Arm Health and Conditioning

Arm injuries have become a major problem in youth sports. With the development of baseball throughout the year, traveling teams, playing on multiple teams, and a total dedication to the specialization of baseball, the problems caused by repetitive stress are becoming more frequent and more serious. With the opening day of Major League Baseball approaching and youth baseball in full swing, examining the overall health of the arm is more important than ever. That’s why I want to share Alan Jaeger’s teachings and his point of view on arm strength and conditioning with everyone.

As a personal trainer and consultant for nearly 20 years, Mr. Jaeger has worked with more than 70 professional baseball players, including Barry Zito, Andrew Bailey and Dan Haren, and countless amateur athletes. There are three significant components to the full Jaeger Program:

1. The mind game
2.Yoga
3. Arm development

Obviously, the three elements are highly interrelated and the final achievements in each facet will contribute to the overall success of each athlete in the program. However, due to its unique aspects, after addressing Alan’s philosophy of mind game and yoga, the focus of this article will be the arm conditioning curriculum.

The Mind Game. As discussed earlier, baseball is the quintessential “highlight sport” (Pressure in Youth Sports, May 2005) and creates tremendous stress on young children. As players continue to develop and mature, they are separated less by physical differences and more by mental differences. The ability to stay focused during your preparation and throughout the game is the missing link between having potential and realizing it. To maximize performance, Jaeger emphasizes meditation, breathing, and visualization. These calming techniques work to simplify the game and can be transferred, through breathing, from practice to game situations, thus improving concentration and performance.

Yoga. Yoga provides the bridge between mental preparation and game performance by coordinating breathing, flexibility, balance, strength, and endurance. Alan points out that “if a player wants to maximize their arm strength, they also need to strengthen their lower back and core muscle groups which are a critical part of the kinetic chain.” The core of yoga is proper breathing, which allows for greater concentration and focus, providing the connection between physical and mental well-being. Increased physical conditioning, along with better oxygenation, will help prevent injuries. In addition to the obvious strength and flexibility benefits, Jaeger also believes that properly incorporating yoga into the program will add at least 3 MPH to a pitcher’s fastball, as a relaxed muscle is obviously faster and more efficient.

Professionals learning new yoga techniques from Alan

Arm strength and conditioning. A cornerstone of the Jaeger Program is the saying that players should not throw to warm up, they should warm up to throw. Arm strength is a key element of any well-rounded player and is just as important to work on as hitting or fielding. Unfortunately, most players, especially children, neglect their arms. The goal of the Jaeger Program is for players to “thrive by pitching” by following a strength and conditioning schedule designed to build a strong off-season foundation and establish an in-season maintenance program through the use of a series of circles with the arms, J-Bands, mechanics, and a committed long throw plan.

Arm circles. Arm circles must be completed correctly before you can even think of lifting a baseball. General physiology now requires a dynamic warm-up before any type of static stretching can take place. A series of arm circles is the first exercise performed to warm up the smaller muscles of the shoulder and maximize the benefits of the J-Bands. Essentially, arm circles consist of 16-20 revolutions in progressively larger rotations, from very small circles, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and then full circles. This should be done both forwards and backwards to build flexibility, balance, strength, and endurance in the rotator cuff muscle group.

J-Bands. Drills with surgical tubing (J-Bands) are an important part of preparing for long throws. Originally popularized by renowned orthopedist, Dr. Frank Jobe, J-Band exercises are a series of strength, conditioning, and flexibility movements designed to isolate the specific muscles of the arm, back, and shoulder used when throwing. The purpose of these exercises is to rehabilitate, develop and prepare the arm before any throw is made.

Long throw. There are two main phases in this part of the program:

1) stretch; Y
2) dropdowns.

As you stretch, the goal is to “massage” your arm as you move away from your throwing partner. This is done by listening to the muscles and throwing as far as the arm will allow. Instead of straight baseball pitches, each rep should be done in the air and allow the arm to go through a full range of motion. As distance is added, throws must be made with proper mechanics and using a “leap crow” to reduce arm strain. As each player opens up, the muscles begin to lengthen. It may take a few weeks to build a solid foundation and substantially increase the distance, but that is the goal of this part of the exercise. During the drop phase, he will throw in a line while moving back towards his partner approximately 10 feet on each throw. This will help build arm speed, strength, and acceleration through the release point. Doing this program regularly will certainly help any player build health and strength. Alan Jaeger states that “arm health is about being proactive, being really smart about some things, including using the right mechanics and what you’re trying to accomplish with a long throw.”

Pros Focus on Alan Jaeger’s J-Band Training

Throwing that much (a solid long-throwing session can last 45 minutes or more) seems to contradict much of the current philosophy regarding repetitive stress arm injuries. However, Jaeger maintains that properly conditioning the arm through throwing is preventative, not causal. If a proper base is built during the offseason and maintained, a player can throw consistently. However, Alan also acknowledges that it is imperative to understand the variables related to pitch counts and recovery periods suggested by the American Sports Medicine Institute (“ASMI”), which, among other things, recommends against throwing above the head for 2 or 3 months a year. . Perhaps most importantly, Jaeger says that children should try to be more mindful and not throw on sore or tired arms.

The training program must be done frequently. While pitching off a mound depends on pitch count and recovery, for the most part, everyone should just pitch at least five times a week, but at least three times a week if they want to build their arms. While it may take 3-6 weeks to get in shape and build the base, after that it’s okay to shoot almost every day. Jaeger explains it this way: “Runners want to run, bowlers want to bowl, muscles want to work, and the more a bowler throws, the better they feel.”

Alan’s message to kids is that if they are truly committed to finding out how good they can be and care about the game, then they need to be proactive in some of the most neglected parts of baseball. While every player has to connect and take ground balls, the truly successful players are the ones who work hard on the finer parts of the game. Kids need to know if they want a future in baseball that they can’t play if they can’t pitch, so they need to learn how to take care of their arm. Also, they cannot ignore the mental part of the game, which becomes even more important as they get older. Therefore, they need to learn about breathing and mental conditioning. Given the busy schedules all kids have, make brain game a priority, even if it’s just for five minutes a day.

Coaches and parents need to become more aware and begin to understand that all sports performances should be evaluated on “process” rather than “results.” This will allow for a healthier mental approach to baseball. The bottom line is that today’s gamers have a wealth of information on how to get better and stay healthier. The Jaeger Program is a great example of how children can stay healthy, improve arm strength, and begin to truly excel through mental conditioning and yoga. It goes without saying that aside from a glove and bat, the most important baseball throwing arm conditioning kit that belongs in your baseball bag is the J-Bands.