For those who are still wondering if resistance training is helpful to athletes in general, and ball players in particular, consider the following from the front page of USA TODAY, August 1 2008. It shows Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps training in the pool with oversize paddles on his hands. Why does he (and other competitive swimmers) use this device? For overLOAD training purposes.

          Swimming with training paddles allows him to pull more water per arm stroke, thereby training the various muscles utilized during the crawl stroke under a greater load than he competes at. When he returns to swimming without the added load of the gloves his muscles will perform at a higher level than they would without this training.

          On page two of the article is a picture of Phelps lifting weights. It goes on to say that he began lifting in 2005, and this has “given him a more powerful push off the wall.” While no further details are provided as to the structure of his workouts, he no doubt has benefited in other ways from his weight lifting. His gold medal tally in 2008 certainly attests to this!

          Yet when you see pictures of his body, you see a well trained, powerful physique, but nothing that would win a body-building contest.

          Consider now this picture of a highly successful major league pitcher:

          The thing that jumps out to me is the absolute perfect position of the hips and shoulders as his throwing arm accelerates forward to the release point. The hips are opening prior to the shoulders, generating tremendous torque at the core area that contributes greatly to his throwing velocity. This pitcher regularly throws 93-94 mph with excellent control.

          So what do we learn from this?

TRAIN THE BODY CORE!  

          The core is what connects the large, powerful leg and hip muscles with the upper body. A weak core is ineffective in transmitting the power generated by the lower body.

          According to a biomechanical study published in 1974 [1], 53.1% of the velocity of an overhand throw is attributed to arm action with the remaining 46.9% due to stride and body rotation. Contrary to what some are saying, the arm is not simply "along for the ride." It is very much involved in the velocity-generating process. It's essentially a 50-50 process.

          So ball players, to improve throwing velocity, should train both their arm and core equally. Neglecting either will hinder one’s potential for maximal velocity development. Be sure to train both sides of the body to keep everything in balance and thereby reduce chance of injury.

          For more information on a properly designed program for ball players, including core work, click here. For ideas on arm training, consider this long toss program. For more information on training with weighted balls, click here. ALL of these training methods will improve throwing/pitching performance by:

• Increasing your throwing velocity

• Improving the conditioning of your throwing muscles, tendons and related structures, which can translate into more innings pitched, pain free