Today’s youth, adolescent, and amateur pitchers experience a much different brand of baseball than those of generations past. As such, they also undergo entirely different demands. Sure, the kinematic progression over the course of a pitching career probably hasn’t changed all that much, so the physiological demands from the pitching motion itself are relatively the…
Not much elaboration is needed when discussing the widespread baseball phenomenon we call the Tommy John Epidemic. With the rates of Tommy John Surgeries in Major & Minor League Baseball spiking in 2015, and the current media spotlight on pitching injuries (including a highly-acclaimed investigative book looking into the “Billion-dollar industry that is pitching”) the emphasis placed on…
I’ve recently come to realize that my time working as a “young strength and conditioning coach” is slowly waning away. To be candid, I am 24-years old, and by no means do I consider myself an old coach, or even a veteran coach. But, for what seemed like the longest time I was always considered a young…
Today I’d like to take some time to discuss an alternative to traditional pitcher recovery strategies (in terms of strength and conditioning); methods that I believe hold the potential for more goal-oriented recovery — the Recovery Circuit. Below I will explain what the Recovery Circuit consists of (and why), provide sample clips, and suggest some applications…
Young athletes often come into the weight room for the first time with skewed expectations. Caught up in the desired end-results they are seeking – like increased lean muscle mass, monstrous strength gains, and enhanced performance – they often neglect to see their current athletic and physical status for what it is: young, immature and untrained,…
Last week I posted a visual on Twitter illustrating the interactions between pitching stress, training stress, and recovery. The purpose of this drawing was to create an analogy that would help a player or coach understand that not all physical stressors are created equal, as each unique stress will elicit its own specific adaptation within the…
Whether it be the daily commute or early morning cardio, cooking dinner or doing the chores, walking the mall or relaxing poolside on a weekend – podcasts are a great way to conveniently sneak in a little extra learning for the week. In this weekly installment, I share with you a shortlist of listen-worthy podcasts – old and…
Today I wanted to take a few moments to share this presentation with you that I put together on the topic of weighted baseballs. Below I have inserted a slideshow with the entire power point, and have also embedded a link with the PDF file. Before you dive into the presentation, please be…
Whether it be the daily commute or early morning cardio, cooking dinner or doing the chores, walking the mall or relaxing poolside on a weekend – podcasts are a great way to conveniently sneak in a little extra learning for the week. In this weekly installment, I share with you a shortlist of listen-worthy podcasts – old and…
Ryan Faer: Today I am sharing with you a guest post – first part of a 3-part series – on the youth sports culture today, and early-sport specialization. This series was written by a good friend and colleague of mine, Lauren Green, who is the Latin American Coordinator with the Los Angeles Dodgers. I met Lauren nearly three years ago…
Ryan J. Faer 