Get the rust out of the arm!
It is January and that means it is time to start thinking about baseball and softball again. It may be the darkest time of the year, but what you do now will help prepare you for when practices start.
The best way to strenthen your arm for the season is by throwing. And one of the throwing drills we recommend to our students is the simple drill of long toss. Long toss strengthens and improves the stamina of both the arm and shoulder. It also improves velocity by improving hand and arm speed. And who does not want that?
There are many ways to do long toss, but this is one that we enjoy doing with the kids. It only takes about 15 minutes and should only be done every other day. But there is no better way to spend 15 minutes and get improved results.
Before we begin any drill, we recommend a thorough warm-up and stretching. Be sure arms are warm before you begin this drill. Long toss is not a warm up drill.
The basic outline of this drill is to start with you and a partner standing 60 feet apart (45 feet for younger kids). Throw 4-5 times each at this distance. Next, step back 15 feet and repeat the drill. You should end up 150-180 feet apart. When you are at your full distance, you should throw 15- 20 times broken down by 5-6 tosses at 75% strength, 5-6 at 90% and 5-6 at 100% strength.
As you complete this drill, move closer together, throw 1 or 2 balls each at this distance before moving closer, ending with throwing 4-5 balls from 75 feet.
The technique part of this drill is to make sure you use the crow-hop when making your throws, using your body’s momentem and throwing with a 3/4 arm throwing motion. Be sure to flex at the waist and use the full arm motion, ending your throw with your throwing hand low and outside your leading leg.
