Posted on Sunday, 18th July 2010 by Eric Cressey
Last week, I had three separate pitchers ask me what I thought about swimming between starts. My answer was pretty straightforward: I am not a fan at all.
There are several reasons for my contention with this as a useful modality.
Like pitchers, swimmers have some of the most dysfunctional shoulders in the entire sporting world; they have glaring scapular instability, big internal rotation deficits, and insufficient dynamic stability.
Sound familiar? These are the exact same things we work to address too keep our pitchers healthy.
For me, cross-training is about getting athletes out of pattern overload - not finding a similar means of reinforcing imbalances. Telling a pitcher to go swim is like encouraging a distance runner with a bum Achilles tendon to go jump rope instead. It’s an epic fail waiting to happen.
When it really comes down to it, I’d rather have guys actually throwing if they are going to develop imbalances. Pattern overload might as well give you improved motor control and technical precision if it’s going to increase your susceptibility to injury!
Speaking of specificity, the energy systems demands of swimming (longer distances, usually) don’t reflect what we see in pitching (short bursts of intense exertion). So, the arguments are in many ways similar to my contention with distance running for pitchers.
And, more anecdotally, while incredible athletes in the pool, most of the swimmers I have encountered have been far less than athletic on solid ground, presumably because the majority of their training takes place in the water, where stability demands are markedly different. I’d much rather see supplemental baseball training take place with closed-chain motion on solid ground - just like it does in pitching.
Finally, I’d like to see pitchers lift more - because they simply don’t do enough of it during the season. With limited time between outings, it’s important to get in the most important stuff first - and I just don’t see swimming as “important” when compared to flexibility training, soft tissue work, the throwing program, and strength training.
I’m sticking to my guns here. I’d much rather see pitchers doing what I outlined HERE between starts, as it keeps them strong, gets them moving in ways that don’t further ingrain imbalances, and avoids conflicting with the metabolic demands on pitching.
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Tags: Athlete Training Programs, Baseball Workouts, Distance Running, High Performance Training, Increasing Throwing Velocity, Optimal Shoulder Performance, Pitching Injuries, Pro Baseball Pitcher Workout, Swimming for Pitchers, Throw Baseball Faster
Posted in Blog | Comments (4)
July 19th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Once again, a useful post. I can’t say I completely agree with it, but then again I’m no pitcher, and baseball isn’t my sport, so who am I to talk?
I’ve always liked swimming as a great workout for anyone in any sport, but I can definitely see your connection with the shoulder problems.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:53 am
eric
have to agree with pitchers lifting more espically in the off season. I find it so improtant to get them out of the pitching pattern and getting them to deload it by going backwards throught the motion and doing opposite side work to rebalance them during self stretches and ROM drills to help unload them.
Have to fully agree with swimming do not like it for pitching or racket sports. water running at times i will work in just for a lower level non weight bearing cardio workout.
in health Paul K Turner
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Eric,
All very good points. I think the one thing northern baseball players have going for them is they can’t throw year-round, and the majority of the elite players understand the importance of lifting programs both in-season and off. When it comes to swimming, it seems like every other swimmer that walks in the door has a shoulder issue, usually overuse related. If baseball players insist on using swimming as a form of recovery or cardio, the breast stroke is all they’re allowed to do…and fortunately most of them have no clue what that is.
July 24th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Great response Eric. I get asked the same question all the time as well. I deal with all these brilliant Western Pa football coaches having linemen run until they can’t pick their legs up. Nothing like 2,500 yards worth of long sprints at noon in the summer!