How good posture equals good baseball performance

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 school 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.

Click for big (.pdf)

Proper shoulder positioning allows your shoulder girdle to perform to its potential. With shoulder muscles able to properly elongate and contract, you’ll get the most velocity on your throws, and you’ll have the most control.

But poor posture equals poor performance. Bad posture is linked with shoulder tightness in baseball players, and tight muscles are inefficient muscles. That means your throws won’t have that “oomph” behind them, and at worst, you can injure your shoulders.

So how do you avoid it?

First, stop slouching. Second, regularly stretch and perform mobility exercises on your shoulders and upper back. The primer includes a few examples to get you started.

It doesn’t take much. If you’re feeling tight, just add in 5 minutes of shoulder stretching a day, and you should see some improvement in your shoulder mobility.

Stretching is most effective when your shoulders and upper back are already warm (so, after practice is a good time for position players. Pitchers could do it after some light throwing.)

Taking those simple steps will help keep your posture good and your performance high.

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

Got a case of ‘Dead Arm’? Here’s how to ressurrect it

The area in question

Ever have this happen?

You’re feeling healthy — plenty of energy — but when it comes time to pitch or throw, you can’t get any snap on the ball. There might be pain, or there might not. It might feel like your shoulder is catching on something, or it might not.

The big thing is that you just can’t throw like normal.

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

(From MLB.com)

If that describes you, you might have dead arm.

Dead arm is common for pitchers, but anyone can get it. It usually crops up early in the season — because players spend months away from the field and suddenly start throwing during early-season conditioning.

Once you back off the conditioning and start playing games, that extra stress on your shoulder capsule can cause it to flare up.

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.”

If you come down with a case of the dead arm, there’s not much you can do besides rest, stretch and slowly start working back into it.

In this case, prevention is best. And 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: How to beat ‘Dead Arm’

Click for big (.pdf)

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

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.

Click for big (.pdf)

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.