When Men's League Baseball wrapped up, I hit pause on everything. No more throwing or training -- just a break. My focus shifted to coaching the Lab Rats. As I spilled the beans in my previous post, I was wrestling with some self-induced stress and anxiety that morphed into the Yips. So, this breather was absolutely necessary.
Towards the tail end of August, an invitation to go golfing with my father-in-law popped up. It had been a good couple of years since I last swung a club, so why not give it a shot? Expectations were low (let's not even discuss my score), but there were moments of brilliance -- hitting some pars. That's when I realized I could actually get better at this golf thing. So, I frequented the range over the next month, visited a couple of different courses, and, just like that, my focus switched from tossing a baseball to smacking a golf ball.
Rekindling my old love for golf shook things up in my brain. It brought back the joy of competing at something and, at the very least, provided an escape from life's daily stresses on the course or at the range. My mind was fixated on the next swing. Soon enough, I yearned to improve. My first step was realizing that if I could add a bit more natural distance to my clubs and drives, I'd up my game. Just like with throwing velocity, I knew my 90% effort would be better and faster if I delved into strength training and worked on rotational power. And that's what led me back to the weight room.
Here's the play-by-play of my journey:
Mid-September rolled around, and I started hitting the weights consistently. I approached it casually, reminiscent of the on-ramp phase of throwing. No meticulous record-keeping at this point -- just simplicity based on how I felt. The Big 3 lifts -- Squat, Bench, and Deadlift -- took the spotlight with a 3x5 set/rep scheme. Paired with them were different exercises following a 3x8 scheme. It was a while ago and since my record-keeping at this time was lacking, I don't remember exactly what I was doing besides making each day a full-body workout. The last exercise of the day involved some rotational move, be it a med ball or PVC pipe swing, to amp up that rotational power I craved. Nothing too fancy -- no supersets, just plain and easy to cultivate that habit.
After four weeks of staying true to the routine, I crafted a more detailed workout plan. But before diving in, I wanted to gauge my progress by testing my 2 rep maxes on the Big 3 and comparing them with last year's figures:
- Squat: 300 to last year's 325
- Bench: 165 to last year's 175 (for 1)
- Deadlift: 315 to last year's 320
Not a shabby start at all! I was almost where I left off after just a month, and my weight had bumped up from 164.4 to 173.8. My goal last year was 175 lbs, and I was practically there. The secret to the weight gain? Once again, keep it simple -- protein-packed breakfast, at least 3 meals a day with no hesitations about seconds, daily weigh-ins for accountability, protein after each lift, and a sprinkle of creatine. The creatine, especially, made a significant impact. No elaborate loading phases -- just 5g before working out on lifting days and another 3g in my protein mix. Boom. That's how I've been rolling to this day.
Now it was time to make a real lifting plan. Here's the schedule I concocted after easing into it:
Day 1
- Back Squat
- Dumbbell Alternating Press/Single Leg RDL
- Dumbbell Lunges/Dumbbell Reverse Flies
- Medball-Situp Throws/Straight Arm Scoop Throw
Day 2
- Barbell Bench
- Bulgarian Split Squat/Bicep Curls
- Single Leg Hip Bridge/Tricep Extension
- Woodchoppers/Banded Forearm Supination-Pronation
Day 3
- Deadlift
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press/Reverse Crossover Lunge
- Chest Supported Dumbbell Row/Cossack Squat
- Medball-Overhead Throws/Split Stance Crossover Slams
The main lift followed the 3x8 rep scheme for the first two weeks, with auxiliary lifts mirroring a similar approach. In weeks 3 and 4, the rep scheme shifted to 3x5 for the main lift while trimming a couple of reps from the auxiliaries. The final two weeks were the heaviest, retesting my 2 rep maxes with a 4x2 scheme. And here are the heavy hitters during those last 2 weeks:
- Back Squat: 350
- Barbell Bench: 185
- Deadlift: 385
Now we're talking! Crushing all my old numbers! With Thanksgiving in the mix, I threw in a deload week and hit these new PRs in early December. By the end of that phase, I decided to pick up a baseball again.
With the weather getting too bad to golf, the itch to throw again crept in, but I promised myself to hit 180 lbs before throwing a ball and 185-190 lbs to take it seriously. Well, I hit 180 on 11/2 and 186.7 on 11/20. Since then, I've maintained that 185-190 mark -- a 20lb gain in 2 months just by staying focused and not overtaxing my body. According to several different sources, including Randy Sullivan at Florida Armory and Dr. Josh Heenan's 90mph Formula, that's a pretty good weight for me. So, I stopped pushing for more and just aimed to maintain. I had earned that right to throw again.
Even though I hit my bodyweight goal and gained some newfound strength, I didn't want to lose sight of strength training. So, I kept the throwing casual (that's another blog) and honed in on one specific flaw while getting my arm in shape. To this day, I've only had 3 super high-intensity days since then and will have another one tomorrow (January 15th) to retest myself for my age 32 year.
Now let's dive into the next chapter of this strength journey. So, I kept lifting, but as the holidays snuck in, my body needed to acclimate to the throwing stimulus, and went a bit overboard with two weeks of intense 2 rep maxes; it was time for a change of pace in this next block:
Day 1
- Back Squat 3x10
- Incline Bench/Reverse Flies 3x10
- Split Squat/Single-Leg RDL 3x10
- Water Ball (experimental) and Med Ball Windup Throws 3x5
Day 2
- Barbell Bench 3x10
- Bicep Curls (6 eccentric to 6 full)/Tricep Extension (resistance band) 3x12
- Seated Low Row/Banded Supination-Pronation 3x12
- Water Bag Torso Rotations (another experiment)/Medball Janitor Throws 3x5
Day 3
- Deadlift 3x10
- Lat Pull/Pec Flies 3x10
- Dumbbell Lunges/Single-Leg Hip Bridge 3x8
It's a bit of deja vu, somewhat similar but with a fresh twist. After hitting some new peaks, my body signaled it needed a breather. So, I lightened the load, upped the reps, and focused on picking up the pace. Not quite ready to plunge into a true power phase, but this was a tantalizing glimpse of it. I stuck to this routine during the holidays, juggling days off but making sure to squeeze in at least 2 out of the 3 workouts. Finding the time was tricky, but fingers crossed it kept me on the right track. I'm five weeks into this phase, and I'll keep the momentum going through this week (for a total of 6 weeks). After that, I will retest my 2 rep maxes so it's the week after my mound velocity check instead of the same week. Spreading them out ensures I don't burn out on one side or the other.
It will then be time to gear up for the next phase of strength gain because it looks like there is still room to grow in that department. According to my research, these are the goals before I dive into power development:
-
Bodyweight: 185-190 (checkmark)
- Randy Sullivan from Florida Armory recommends 180+ lbs
- Dr. Josh Heenan and the 90mph Formula say 2.5x height (inches), which is 185
- Driveline's 90+ group's average is 210lbs, but that data isn't quantified by height and there is a wide range of weights for 90+mph throwers. However, most of them seem to be 180-190+lbs.
-
Deadlift: 450+
- Rockland Peak Performance (RPP) says 2.5x Bodyweight = 462.5
- Josh Heenan's 90mph formula says 400
-
Bench: 215+
- RPP says 1.25x Bodyweight = 230
- This seems like a lofty goal, so I'll see how fast I progress to 215 first
-
Back Squat: 400+
- Not a lot of data for Back Squat benchmarks, but since some deadlift data says 400 and it's in the right range based on my current PR, I'm going with that
-
Reverse Lunge: 190+ for 10 reps
- Josh Heenan's 90mph Formula calls for body weight for 10 reps, so I'm aiming for the higher range of my body weight
- RPP says 0.55x body weight for a Single Leg Squat, but there are plenty of different variations on what that can be, so I'm going with the Reverse Lunge
-
Bonus: Chin Up w/a total weight of 250
- I would need to add about 65lbs to my body for the 250 mark -- I might try this for fun
- This is also from Dr. Josh Heenan's 90mph Formula
As you can see, there's still plenty of room to grow on the strength side, so throwing will remain in the backseat after I hit the mound today (1/15/24) for some updates. The focus is on ensuring my training economy is geared towards the weight room and increasing my max strength. Once those benchmarks are conquered, I'll switch gears from max strength to power while cranking up the throwing volume. In the next couple of weeks, I'll sketch out what will likely be an 8+ week block of strength and post an update!
Upcoming on the Road to 90mph with estimated post dates (subject to change):
- Mound Velo 1/15 (check Insta)
- Blog on Throwing from December-Jan 15th (1/21)
- More Insta content on my Squat, Bench, Deadlift maxes (1/15-1/20)
- Blog on 1/15 Mound Velo video (1/28)
- Blog on new strength training (2/4)
- Blog on Yips (undetermined)
- Maybe some more intermittent content on Insta?