To prevent or overcome shoulder surgery starts here with this diagram.

You must learn these small muscle. These muscle are your career. They are here to internally and externally rotate your arm. The most important information to remember about these muscles are that they can only handle around 5 pounds of pressure each. The deltoids take over if the pressure exceeds this amount. So this means, all we need is 3 to 5 pounds to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles. Anything more will prevent you from isolating them properly, for development.

The most important muscle of the rotator cuff, for throwers, is the supraspinatous. This muscle lives under the acromion tip of the clavicle. This is the end of the collar bone. This muscle takes a lot of abuse, when the elbow is above the shoulder. This is because it is being impinged by the acrominon tip. If your arm is internally rotated to far forward, when you pull your arm back to throw, this can cause the supraspinatous to “pop” or “grind” under the acrominon. Over time, this can tear the muscle. To prevent this impingement, you must learn good throwing mechanics and how to build joint integrity. You can not do one without the other, to prevent an injury.

You can learn the correct mechanics to prevent injury from the Ace Pitcher Instructional Videos. To build joint integrity, you need two 3 or 5 pound weights to get started. All of the exercise you will need are listed in the AcePitcher Handbook. You can then stream the instructional videos on how to perform the exercises on this site.

The first sign of poor joint integrity is posture. If you are someone who slouches over when sitting or standing, this could be a sign of poor shoulder joint integrity. Another sign is when the ball of the shoulder socket is protruding forward past the chest and the shoulder blade is sticking out like a wing. This means that the anterior muscles are stronger than the posterior muscles. This is the definition of poor joint integrity. This will lead to a shoulder injury.

Common pain that is a sign of an impingement is usually referred pain from the supraspinatous. Most of the pain from the cuff is referred pain. Referred pain means pain that originates in one part of the body, but is felt in another part of the body. If you feel pain on the outside of your arm, between the bicep and tricep muscles, just below the mid deltoid, then this is an impingement. Don’t be alarmed, it isn’t a tear. The supraspinatous is probably inflamed. This can be remedied with ice. You should only ice your arm for 15-20 minutes on and 15-20 minutes off. You can repeat the process but anymore than 15-20 minutes on, can cause nerve damage. Always finish with ice. Never finish with heat. Heat inflames the muscle tissue, and when the tissue is inflamed, it isn’t healing. It is also not a good idea to ice an arm just after pitching. It is best to flush the system. This is when you do some good sprints, to get your heart beating, so you can get your blood pumping. This will help flush the breakdown of waste from pitching out of your arm. Then you can ice. Also never ice your Ulnar nerve. You can also take anti inflammatories, recommended by your Doctor. This is a symptom you can pitch through, but remember when the supraspinatous is inflamed, this will cause more wear and tear on the cuff. So try hard to take care of it ASAP.

The sign of a rotator cuff tear is very obvious. You have considerable loss in movement in your arm, with serious pain. If the supraspinatous is torn, which is the most common tear for throwers, you will not be able to turn your hand thumb down and raise it straight out in front of your body. This is because this movement requires a lot of work from the supraspinatous. If this is the case I am sure you have already seen a Doctor and unfortunately you need surgery. This was my case. It is a hard reality to face. Especially when you are 18, like I was. There was one moment that got me thinking positive and it was a saying I saw on a wall just after the Doctor diagnosed the tear. “Where there is a Will, there is a Way.” Ever six months the body regenerates itself. This means ever muscle has grown new tissue from the inside out. Like your skin. If you can get yourself on the right track, you can start over again and this is exactly what it will feel like. You are starting over at this point and you may not get another chance. It is a tough road but laced with so many rewards. If you are someone who is post surgery and needs a little boost to get back to the game you love, then please contact me and I will get you on the right track.

In conclusion, your rotator cuff is your life support as a pitcher. It is like a par of tires that you can never change on your race car. It is vital that you learn how to take care of it, if you want to play well into your twenties and beyond. I hope this article gets you going and please contact me with any questions or post them in the discussion board.

To prevent or overcome shoulder surgery starts here with this diagram.

You must learn these small muscle. These muscle are your career. They are here to internally and externally rotate your arm. The most important information to remember about these muscles are that they can only handle around 5 pounds of pressure each. The deltoids take over if the pressure exceeds this amount. So this means, all we need is 3 to 5 pounds to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles. Anything more will prevent you from isolating them properly, for development.

The most important muscle of the rotator cuff, for throwers, is the supraspinatous. This muscle lives under the acromion tip of the clavicle. This is the end of the collar bone. This muscle takes a lot of abuse, when the elbow is above the shoulder. This is because it is being impinged by the acrominon tip. If your arm is internally rotated to far forward, when you pull your arm back to throw, this can cause the supraspinatous to “pop” or “grind” under the acrominon. Over time, this can tear the muscle. To prevent this impingement, you must learn good throwing mechanics and how to build joint integrity. You can not do one without the other, to prevent an injury.

You can learn the correct mechanics to prevent injury from the Ace Pitcher Instructional Videos. To build joint integrity, you need two 3 or 5 pound weights to get started. All of the exercise you will need are listed in the AcePitcher Handbook. You can then stream the instructional videos on how to perform the exercises on this site.

The first sign of poor joint integrity is posture. If you are someone who slouches over when sitting or standing, this could be a sign of poor shoulder joint integrity. Another sign is when the ball of the shoulder socket is protruding forward past the chest and the shoulder blade is sticking out like a wing. This means that the anterior muscles are stronger than the posterior muscles. This is the definition of poor joint integrity. This will lead to a shoulder injury.

Common pain that is a sign of an impingement is usually referred pain from the supraspinatous. Most of the pain from the cuff is referred pain. Referred pain means pain that originates in one part of the body, but is felt in another part of the body. If you feel pain on the outside of your arm, between the bicep and tricep muscles, just below the mid deltoid, then this is an impingement. Don’t be alarmed, it isn’t a tear. The supraspinatous is probably inflamed. This can be remedied with ice. You should only ice your arm for 15-20 minutes on and 15-20 minutes off. You can repeat the process but anymore than 15-20 minutes on, can cause nerve damage. Always finish with ice. Never finish with heat. Heat inflames the muscle tissue, and when the tissue is inflamed, it isn’t healing. It is also not a good idea to ice an arm just after pitching. It is best to flush the system. This is when you do some good sprints, to get your heart beating, so you can get your blood pumping. This will help flush the breakdown of waste from pitching out of your arm. Then you can ice. Also never ice your Ulnar nerve. You can also take anti inflammatories, recommended by your Doctor. This is a symptom you can pitch through, but remember when the supraspinatous is inflamed, this will cause more wear and tear on the cuff. So try hard to take care of it ASAP.

The sign of a rotator cuff tear is very obvious. You have considerable loss in movement in your arm, with serious pain. If the supraspinatous is torn, which is the most common tear for throwers, you will not be able to turn your hand thumb down and raise it straight out in front of your body. This is because this movement requires a lot of work from the supraspinatous. If this is the case I am sure you have already seen a Doctor and unfortunately you need surgery. This was my case. It is a hard reality to face. Especially when you are 18, like I was. There was one moment that got me thinking positive and it was a saying I saw on a wall just after the Doctor diagnosed the tear. “Where there is a Will, there is a Way.” Ever six months the body regenerates itself. This means ever muscle has grown new tissue from the inside out. Like your skin. If you can get yourself on the right track, you can start over again and this is exactly what it will feel like. You are starting over at this point and you may not get another chance. It is a tough road but laced with so many rewards. If you are someone who is post surgery and needs a little boost to get back to the game you love, then please contact me and I will get you on the right track.

In conclusion, your rotator cuff is your life support as a pitcher. It is like a par of tires that you can never change on your race car. It is vital that you learn how to take care of it, if you want to play well into your twenties and beyond. I hope this article gets you going and please contact me with any questions or post them in the discussion board.

In my article Olympic Lifting Increases Pitching Velocity, I use Newton’s second law to prove why Olympic Lifting will increase your velocity. If you have not read this article, please do. I will now illustrate how aerodynamics can help us as pitchers to understand how to develop our top velocity.

Think of velocity as a jet, like the picture here. The red line illustrates the aerodynamics of the machine. If you notice the jet has the same amount of weight on the left side of the line as the right. This means it is symmetrical. Also see the line as the quickest distance between two points. If the jet stays on that straight line, it will get to its final destination faster than if it strayed off the line, on its way to the end.

The definition of Aerodynamics is the study of the forces of air, acting on objects in motion, relative to air. This would mean that if there is a drag on the left side of the jet, then not only will the jet slow down, but it will be forced to stray off the straight line. This will decrease velocity to the jet in two ways: the first way is by decreasing the force applied by the engines with the drag effect, and the second way is by forcing the jet to travel outside of the straight line in a more curved direction.

“I am sure you are wondering how this applies to pitching, but this is the quantum leap you must make here.”

I will use these pictures of Felix Hernandez to help you with this leap. Felix has one of the hardest fastballs in the game and you will now see one reason why.

I have added the red line to show you the same information as with the fighter jet. Notice how the weight distribution on both sides of the red line, in all three pictures, is almost evenly distributed like the aerodynamics of the jet. This is what keeps Felix’s body moving forward on his “Point of Balance.” If his weight distribution was more on the right side than the other, he would loss considerable velocity. This is because his arm would create drag on his body and he would need to over compensate by pulling his arm across his body, to keep his body moving forward. This would force him, like the jet, to stray off the straight line path and the drag would decrease the force that he created in his lower half when driving off the mound.

This doesn’t mean you must throw over the top. What it means is you must keep your weight evenly distributed over your “Point of Balance.” So, if you throw sidearm, you need to distribute your weight more over the outside part of your landing foot, using your hips to shift the weight and not your shoulders.

The key here is what you see Felix and all the hard throwers doing. This is using their hips to control their “center of gravity” while balancing all of their weight over their landing leg. This is the reason why pitcher’s must have very strong legs and core strength to throw hard.

The best way to find your “Point of Balance” is with a photograph. Draw a line from your belt buckle to your landing leg toes. With this line you should see your weight evenly distributed on both sides of the line.

His father Chris works for Boeing, which is why he produced a son with such a perfect understanding of physics driven mechanics. Tom Verducci has written the article of all articles when it comes to the revolution of the pitching delivery. Verducci writes for Sports Illustrated. In this article he expresses a better understanding of physics driven pitching mechanics than some of the best Coaches in the game. It goes to show how baseball’s ego has prevented its own evolution. MLB has been drafting young, tall and lanky pitchers for years because these pitchers can get away with more and therefore they need less coaching. The problem is their longevity is suspect. This is why Lincecum is seen as a Freak or an outsider. He doesn’t fit the mold of the MLB. The times maybe changing.

Here is a few examples from Verducci’s article illustrating the ignorance of Major League Baseball organizations along with some of Lincecum’s astounding accomplishments in the past few years.

Baltimore general manager Jim Duquette
“There was a feeling that [Lincecum] was short, not a real physical kid, and mechanically he was going to break down, that there was enough stress on his arm, elbow and shoulder. Our scouting department kind of pushed him down because of the medical aspect.”

The quickness of Lincecum’s small body is what scared off most scouts

The Giants took Lincecum at No. 10. He pitched only 13 times in the minors, allowing seven earned runs and whiffing 104 batters in 62 2/3 innings, before it became obvious to San Francisco that it had a prodigy who was wasting his time down there.

In 40 starts through Sunday, he was 16-6 with a 3.30 ERA and 264 strikeouts in 256 innings.

Lincecum’s reliability at the start of his career is historically remarkable. He is one of only seven pitchers since 1956 to throw 30 quality starts in his first 40 games.

Coach Dave Righetti, Lincecum’s current pitching coach for the Giants.
“I treat Timmy differently from most pitchers: I leave him alone.”

The article has quotes from Lincecum and his father talking about his mechanics. His quotes are almost directly out of AcePitcher.com’s 5 Components of Pitching.

“My dad and I aren’t very large guys, so it’s about efficiency and getting the most out of my body that I can,”

“Don’t open up too soon because then you lose leverage,” Tim says. “If you twist a rubber band against itself, the recoil is bigger. The more torque I can come up with, the better.”

“My dad always told me to sit down on my back leg as long as I could and push off as much as I could. I’m trying to get as much out of my body as possible. I’ve got to use my ankles, my legs, my hips, my back. . . . That’s why I’m so contorted and it looks like I’m giving it full effort when it’s not exactly full effort.”

The normal stride length for a pitcher is 77% to 87% of his height. Lincecum’s stride is 129%, or roughly 7 1/2 feet.

As for the “step-over” move near the end of his stride, Lincecum explains, “That’s from my hips. I’m getting everything toward the target, and my hips want to go. My hips can’t just go and open up. I’m trying to create torque. That’s when everything kind of explodes. My body comes, and [my arm] is just kind of along for the ride.”

One secret, he explains, is what he calls his “ankle kick,” a snapping of his right ankle as his right foot, the back foot, leaves the rubber. Lincecum comes off the rubber with such snap that, upon the ball’s release, his right foot is more than a foot in front of the rubber, shrinking the distance — and thus stealing precious time — between him and the batter.

When Lincecum speaks of “sitting down on my back leg” and his “ankle kick” he is speaking of AcePitcher.com 2 Component Triple extension. He calls this his little secret. How many coaches out there curse pushing off the rubber. Lincecum credits this to the reason for his success.

“My dad never taught me to lunge at the plate,” Tim says. “It kind of came naturally. That ankle kick that I get and the drive that I get from my back leg will make a big difference in how I get to the plate and how I pitch that day.”

Verducci paints the perfect picture of AcePitcher.com 3 Component Separation, which he calls the Loading position, when speaking of Lincecum’s success.

Here Lincecum again separates himself from most pitchers with his athleticism and timing. As he reaches the loaded position, Lincecum’s hips have just opened so that his belt buckle is facing the batter. His torso, however, has not yet begun to rotate toward the plate. The GIANTS on his home jersey is facing third base and his left shoulder remains pointed directly at the target. Only then, with his body essentially twisted against itself, does the torso fire, creating more rotational power as, at last, after this symphonic whipsaw action of his body, his arm simply “comes along for the ride.”

Most importantly Verducci mentions Lincecum’s athletic ability.

Many pitchers are poor athletes who happen to be blessed with one very specific skill. Lincecum has the body of a gymnast and can rip off a backflip or walk on his hands to prove it.

This proves my philosophy of great athletes make great pitchers. Many Coaches would also argue this with me. This is why the uneducated call Lincecum a freak instead of an elite athlete like Tiger woods and Michael Jordan.

This article made me smile so big I about split my face in half. Everything Lincecum, his father and Tom Verducci documented in this article I learned the hard way. It gives me closure in my own career when I learn that I may not have made it to the majors but I did overcome a serious rotator cuff injury to discover mechanics that would soon revolutionize the pitcher. I am glad such a good person like Tim Lincecum is caring this torch and bringing the light to Major League Baseball.

Read Tom Verducci’s article here.

View Tim Lincecum’s delivery in Slow Motion