There are individuals on the Internet right now (former professional pitchers, college athletes, strength and conditioning coaches) that spend most of their time invalidating each other in order to substantiate their programs. Many of these individuals use disparaging comments about the specificity of speed and weight training, weighted ball usage, or weighted vests and how none of them work to create velocity and then offer you a program of weight training or conditioning that’s not specific and in no way related to the necessary muscular balance or functional stability required to accelerate a ball with any force. We purchased these programs, contacted these individuals and questioned them to see if their was any clinical research to substantiate their program. We found a surprising lack of understanding of the principles that govern the throwing motion and the forces required to accelerate the ball safely. There is only one way to accelerate a ball efficiently and that is to have rotational core stability. Exercises that have nothing to do with rotational core stability do not correlate to baseball and have no functional transference to the movement patterns necessary to throw the ball effectively.
Some of these other websites offer video analysis. We were very interested in their ability to recognize functional deficits and biomechanical faults in the throwing motion.
We sent videos of a few of our athletes who had sustained injuries, been discharged from therapy, and were now participating in our medical OAI throwing program. What we received back was a generic application of imitating professionals that were viewed by these individuals to have correct mechanics. Many of the faults of the throwers that we studied were obvious from a clinical perspective. We were not surprised to find out that these individuals did not understand the physiology of the throwing motion from a medical perspective. We were very surprised that they did not understand how each of the phases of the throwing motion are connected and that many of the compensations we observed were the result of structural and functional strength deficits that predisposed the athlete to the compensations we had identified in their throwing motion. This was of great concern to us and it should be to you as well. Our Overhead Athletic Institute medical perspective and clinical experience provides the advantage you need and differentiates our program from any other program available.
It is impossible to just tell an athlete that they should throw like Josh Bard, Roger Clemens, or Greg Maddux without first addressing weaknesses or imbalances that need to be corrected with the clinical application of exercise.
