In order to become a high velocity pitcher we have established that you need a blend of mobility, strength, speed, power and efficient biomechanics. However, one of the most important things in training to become a high velocity pitcher is nutrition. If you are not eating right, you are sabotaging your own efforts to become a high velocity pitcher. Major League Baseball players want to be bigger, faster, stronger. Why else would performance enhancing drugs be such a big problem in the MLB? It makes you bigger, faster, stronger in the shortest time possible. Obviously, we don’t promote the use of PED’s, but we can give you a better alternative in the form of nutrient timing.
Good Nutrition And Nutrient Timing > Steroids
If you maintain good eating habits during resistance training, we recommend 5-7 meals a day at TopVelocity, and use nutrient timing you will SUBSTANTIALLY increase overall strength, lean body mass, and hypertrophy of type-II fast twitch muscle fibers. Wow! If your a pitcher and want to throw harder you should pay close attention to this article. So, nutrient timing is essentially the legal alternative to steroids and it consists of drinking a protein carbohydrate shakes before, during and after workouts, while eating 5-7 meals a day. In a study called EFFECTS OF SUPPLEMENT-TIMING AND RESISTANCE EXERCISE ON SKELETAL MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY they found that the group using nutrient timing and maintained good eating habits (5-7 meals a day), resulted in “significantly greater improvements” in overall strength, lean body mass and type-II fast twitch muscle fibers. Here is the findings: (1)
The major finding of this study was that after 10 weeks of training, supplementation before and after each workout resulted in significantly greater improvements in 1RM strength and body composition (i.e., increase in LBM and decrease in body fat percentage) compared to a matched group who consumed the same supplement at times outside of the prepost workout time frame. A significantly greater muscle hypertrophy response from supplementtiming was evident at three different levels. That is, the PRE-POST group demonstrated a significantly greater increase in LBM, hypertrophy of the type-IIa and IIx fibers, and contractile protein. This is an important finding as this investigation is the first to confirm improvements in body composition via RE training and dietary supplementation with hypertrophy responses at the cellular (i.e., fiber-specific hypertrophy) and sub-cellular level (i.e., contractile protein content). While these results support our hypothesis, it is the design of this study that makes these findings particularly relevant to a wide sector of the population.
The study goes on to explain that the subjects in both groups were eating good meals everyday and the only difference in the results was due to the timing of the protein carbohydrate supplements. Here is the excerpt: (1)
Acute-response investigations have shown that supplementation with protein (or EAA) before and/or after RE will enhance the anabolic response by increasing muscle protein synthesis rates, decreasing protein degradation and providing a higher net protein balance (27; 28). The majority of data from longitudinal studies generally support the theory that supplementation (with protein) before and/or after RE will enhance the chronic adaptations desired from training (i.e. muscle hypertrophy and strength). (1; 9; 12; 22). However, the assessment conditions used in these studies may also mean the results have less relevance in a real-world setting. That is, strength athletes and others that desire increases in strength and muscle mass from RE would not usually abstain from consuming protein for up to 3 hours before and after exercise. Therefore, a novel aspect of the present study is that the beneficial effects of 15 supplement-timing on strength and muscle hypertrophy were obtained while the participants followed normal eating patterns.
So, this study shows us that nutrient timing, resistance training and a good nutrition plan helps athletes get bigger, faster and stronger! As baseball players those are all things that we want to throw harder, hit the ball farther and run faster. This could potentially be yet another piece of the puzzle you as an athlete might be missing to take your game to the next level.
Proper Nutrition Plan Gains 20 LBS In 28 Days
Do not try this! Dr. John Berardi and Nate Green are experts in the field of nutrition and know how to safely perform this. I just thought it was a cool story on how powerful a good nutrition plan, nutrient timing and resistance training can be. Essentially, they set out to prove that a UFC fighter (Dr. Berardi is George St. Pierre’s nutrition coach) could gain 20 lbs of muscle in a month to move up a weight class. The fitness world has long thought this to be impossible without steroids. Long story short he gained 21 lbs of lean muscle in 28 days. Here is an excerpt: (2)
For starters, a lot of people in the fitness world don’t think this is possible without taking steroids. Fortunately, this isn’t true. With the right program and world-class advice, it’s attainable. I wanted to prove this beyond the shadow of a doubt. Dr. John Berardi wanted a guinea pig to show exactly how someone like GSP could–if he wanted to–gain enough muscle to move up an entire weight class and take on a fighter like Anderson Silva. I started the official experiment at 169 pounds and 28 days later, weighed in at 190.
Not only did his body weight go up, but his strength and power both went up. His vertical jump before was 28 inches and his vertical jump after was 31.7 inches. He put on more weight and pushed out even more power. That is an incredible increase in force. Imagine having an extra 20 lbs of lean muscle on your body and jumping almost 4 inches higher. Do you think that would increase your velocity? I sure do. Both power production and body mass have been correlated to increased velocity. Like I said before don’t try to put on that much weight that fast, it is probably not a good idea, but Dr. John Berardi is still an expert at building lean muscle so look into his book Scrawny 2 Brawny. It has everything you need to start packing on some pounds. Here is the link to the article:
Nate Green Gains 21 LBS In 28 Days
Start Nutrition Plan And Weight Training To Increase Pitching Velocity
If you don’t have a plan to start getting bigger, faster, stronger and you want to throw hard, play at the next level, make it to the major leagues. You need to start today because it will give you a huge advantage over your opponents. If you are not taking your training, nutrition, mechanics, and mobility seriously you are falling behind. We have professional baseball players training at Topvelocity and they are the hardest working people you will ever meet. No wonder they are in the pros. They understand that you need every advantage you can get over your opponent and you need to work harder and smarter than them because if you don’t… You will lose.
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Nutrition Reference:
- Cribb, Paul J., and Alan Hayes. “Effects of supplement-timing and resistance exercise on skeletal muscle hypertrophy.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise11 (2006): 1918-1925.
- Ferriss, Tim. “How To Gain 20 Pounds In 28 Days: The Extreme Muscle Building Secrets of UFC Fighters.” The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2015.