The more in-depth I get with testing my clients using Motion Capture, the more convinced I am that most traditional pitching drills…

Are a waste of time.

Most of the drills we’ve tested using 4D Motion Sports capture showed an actual regression when attempting to transfer results to the mound.

I know it goes against traditional thought but here’s what you need to realize:

Most pitchers don’t have a lower-half issue. In other words, their legs aren’t the problem.

Most pitching drills addressing hip-shoulder separation focus on “delaying” shoulder rotation… which causes even more problems.

Truth is…

Your shoulders aren’t the problem. Hip-shoulder separation is a natural bi-product of efficient movement.

Inside the kinetic chain, there’s constant separation occurring as each joint segment stops and passes on momentum up the chain. Without the body segments stopping it would not be able to pass on the energy transfer to the next segment in line.

Problem is…

Whenever pitchers are thinking “delay shoulder rotation”, they’ve already interrupted the chain before it ever starts.

• Efficient movement is thoughtless.
• If you’re having to think about movement, you’re not efficient.

What we’re discovering is this:

“Most pitchers don’t have a mechanical problem, they have a proprioception problem inside the hips.:

• In other words, their brain has no self-sense of their pelvis and hips.
• Because they lack the necessary hip proprioception, they lack coordination of the hips.
• Because they lack coordination, they have no chance of synchronizing the flow of energy up the chain, instead, their entire lower body moves as one unit.

In closing…

• Whenever you’ve got an athlete who lacks hip proprioception, pitching drills won’t work.
• Simply because they don’t have a mechanical issue, they’ve got a movement issue.
• The problem with most pitching drills is they don’t address the root cause, instead, they address the symptoms of the cause.

In this case, it was hip proprioception.

So, take a second to watch this video and notice how:

1. He increased hip/shoulder separation.
2. He was able to connect the energy from the lower half to the arm via rotation around the front leg.
3. His ability to hinge properly increased ground force output.
4. Because of the increased ground force, the tempo of the delivery was faster and more efficient.

In turn…

His velocity increased while his arm stress decreased.

Why?  

Because he gave his brain the information required to move more efficiently simply by increasing the awareness levels of his hips.  A better way to say it that his brain now has a clearer map. Much like you’d find inside your GPS of your car.
 

 

Trust what you FEEL!
 

 

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