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

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.

I am not talking about hormone levels like body builders talk about hormone levels. I am speaking for athletes who are always looking to grow more athletic. Your hormone levels are a major component to your athletic ability, so it is essential that you learn about your Endocrine System. The chart below comes from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. This chart describes how to manipulate your hormone levels naturally to gain athletic benefits.

What this chart teaches us athletes is that performing lifts that recruit major muscle groups and as many muscle fibers as possible, will cause more muscle fiber damage overall. In return the body is forced to heal this massive  event of controlled muscle damage as quickly as possible, to prevent damage from continuing. The body then sends out and army of natural occurring anabolic hormones to heal up the damaged muscle fibers.To make sure this event doesn’t continue, the body builds more muscle fibers for future events.

The difference in training muscles without recruiting as many groups of muscle fibers per repetition, like with aerobic conditioning or light weight training, is the body dumps only a small about of testosterone and GH to heal the small amount of damage. This is why body builders are bigger and more powerful than long distance runners.

To take advantage of this new information, it is important that you train smart. Training smart is not going one extreme to the other. So DO NOT take off with this new information and start throwing on weight that you can’t handle and perform 1-2 reps a set. That is unsafe. Just like pitching everything must be controlled and you must make small adjustments for a healthy career. This information should motivate you to start working for quality lifts instead of quantity. Another important piece of advice is not to take this mentality of bigger, stronger, faster into the weight room while in season. This is an off season mentality only.