If you take a look at the 3X Pitching Profiles, which are measurements of speeds and distances of some of the best pitcher’s mechanics in the game, you will discover that most of these pitchers have either above average 3X into hip to shoulder separation or below average hip to shoulder separation with above average 2X. To truly understand what is going on here and how this effects velocity, it is important we first understand the relationship of 3X to 2X and hip rotation.

3X to 2X and Hip Rotation

Triple extension (3X) – Is the extension of the drive leg knee, ankle and hip flexor and it will usually extended in that order. The 3X approach to pitching teaches us that achieving 3X before front foot strike will create hip rotation just at or just after front foot strike. It will also promote more explosive hip rotation which leads to optimal hip to shoulder separation. This hip rotation is occurring because when the drive leg achieves 3X, it pushes the hip flexor of the back hip forward before front foot strike. This will just open the hips a little, so when the front leg lands and stabilizes, the hips slam completely open towards the target. If the pitcher does not open the hips through 3X before front foot strike, hip rotation will happen late, reducing hip to shoulder separation.

Double Extension (2X) – This is the extension of the knee and ankle of the front leg at front foot strike into pitch release. The 3X approach to pitching also teaches us that achieving 2X before pitch release is critical to support hip to shoulder separation and it will transfer more energy or power into the ball increasing velocity. Taking 2X even farther into hyper-extension will force the hips to completely open towards the target. We know the more open the hips are towards the target at release, the more front leg extension will occur which will put more power and energy into the ball, increasing pitching velocity.

How 3X and 2X together Promote High Pitching Velocities

The best way to understand the relationship of 3X to 2X, is using the car crash analogy, which I have used a few times on this site. 3X would be the high performance car heading towards an immovable brick wall (2X). The passenger (test dummy) in the car is the ball. We do not know the effect of 3X to 2X until the car hits the wall. The farther the passenger flies out of the car, the more effective 3X to 2X worked together.

Just like when pitching, 3X is our acceleration system and 2X is our breaking system. If we increase 3X then 2X must support it to increase pitching velocity and vice versus. They work hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other.

On the elite level, when a pitcher is working to break 90mph, the relationship of 3X to 2X becomes even more important. In the case of Brandon Morrow (see 3X Pitching Profile) he has an above average 3X with a below average 2X and he is a 95+mph pitcher. In the case of Justin Verlander (see 3X Pitching Profile) he has a below average 3X with an above average 2X and he is a 95+mph pitcher. The diamond in the rough here is that both these pitchers have an above average relationship between 3X to 2X. This is why they throw in the upper 90′s.

Let’s look at these pitchers and their 3X to 2X relationship, so we can learn how to improve our relationship of 3X to 2X. Brandon Morrow has one of the best 3X moves in the game but he has a below average 2X move to support it. If you watch his front leg stabilization in slow motion you will see that it never flexes or moves after front foot strike, it is stabilizing and supporting his explosive 3X, like the immovable brick wall in the car crash analogy. This is allowing all that power from 3X to slam the hips open into his stabilized but not extended front leg, like in the car crash analogy. If he had a weaker 3X, with his below average 2X, he would lose velocity but if he had an explosive 2X like Justin Verlander, to go with his explosive 3X, then what would happen? This would change the car crash analogy. The brick wall would now be replaced with another car moving towards the original car at the same speed. Let’s replace these cars with bumper cars so the impact is greater. Now what would happen to the passenger in the original car? He would project himself even farther out of the car at impact. So you can see how powerful 3X and 2X can be if they work together. You can also see how if you increase one and decrease the other, at the same rate, then you haven’t effected velocity but if you increase one without decreasing the other then you increase velocity. 3X to 2X go hand in hand, so you must understand their relationship before you can effectively use them to increase velocity.

How to implement 2X before Pitch Release

The key to implementing 2X into your delivery is through both the motor coordination training of the component through drills and strength and conditioning. Let’s look at them separately.

Motor Training 2X – When using drills like the Med Ball or Target throws in the 3X Pitching Velocity program you want to work to keep the front leg knee behind your heal when in these drills. This will allow you to more easily achieve 2X. Once the front leg knee pushes out over the front foot it becomes too difficult to achieve 2X. These drills will help you develop the motor coordination around 2X because when you are in these drills, you are positioned with your hips open to the target at start. 2X will not occur if your hips are closed towards the target. This is why it is difficult to practice 2X within your entire pitching delivery. If you are not opening your hips at front foot strike then it will be almost impossible to achieve 2X before pitch release. This is why I recommend using the drills in the 3X Pitching Velocity Program to train this 2X motor skill.

Strength and Conditioning 2X – This is important to support 2X because for a pitcher to achieve 2X before pitch release, he must have strong quads and flexible hamstrings to complete this movement. If a pitcher is able to get the hips open at front foot strike but does not have the strength to fire the quads against the force of the landing leg hitting the ground and his hamstrings are not strong and flexible enough to support this extension and forward trunk tilt movement then the pitcher will never achieve this velocity component. The 3X Pitching Velocity program uses heavy load training to develop the quad power along with lifts like the RDL’s to develop the hamstring flexibility.

The Science behind 2X to 3X

If you need more science to support this information in this article then please study more about the physics of impulse and momentum. You can actually put together the math that supports this 3X to 2X relationship.

Here are also the studies that support these pitching components.

NPA Velocity Study conducted 2005-2006

http://www.nationalpitching.ne…..UV_NPA.pdf

“The results from our study indicate that just about 80% of a pitcher’s real velocity comes from the torque of hip and shoulder
separation”

ASMI – Comparison of High Velocity and Low Velocity Pitch Deliveries

http://www.asmi.org/asmiweb/re…..itches.htm

“Compared to the low ball velocity group, the higher ball velocity pitchers demonstrated less lead knee flexion velocity after front foot contact and greater lead knee extension velocity at the time of ball release. Extending the lead knee in this manner may provide stabilization allowing better energy transfer from the trunk to the throwing arm, and could be a critical factor in pitch velocity.

More open pelvis angle at the time of ball release (REL) also correlated with increased pitch velocity increased.”

Let’s face it, throwing the ball at your top velocity is risky but so is returning punts in the NFL. If we are going to enhance our ability while promoting a long and healthy career, we must understand how our bodies work and how to prevent injury. The American Sports Medicine Institute has already informed the public that pitching injuries spawn from three main factors; Overuse, Poor Physical Fitness and Poor Mechanics. To take this information further, I will list here the top 10 pitching secrets to prevent injury in order from the most significant to the least but still significant.

Pitching injury prevention secrets

1. More Hip to Shoulder Separation – This is not only a major pitching velocity secret but it is also a major injury prevention secret. You know it is a good tip when it will increase both velocity and prevent injury. It will prevent injury because it allows the arm to stay relaxed while the body builds the power instead of the arm working to build the power. Optimal hip to shoulder separation will put the throwing arm behind the ball through release. If the pitcher has poor hip to shoulder separation then his arm will get out front early, preventing proper pronation. This is also critical for good deceleration which promotes arm health.
2. Increase Your Stride Distance and Power – I would bet that pitchers who have longer strides, have less arm issues than pitchers with shorter strides, but I have no research to back this up. I am making this claim strictly from my experience playing, coaching and analyzing this game through my career. The theory is that a short stride will prevent the pitcher from building more stride power which will force the arm to generate most of the velocity. This will then lead to more wear and tear on the arm and then eventually an injury. Increasing your stride distance is the first step towards injury prevention. The next step is increasing your stride power.
3. Do Not Swing Your Arm - The arm should never swing out of the glove, especially behind the back or way above the shoulder before the shoulders fire towards the target. This is what leads to the infamous inverted W or in laymen’s terms the M. It puts the arm in what is called the “Red Zone,” this is the zone where the shoulder and elbow are most vulnerable because there is more torque being applied to the joints based on the positioning. To prevent over abusing the arm, we must train it to follow the body and not lead the way. The revolutionary approach to pitching velocity called 3X Pitching has proven that when the arm starts the delivery, the body takes a back seat which reduces velocity and leads to injury. This swinging of the arm is a sign that the arm is taking control and in return, most of the stress.
4. Do Not Pull Down to Release – It feels strong when your arm is firing towards release and you start pulling down on your forearm to force your arm through its final path to the target. This pulling down of the forearm makes it feel like the ball is screaming out of your fingers tips. This may increase velocity but it comes with a big price. The price is the effects of overworking the forearm muscles. These are small muscles that when they fatigue, the body losses the fine motor skills of the hand which will effect your pitch grips. Most important, it will put more wear and tear in your elbow. This pulling down of the arm is not a component of hard throwers. It is what pitchers do when they are struggling with transferring stride power into core torque and then the velocity of the ball. Instead of pulling down to release, work on more hip to shoulder separation and good forearm pronation.
5. Build Joint Integrity Weekly – Just like eating, taking a shower or brushing your teeth, if you want to pitch at your top velocity through a long career then you must perform rotator cuff exercises to strengthen your cuff two times per week. You would be surprised the amount of pitchers who never do this. Post rotator cuff surgery, if I miss a few weeks of joint integrity training while in-season, my shoulder stability begins to fail. It is amazing how quickly I can loss this stability and strength. This loss of stability overtime will definitely lead to injury. For a complete rotator cuff program check out the 3X Pitching Velocity program.
6. Develop More Core and Leg Strength -  If you have weak legs and core then where will your body get its power? The shoulders and arms. I have worked with pitchers who are so weak in their core and legs that when they try to increase their stride distance, their arms start flapping like a bird trying to take flight. If you look at some of the biggest legs of pitchers in Major League Baseball you will find a ton of healthy, hard throwing pitchers. Nolan Ryan is probably the best example of this in my lifetime. He stayed in the upper 90′s even into his 40′s. He has tree trunks for legs and he never had a serious pitching injury.
7. Quality Throws over Quantity – If you want to “strengthen your arm” do it with your strength and conditioning program, like in the 3X pitching Velocity program. Do not do it with your throwing program. Your throwing program should be used to improve your mechanics with drills and a low volume of throws, like in the 3X Pitching Velocity Program. Do not use your throwing program as your strength and conditioning program, this will only lead to overuse and abuse of your shoulder and elbow. This is why I do not support extreme long tossing.
8. Avoid Machine Lifting – Machine weight training is terrible for athletes. It promotes pattern overload and will make a pitcher more vulnerable to injury. This is the case because when using machines for lifting weights, like with a press movement, the machines forces the pitcher to take the same path of movement every single rep. When using free weights, the pattern of movement is always different. There is a mechanism in the body to prevent the overload of one muscle or muscle group which will prevent over fatigue of a single muscle or muscle group. By changing the path of movement, the body uses different muscles or muscle groups to share in the work load. When a muscle is fatigued and the reps continue, other muscles take over to over compensate for the malfunction. In the shoulder, this will change the efficiency of the movement and force the shoulder to rotate off axis. This has been proven to lead to serious joint injury.
9. Eat like a Pro – If you do not give your body the building blocks to a healthy pitcher, in its diet, then how is it going to maintain itself as a healthy pitcher? This is the most neglected secret of injury prevention. Most athletes and especially pitchers believe they can eat whatever they want whenever they want. This is complete ignorance. If you can take the time to learn the basics of a healthy diet and how to feed your body what it needs then you are at least giving your body the chance to stay healthy.
10. 10 Hours of Quality Sleep Daily – If you are not sleeping at least 10 hours when training or pitching then you are not giving your body what it needs to repair itself. If you can follow secrets 1-9 then this last pitching injury prevention secret will work wonders for your career. A quality nights sleep can mean the difference between a great days performance and a good days performance. Losing sleep overtime prevents the body from fully recovering and rebuilding which eventually leads to injury.

Head Position Through 3X Mechanics

This is the full list of the 3X Mechanics which is included in the 3X Pitching Programs. The 3X Pitching Programs include a full detailed description of every one of these components. These descriptions will only include the head positioning.

1. Lift Leg Momentum – This component begins the delivery and the head position should be over the belt buckle. When what we call the “First Move” occurs, the head must stay tucked and behind the belt buckle.
2. The “Load” Position – This is the component of the 3X Mechanics which is just before the launch phase of the delivery when power production occurs. The head again must be behind the belt buckle in this position. It also must be balanced over the shoulders. This means it is not hanging over the chest. Pitchers like Tim Lincecum like to even “Tilt” their heads back over their butt in this position.
3. 3X and Separation – This is the foundation of 3X Pitching and it is the toughest component to implement effectively into your delivery. Every single power pitcher uses it and the 3X Pitching Velocity program will train you to master it. The head during this position must be tucked hard behind the belt buckle and balanced again over the shoulders. If the head flies out of this position during this launch phase then power production is limited. If the chin begins to push forward past the belt buckle during this component this is fine unless it reduces the implementation of the following component.
4. Chest Thrust External Rotation – This is the first component in the 3X mechanics that is almost eliminated completely from the delivery when the head has been out of position most of the delivery. This means the easiest way to implement this 3X component more effectively is by working on the head position through the entire delivery.  When I see my pitchers not implementing this component, I always start with the head position from the previous components. The head position for this component is tucked  but this is the first time that the head can push out with the torso in front of the belt buckle. The key is to continue to tuck the chin like you are trying to keep it behind the belt buckle but the force of the upper kinetic chain is to great.
5. Elbow Extension – This component emphasizes the importance of NOT pulling down your arm to release. The head position does not change from the previous component.
6. Stabilization – This may be shocking to those who are not familiar with the revolutionary pitching mechanics called 3X Pitching but yes the head never moves out of the tucked position. As you continue to stabilize your front leg, you must continue to stabilize your head position and not let it relax until ball release.

The head position is so critical through all of the 3X mechanics because once the head throws itself forward, it will always bring the arm with it. I suggest you try this to fully understand the effect. Stand up with your feet shoulder width apart. Tuck your glove arm and lift your throwing elbow above the shoulder. Now let your arm externally rotate behind your head while tucking your chin into your throat. From this position quickly and aggressively throw your head forward out over your toes and down. Notice how your arm follows your head.

The reason this head movement will kill pitching velocity is because velocity comes when the body has built power before the arm begins to throw the pitch. The earlier the arm throws the ball in the delivery then less power has been produced and converted into the velocity of the ball.

The 3X Pitching Mechanics are proven power pitching mechanics that will increase pitching velocity and prevent injury. To learn more, check out this revolutionary program here that has been sweeping the country.

Vertical Jump Test

A pitchers “Sweet Spot” is best understand when related to a vertical jump. You can try this test as you read this article. First start with your feet shoulder width apart then try to jump as high as you can without bending or flexing your knees. Once you have tried this a few times then start again with your feet shoulder width apart and your butt on the floor, if possible. This means you are in a full squat position. Now try to jump as high as you can. After you have done this a few times then start again in the same position but this time drop your butt to a position that is in between the two. This means your knees are not locked and your butt is not all the way down to the floor. Try to find your “Sweet Spot” when you perform the next jump. This “Sweet Spot” is a position that you feel you can quickly move out of with as much flexion as possible.

Now that you have performed all three jumps, you should have a good understand of how effective finding your “Sweet Spot” is in your overall power production, based on how high you were able to jump.

Find Your Pitching “Sweet Spot”

Just like in the vertical jump test, you need to find your same “Sweet Spot” when in your pitching “Load” position. The deference with pitching is that it is a linear explosive movement instead of a vertical explosive movement, like with the jump. This means your “Sweet Spot” is more than just having good power production through optimal drive leg flexion. It is critical that you have aligned your force vector into a linear position during this “Load” position to help keep your body moving forward and accelerating towards the target. If you are late with aligning your force vector then this could slow down your stride speed and reduce power production.

The aligning of your force vector, as you build flexion in your drive leg, helps create more of a forward load as you build flexion. If the force vector stays vertical as you move into your “Load” position then you are not moving forward and your stride speed is now slowing down. Notice the clip of Brandon Morrow above, he is aligning his force vector while he is building flexion and moving into his “Load” position. He is obviously hitting his “Sweet Spot” here because before his explosive triple extension, he has developed good flexion in his drive leg and his force vector is in line with his front hip. This, along with his explosive leg power, is why Brandon has one of the most powerful strides in the game.

If you are struggling with finding your “Sweet Spot” in your “Load” position then you more than likely are dealing with a strength and/or power issue. If you have poor leg strength, you will find that building flexion in your drive leg can be a challenge. If you have average to above average leg strength but you are struggling with accelerating through your “Load” position then you are dealing with an explosive speed or power issue. The 3X Pitching Velocity program is one of the only Velocity programs on the market that use both the throwing program and the strength and conditioning program together to enhance your “Sweet Spot” and increase velocity. This means the Fusion system which is the strength and conditioning program, is developing not only leg strength but leg power and the 3X Velocity system or throwing program, is helping you program the new muscle development to move through the 3X mechanics. This is the only way you are going to find and enhance your pitching “Sweet Spot” and drastically increase your pitching velocity.

The reality is, not until you get to professional baseball will ball movement start to become an important factor and at this level you will actually have coaches who will coach this with pitch grips. I really believe that changing mechanics to enhance ball movement is not a healthy approach for a pitcher. A great example was John Smoltz, at the end of his career the Atlanta, Braves made him a closer and also dropped his arm angle to a side arm position, so he could get a more natural run on the ball. This was effective at first, then he was put on the DL with bone spurs in his elbow. I believe he cut his career short when he made this mechanical adjustment for ball movement.

In my career, I never met a scout at any level who said all they are looking for is a pitcher who can throw strikes and has natural run on the ball. During my last recruiting visit, for one of the pitchers I have been working with, the first thing the coach asked was, how hard does he throw. He then told us that he wasn’t interested in anyone that was mid 80′s or less. We were expecting this and this pitcher did well and was offered a great scholarship because of his velocity.

The Road to Pitching Velocity

The best road that a young pitcher can take, in his career, is the road towards his top velocity. This means your main focus your entire career is to develop and maintain a high velocity fastball. Ever other pitch should work to complement the fastball. If a young pitcher will take this road and never go off path, his chances of making it to the top level, is a lot greater. For example, I was watching an MLB game this past season and the announcer pulled some stats on Bartolo Colon. He said that Colon averages 85% fastballs each game. Here is a veteran pitcher in Major League Baseball, he has made it to the top level and he is still throwing fastballs 85% of the time. So if you are a young pitcher playing high school baseball and you are throwing 45% or 65% fastballs then what are the chances you will be a Bartolo Colon or a hard thrower one day? Not good! Oh, by the way, the MLB only drafts hard throwers!

If you decide to go down the road to pitching velocity then you must make time for an off-season. You need an off-season to start a velocity program like the 3X Pitching Velocity program, if you want to increase velocity. Trying to use an off-season program to increase velocity in-season will have little effect. This is why increasing velocity can be such a big challenge, you not only have to work hard through the program but you also have to make at least a 16 week commitment, 5 days a week, 2-3 hours a day. So stop going from in-season to in-season and take the time to develop a high velocity fastball in the off-season.

Location, Location, Location

Before you even start thinking about movement, after you have established a good fastball, you  must master pitch location first. This means learn to place your dominate fastball on the corners of the plate. Your fastball can work as an off-speed pitch just by moving it inside and outside of the strike-zone. An inside fastball on the hands of a batter adds 5 mph in perceived velocity to the hitters eye. An outside fastball is just the opposite. This means just throwing the ball inside and outside to the hitter, will throw his timing off and you haven’t even changed your pitch. If you can master painting the corners with your dominate fastball then you could possibly take this strategy all the way to pro ball. Just imagine what scouts will think when they have a kid throwing upper 80′s or low 90′s and all he needs is his fastball to dominate the game. This is a major plus for all scouts!

Now comes the Movement

You don’t have to throw “Side Arm” or “Submarine” to have ball movement. Greg Maddux was the master at ball movement and he did it with an almost over the top release point. The key to his ball movement was pitch grips. Once you have established your fastball and you are throwing it 85% of the time or more, inside and outside, then now you can start to work with ball movement. This doesn’t mean everyone must have the same arm slot. I believe your bone and muscular structure will establish your natural arm slot. All it means is your ball movement must come from your pitch grips. Pitch grips should be a simple process of finger placement and wrist release point. The rest is up to you to spend the time working with the feeling of the pitch, until you can get some good movement out of it.

I highly recommend that you do not spend much time at all with ball movement, until you are heading way done the road to pitching velocity. If you are a young pitcher and you are getting hit around a lot in travel ball or high school baseball then make time for an off-season and develop a fastball.

This Pitching Velocity Quick Tip covers an important factor of the “Load” position. This is a pitching component in the 3X mechanics. You can learn more about the 3X mechanics by watching this video on the 3X Pitching approach. The important factor of the “Load” position that will be covered here is drive leg flexion. Drive leg flexion is a critical part to the “Load” position because good flexion leads to good extension which is the next component in the 3X mechanics which is the foundation for the entire approach. Most young pitchers have poor flexion and also poor force production through that flexion.

To truely understand how flexion and force production work then I would highly recommend that you watch this video. If you want to see if you have good flexion and force production in your delivery then post your pitching video for analysis here at the forums.

The Problems with Changing your Arm Path

If you define the pitching delivery in the two phases as labeled here in this article called, How to Throw Hard and even Harder, you will learn that when the arm is starting to apply the force to the ball which happens after external rotation of the throwing arm, the arm path is moving in a straight line towards the target. This means that when conventional wisdom says you should have a short arm path in the beginning of the delivery and a long arm path at the end, this changing of the arm path actually has no effect on the velocity of the ball. What this is doing is making a mechanical change to your delivery which is the why your velocity is changing.

If you look in Professional Baseball you find all different styles of arm path and no relationship with velocity. This is because velocity is based around stride speed or power and the relationship between the rotational pivots which are the hips and shoulders. Being that the arm is connected to the shoulders, it does have some control of the shoulder pivot but ultimately the shoulders are in control. Based on the 3X Mechanics velocity is mainly influenced by the relationship of the hips to shoulders at front foot strike. The arm path can go almost anywhere it wants, as long as the shoulders are closed while the hips are open at front foot strike. You could pitch like Tim Lincecum and put the arm down behind your back during your stride, or like Zach Outman who looks like he is stretching his throwing arm while he is striding, either arm path will have an effect on velocity if their other mechanics do not change.

The lesson learned here is never focus on arm path, it does not control the legs, core or shoulders and it will more than likely have a negative effect on your pitching velocity. If you want to learn good mechanics to increase pitching velocity then stay away from conventional wisdom and learn to implement the 3X mechanics which you can see here in this pitching 101 video.

For example, I just read his last email because I am on his subscriber list which means I get an email a day. The email was titled, “Does strength training really increase velocity? This study provides the proof.” He goes on to fumble around and say,”Velocity comes mainly from the forces produced that allow the trunk to rotate and flex forward fast and powerfully…..Weight training will mostly waste valuable time.” I would like to ask DM, but he doesn’t allow commenting on his website, so you are saying that using weight training to increase your bodies ability to produce force or power, is a waste of time? What? DM, are you actually reading what you are writing? He continues on in the email to make a serious bogus claim.

DM writes, “Tell Tim Lincecum’s father that as Chris Lincecum was smart to stay away from a weight training program and focus instead of devoting his time to helping Tim build an explosive delivery that allowed Tim at 5’7″ 135 lbs to throw 92 mph.” DM, How do you think one builds an explosive delivery without training to be more explosive which involves some type of resistance training? The absurdity of all of this, which I have pointed out before, is that either DM is misleading us or he is really bad at researching his claims. For example, he said that Jim “The Rookie” Morris never lifted weights to increase his velocity but when I did an interview with Jim Morris and asked him this question, he immediately said he lifted a lot of weights. Once again DM makes another bogus claim here saying that Tim Lincecum’s father never used weight training to train his son but when I do a simple Google search I find two legitimate sources saying the opposite.

ESPN
“The mechanics Tim employs now are the same he used then … Chris (Lincecum) designed a weight-training program for Tim”
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3713221

JockBIO
When Tim entered Liberty High School in Renton, he stood just 4-11 and weighed all of 85 pounds. Incredibly flexible, the teeanger was much stronger than he appeared, thanks mostly to a weight training program devised by Chris. Tim could do a back flip from a standing start and walk across the room on his hands.
http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/T_Lincecum/T_Lincecum_bio.html

If that isn’t enough to make you wonder if DM has any clue of what he is talking about when it comes to weight training, let’s look more into his findings behind velocity. He finishes his email pointing to this study, that is very hard to find on the Internet, which is titled, An analysis of high-speed isokinetics and pitching. DM claims that this study is proof that weight training does not increase velocity. Only if DM had any experience or form of education when it comes to weight training I might actually want to listen to what he has to say but remember the last time DM played in a baseball game was 42 years ago when weight training was almost non-existent in sports. I wonder if athletes have gotten any better athletically in the past 42 years due to the infiltration of weight training into sports? I am being sarcastic!

Let’s look at this study. Here is an excerpt of the results taken from the study.

The importance of strength, power, and acceleration were investigated in baseball fastball pitching. The only variables that related to pitching were those associated with speed. Acceleration and power at the fastest movement speeds accounted for almost all fastball pitching variance (99%). Strength was not related to speed of movement and therefore, should not be a variable considered when training for speed.

This is exactly why weight training is critical for velocity because you can train power and pure speed in the weight room. Power is simply defined as the balance of pure speed and pure strength. This study is only saying that strength alone will not increase velocity but both strength and speed or power will. How in God’s name did DM determine that this study proves that weight training does not increase velocity? Maybe he has been researching this stuff with John Madden!

If you have been persuaded or brain washed by DM on weight training for the pitcher, I would advise that you educate yourself here with these legitimate case studies that prove the power of weight training to increase velocity. There is also countless articles on this site educating you on the importance of weight training for increasing velocity. I would love for DM to debate me here over this topic but I don’t see it happening because he obviously lacks the education around weight training and the athlete!

Characteristic ground-reaction forces in baseball pitching
This study validates the clinical impression that the lower extremity is an important contributor to the throwing motion. Based on this study, strengthening of the lower extremities could be inferred to be important both to enhance performance and to avoid injury.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9474404

Baseball Throwing Velocity: A Comparison of Medicine Ball Training and Weight Training
The results of this study suggest that the use of heavier loads has been more effective than the medicine ball training in increasing velocity
http://up.topvelocity.net/uploads/2011/03/baseball-throwing-weight-training.pdf

Velocity is a product of power and if you can understand how we generate power as athletes, you will then discover how you can personally increase and maintain velocity.

Power is both speed and strength. It isn’t enough to be an athlete who can only move a lot of weight or an athlete who can only move very quickly. You must be that athlete who can move a lot of weight, very quickly. This is called explosive power or explosive strength. This can all be measured in what I call the Pitcher Power Curve.

The Pitcher Power Curve

This diagram alone is the secret to velocity, if you have learned how to convert power to velocity. To learn how power is converted to velocity then watch the 3X Pitching 101 video. If you understand or have implemented the 3X Mechanics and you are dealing with a power issue then this diagram is what you need to discover where you must spend your time. The way this curve works is simple. Write down your percentages of your 1 Repitition Maximum or 1RM for these three lifts; the Back Squat, the Power Clean and the Bench Press. Also write down your vertical or broad jump distances with your sprint times in the 40 yard dash or the 60 yard dash. Here is how to decipher these numbers.

• Pure Strength can be measured in the Back Squat and Bench Press exercises.
• Pure Speed can be measured in the 40/60 Yard Dash. You can also record how many times you can jump rope in say a 1 minute time.

Now look at your measurements and determine, based on your age and size, where do you stand as compared to the average athlete at your age and size. You can determine this by measuring up your teammates and competition. Once you get a good understand of how you match up to them, within these lifts and exercises, then you can see where you fall on the Pitcher Power Curve.

Let’s say you rank very high in pure speed but you rank very low in pure strength. Your arrow swings all the way over to the right. Then you need to focus more on strength to develop more power. This doesn’t mean stop training for speed, but that you need to focus more on your strength training. Power is the goal here, so wherever you fall on the Power Curve, your goal is to get your ability more towards Pure Power.

The reason I told you to record your clean 1RM is because this is a Pure Power lift. It will tell you where you stand when it comes to Pure Power, which is the goal. The problem is the cleans do not tell you where are you lacking on the power curve. Is it pure strength or pure speed? The Power Curve will do this for you.

The Fusion System in the 3X Pitching Velocity Program includes a full spectrum of lifts and exercises that fall on the Pitcher Power Curve and if you would like to know the lifts and exercises that or more towards pure strength or pure speed, please contact me.

This is a great pitching mechanics 101 video to watch if you are first learning this approach to pitching. This approach to pitching in this pitching 101 video will not only add 5-10 mph to your velocity but it will help reduce the chance of injury, increase longevity and give you more confidence on the mound. Here is what is included in this introductory video to 3x Pitching.

3X Pitching 101 – 3x mechanics

• 2 Phase Delivery
  • Stride Phase
  • Throwing Phase
• 3X Components
  • Lift Leg Momentum
  • The Load
  • Triple Extension & Separation
  • Chest Thrust & External Rotation
  • Internal Rotation & Elbow Extension
  • Stabilization

Pitching Mechanics 101 Video

You can view this pitching mechanics 101 video above or here at youtube under pitching 101. If you like this pitching 101 video then please select the thumbs up or the like button. Thanks and I hope this pitching 101 video helps you reach your pitching velocity goals.

If you have completed this pitching mechanics 101 video and you are interested in learning more or starting the 3X Pitching Velocity Program then please check out the 3X Pitching Velocity Program.