.

Instead of hearing terms like “Stand Tall and Fall” or “Drop and Drive,” we are now hearing terms like “Core Torque,” “Triple Extension” or “Scap Loading.” What we are learning is the more science we can put into pitching, the more benchmarks we have to help pitchers make their improvements. If pitching mechanics are only seen as an art form, then they are based on opinion, which has been the case for some time now. When pitching mechanics are seen as a science then through analysis pitching mechanics must meet certain benchmarks to be labeled efficient and effective.

What we have learned from these two styles, “Stand Tall and Fall” and “Drop and Drive,” is more momentum equals more velocity. What we know today is that digital science has proven that momentum is only effective if it transfers from the lower half to the upper half of the body before it can move into the ball at release. This is the importance of “Separation.” “Separation” is when the front leg lands and the back leg is extended, the back hip is around and the back shoulder and body weight is still back. Notice the picture of Tim Lincecum above in this position. You can develop all the momentum in the world with a Nolan Ryan leg lift or a Tim Lincecum jump off the mound but if you do not let that momentum travel up your body into the ball with proper “Separation” then this means you will be stuck with just your arm to generate the velocity of the pitch.

I like to use the analogy of a moving car. Imagine a car traveling at 100 mph. The drivers side door is closed but it isn’t closed all the way. All of a sudden the driver slams on the brakes and stops the car in its tracks. What would happen to the door? It would fly open because once the momentum of the car is stopped by the brakes, the momentum moves into anything that is not secured down. The door was not secured down, so it picked up the momentum and flew open. This is exactly how momentum must travel through a pitchers body. To transition from the moving car analogy into the delivery of a pitcher we could say the car is the legs and core of the pitcher and the door is the shoulders and arms. Once the pitcher puts on the brakes with his front leg during front foot strike and the shoulders are closed with weight back, then the momentum will travel into the shoulders and arms driving them open towards the front knee. If the front leg continues to stabilize, the momentum will jump into the ball once the shoulders and arms cannot travel any farther.

This analogy makes it sound simple but it is not because there is a sequence of rotational pivots that must rotate perfectly in order for the ball to reach your potential velocity. To learn more about these pivots read Pitching-torque-and-the-3-pivots. It is also a major feat to train your muscles to move your “car” at speeds that cannot be seen by the human eye but I believe it is possible and so should you. Purchase the Ace Pitcher Handbook for a complete training program to help you grow bigger, stronger, faster.

The picture here of Roy Oswalt illustrates this optimal “Triple Extension” and “Separation.” Good separation from back hip to back shoulder builds torque in the core. An indication that a pitcher is developing that torque is noticeable in the twisting of the front of the jersey which is obvious in the picture of Oswalt. This is the most difficult position to master in the pitching delivery. It is a challenge to learn the muscle memory that allows the shoulders to stay back while the hips drive forward. The reason for the difficulty is that this requires a lot of core and leg strength. This is why I promote a very intense lifting program for pitchers that develops fast twitch muscle fibers and optimal core and leg strength. You will not master this position or this core torque until you are strong enough to achieve it.

Watch this video here or read my article on, “Olympic Lifting Increases Pitching Velocity” to learn more and purchase the “Ace Pitcher Handbook” to start the lifting program.

There are two forces that add velocity to a pitch:

Momentum

Rotational Torque

For momentum to effectively transfer to the ball, the pitcher must use all rotational pivots in order from the bottom up.  The hips must rotate before the shoulders and the shoulders before the arm internally rotates. For this to happen effectively these pivots must be free to rotate completely. Notice the picture of Tim Lincecum at the bottom of the page (Tim Lincecum is a phenom because of his size and ability to reach his top velocity continuously.)  Notice in the picture his weight is slightly leaning to his left. This would be like tilting an open door backwards so the open door slams closed due to gravitational forces. This gravitational pull is helping to create full range of motion in Tim Lincecum’s hips and shoulders at front foot strike. If he or the door was tilted the opposite way then these gravitational forces would work against his momentum by decreasing full range of motion in his rotational pivots. Using the force of gravity to increase the range of motion in your hips and shoulders will have a significant effect on your velocity. This is a big reason why Tim Lincecum can throw so hard for his size. He is working with the forces of nature to generate his power.

If you study the animated image here of Tim pitching you can see clearly the effective transfer of momentum through his rotational pivots. Watch his front leg land and his back hip rotate all the way around as his back leg triple extends. From here the momentum moves into the core because his front leg has stabilized  and his weight is being held back because his back shoulder is waiting for his hips to open to the target. This forces the core to tighten because the hips are rotating before the shoulders. His core looks like a rag being rung out or a rubber band being twisted at this point in the delivery. After this tightening of the core the momentum travels up into the shoulders. This torque pulls the back shoulder around and he sets the fulcrum, for the rotating shoulders, with his glove hand over his front leg.  The front leg continues to stabilize as his weight begins to shift over his front knee allowing the momentum to transfer into the final pivot. This is the shoulder pivot or the rotator cuff. Notice that when his trunk is fully forward, his arm is completely externally rotated. Now the arm fires like a rubber band and begins to rotate forward as also all the momentum from the body jumps into the ball like a passenger riding in a car and hitting a brick wall at 100 mph.

What Tim Lincecum continues to teach us is how to pitch with the entire body and that the arm is only along for the ride. This is exactly why little guys can throw so hard and old pitchers can still compete. Tim Lincecum uses gravity to aid momentum and his momentum to build torque in all of his rotational pivots. He also fires those pivots in the perfect order at the perfect time for effective momentum transfer. Everytime Tim Lincecum pitches, you should be watching because it is a lesson in Top Velocity.

This question can stir up a big argument but there is only one answer. The arm does not generate the velocity. It only guides the pitch. Therefore the arm must follow the body and does not come into play until the body has done its job.

I have been in many arguments about this issue. I have listened to coaches tell their pitchers that if they want to throw harder they need to speed up their arms. My question is how will speeding up your arm increase your velocity? This doesn’t make much sense because if you arm leads your body, it must leave the body behind. If you leave the body behind then it is up to the small muscles of the arm to take the entire workload of generating 90+ mph.

I think to prove my answer to the question above we must once again look at the little pitchers in the game. This is because these guys must work a lot harder to generate 90+ mph. I go once again to my favorite little man Tim Lincecum; 5’7 165 lbs. Notice the picture here of him at front foot strike. Now, where is his arm? It is hiding behind his body. YES, all you coaches out there who are coaching your pitchers to speed up there arms, it is behind his body. This means his body is driving the pitch. This means his body is generating the velocity. This means the arm is along for the ride.

The coaches who will argue my point here are the coaches who use giant pitchers like Randy Johnson as their example of pitchers who have a lot of arm action. This is true but these pitchers have more leverage on the ball than the average man. If you are 6’8 like Randy Johnson then congratulations you are in a small percentage of baseball players but if you are 6’2 and under take it easy on your arm and learn to work your body as a single unit in your delivery. When you work on generating velocity, work on pulling it from your legs and core and not your arm.

I recommend using medicine balls as often as you can. I have many throwing drills with these balls that force the pitcher to use every muscle they have to make the throw. This is how we must pitch if we want to throw and withstand 90+ mph.

The Ace Pitcher Handbook has a full medicine ball workout.