Content area
Full text
SUMMARY
THE PURPOSES OF THIS ARTICLE ARE TO DISCUSS TRADITIONAL BASEBALL PITCHER CONDITIONING, GIVE AN EXPLANATION WHY A PITCHER'S ARM MAY FEEL BETTER AFTER JOGGING THE DAY AFTER PITCHING, INFORM THE READER WHY LACTIC ACID DOES NOT CAUSE THE MUSCLE SORENESS A HEALTHY PITCHER EXPERIENCES AFTER PITCHING, AND GIVE POSSIBLE REASONS FOR UNACCUSTOMED THROWING ARM SORENESS. ADDITIONALLY, THIS ARTICLE DESCRIBES THE ENERGY REQUIREMENTS FOR BASEBALL PITCHERS, DESCRIBES RESEARCH THAT HAS EVALUATED INTENSITY OF HEART RATES WHILE PITCHING AND CONDITIONING, AND PROVIDES READERS WITH A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE OF A 5-DAY STARTING PITCHER'S CONDITIONING SCHEDULE.
KEY WORDS:
baseball training; conditioning; interval training; percent maximum heart rate; sprint training
INTRODUCTION
The main determinants of success in baseball pitching are skill, knowledge, psychological outlook, and physical strength and conditioning (13). During baseball practices, pitchers usually focus on skill development, motivation, and knowledge, whereas less time is typically spent on conditioning (13). At the high school level, conditioning may involve all players on the team at one time without consideration for different positions. This may be due to the multiple positions played. For example, a high school team's best starting pitcher may also be the best short-stop. High school pitchers may also run at a slow to moderate pace for distance or time. At the college level, pitchers have a conditioning program typically designed by the pitching coach or heavily influenced by the pitching coach. At the professional level, a pitcher's program could be designed by the pitching coach, by the strength and conditioning coach, or by the pitcher himself. The type of conditioning program depends on what has worked best for the professional pitcher over his career. Thus, as a pitcher progresses to the highest level of play, the training program typically becomes more specific to the position played.
TRADITIONAL BASEBALL PITCHER CONDITIONING
Traditionally, pitchers have run "poles" (from left field foul pole to right field foul pole), for either a specific number of repetitions or time to improve their cardiovascular endurance and to "flush" the throwing arm of lactic acid. This type of conditioning is called long slow distance (LSD) training. To understand the rationale as to why pitcher's conditioning programs incorporate LSD training over the past 70 years, one needs to know the history of the...