Every aspiring baseball player wants to hone a particular skill that can help them be recognized by talent scouts and eventually get signed up for some of the most prestigious teams in the Major League. For pitchers, they want to hone their fastball pitching to perfection that when they get into a speed pitch game, they will throw balls at the speed of 95 to 100 mph.
Aside from strength training, though, you need to follow these other lesser-known methods to make your arm throw some amazingly fast fastballs.
Just throw, don’t pitch
Ironically, the better way to improving your fastball is to simply practice throwing the ball as hard as you can. Don’t worry about your aim for now because you’ll have plenty of time to hone that skill. What you should focus on now is being able to throw a ball as hard as you can.
Don’t neglect your legs
If you’re an avid baseball fan and player, then you should know that a great pitcher doesn’t rely solely on the power of their arm to throw a fastball. They also use their legs to gain momentum in order to increase the power on their throw.
So, work out your legs, too. Some say that running is good for strengthening your leg muscles, but you should look for ways for your legs to experience stronger resistance. Your aim is to strengthen your leg muscles for an explosive motion.
What you can do is use elastic bands to provide the resistance on your legs. Tie the band to one of your legs and practice swinging it forward or backward while the band tries to pull your leg back to its starting position. This way, you’ll be able to improve your leg muscles and enable them to move much quicker, which is what you need to happen when you’re throwing a fastball.
Work on your core
Since you’ve already found out about the mechanics of throwing a baseball, then you should know that aside from your legs, you also need to work out your core muscles. This means that you should do some crunches, planks, and bicycles.
Bruce Lee often said before that majority of our movements are aided by our core muscles. So, that means if your core muscles are weak, your pitching will also be weak.
Work on your shoulder
You should also work on strengthening your shoulder or more specifically, your rotator cuffs. Not only will strengthening your rotator cuffs add more power to your throw, but it will also prevent injuries to your shoulder.
Get lots of rest
Finally, you need to get lots of rest after exercising and strengthening the muscles you need for your pitching. Injuries to the shoulder, elbow, and wrist are quite common in baseball pitchers due to the amount of stress they put on these areas. You should rest for at least 48 hours after a game, in which you won’t do anything stressful to your pitching arm.
Pitching a fastball takes time and lots of work. But, it’s achievable as long as you know the right ways to improve your fastball throws. And now, you do.
