Baseball tips: How to beat ‘Dead Arm’

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Dead Arm has a habit of striking pitchers early in the season, and it can return from time to time.

It’s a tough condition to define in technical terms. Sometimes there’s pain and sometimes there isn’t, but it’s generally characterized by fatigue and a lack of “snap” in your throws. A pitcher might be on a full compliment of rest, but he’ll struggle to get the usual velocity behind his pitches.

From MLB.com:

(White Sox) starter Mark Buehrle said, “There are times where you haven’t thrown in five days but you feel like you’re thrown for 12 days in a row. I guess that’s what I think of when I hear about dead arm.”

For Seattle starter Ryan Rowland-Smith and many other Major League pitchers, it’s mostly a Spring Training thing.

“You’re coming off an offseason where you have your own throwing program,” Rowland-Smith says.

“All of a sudden you get to camp and you’re throwing to bases, doing extra stuff. You’re on your legs all day, and that’s when you get that dead arm. You’re in the heat, with day games after day games. You’re up early in the morning. All those things factor into it.”

Our friends at Crossover Symmetry have passed along some extra info and three tips for beating Dead Arm. Those tips are:

• Stretch. Regularly stretch the muscles and connective tissues in your shoulder. Most importantly, stretch the ligaments in the back of your shoulder joint by pulling your arm across your chest, pulling your bicep near your neck. If you don’t like doing it in your warm-up (it can affect how some pitchers pitch), it can be done after your workout/game/practice. Just make sure you are still warm when you’re doing it.
• Strengthen. Another contributor to dead arm is muscle imbalances. If your rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers are too weak to counterbalance the pull on your shoulders from your chest — or if your posture is bad — you can be susceptible to impingements and Dead Arm. You can strengthen these muscles with weight training or by using Crossover Symmetry.
• Rest. Ice your shoulder when necessary, pay attention to your pitch count, get enough sleep and make the most of your rest time.

Related: Strengthen your shoulders with a pair of crossover cords.

Baseball tips: Improve your posture, Improve your level of play

From our friends at Crossover Symmetry, here’s a very quick primer on posture and the role it plays in athletic performance.

The things we do in our modern-day lifestyles — whether it’s hunching over our desks at work or slouching on the sofa in front of the TV — can lead to poor shoulder posture. We roll our shoulders forward, and that can lead to problems down the road in sports.

That’s especially true in baseball, where the shoulder and rotator cuff are so important.

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Poor posture equals poor mechanics. You won’t be able to get the most out of your throwing motion, and, at worst, you can injure your shoulders.

So how do you avoid it?

Perform regular stretches and exercises to counterbalance your forward posture.

The primer includes a few examples to help. Those stretches and exercises keep the muscles in your shoulder girdle strong and tension-free, which will have you in prime condition when baseball season rolls around.

Related: Keep your shoulders in top condition with a pair of Crossover Symmetry Cross Cords.

Baseball tips: How Orioles catcher Matt Weiters keeps his hips loose

Day after day of catching can make things hard on your hips.

It can be difficult to shake out the soreness and stiffness. That’s why it’s important to frequently stretch, and as Matt Weiters explains in this video, do exercises to keep your hips loose.

The exercise he describes is a lateral box step. It involves standing next to a box, step or a weight bench, and then stepping out laterally on top of it.

Here’s a good demonstration:

You can alter the exercise to suit your goals. To build strength, carry heavier weights. The “overload” from stepping with the extra weight will strengthen your hips.

To improve flexibility and lessen soreness, raise the height of the box. Your hips will stretch further than normal, and it will help relieve stiffness.

Related: Prepare for next season with our selection of baseball training aids.

Baseball tips: Justin Verlander demonstrates the overhead medicine ball throw

From StackTV, here’s a way to build core strength and explosiveness for baseball.

Just make sure you do it outside.

The overhead medicine ball throw uses the same movements as an Olympic-style power clean. The movements help develop explosiveness in the hips, legs and core — which is ideal for baseball.

As they explained in the video, the key isn’t in using a heavy ball. It’s more about using a smooth, efficient movement to lift the ball.

And as always, there’s a risk of injury with any training exercise. Pace yourself and use good form.

Related: Add a new dimension to your training with our selection of baseball training aids.