Posted by: mike m (bballplayer3293@yahoo.com) on Sun Jun 29 01:28:49 2008

> > > i am a catcher and i used to have a "cannon" so to speak behind the plate. i have
been doing pushups to increase my upperbody strength but ever since i have started, my
throws are getting slower and slower. I just got the jaeger bands and i am going to do that
program but can someone tell me how to get my arm strength back. Thanks in advance
> > >
> > > Mike
> >
> >
> > Pushups fatigue practically every muscle in your arms, certainly including those used
in throwing, and in fact the link below shows that push ups are considered a good help to
developing throwing strength. If you just started the program your arm muscles are
probably still recovering. It may be best to hold off until the season ends, then begin
more vigorous attempts to develop arm strength over the off-season.
> >
> > http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni47a3.htm
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> After reading your post, I was wondering if maybe you are not giving your arm enough
time to recover. Pitchers and catchers throw the baseball a great deal resulting in more
strain on their arms than other positions. For this reason, I would second the advice to let
off the push-ups routine or any extensive throwing. Instead, use the good advice given to
pitchers and do not throw for the next 2 days after a game you catch. This will help give
your arm some recovery time. Also, start icing down your arms after games to keep any
swelling down. Odds are you will not likely see your arm strength fully come back during
this season: this scenario is actually quite common for most baseball pitchers as even the
pro pitchers hit the weights heavy in the off-season and only lift once a week during the
season and even this once a week is a maintenance workout keying on reps. If you are
looking for a baseball lifting workout, I would recommend looking at the workouts put out
by Tom House in his books. I used one such workout over the summer and it added 7 to
10 mph to my fastball.
>
> Best,
> Jack Elliott
> [url=http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com]Baseball Training Tips[/url]


Jack,
thank you for your response. could you please specify which Tom House book you are
talking about and what kind of exercises he has you do?

Thanks,
Mike M