BUILDING · To two of my earliest training influences, Paul Nyman and Eric Cressey, whose groundbreaking work helped kick start my passion for strength, velocity and athletic performance

BUILDING THE 95 MPH BODY

A PRIMER ON STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT & OPTIMAL

NUTRITION FOR THE ELITE PITCHER

WRITTEN BY

BEN BREWSTER, BSc, CCS

FOREWORD BY KYLE BODDY, FOUNDER OF DRIVELINE BASEBALL

www.treadathletics.com

http://www.treadathletics.com/

Copyright © 2015 by Tread Athletics, LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means without written

permission from the author.

Don’t copy our work or try to sell it for profit. However,

we hope that you read this book and share these ideas

with your friends, teammates and coaches. If you like this

content and find it useful, spread the word – quote it,

reference it, just give credit when you do. A link back to

treadathletics.com would be appreciated as well.

Contact

Ben Brewster, [email protected]

Published

Tread Athletics, LLC, Treadathletics.com

Waiver and release of liability

(Read closely before performing any exercise in this e-book)

By reading this e-book, you and those whom you represent acknowledge that participation in

these physical activities carries certain inherent risks that can never be fully eliminated

regardless of the care taken to avoid injury, and that injuries of all magnitudes are possible.

By continuing to read, you, on behalf of yourself, heirs and personal representatives release and

forever discharge and covenant not to sue Tread Athletics and Ben Brewster, their employees,

consultants, sponsors and affiliates (the “released parties”) from any and all liability from all

claims, actions, suits or other proceedings resulting from personal injury, including death,

accident or illness you may sustain, regardless of fault, arising from or in connection with

activities presented in this e-book.

Disclaimer

Do NOT attempt any exercise in this book before getting approval from your physician. This

information is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure any medical condition or replace your

healthcare professional. These training guidelines and recommendations are for educational

purposes only, and are intended for healthy individuals 18 years and older.

Know your limits, level of training experience and health status before attempting or practicing

any exercise in this book. I am NOT a dietician. These exercises and/or nutritional suggestions

are not meant to replace any treatment, exercise or dietary regimen prescribed to you by your

physician or registered dietician.

See your physician before starting any new exercise program, and make sure to stop any

exercise if you experience abnormal discomfort, dizziness, nausea or shortness of breath. Do not

perform any exercise unless you are under the supervision of a certified personal trainer or

strength and conditioning specialist.

TABLE OF CONTENTS My story (and why you need this book) ..................................................................... 11

Elite performance – what does it really take? ............................................................ 14

The 80 – 20 rule...................................................................................................................................................... 15 The four pillars of performance ....................................................................................................................... 16

Optimizing your physiology for max velocity ............................................................. 21

Why training works .............................................................................................................................................. 22 The need for individualization ......................................................................................................................... 24 Velocity training is about power production ............................................................................................. 25 Understanding the force vs. velocity relationship ................................................................................... 25 Defining terms ........................................................................................................................................................ 26 Additional considerations: training specificity ......................................................................................... 31 A tri-planar approach........................................................................................................................................... 35 Integrating power into your delivery ............................................................................................................ 37 The “race car” analogy ......................................................................................................................................... 38

The importance of lean body mass ............................................................................ 41

Lean body mass data: high school to MLB................................................................................................... 42 Case study: body composition vs. velocity .................................................................................................. 44 The hard-gainer problem ................................................................................................................................... 46 Classifying body types ......................................................................................................................................... 47

What is genetically possible? .................................................................................... 49

Body statistics and FFMI of professional pitchers ................................................................................... 52 Lean body mass guidelines and target bodyweights .............................................................................. 54

Fueling for growth: the nutritional hierarchy of importance ...................................... 59

Priority #1: calories .............................................................................................................................................. 61 Priority #2: macronutrients and fiber .......................................................................................................... 67 Priority #3: micronutrients and water ......................................................................................................... 75 Priority #4: meal frequency & timing ........................................................................................................... 77 Priority #5: supplements ................................................................................................................................... 81

Tools for implementing the nutritional pyramid ..................................................................................... 84

Additional recovery modalities ................................................................................. 86

Sleep ............................................................................................................................................................................ 86 Soft tissue / mobility work ................................................................................................................................ 89 Sample daily checklist.......................................................................................................................................... 93

Building an effective training program ...................................................................... 94

Balancing volume, intensity and frequency ................................................................................................ 94 Progression / overload........................................................................................................................................ 99 Individual differences .......................................................................................................................................... 99 Exercise selection ............................................................................................................................................... 100 Exercises with poor risk vs. reward ............................................................................................................ 107 Organizing your training cycles .................................................................................................................... 108 Structuring individual training sessions ................................................................................................... 116 Final considerations .......................................................................................................................................... 117 Individualized performance coaching ....................................................................................................... 123

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank several people that have had major influences on me in my journey

for knowledge, success and athletic achievement.

To my mom and dad, for fully supporting me athletically and academically from the

start, and for never pressuring me or doubting my lofty goals or my passion.

To two of my earliest training influences, Paul Nyman and Eric Cressey, whose

groundbreaking work helped kick start my passion for strength, velocity and athletic

performance training.

To my early mentors, Nick Tumminello and Dan Blewett, for patiently allowing me to

bombard them with questions for months on end.

To Erik Bakich, for giving me, an un-recruited high school senior, a shot to play college

baseball and for seeing something in me when it seemed like nobody else did.

To Seth Diters and John Philbin, for serving as professional role models during my

college tenure, and supporting my academic, athletic and career goals.

To Kyle Boddy, for his constant support and friendship, in addition to his huge influence

on my training philosophy.

Finally, to my business partners, Mike Leffer and Coan McAlpine, for believing in our

mission and supporting it every step of the way.

Foreword By Kyle Boddy,

Founder of Driveline Baseball

At Driveline Baseball, we pride ourselves on collecting as much data as we can using

tons of different tools - high-speed video, force plates, EMG sensors, and many other

methods. Ben slotted in as an intern for us in the 2015 off-season and furthered our

mission by not being afraid to address glaring holes that we had and stepped in with

solutions of his own. He took the lead on training our athletes to become stronger,

faster, and bigger, and it paid off for many of our guys. This included an athlete named

Christian Meister, who was drafted in the 29th round by the Cleveland Indians despite

not playing in college that year. Ben instilled the virtues of work ethic and accountability

in Christian, and through these lessons, Christian became a much more physical athlete

that ultimately benefited him on the mound.

I cannot recommend Ben's work enough. His meticulous attention to detail was

reflected in his own history of training, going from a scrawny high school pitcher to a

high-grades walk-on at Maryland, then ultimately drafted by the Chicago White Sox,

putting up impressive statistics his first year of pro ball.

Ben's guidance is a huge asset that any athlete should seek out in any form. It is my

great pleasure to recommend Ben as one of the sharpest strength trainers we've ever

had at Driveline Baseball, and the bar for praise at my facility is set rather high.

-Kyle Boddy

I n t ro d u c t io n Bu i l d i n g th e 9 5 M P H Bo d y P 1 0

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in

setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

This book will give you a snapshot into the scientific principles I’ve used to:

¾ Take myself from an untrained high school freshman touching 73 miles-per-hour at

155lbs to a 215lb professional pitcher.

¾ Walk-on to a major Division-I college program and develop from a non-scholarship

benchwarmer into a 15th round draft pick pitching alongside million-dollar talent.

¾ Train my arm and body to throw 95 miles-per-hour in game, and 102 miles-per-hour

in velocity testing, just several years after not knowing if I would even play in college.

¾ Develop a passion for exercise science and sports performance, brute-forcing my way

to a 4-year degree at the very top of my graduating class.

¾ Manipulate my own body, learning the science behind adding muscle (even for the

skinniest athletes), cutting body fat and developing peak power that can actually

translate to in-game performance.

But it wasn’t always this way.

The road to get to this point was less thrilling.

INTRODUCTION


MY STORY (AND WHY YOU NEED THIS BOOK) Spring 2007: Freshman year. I try out for my high school’s baseball program and,

miraculously, make varsity despite throwing 70 miles per hour. This tells you what kind of

league I was in. Predictably, I proceed to get shelled, crushing my self-confidence. Off to a

good start.

Summer 2007: I decide I want to be good at baseball. I tell myself I’m going to play in

college, and start keeping an online log on a public pitching forum to track my training and

progress. When my upper-class teammates find all of this out, I am mockingly called “D-1.” I

begin lifting, but get nowhere after 3 months from all the distance running and biking I am

doing to “stay in shape for baseball.” I feel like I am destined to be skinny and weak forever.

Fall-Winter 2008: Junior year. I quit the cross-country team, after shin splints and

knee pain lead me to reevaluate how good distance running really is for “staying in shape.” I

quickly put on more weight than I had in the past two years and my velocity skyrockets. Now

we’re getting somewhere.

Winter 2008-Spring 2009: Without the money to hire a pitching coach, I continue

trying to teach myself. I promptly strain my back and miss the next 6 months as doctors try

to figure out what’s wrong with me. People think I’m imagining the pain, and I’m politely

invited to stop showing up at practice if I’m not going to play through my injury. Due to the

missed season, I receive exactly zero recruiting offers.

Winter 2009-2010: Senior year. I save up all the money I earned from a summer job

and hire a renowned strength coach to work with me one-on-one. I start to get stronger, but

my weight stalls at 180 pounds. I build a wooden pitching mound and begin throwing in the

upper floor of an industrial building to get ready for the spring. This is my last chance.

Spring 2010: I still have zero recruiting offers. My team squeezes into the conference

championship and I throw a complete game, striking out 16 and giving up no runs or walks in

7 innings. After the game, I am interviewed for the first time ever, and I stumble over my

words like a toddler.


May 2010: I decide to go to the University of Maryland, and sign up for their baseball

“recruiting” camp in June. I bombard the head coach with emails so that he knows who I am.

June 2010: “You’re up.” I put on my hat, pound my glove once and jog out to the

mound. After two innings, I’ve struck out six. Head coach Erik Bakich comes up to me with a

smirk: “If you can go out there and do that again, you have a spot on my team – let’s see

how you do under some pressure.” He was trying to make me nervous, but I barely registered

the words he was saying. The next inning was a formality. After it was over: “are you sure

you want to commit to this? It’s going to be a lot of work.” I knew I wasn’t one of his top

recruits, and would probably be lucky to sniff the field, so I responded with the only thing

that I could: “I’m going to work harder than any player you’ve ever had.”

Winter 2010 – Spring 2011: I finish the fall 20lbs heavier, weighing in at 205lbs. I look

like a different person. Opening weekend rolls around, and I am thrown into the fire in a

blowout against powerhouse, University of Texas. I, figuratively, crap my pants in front of

10,000 people. It turns out pitching against high school kids in front of 200 fans hadn’t quite

prepared me for this type of pressure.

Spring 2012: A back injury forces me to miss 12 weeks right in the middle of the

season. I come back throwing harder, and finally start to fit in with the talent around me.

Spring 2013: I struggle with command in several outings, and quickly lose my spot in

the bullpen. Despite being an upperclassman, I am cut from the travel roster one weekend. I

contemplate quitting, and for several days even entertain the idea of switching to javelin

throwing. Luckily, I pull myself together, re-work my delivery and finish the season strong.

Summer 2013 - Fall 2013: I take the summer off from competing to develop my body

and delivery. It becomes the best decision I could have made. I end up gaining 10lbs and long

tossing up to 380 feet from a standstill. The velocity carries over to the fall, where I begin

receiving letters from 26 MLB teams and hit 102 mph in velocity testing (from a crow-hop).

Spring 2014: Everything comes together. During the 3rd week of the season, I hit 95

mph, and finish the regular season with one of the lowest opponent batting averages in the


ACC. Despite still being “raw,” “unpolished,” and throwing 95% fastballs, I help our team to a

Super-Regional berth against powerhouse University of Virginia, where we fall one win shy

of the College World Series. I’m drafted in the 15th round during game 3 – over 7 years after

committing myself to chasing my dream of playing professional baseball. By this time, my

online pitching log has reached over 150,000 page views, and dozens of high school players

on the site have followed my lead, making their own logs and chasing after their dreams. I

would later be described by one of my early college throwing partners (who went on to be

drafted himself) as: “the worst pitcher that I’ve ever seen get good.” I guess I’ll take it.

The lesson is simple – with the right approach, a little bit of science and a whole lot of

persistence, you are capable of more than you and those around you could have dreamed

of.

It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.

C h a p te r o n e Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 M P H P 1 4

ELITE PERFORMANCE – WHAT DOES IT

REALLY TAKE?

Most of you are reading this book expecting a quick fix – I don’t blame you. I wanted the

same thing as a thin, soft-tossing lefty pitcher in high school. I quickly realized the truth

– there are no quick fixes, and true mentors to guide you through the process are hard

to come by. The sport of baseball quickly transitions from a pure game of teamwork, fun

and sportsmanship to a harsh arena where roster spots, scholarships and playing time

are the most valued commodities. All of this is to say that it is not going to be easy,

should you decide to fully commit yourself to the dream – and if you do commit, success

is still never guaranteed.

Realize that this is a game where small improvements in performance have huge

implications. 2 or 3 miles per hour may make the difference between getting a

scholarship to play college ball and hanging up the spikes after your senior year of high

school; that may be the difference between an 88 mph pitcher not getting the call vs.

the exact same pitcher at 91 mph being a mid-round draft pick. Details matter. Each

individual training detail may not amount to much in isolation, but the way that we

squeeze out every last ounce of performance is by accounting for all of these details at

once.

CHAPTER ONE


THE 80 – 20 RULE

We have established that becoming elite is about managing the details to squeeze out

every ounce of performance. This can be examined using a concept called the 80 – 20

rule. Also known as the “Pareto Principle,” this rule states that roughly 80% of the

results in an endeavor come from 20% of the effort. It then takes a massive 80% of the

effort to achieve that remaining 20% of results/ performance. Think about it – it’s not

terribly difficult to become good at something, but becoming elite is another animal. For

example, throwing 80 miles-per-hour is fairly common, even at the high school level, but

it becomes progressively more and more difficult, and requires exponentially more

effort and attention to detail to continue moving up the ladder toward one’s individual

potential. This is what generally makes becoming elite in anything so difficult. Rarely is it

worth it to most people to put forth the effort to go from good to great, or from great to

elite. That being said, this book is not intended for those people who are content with

their 80%, so let’s begin to further analyze what goes into elite performance.

Some perspective: performance ≠ velocity

You are presumably reading this book, not for the sole sake of improving velocity, but

for the sake of improving pitching performance with the goal of being given the

opportunity to further your career at the next level. Who doesn’t want to continue

chasing the childhood dream for as long as possible?

While velocity is incredibly important, keep in mind that it is quite separate from

performance, which is also quite separate from being given a shot to play at the next

level. They obviously all overlap quite a bit, but it’s worth pointing out that throwing

hard does not guarantee pitching success, just as pitching success does not guarantee a

chance to play at the next level. That being said, for two athletes with similar pitching

abilities, velocity becomes an absolute game-changer, and almost a prerequisite for

pitching in college and/or at the professional level. People love to cite rare examples like


Greg Maddux to dismiss the importance of velocity, forgetting that he threw in the low-

90s in his youth. They also ignore the fact that few people now-a-days get recruited to

play even low-level D1 college baseball without throwing over 88 mph, and that scouts

glaze over pitchers who aren’t at least flashing 90 mph.

All that is to say that velocity is important, especially for getting a shot at the next level,

but it is not the only thing that matters when it comes to actually being a successful

athlete. Performance can be generally categorized into four “pillars,” each of which

must be maximized in order to achieve one’s true potential as an athlete, regardless of

sport. Though this e-book is focused on velocity development, it would be inappropriate

to not briefly discuss these pillars.

THE FOUR PILLARS OF PERFORMANCE

1. Technical

This includes mechanics, techniques and skills. This is the very essence of pitching – fine

tuning the complex motor patterns that govern how you move your body through space

Technical

TacticalPsychological

Physiological


and time in order to dot a 2-seam on the black or break off a hammer curveball. The

technical pillar also involves how you field a ground ball, how you pickoff to first base

and how you angle your hand to release a breaking ball at just the right moment. This

takes years – decades – to master, and while most players have been well versed in

these “fundamentals” since tee-ball, even at the professional level, there must be a

constant focus on improving and maintaining maximum proficiency in the technical

aspects of the game.

2. Tactical

This includes strategies, plays and tactics. It’s knowing what pitch to throw in what

count, it’s knowing how to read batters and what to do with the ball on a first-and-third

play depending on the game situation. Tactical proficiency is important – but always

knowing what to do is irrelevant if you can’t actually execute when it’s crunch time.

Many players spend far too much time worrying about pitch sequences before they can

even throw one quality pitch for strikes. It’s important to have a fundamental

knowledge of the tactical aspect of the game, but this is not what takes players 20 years

to master. Time should be spent understanding this pillar, but this is not the limiting

factor for most athletes who have been around the game since little league.

3. Psychological

This is performance related to mental and/or emotional functioning. This is often an

entirely overlooked aspect of performance by both players and coaches alike. This is

learning how to fine-tune one’s mental state into a delicate balance of focus and

aggression. This is being able to shrug off bad pitches, bad calls or unfavorable

outcomes and zone right back in, always locked into the next play. The psychological

pillar is knowing the difference between soft focus and fine focus, executing pre-game,

pre-inning and pre-pitch routines, and not wavering for an instant – no matter how

much that fear in the back of your mind might try to rear its ugly head. Psychology is


vitally important to being a “polished” pitcher, and this should be emphasized and

mastered at every possible opportunity. Keep in mind; it does take actual live game

experience to master the psychological aspect, so the bulk of your actual training hours

will likely be spent outside of this pillar.

4. Physiological

Ah, the meat and potatoes. This includes strength, power, endurance and everything

related to how your body actually functions and performs. This is having the leg, hip and

core strength to repeat your delivery and powerfully drive your body towards the

target. This is your body’s ability to recover between pitches, between innings and

between workouts. This is what governs you gaining or losing muscle, strength and

power. Learning to harness the power of your physiology isn’t easy – but it’s necessary

for reaching the highest levels of the game. A select few can break their way into top

collegiate or professional levels without devoting much time to this aspect – but don’t

emulate these guys. They are often taller (with longer levers), and naturally stronger,

faster and more flexible than the rest of us. Whereas these guys can just roll out of bed

at 6’ + and an effortless 200+ lbs, most of us are going to have to work – furiously hard –

to train our physiology to perform in the same way.

Keep in mind that by neglecting any one of these pillars, performance will not be

optimized. However, addressing all of these components is beyond the scope of this e-

book. Again, there are outliers at the highest levels who achieve elite levels of

performance despite being sub-optimal in one of these pillars. These individuals

generally make up for their shortcomings by being exceptional at one of the other

pillars. For example, some elite players make up for a lack of tactical and psychological

prowess via extraordinary technical and/or physiological factors. There is always

overlap, but the takeaway is not to emulate these outliers – instead, work to maximize

every single pillar to squeeze out every last ounce of performance.

C h a p te r o n e Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 P 1 9

By optimizing your physiology, you

will also see carry-over into the

other pillars. For example,

improved muscular strength,

flexibility and explosiveness will

allow more efficient technique to

be used. Optimizing your

physiology is about making your

body a well-oiled machine geared

for elite velocity.

The following graphic is an

example of just some of the

elements that factor into true

maximum performance. Notice

how inter-connected each of the

pillars are with the others.

Optimize your physiology for big time velocity.

C h a p te r o n e Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 P 2 0

C h a p te r tw o Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 M P H Bo d y P 2 1

OPTIMIZING YOUR PHYSIOLOGY FOR MAX

VELOCITY

Let’s be clear – just because you commit to optimizing your physiology, maxing out your

body for the demands of your sport, doesn’t mean that you are committing to

neglecting the other aspects of performance. I am not saying that mechanics, the

mental game, pitch sequencing or pitch command are not important – indeed my very

point is that ALL of these factors are important. Anybody who indicates that there is a

magical secret or shortcut to the top that ignores these factors is either heroically

ignorant or just after your hard-earned money.

So how do you optimize your physiology – fine-tuning your body to produce maximum

velocity? Let’s dive in.

The human body is remarkably adaptable – based on the environment and stimuli we

expose it to, thousands of potential adaptations are in the process of occurring at any

given moment in time. This is true of every tissue, organ and cell in the human body.

Muscles grow and shrink, strengthen and weaken and take on slow or fast-twitch

properties based on the type of training performed. Connective tissue has the ability to

thicken and strengthen, and our central nervous system’s ability to recruit groups of

muscle fibers (selectively called “motor units”) may be up or down-regulated depending

on how we train.

CHAPTER TWO


This is just the tip of the iceberg. Training for max velocity is therefore about exposing

your body to a training environment that creates optimal adaptations in your physiology

– your muscles, your nervous system, your connective tissue, your energy systems, etc.

in order to produce the maximum amount of usable power that your genetics will allow.

While it sounds complicated, it’s not a revolutionary concept – other throwing sports,

particularly elite javelin throwers, place huge emphasis on physical preparation, as

several feet on a throw could be the difference between winning or not placing in an

event. While these athletes are an extreme example, it is useful to observe how some of

the very best “throwers” in the world, religiously, prepare their bodies for maximum

power output.

WHY TRAINING WORKS

“General Adaptation Syndrome” (GAS), a model developed by researcher Hans Seyle in

1936, explains how organisms respond and adapt to stressors. In his model, there is an

initial “alarm” phase as the body deals with the initial stress. For example, if you go to

the beach and stay in the sun for 30 minutes, the alarm phase would immediately follow

the exposure to this stressor (i.e. the sun). Following is the “recovery” phase, where the

body begins to recover from the damage of the stressor. The “adaptation” phase (also

referred to in training as “supercompensation”) occurs once the recovery phase has

ended – in this case our skin would produce a response, i.e. getting tanner, to better

deal with similar stressors in the future. Note that the level of adaptation is proportional

to the intensity of the stressor – you will get tanner if you’re out in the sun for an hour

versus ten minutes. However, if you stay out in the sun for too long, the damage of the

stressor becomes too great, and you will get a sunburn. The recovery process now takes

much longer to occur. Once you stop exposing yourself to the sun, your body will decide

that it no longer needs to hold on to that tan, and will begin to revert back to its

baseline. This is the equivalent to the “detraining” phenomenon, where training

adaptations begin to diminish following long periods of inactivity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompensation


All of this perfectly describes how the body responds to training. By repeatedly

providing increased stress to an organism, performance can continually be improved as

this adaptation response occurs over and over.

Each successive exposure to a heightened training stress results in an “alarm,”

“recovery” and “adaptation” phase. If a new exposure weren’t presented, the

“detraining” phase would begin to occur as well.


THE NEED FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION

Optimizing your physiology is also about tailoring these adaptations to your individual

needs as an athlete – for example, a pitcher with a lengthy injury history and tons of

movement restrictions will need to take a different approach to training than a healthy

youth pitcher with excellent movement and soft tissue quality.

Just as no two athletes should train identically to one another, each individual athlete’s

training will need to be constantly tweaked and adjusted over the course of the year

and over the course of his entire career. For example, as athletes become more

advanced, training must adapt accordingly to allow for optimal recovery between

workouts and to account for the increased muscular damage and stress these athletes

sustain during their progressively more intense training sessions.

Though this may seem intuitive, the reality is that the vast majority of athletes are not

being trained as individuals, but rather, they are being forced into cookie-cutter training

regimens that don’t account for their personal goals, strengths and weaknesses. Why

does this happen, even at the collegiate and professional level? The basic answer is that

it’s easy. Collegiate strength coaches are often given handfuls of teams to manage at a

time, making true individualization a difficult task. It’s easier to use one standardized

program – again, these can be effective (most any training program will be to a point),

but they will never be optimal, because they don’t continually adjust and adapt to the

athlete based on progress, limitations, injuries, preferences, etc.


VELOCITY TRAINING IS ABOUT POWER PRODUCTION

Creating maximum ball velocity, from a physiological perspective, is highly dependent

on power production – imparting large amounts of force to the 5oz. baseball in a short

amount of time.1 This is nothing new – the question is what type of training is best

suited to improving power production as it pertains to the throwing motion. There is

both a force and a velocity component to this relationship:

Power = (Force x Distance) / Time

Or, equivalently:

Power = Force x Velocity

What this means is that our training should elicit adaptations that increase our ability to

produce peak force (commonly referred to as maximum strength) as well as our ability

to produce this force as quickly as possible.2, 106-107 Examining the top equation further,

we also see that the greater the distance over which we can apply this force, (all else

being equal), the greater the power as well – this is why longer arms, increased external

rotation, and increased hip-shoulder separation all work to increase ball velocity –

among other factors, they allow the athlete to apply force to the baseball over a greater

distance, or range of motion.

UNDERSTANDING THE FORCE VS. VELOCITY RELATIONSHIP

Improving power ultimately comes down to structuring the training stimulus based on

an individual’s needs. Some of this training will be focused more on your ability to

produce force (e.g. max strength work), some of this training will improve your muscles’

ability to contract with high velocity (e.g. reactive and speed work), and some of this

training will have some sort of impact on both variables (e.g. strength-speed and speed-

strength work). The relationship between force and velocity is shown below.


The force vs. velocity curve

Lifting heavier weights means slower speed of movement, but higher force, and lifting

lighter weights quickly means lower force, but higher speed. Let’s discuss what the

physical characteristics associated with different areas on this curve are.

DEFINING TERMS

Maximum strength:

This is the ability to generate maximum force against a maximal load. Improving ones

maximum strength raises the “ceiling” or peak power potential that an individual has. In

other words, the maximum force that a muscle fiber or group of muscle fibers can

produce is raised through this type of training. An athlete with greater maximum

strength has greater power potential, but may not necessarily be able to express all of

that strength in a power sport if that is the only type of training he does. Training for

maximum strength generally involves lifting very heavy loads (85-100% of 1 repetition

maximum for 1 to 5 reps). This type of training works by improving absolute muscle

contractile strength, in addition to improving neural factors such as motor unit


synchronization and recruitment. Here is a helpful analogy from strength coach Alex

Viada: imagine two teams are playing tug of war. Max strength training increases the

muscle’s absolute contractile potential, putting in stronger guys to pull the rope, while

also improving recruitment, how many of those guys actually pull, and synchronization,

how well they can co-contract and coordinate their efforts as a whole. The end goal is

obviously to have a team full of jacked dudes, strong muscle fibers, pulling at 100% of

their capacity and timing up their efforts perfectly. A muscle that hasn’t undergone this

type of training is like a team full of weak dudes, some of which don’t pull on the rope

and others who pull haphazardly and with poor timing. Not cool.

The benefits of training for maximum strength.

http://www.completehumanperformance.com/

http://www.completehumanperformance.com/


Muscular hypertrophy:

This is increased muscular size, generally in response to a training stimulus. Training

volume under a moderate to heavy load (75 – 90% 1RM) is the main driver of

hypertrophy – i.e. progressively adding sets and reps each week or training session. This

is a favorable adaptation that indirectly benefits power output by providing more

available muscle proteins for contraction. A bigger muscle fiber is almost always

stronger, simply because it has more raw contractile material. During muscle

contraction, the proteins actin and myosin interact to form cross-bridges that forcibly

shorten the muscle fiber. As muscles grow, it increases the number of cross-bridges that

can be formed, and therefore, the potential contractile strength of the muscle fibers.

Strength-speed:

This is the ability to move a near-maximal load fast. Strength-speed is closely related to

maximum strength, and there is quite a bit of carry-over between the two. In training,

this typically involves explosive, short-duration sets with weights ranging from 60-65%

of an athlete’s 1 rep max.123-124 Speed deadlifts, squats and a variety of other exercises

qualify for strength-speed work.

Speed-strength:

This is the ability of a muscle to move a sub-maximal load quickly. This quality

encompasses the majority of anaerobic sports – jumping, throwing and sprinting ability

is all directly tied to speed-strength. Speed-strength is less closely tied directly to

maximum strength than strength-speed, although there is still a significant correlation.

Because maximum strength training improves absolute contractile potential as well as

motor unit recruitment and synchronization, it does help speed-strength performance,

but it leaves out one crucial piece of the puzzle - speed of contraction. Therefore, we

must at some point include specific speed-strength work in a training program along

with maximum strength work to improve all relevant muscle qualities. Examples include


speed squats or explosive dumbbell bench presses using 25-40% of 1-rep max, done for

low rep sets. Similar to strength-speed work, low-rep sets are done so as not to fatigue

the muscle – neural activation is what this type of work is training, and fatigue gets in

the way of maximal motor unit recruitment.

Reactive ability:

This is the ability of a muscle to explosively contract following a stretch. Muscles

undergo what is called the “stretch-shortening-cycle,” after being dynamically stretched

– this involves the muscle storing and releasing elastic energy – like rubber bands.

Picture a lifter “bouncing” out of the bottom of a squat or push-up, or a basketball

player hopping up and down on his toes. These actions are all examples of the muscles,

and the tendons that anchor these muscles to bone, stretching and then, releasing

stored elastic energy. The magnitude of this reactive contraction is directly proportional

to the speed and magnitude of the stretch – in other words, the faster you drop down

into a quarter squat before performing a vertical jump, the greater the elastic rebound

effect you get on the way up. While everyone has this “reactive” mechanism, and it is

influenced by genetics, it can also be trained! Examples of this include broad jumps,

depth jumps and reactive squats. While most of these other types of training have a

reactive component to them, unless for example, you completely eliminate it by pausing

at the bottom of a squat, the difference here is that we are emphasizing it by rapidly

descending on the lowering, or eccentric, portion of the movement and rapidly changing

direction into the ascending, or concentric, portion of the movement.

Maximum speed:

Similar to reactive training, speed training generally involves very light or no external

resistance, with the focus instead being on speed of contraction. Because a baseball is

very light, 5 ounces, it may seem intuitive that we should train solely for maximum

speed; however, we need to realize that pitching isn’t just about moving a 5 oz.

https://youtu.be/CWft9IHNxGE


baseball. It’s about propelling an entire mass, your body, towards the target, which then

contributes to accelerating the arm and generating velocity. For an MLB pitcher at 220

lbs, that’s not an insignificant amount of weight to be moving.

Once a strength base is built, increasing maximum strength will have less total benefit,

and the focus will need to shift to more strength-speed,

speed-strength, reactive and maximum speed work in multiple planes of motion (more

on this soon).

The effect of different training conditions on the force -velocity curve

This figure is from Zatsiorky’s Biomechanics in Sport. Figure (a) shows the effect on the force-velocity curve of doing maximum strength training. As you can see, there is a large upward shift towards the left side of the curve, but there is still overall improvement even towards the far right of the curve. Figure (b) shows the result of light, explosive training (i.e. speed-strength, reactive and max speed work). Notice how there is more improvement towards the lighter side of the spectrum.

This is not an “either-or” issue where an athlete has to choose one of these types of

training over the others. All of these types offer their own benefits and have a place in

each athlete’s training career. However, each athlete must be careful not to place the

cart before the horse. This ultimately means following a similar progression to the

model originally proposed by hall of fame strength and conditioning coach Al Vermeil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cart_before_the_horse


Vermeil’s Hierarchy of Athletic Development

As you can see, after an initial evaluation of movement quality and the general work

capacity to safely begin a strength program, the progression flows from high-load

strength training to high velocity explosive training. Each quality does not necessarily

need to be developed one at a time, but an athlete should not progress to a new level

until competency has been demonstrated at the previous level. For example, an athlete

who doesn’t have the strength base built up to squat their bodyweight probably

shouldn’t be doing high-intensity plyometric training.

The overall key to this progression is the idea that proficiency in the descending

qualities enhances the ascending qualities at the top of the hierarchy.125-127

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS: TRAINING SPECIFICITY

Power production is largely plane specific.3 This means that an athlete’s ability to

express power in one plane does not necessarily mean they will be able to express that

power in another. For example, pitchers who can vertical jump off the charts will not

necessarily be able to express a high degree of power in a lateral skater jump.4 Because


pitching takes place in all three planes of motion, it is, therefore, sensible to train power

movements in all of these. An athlete who only trains within one plane (i.e. only linear

‘sagittal plane’ movements) will be limiting his power potential.5 Furthermore, research

on pitchers has shown that of the three planes, power movements performed in the

sagittal plane have the lowest correlation to ball velocity.6 Unsurprisingly, the lateral

jump, which occurs in the frontal plane and mimics the throwing stride, and the

medicine ball scoop toss, which occurs in the transverse plane and mimics the violent

torso rotation of pitching, were the best predictors of velocity in this particular study.6

The Body Planes

This doesn’t mean that training squats and deadlifts won’t also increase lateral jump

distance and/or velocity, or that an individual can’t have good power output despite

having never done multi-planar work. All this is to say that what may be a fantastic

power training prescription for a sprinter, whose sport primarily exists in the sagittal

plane, ends up being a sub-optimal prescription for pitchers, whose primary movement

pattern incorporates all three planes of motion.

Sagittal Plane Frontal Plane

Transverse Plane


Why train in the frontal plane?

The frontal plane may indeed be the most important of the three planes, with the initial

stride functioning to both generate and transfer force through the kinetic chain by

initiating lateral momentum of the center of mass towards the target.7 This lateral force

is generated with the drive leg by producing force into the ground in the direction of the

target, and the magnitude of this force is highly associated with ball velocity.8

Sandy Koufax is a great example – he was known to “hook” the pitching rubber, angling

his foot so that he could drive more forcefully towards the target using the bottom,

rather than the side, of his foot. I’m not advocating that everyone go try this, but it is an

interesting case study that highlights the importance of incorporating high ground

reaction forces directed horizontally towards the target into a well-synced delivery.

The fact that increased momentum of the center of mass is strongly correlated to high

velocities intuitively makes sense; individuals can typically throw 3 to 6+ mph harder

from a running start than from their pitching motion (the exception being individuals

unfamiliar with proper crow-hop footwork). Other throwing sports have demonstrated

the need for initiating momentum of the center of mass towards the target in order to


generate velocity as well, both in javelin throwers and in cricket bowlers.9-10 In both

cases, higher run-up velocities were associated with longer strides, greater arm speed

and increased throwing distance / ball velocity.

Okay, but who cares about other throwing sports?

While throwing a 5 oz. ball to a target 60 feet away is a skill specific to baseball, it should

be noted that the basic skill of overhand throwing is general. In other words, if a certain

training protocol improves an athlete’s ability to generate overhand arm speed and

impart velocity to a 6.5 oz. softball, 14 oz. football, 15 oz. handball, or 28 oz. javelin,

such protocols may still have relevant baseball applications. Again, this does not mean

that the biomechanics of these activities are exactly the same as a baseball throw, but

there is enough similarity between the motor patterns to suggest that beneficial training

protocols for other throwing sports may have some merit in pitching as well.

Side note: bodyweight and velocity

Bodyweight is also an important variable for increasing ball velocity, but only when that bodyweight is coupled with the ability to produce power.4 Greater bodyweight increases the potential energy available to transfer to the ball, but because fat mass is unable to generate power, increased bodyweight should come in the form of lean body mass.11, 107 More on this soon.

Accelerating the center of mass works for all kinds of throwing.


A TRI-PLANAR APPROACH

While we still need a large strength base, incorporating heavy sagittal movements to

build up the involved musculature, the majority of our more specific, power training

should include all three planes. Here we break down why each plane is important, and

sample exercises that are useful for developing power in these planes.

Improving lateral power

Why do we need it? During the initial stride phase of the delivery, lateral power is

necessary for producing large ground reaction forces with the drive leg into the pitching

rubber.

Exercises to train it:

x Alternating/band-resisted lateral bounds

x Slide-board skaters

x Lateral sled drags

The pitching delivery is a complex, tri-planar movement.

https://youtu.be/Ow0ZGhyVuXY

https://youtu.be/HSJD0QMQEOQ

https://youtu.be/MY_4pjozF1w?t=24s

https://youtu.be/nS4FE8x_jf4


Improving rotational power

Why do we need it? The throwing motion involves both properly sequenced hip rotation

and torso rotation, in addition to the obvious shoulder external/internal rotation that is

occurring. Training for strength and power in this plane is therefore useful for velocity.14


x Medball Scoop Toss

x Medball Rotational Shot-put

x Tornado ball wall slams

x Tight rotations

A note on hip rotation

Research suggests that speed of hip rotation is actually similar between low and high velocity pitchers.15 Don’t force hip rotation. The timing of this hip rotation is the important factor – properly sequencing the hips ahead of the torso and upper half allows optimal energy transfer from the ground up, which ultimately translates into greater arm speed and ball exit velocity.

Improving sagittal power

Why do we need it? There is a significant sagittal

plane component in the throwing delivery in the

final pull-down phase. Here, torso flexion and

shoulder extension help to accelerate the ball

towards the target.


x Medball floor slams

x Medball wall slams

x Sledgehammer tire swings

https://youtu.be/sqKTgXq5Jj4

https://youtu.be/_EgQMAgajxA

https://youtu.be/G7XcNsI7jco

https://youtu.be/g2Hulu6uP2I

https://youtu.be/tDbzBjCxP4Q

http://www.drivelinebaseball.com/2014/12/09/velocity-training-perfecting-overhead-medball-throw/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFCxAF96Sjw


“Driving” off the rubber

A common misconception is that “driving” off the rubber means dropping into a deep knee bend and then “pushing” with the quadriceps to move down the mound. This is one way to move quickly down the mound, but it generally becomes unusable kinetic energy and destroys proper sequencing of the delivery and hip/shoulder separation. Most high-level throwers instead keep a slight bend in the rear leg, and, while keeping the torso tall and “stacked” over that leg, engage the muscles in the lateral hip as well as the hamstrings to initiate forward motion.

INTEGRATING POWER INTO YOUR DELIVERY

While increased power raises your velocity potential, the timing of this power output

matters as well. Some pitchers experience an “overthrowing” phenomenon, where they

produce high but improperly timed ground reaction forces into the rubber.8 The drive

from the back leg should gradually build up, peaking right before landing to transfer

maximum energy up the kinetic chain, as opposed to lunging or jumping into landing.12

Many throwers bring the upper body into the throw way too soon, which can limit the

amount of force produced. While it’s certainly possible to have relatively good velocity

throwing this way, to reach your maximum velocity you must properly sequence all of

the body segments while ensuring that all of the muscles are trained to be as strong and

powerful as possible.13

¾ Here is my good friend and former teammate, Jake Stinnett (up to 98 mph) properly sequencing his lower half, accelerating into landing and transferring that energy up the chain (click to play video).

http://youtu.be/55OF-5c0myo?t=1m46s





THE “RACE CAR” ANALOGY

Let’s tie this all together and hopefully help clarify how these different qualities and

types of training will impact your physiology and your velocity. Dr. Mike Israetel,

renowned exercise science professor, uses the “race car” analogy to contextualize

training for power. Remember, power training is training that improves either force

output, or velocity of contraction, or some combination of both. In understanding this

analogy, you will better recognize how training for maximum strength, building muscle

mass and training power directly (using strength-speed, speed-strength and reactive

methods) ultimately affect power production.

1. Max Strength = the car engine

Strength, the ability to produce high amounts of force, is like the racecar engine – it

tends to be a huge limiting factor in terms of power production and velocity.5 For many

novice and early intermediate athletes, strength training actually has a more beneficial

Being strong is a prerequisite for being powerful.


effect on power output than high-velocity power training (i.e. plyometrics, Olympic

lifting, etc.). For the racecar to go fast, no amount of fine tuning or refining of the frame

and body will matter if it has a tiny engine. This is one reason why youth pitchers, even

those who have been shown to demonstrate similar mechanics to professional pitchers,

have substantially lower throwing velocities.7 Strength training is the primary way in

which to increase the size of this engine, and is absolutely essential for maxing out ones

velocity potential.1, 16-17

The bottom line: the athlete should first upgrade his engine by getting strong.

2. Muscle mass = the car body and frame

While strength is the engine of the car, muscle mass is the body and frame of the car.

Your engine will only be able to produce so much force if the frame is tiny, just like your

nervous system will only be able to recruit so much musculature to do work if there is

not that much available musculature to use in the first place. Furthermore, having a big

engine on an undersized frame can caused all sorts of stress and problems for the car –

which wasn’t designed to handle those types of loads. Remember, strength, and

therefore power as well, is primarily influenced by both your nervous system and the

size and number of available muscle fibers, or how jacked you are. Having bigger

muscles massively increases the potential for force production, provided your nervous

system is able to tap into and recruit those fibers effectively.

In other words, being more jacked helps power production, but it’s not the only factor.

The other primary factor is having an efficient nervous system that makes full use of

your newfound muscle mass.

The bottom line: the athlete should secondarily focus on upgrading his car body and

frame by building muscle mass.


3. High velocity training = fine tuning the car

If strength is the engine and muscle mass is the frame and body of the racecar, then

high-velocity, low load training is the fine-tuning of all the pieces so that they function

optimally at full speed. We have already learned that this type of training alone is less

productive than pure max strength and hypertrophy training for beginners– a fine-tuned

station wagon is still just a slightly faster station wagon. To become a Ferrari, you must

first improve your frame and engine. High velocity, low load training, all of your

explosive strength-speed, plyometric work, etc., is therefore most useful for athletes

who are already strong. Again, if we apply Coach Vermeil’s hierarchy, we should

recognize that a novice 6’3” 160lb pitcher barely squatting his bodyweight doesn’t need

to be spending the majority of his time throwing around medicine balls and running

sprints. Instead, he needs to get monstrously strong, gain at least 30 pounds of muscle

in the right areas and only then worry about fine-tuning the end product.

Even Arnold was a novice once.

The bottom line: Athletes should use power specific training, but it shouldn’t take

precedence in a training program until after building a strength base, which is usually

after the athlete has had at least several years of hard training under his belt and has

reached the body composition guidelines outlined in the following sections.

C h a p te r th re e Bu i ld in g t h e 9 5 M P H B o d y P 4 1

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEAN BODY MASS Lean body mass (LBM), also referred to as “fat-free mass” (FFM) refers to all

components of the body that are not fat. In other words, if a 200 lb individual is 10%

body fat, that means that his fat mass is ~20 lbs and his lean body mass is ~180 lbs. We

have already established that muscle mass is important, serving a vital role in both

strength and power development. However, measuring the exact amount of pure

muscle mass in an individual is quite difficult in comparison to lean mass. Although lean

mass takes into account non-muscle tissue as well, such as bones, organs, blood,

hydration and other components, it is nonetheless a valid way of approximating the

relative muscularity of an individual.

For example:

A 6-foot, 150 lb male at 10% body fat gains 30 lbs, ending at 180 lbs and 15% body fat

over a 6-month span. This means that his lean mass increased from ~135 lbs to ~153 lbs

and his fat mass increased from 15 lbs to 27 lbs. Because we can safely assume no

significant changes in bone, organ, blood mass/volume in such a short timeframe, we

know that the majority of these changes in lean mass are a result of new muscle tissue.

Thus, tracking gains in muscularity is as simple as being able to reliably track your

bodyweight and body fat percentages, although it will be difficult to ever get 100% exact

measurements.

Taller individuals will have greater LBM because of bigger skeletal structure, blood

volume, etc. However, all things being equal, a higher LBM means more muscle, which

means more strength, which means more potential power. Again, this is because the

CHAPTER THREE


maximum potential force that can be produced by a muscle is directly related to its

cross-sectional area.94-95

Remember: we have already learned that bodyweight is correlated strongly to velocity, because increased bodyweight at the same body fat percentage means increased LBM, muscle mass, and power output.

LEAN BODY MASS DATA: HIGH SCHOOL TO MLB

The following figures illustrate this trend – as the level of play increases, so do both

average lean body mass and average peak power output of the athletes. In fact, the

difference between high school and MLB players is over 50 lbs of lean body mass (much

of that pure muscle mass). Notice how closely the trends in power output match the

trends in LBM.

This gives us some insight into the ways in which elite players are able to generate such

high velocities. The data from this infographic (on the following page) comes from tables

compiled by Graeme Lehman using a number of baseball specific research studies.18-29

https://lehmansbaseball.wordpress.com/


High school or NCAA athletes hoping to play at the next level should take these numbers into consideration when planning a training regimen.

When compared to high school and NCAA pitchers, professional players are simply on another level – carrying far more muscle mass, which allows them to produce significantly more power (and potentially, velocity).


CASE STUDY: BODY COMPOSITION VS. VELOCITY

On the following page is my own personal lean body mass and velocity progression

presented as a case study. I gained approximately 60lbs of bodyweight (and 45lbs of

lean mass) during this timeframe, most of that in the first 4 years of training. Take note

of how my velocity rises sharply at the onset of strength training and continues to

closely match my LBM progress.

It’s worth noting that although the data looks fairly smooth and linear, there were

constant fluctuations throughout the years. These daily and weekly fluctuations

appeared to be closely related to mechanical variation – although the increased LBM

over time seemed to reliably raise my base velocity.

For example, in 2014, although I averaged 92 mph and hit 95 mph on several occasions,

I had days where I was 88-91, days where I was 91-93 and days where I was 93-94 mph

consistently. The differences were, anecdotally, highly correlated to how “in sync” my

delivery was, along with a number of other variable factors such as adrenaline, fatigue

and recovery. You’ll note that my predicted upper limit is marked in red – we will get to

why that is important in the following chapter.



A note on throwing vs. pitching ability

It is necessary to be able to differentiate the skill of pitching from the act of throwing. Exceptional throwing ability will drastically aid in a pitcher’s ability to quickly advance through the ranks of baseball, but as we have covered, actual performance will be dictated in large part by technical and psychological aspects as well. Just because there are MLB pitchers who have success throwing 88-90 mph doesn’t mean you should aspire to that type of throwing ability. Undoubtedly, these individuals have exceptional pitching ability, but they are far from having maxed out their pure throwing ability. For every 88 mph pitcher who “makes it” to the MLB, there are 100 who are never even given a shot (and generally, these soft-throwing pitchers used to be flamethrowers, e.g. Tim Lincecum, Bartolo Colon and CC Sabathia). It comes down to a numbers game within college and professional baseball, with hard throwers exponentially increasing their value and odds of cracking their way into the higher levels.

THE HARD-GAINER PROBLEM

We know what it takes to maximize your velocity – get strong and powerful in multiple

planes of motion while optimizing your throwing mechanics for force application. The

problem is this – just about everyone lifts, practices their mechanics and does some

form of medicine ball and plyometric training, but most still don’t achieve close to the

amount of lean body mass seen at the big league level – so what gives? First off, as you

will see, very few people actually take a systematic approach to maxing out their

physiology – from a strength, power, muscular and nutritional perspective, the vast

majority of athletes fall short.

How many times have you heard a coach just say: “Eat more! Lift harder!” without

actually presenting a guided plan for the athlete to follow. It’s not that the athletes

aren’t trying – in fact; they think they are training hard, eating a lot, etc. The problem is


there is no way to measure, progress and stay accountable. This is compounded for

athletes who are naturally skinny – they form a particularly problematic subgroup

whose bodies are resistant to growth. Everyone is capable of adding muscle, strength

and power, but this group of “hard-gainers” must be extra diligent, extra methodical

and be held extra accountable in order to maximize their potential.

CLASSIFYING BODY TYPES

We can examine the problem of the hard-gainer with what are called somatotypes.

Somatotypes classify the three predominant body types and outline some of their

accompanying physiological features.

1. The Ectomorph (“Hard-gainer”)

Ectomorphs find it difficult to gain weight because they generally

have fast metabolisms, causing them to burn more calories than

others both during exercise and at rest. They tend to be thin and

lean with relatively small bone structure. This group is particularly

primed to undergo a structured strength and power building

program that focuses on progressively measured and increased

caloric intakes.

2. The Mesomorph

This body type has an athletic, naturally muscular build suited to

weight training and anaerobic sports. They tend to make gains in

muscle easily, while maintaining relative leanness. Because their

metabolic rate is not as high as ectomorphs, they tend to need

fewer calories in order to make good gains in strength and lean

body mass.


3. The Endomorph

Endomorphs tend to have large frames and slow metabolisms.

They gain weight very easily and find it difficult to lose body fat.

They can increase muscle mass more easily than ectomorphs

due to their slower metabolic rate and larger bone structure.

While this is only a general guide, and there is overlap between

categories, it’s important to realize that hard-gainers need to pull out all the stops to

kick-start the muscle-building process. We will get into how exactly to do this in the

following sections, but first: let’s discuss what are some realistic end goals.

By age 18, I had gained 30 lbs and was still a twig. Classic hardgainer.

C h a p te r fo u r Bu i l d i n g th e 9 5 M P H Bo d y P 4 9

WHAT IS GENETICALLY POSSIBLE? Before I get ahead of myself, let me clarify that this chapter is not going to “predict” the

hardest you could possibly throw or the highest level of baseball you could possibly

play…there are way too many variables at play to make that topic a worthwhile pursuit.

That being said, I will note that I believe most players reading this are capable of playing

at least one level higher than they currently are. In other words, genetics are generally

not the reason an average high school player doesn’t play college baseball or the

average professional pitcher doesn’t pitch in the big leagues.

In most cases, a player is closer than he thinks to being competitive at the next level –

maybe the 88 mph college pitcher just needs to gain 3-4 mph to be a draft prospect, or

the average 92 mph pro pitcher throwing 60% strikes would be a legitimate top

prospect if he gained 2-3 mph, making his off-speed pitches nastier as well, and threw

70% strikes instead. Unfortunately, most people don’t look at it this way, and simply

believe the conventional wisdom that velocity is “God-given” and “un-trainable.” But, I

digress…

Environmental factors play a role as well. Early throwing in youth likely plays a role in

both developing the necessary motor patterns, of which there is likely a critical window

of opportunity during childhood to learn, and in creating beneficial anatomical

adaptations. One of these adaptations is that the bones in the throwing shoulder

physically restructure – termed humeral retroversion – in response to the repetitive

stress of throwing. In fact, this humeral retroversion is a favorable adaptation that

allows for greater shoulder external rotation – a prerequisite to elite velocities.

CHAPTER FOUR

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17939610


Generally, though, it is only a useful conversation to talk about the things that we can

still actively control – and genetics is not one of them. Sure, I believe my 6’3” 215 lb

frame and 76.5-inch wingspan is capable, in theory, of propelling a ball 100 miles-per-

hour (that’s just physics), but the same goes for lots of tall and reasonably athletic

pitchers that have begun to scrape some decent velocities. The real question is, what

are the controllable factors that we can actually influence through training to begin

approaching these genetic limits? What are the primary limiting factors?

We know that power is intricately linked to maximal force production, and that force

production is in large part mediated by muscle size. Quite simply, a larger muscle has

more potential contractile strength than a smaller muscle, all else being equal. But how

big and strong can or should a pitcher realistically get? What type of muscularity is

genetically possible?

Note: To answer these questions in extreme depth is beyond the scope of this e-book. If you would like more information, click here and here.

Humeral retroversion allows for greater shoulder external rotation – and velocity.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/fat-free-mass-index-in-users-and-nonusers-of-anabolic-androgen-steroids-research-review.html/

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/


However, it should be noted that there is an upper limit for how much muscle mass you

will be able to carry without the assistance of performance enhancing drugs.

Researchers study this concept with a measure called Fat-Free Mass Index (FFMI),

conceptually similar to Body Mass Index, except that it is a measure of fat-free mass

(lean mass) relative to height.97 In other words, a higher FFMI means more muscle is

being carried relative to that individual’s height.

FFMI = Fat-Free Mass (kg)

Height2 (m)

Click here to calculate your own Fat-Free Mass Index.

What is the maximum naturally achievable FFMI?

Research on pre-steroid era bodybuilders and current natural bodybuilders defines an

upper limit of 25.0, although it is unclear if this limit also applies to athletes who carry

significantly more body fat.30-31 However, within reasonably lean ranges this appears to

be a solid guideline, and represents what a genetically gifted athlete can conceivably

achieve under near-optimal conditions. Absolute monster mesomorph athletes may be

able to slightly eclipse this range.30 The table is a list of the top bodybuilding champions

when steroids were not readily available to the public, and is a good indicator of what

can be achieved, naturally, by the most genetically gifted individuals.

http://www.treadathletics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/FFMI-Calculator.xlsx


Estimated FFMIs of Mr. America Winners, 1939-1959

The implication of this data, then, is that professional athletes who fall way above these

upper limits have found a way to enhance their anabolic and muscular potential beyond

what has been shown to be physiologically possible among the genetic elite.

BODY STATISTICS AND FFMI OF PROFESSIONAL PITCHERS

The average height for all pro pitchers is somewhere between 6’2” and 6’3”, while

average bodyweight for all pro pitchers is somewhere between 201.3 and 213.4 lbs4,

22,24-25,27-28. For MLB pitchers specifically, average height is similar at 74.2 inches, or a

little over 6’2”. 32 Data on bodyweight and body fat percentages across different age

groups of pro players allows us to approximate their FFMI and determine how close

these subgroups are to their genetic limit. A height of 74.2 inches was used to make

these calculations.


Average professional pitcher body statistics

Level Bodyweight / Body Fat

% Lean Body Mass

Fat-Free Mass

Index

% Of Projected Muscular

Potential

Pro (16-19) 201.3 lbs (11.7%) 177.7 lbs 22.7 90.8%

Pro (20-22) 208.8 lbs (13.2%) 181.0 lbs 23.1 92.6%

Pro (23-25) 213.4 lbs (13.6%) 184.3 lbs 23.5 94.2%

MLB 222.6 lbs (13.8%) 192.0 lbs 24.5* 98%

*Note: it’s unlikely that the average MLB pitcher actually has values quite this high – there is a certain percentage of error when measuring body fat percentages that would account for this in the study. Still, even if we assume this data underestimates body fat percentages by ~2-3%, the trends hold true and these athletes are still quite close to their predicted limits. Obviously, these numbers may also be slightly skewed upwards by individuals within the data set who may not be lifetime “natural.”

What does this data tell us?

While it’s hard to draw firm conclusions from this data, it’s clear to see that the average

professional pitcher is pretty darn close to his genetic potential, as far as how much lean

mass he is carrying. MLB pitchers, specifically, get even closer. Remember, these are

guys who have generally been resistance training for at least 7-10 years, through part or

all of high school, all of college and at least several years of pro ball.

As a general guideline, aim for achieving 90% of your projected genetic lean mass

potential, as defined by a FFMI of 25, which corresponds to achieving a Fat-Free Mass

Index of at least 22.5. This is a moderate level of muscularity, but nothing that would be

considered particularly abnormal. At a FFMI of 25, however, you’ll start to look like my

buddy and former first round pick Casey Weathers. At 6’2”, 220lbs and 12% body fat,

there’s a reason he has touched triple digits off the mound and 105.8 in velocity testing.

But that’s a story for another day…

https://youtu.be/FNq_6uBOeMI

https://youtu.be/d-a0CKlF8sQ


LEAN BODY MASS GUIDELINES AND TARGET BODYWEIGHTS

Height** Max Predicted weight at

12% (FFMI 25)

Min target weight at

12% (FFMI 22.5)

Max predicted lean

mass (FFMI 25)

Min target lean mass

(FFMI 22.5)

5’7” 181.4 lbs 163.3 lbs 159.6 lbs 143.6 lbs

5’8” 186.8 lbs 168.1 lbs 164.4 lbs 148.0 lbs

5’9” 192.4 lbs 173.2 lbs 169.3 lbs 152.4 lbs

5’10” 198.0 lbs 178.2 lbs 174.2 lbs 156.8 lbs

5’11” 203.7 lbs 183.3 lbs 179.2 lbs 161.3 lbs

6’0” 209.5 lbs 188.6 lbs 184.3 lbs 165.9 lbs

6’1” 215.3 lbs 193.8 lbs 189.5 lbs 170.6 lbs

6’2” 221.3 lbs 199.2 lbs 194.7 lbs 175.2 lbs

6’3” 227.3 lbs 204.6 lbs 200.0 lbs 180.0 lbs

6’4” 233.4 lbs 210.1 lbs 205.4 lbs 184.9 lbs

6’5” 239.6 lbs 215.6 lbs 210.8 lbs 189.7 lbs

6’6” 245.8 lbs 221.2 lbs 216.3 lbs 194.7 lbs

**Find the row that corresponds to your height. For example, at 6’3”, the maximum bodyweight I could conceivably have is 227 lbs while around 12% body fat. Currently, I am about 215 lbs at 12% body fat. This puts me above the minimum target weight (~205 lbs at 12%), making it unlikely that my muscularity is a major limiting factor for velocity. Still, these tables predict as much as 12 lbs of lean body mass that could still be up for the taking, indicating that I still may have some work to do as far as maxing out my power potential. Given that I do have a strength base built, however, my actual training program will look somewhat different from that of a total beginner.

Note: If you have a particularly large bone structure – wide shoulders, knees, wrists,

elbows, use the next row down. You will likely be able to achieve higher lean mass due to

increased bone mass (and wider joints also means wider tendons and more surface area

for muscle mass). If you have a particularly slender bone structure, use the previous row

as your recommendation.


Some MLB Body Types

Tim Collins Stephen Strasburg Madison Bumgarner

5’7” 172 lbs

FFMI: ~ 23.7

6’4” 230 lbs

FFMI: ~ 24.3

6’5” 235 lbs

FFMI: ~23.8

Remember that not everyone is even capable of achieving a FFMI of 25 – this was

established as a pretty hard upper limit for most natural, genetically gifted weight

lifters. The absolute genetic elite (1 in 10,000+) may be able to push that limit slightly

further (~27). However, most athletes should be capable of coming close to if not easily

eclipsing the 90% mark while staying relatively lean – which equates to a pretty realistic

target FFMI of about 22.5.

What about those who throw hard with a FFMI <22.5?

As with any “rule” there are generally outliers who don’t seem to fit. While the vast

majority of professional pitchers fit within the above guidelines – some do exist in the

MLB, despite falling outside of them. Chris Sale is one such exception, listed at 6’6” 180

lbs. In fact, since 1950, only three other pitchers have been his height or taller and

weighed 180 lbs or less – and all of them were relievers.33 I’ve had the opportunity to

watch him throw up close on my practice squad during a spring training rehab start, and

there is a reason he is so dominant. 96 to 98 mph heaters from his arm slot absolutely

explode on the hitter, which make him nearly unhittable when coupled with a filthy


slider and changeup. He shouldn’t be able to throw that hard…but he does. So how do

we explain his plus velocity?

Here are some thoughts…

x Incredible flexibility. “‘Even after he got tall in high school, he could lie on his stomach, lift his feet over his back and scratch his eyebrows with his toes,’ [his father] Allen says.” 33 Freaky flexibility and athleticism, the kind that (of all people) Tim Lincecum was said to possess, allows a pitcher to achieve more extreme, contorted positions that help generate greater arm speed and whip.

x An 82-inch wingspan. Nope, that’s not a typo – his wingspan is all of 6 feet, 10 inches. These extraordinarily long levers, given that he coordinates and segments them effectively, mean massive velocity potential, despite very low muscle mass.34

x Extremely efficient mechanics. This is linked to the first two points. Efficient mechanics are pitching mechanics that lend themselves to high force production capabilities and velocity. They aren’t necessarily “optimal” from a performance or injury reduction standpoint. Efficient throwers generate and/or capture more energy than non-efficient throwers. So while there is no such thing as “perfect” mechanics, there is “efficient” vs. “non-efficient.” This is obviously aided by excellent flexibility and long levers as well.

While Sale is an interesting case, it’s important to realize that the existence of

exceptions doesn’t invalidate the general guidelines outlined in this book. Be careful

modeling yourself after or emulating outliers – these individuals are able to violate the

rules by making up for it in other areas. Unless you have the same freaky flexibility,

wingspan, or other factors that allow these anomalies to throw hard despite low

muscularity, stick to the science and try to best emulate the body types (for your height)

that exist at the pro level.


Are you saying pitchers should just become bodybuilders and they will throw 95 mph?

Our philosophy is not to “body build” but rather, to “build the body” in a way that will

maximally impact performance. In the case of velocity, for most pitchers this generally

does mean gaining muscle mass using some exercises that may be considered

“bodybuilder” exercises. Realize, however, that the fact that bodybuilders use an

exercise like the squat doesn’t make it a non-functional exercise for athletes. In fact, the

functionality of an exercise, movement or drill is entirely dependent on the context.

Thus, its not quite as simple as saying “x is functional and y is non-functional.” The utility

of different forms of training (machines, bands, medballs, kettlebells, Olympic lifting,

etc.) should be determined based on the athlete’s sport-specific, position-specific and

individual-specific requirements. However, recognize that I am not advocating jumping

on any old strength program and thinking you’ve got your bases covered. It’s a bit more

complex than that, especially when it comes to things like exercise selection,

maintaining flexibility, balancing volume/intensity, addressing individual muscle

imbalances/deficiencies, training in multiple planes of motion, and other factors.

Chris Sale: 6’6” 180 lbs.


Will training to gain muscle make me too “bulky”?

While there is a stigma against becoming too “bulky” among many misinformed parents

and athletes, these worries are misplaced. Resistance training doesn’t spontaneously

make people look like the monsters from another planet that you see on posters or

televised Crossfit competitions – these guys are generally combining elite genetics and

decades of training with superhuman levels of testosterone. So first off, you won’t ever

look like this drug-free. Second, rarely will putting on muscle mass have negative effects

within the context of a drug-free pitcher looking to maximize power output.

Matt Harvey (above) is 6’4” and conservatively listed at 217 lbs (he’s probably closer to

230), with over a decade of hard lifting experience – is he too “bulky?”

Matt Harvey: 6’4” 217 lbs…and bulky?

C h a p te r f i v e Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 M P H Bo d y P 5 9

FUELING FOR GROWTH: THE NUTRITIONAL

HIERARCHY OF IMPORTANCE

Until I got to college, I knew a decent amount about training, but very little about what I

was actually doing in the kitchen from a weight gain perspective. Gaining only 20 lbs in

my first two years of training was downright atrocious for a total beginner – as a point

of reference, many of our athletes exceed that in 6 months time. I worked hard, but I

didn’t have a plan as far as optimizing my nutrition, and I didn’t understand the

hierarchy that I’m about to explain.

“I wish I had known this nutrition stuff sooner,” is generally what my athletes say after

implementing this information and finally seeing their strength and bodyweight soar. It’s

pretty typical for a moderately strong high school or college kid who hasn’t ever

consistently applied these nutritional concepts to start seeing “beginner gains” again for

several months. It’s not magic, but by dialing in this hierarchy, it’s the closest you will

get. Read on carefully – this could very well save you years of wasted effort and training

time.

An Overview

Planning out a nutrition plan comes down to 5 key components, which have a clear

order of priority. The idea for this hierarchy originally came from Eric Helms, PhD. Be

sure to check out his work when you get a chance.

CHAPTER FIVE

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnPAPdT4m_g_jts_h2xcr2MFzW5uwJ2uP


The Nutritional Hierarchy of Importance

People all too often place priority on the wrong facets of nutrition, such as

supplementation or meal timing. This is convenient for the supplement industry, as

tricking people into believing they actually need pre, during and post-workout nutrition

to get stronger is quite lucrative. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work this way. This doesn’t

mean certain supplements don’t have their place, or meal frequency / timing is totally

meaningless. We’ll get into the details below and outline a plan so you can get started,

knowing that you’re focusing your efforts on the most important factors first.

The hierarchy is simple:

Calories > Macros > Micros > Meal timing/frequency > Supplements

If this is confusing, just worry about the first two for now: calories (the amount of

energy in your food) and macros (the major building blocks of your food –

protein/fat/carbs).


PRIORITY #1: CALORIES

This is, by far, the most important piece of the puzzle, no matter the body composition

goal. In fact, if you remember nothing else from this chapter on nutrition, remember

this section.

Let’s review some basics: most athletes have one of three goals: fat loss, muscle gain or

maintenance. Although it is possible for completely new trainees (and individuals

getting chemical “assistance”) to do both, most athletes will need to choose just one of

these goals. Yes, this means you actually can’t just “replace 15 lbs of fat with 15 lbs of

muscle” as every college player thinks they will do heading into each offseason.

Pick your goal –

Fat loss Muscle gain Weight maintenance

Requires a calorie deficit: you must consume fewer calories than you burn.

Requires a calorie surplus: you must consume more calories than you burn.

Requires a maintenance calorie intake: you must consume roughly the same amount as you burn.

Now lets get into specifics and figure out exactly how many calories you burn.


Calculate your maintenance calorie needs:

No matter your goal, the next step is figuring out your maintenance intake, i.e. how

many calories you burn per day. There are a number of equations out there that

estimate this value. Some are more complicated than others, but all of them work in the

same way: 1) estimating your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is how many calories

your body burns per day just to stay alive and 2) factoring in additional calories burned

due to your overall activity level. None of these will ever be perfect, and they don’t need

to be. We are just trying to get a rough estimate to use as a starting point.

The formula:

Maintenance calories = target bodyweight in pounds x

((9 to 11) + total average weekly training hours))

Use the upper end of the range if you’re extremely active, and the lower end if you’re

less active. As an example, I weigh 215 pounds and I train for roughly 7.5 hours total

each week in the offseason. Plugging this into the equation, I would need to eat

between 3,548 (low-end) and 3,978 calories (high-end) to maintain my weight.

Example:

Maintenance calories = 215 lbs x (9 + 7.5 training hours) = 3,548 calories.

If your goal is to maintain your bodyweight, this is your final calorie number. If not, the

next section will tell you how to: ¾ Set weight loss or weight gain targets based on your body fat % and training

status. ¾ Calculate the surplus or deficit to achieve these targets. ¾ Tweak these numbers up or down as you go based on your progress and scale

weight.


Fat loss: calculating your calorie deficit

The primary goal of a fat loss phase is not to lose weight as fast as possible, but to lose

fat as fast as can safely be done while preserving muscle mass. Most of my athletes

don’t need to focus on fat loss, but this section is necessary to include anyway. The rate

at which fat can be lost without risking losing lean mass depends on the amount of body

fat an athlete carries. Consult the guidelines below.94

Fat loss guidelines

Body fat % Weekly weight loss Calorie deficit 30% > 2.5 lbs 1,250 kcal 20-30% 2 lbs 1,000 kcal

12-20% 1-1.5 lbs 500-750 kcal

7-12% 0.5-1 lb 250-500 kcal

< 7% 0.5 lbs 250 kcal Note: these numbers are not set in stone, but they are general guidelines supported by the research. For most athletes, this comes out to around 1-2 lbs of weight loss per week. Take the calorie deficit and subtract that from your maintenance calories as calculated above. This is your final number.

Estimating your body fat percentage

Click here to learn how to estimate your body fat percentage. It won’t be perfect, but it’s a good starting point. Note that pitchers under 20% body fat likely don’t need to prioritize fat loss, and I certainly don’t recommend a fat loss phase during or immediately prior to the season. Remember, a calorie deficit is a recovery deficit. Most pitchers should instead be focused on the following section: muscle gain.

http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/


Muscle gain: calculating your calorie surplus

The biggest factor that determines an individual’s muscle growth potential is their

training status. Novices are further away from their genetic potential, and can therefore

add muscle at a much faster rate than more experienced lifters who are close to their

genetic limit.

There is a lot of variation in individual limb lengths, muscle fiber type, muscle insertions,

etc., so recognize that these guidelines are a rough estimate. Still, most athletes should

be able to tell roughly what camp they fall into. The following guidelines were originally

presented by strength coach Martin Berkhan.

Determining your training status

Novice New to lifting. Can still add 5-10 lbs to each main lift (squat, deadlift) each workout.

Advanced Novice Some lifting experience. Can still add 5 lbs to each main lift each week. Hasn’t reached intermediate stage yet.

Intermediate Generally 1-3+ years lifting experience. Can add 1-2 reps to each main lift per week, or move up 5lbs every several weeks. Must cycle volume and intensity and/or use deloads to account for increased recovery demands. Some rough 1 rep max numbers for intermediates: Bench press: body weight (BW) x 1.2 Chin-ups: BW x 1.2 or 8 reps with BW Squat: BW x 1.6 Deadlift: BW x 2

Advanced

Generally 3-5+ years lifting experience. Must incorporate more complex protocols to account for higher training stress and recovery demands. Some rough 1RM numbers: Bench press: BW x 1.5 Chin-ups: BW x 1.5 or 16 reps with BW Squat: BW x 2 Deadlift: BW x 2.5

http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html


Even if you don’t do these specific lifts, you should have an idea of around what your

maxes would be (I don’t barbell bench but I have done dumbbell bench with 120lb

dumbbells for 3 – my bench press max would therefore likely be around 250-275lbs, or

1.2-1.3x my bodyweight, placing me in the intermediate category).

Now that we have our training status, we can figure out how many calories to add to

our maintenance intake below.

Recommended calorie surplus based on training status

Training status Rate of weight gain Calorie surplus Novice 1-2lbs / week ~500-1000 kCal

Advanced Novice 0.5-1lbs / week ~250-500 kCal

Intermediate 2lbs / month ~100-250 kCal

Advanced 0.5lbs / month Slight surplus

Notes:

¾ A certain percentage of these gains will be fat – luckily, sticking to this relatively slow method of weight gain will help maximize the percentage of this weight that is lean mass.

¾ These are just recommendations – some people may need more or less calories as they go or based on their genetics. If you aren’t gaining the proposed amount of weight, here’s how to adjust things as you go:

Adjusting caloric Intake when weight doesn’t change as planned

Don’t freak out – this is normal. Every good system has built in flexibility and should

adjust based on how you actually respond to it, not based solely on how an equation

predicted you would respond. So here’s what to do, and it’s rather simple:

For fat loss: when weight loss stalls for 2-weeks straight (not just a few days of

fluctuation), decrease calories by 100-200kCal/day. Likewise, if you are losing weight too

quickly, increase calories slightly by 100-200kCal/day.


For muscle gain: when you are on point but weight gain stalls for 2-weeks straight (not

just a few days of fluctuation), increase calories by 100-200kCal/day. Likewise, if you are

gaining weight (or body fat) too quickly, reduce calories slightly by 100-200kCal/day. For

advanced lifters, it’s more important to focus on strength gains than weight gain, as

muscle grows much more slowly at this point. Keep making steady small increases in the

gym and you’re on the right track. Finding your sweet spot may take a couple months,

but you will learn your body and how it responds to different intakes using this method,

which is far more valuable than just following a cookie cutter diet for 12 weeks and then

going back to eating garbage.

Calorie recommendations summary

¾ Determine whether you need to be in a calorie surplus, deficit or maintenance. ¾ Calculate your maintenance calorie needs based upon your bodyweight and

activity level. ¾ If your goal is fat loss, figure out your deficit based upon your approximate body

fat percentage. ¾ For muscle gain, figure our your training status and then use that to determine

the optimal calorie surplus. ¾ Determine how fast you should be gaining or losing weight, and

adjust daily calories up or down every 2 weeks in 100-200 calorie increments based on if you are on the right track.


PRIORITY #2: MACRONUTRIENTS AND FIBER

Great! We’ve established our caloric intake, the most important part of the nutritional

pyramid for changing your body. Let’s now discuss macronutrients or “macros.” Macros

refer to protein, carbohydrates and fat (and technically alcohol as well). Using them to

your advantage will help maximize your results as painlessly as possible. It will also

ensure that as high of a percentage as possible of the weight you gain will be muscle (on

a bulk) or of the weight you lose will be fat (on a cut).93

Setting macronutrient targets

Protein Fat Carbs

Fat Loss 1.1-1.4g/lb lean body mass 0.4-0.6g/lb lean body mass The rest

Muscle Gain / Maintenance 0.8-1.0g/lb lean body mass 20-40% of calories The rest

Now, let’s explain the recommendations above…


Protein

Protein is crucial for muscle repair and growth, muscle preservation during calorie

restriction, making us feel full, and a host of other necessary bodily processes. It

contains roughly 4 calories per gram. It is hardly controversial that our bodies need

adequate protein intake to recover and grow between workouts.99,101-105 What’s

controversial is the age-old question:

How much do I actually need?

Keep in mind, the resulting amount should be high enough to cover all possible benefits

of protein intake (muscle growth, recovery, etc.) without becoming unnecessarily high

such that it begins to interfere with other macronutrient intakes, overall calorie intake,

or becomes excessively expensive/unsustainable.

First, we know that how much protein you need will be based on your lean body (not

total body) mass. If we calculate based on general body weight, it risks giving excessively

lean or fatter individuals skewed results in either direction. The more LBM you have, the

more protein you need. Determine your LBM by taking your weight and subtracting your

total body fat. Then plug in the numbers from above.

For example:

¾ I’m currently 215 lbs and roughly 12% body fat (215 lbs x 0.12= 25.8 lbs of fat).

215 lbs - 25.8 lbs of fat = 189.2 lbs of lean body mass.

For fat loss: 189.2 lbs LBM x (1.1 to 1.4) = 208 – 265 grams per day

For muscle gain: 189.2 lbs LBM x (0.8 to 1.0) = 151 – 189 grams per day

Explanation: The US Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for protein is designed for

sedentary individuals. While normal sedentary people only need about 0.8 grams of

protein per kilogram of bodyweight to maintain their body composition, studies show


that athletes will likely gain the most muscle if eating 1.6-2.2 grams /kg (0.8 – 1g / lb).98-

105 For fat loss, the numbers are elevated slightly – this is because protein helps to spare

muscle mass while in a calorie deficit. Think of it this way: your body needs a certain

amount of protein (and calories) to recover from training. If it’s not getting adequate

calories, it needs to get that energy from somewhere. The idea is that a diet higher in

protein will help prevent your body from dipping into its stored protein (i.e. muscle) for

energy, instead preferentially using your stored fats and carbohydrates. Thus, data

actually shows maximum muscle retention during fat loss with these higher daily intakes

of protein.

Furthermore, protein is an extremely satiating macronutrient. This means that, on

average, 50 grams of protein makes us feel fuller than 50 grams of fat or carbohydrate

(i.e. chicken breast vs. olive oil). This is a good thing for people looking to cut body fat

(staying full despite low calories) but potentially a bad thing for those of us trying to

squeeze in every last calorie we can to gain weight. This is another reason protein

intakes should be higher during fat loss but towards the lower end (relatively speaking)

during muscle gain.

Are higher protein intakes than these bad? No, although they are not necessary. Rate of protein synthesis – the speed at which we

can rebuild and form new muscle – has a fairly absolute upper limit. Despite what some

may have you believe, you actually max out this limit with fairly moderate doses of

complete protein. For example, one study found that 30 grams and 90 grams of beef

protein at a meal both maxed out protein synthesis.92 What isn’t directly used for repair

will end up with the same fate as any other macronutrient – it will be converted and

used as an energy source (and a very expensive one for your wallet) or it will be stored

in some way, shape or form. Keep in mind that a high protein intake, without a

corresponding calorie surplus, won’t lead to any significant net muscle gain. This is

because the body isn’t going to lay down new muscle proteins if it doesn’t have enough


raw building materials available to first satisfy its energy demands and recover back to

baseline. The take home is that nobody cares if you’re eating 500 grams of protein per

day and supplementing with 8 scoops of Xtreme Designer Whey 9000. Protein is a vitally

important macronutrient, but if you’re in a net calorie deficit you aren’t going to gain

muscle. This whole hierarchy thing is kind of neat after all, huh?

A side note on how changes in body composition actually happen:

This may help you conceptualize how these changes are actually occurring on a daily

basis. The body is constantly in a state of anabolism (associated with nutrient storage)

or catabolism (associated with nutrient utilization) throughout the day. The anabolic or

“fed” state occurs after a meal, carrying a whole host of hormones and processes

designed to store these nutrients. We can’t just have all those nutrients swirling around

in the bloodstream, they have to be stored somewhere. Once everything is stored, the

body reverts back to a catabolic or “fasted” state, carrying with it another host of

hormones and processes that are designed to break down stored nutrients to be used

for energy. This is not a bad thing, and in fact, the anabolic/catabolic relationship is

completely normal and necessary. This is just how our body goes about storing the

nutrients we eat and then tapping into those stores when we need them for energy.

Nutrient storage and utilization over the course of a single day

Anabolic state -Muscle growth + recovery -Fat/carb storage Catabolic state -Stored fat/carb utilized -If insufficient, stored protein utilized as well.


Note: although sleep is a fasted state (and therefore catabolic, as no new nutrients are being ingested and stored nutrients are being broken down for energy), it is also when various recovery processes and growth hormone levels are at their highest, making it an important recovery period. As such, muscle recovery can still occur during a “catabolic” state.

What this all means, practically, is that your body is “fatter” in the periods following

meals, and then leaner after periods of fasting, where it draws on those stores for

energy. Again, this process is completely normal, healthy and necessary. The net

balance at the end of the day is what determines how your body composition actually

changes over time, and by following these caloric and macronutrient guidelines, we can

ensure that the majority of net weight gained is lean body mass.

Fat

Fat is crucial for three main reasons. First, it keeps anabolic hormones (like

testosterone) in optimal ranges, which is potentially important for maintaining

performance and gaining muscle.56-57 Second, it helps with subjective ratings of mood

and happiness – athletes on extremely low-fat diets not only feel less satisfied after

meals, but also feel worse in general.57 Third, because fat is very calorically dense (9

calories per gram) low fat diets make it very difficult to hit high caloric intakes.58-59

How much fat per day?

Fat Loss 0.9-1.3g/kg LBM (0.4-0.6g/lb)

Muscle Gain / Maintenance 20-40% of calories

For fat loss, recommendations are set for maintaining optimal hormonal function

despite being in a calorie deficit. Too little fat can disrupt testosterone levels while too

much fat on a fat loss diet will make it difficult to stay within your calorie goals. For

muscle gain, we similarly want to account for hormonal function, while also allowing the

flexibility to assign a larger percentage of calories to wherever the individual prefers.


30% is a good place to start, adjusting up or down within the range depending on which

foods you like to eat and how you feel.

For example:

¾ Fat loss: intake is based on your lean mass. My lean mass is 189 lbs, so my fat intake would fall between 76 and 113 grams per day.

¾ Muscle gain: intake is based on total calories needed. Lets say I determine my calorie intake for muscle gain is 4,000 calories based on above. This would make my range between about 90 to 180 grams per day. I’m going to choose 30% to start, which puts me at 135 grams per day.

Carbohydrates

Carbs are our body’s preferred energy source over fat and protein, particularly in

exercise bouts lasting between 10 – 120 seconds (i.e. most resistance training sets). 1

gram of carbohydrate contains roughly 4 calories. Carbohydrates also fuel our brain, and

have both anabolic (muscle-building) and anti-catabolic (preventing muscle breakdown)

functions. Low-carb diets tend to have negative hormonal implications, generally

decreasing testosterone and thyroid levels, while increasing the stress hormone

cortisol.60, 108

Though some individuals can still function relatively well for short-duration training

sessions on low carb diets, it is generally agreed upon in the research that this is not an

optimal approach from a performance standpoint. Because of their lower satiety than

protein, carbs are especially important if you’re a hardgainer trying to squeeze in

massive amounts of calories without filling yourself up too quickly. Calculating your carb

intake is simple –we want this number to be adjusted based on your caloric needs, once

protein and fats have been accounted for. Once you have established your caloric

needs, protein intake and fat intake, fill in the rest of your calories with carbohydrate.

http://anthonycolpo.com/why-low-carb-diets-are-terrible-for-athletes-part-1/

http://anthonycolpo.com/why-low-carb-diets-are-terrible-for-athletes-part-1/


How many carbs per day?

Fat Loss The rest

Muscle Gain / Maintenance The rest

For example:

Let’s say I need 4,000 calories per day. I’ve established that I need 189 grams of protein

(756 Kcal) and 135 grams of fat (1,215 Kcal). Subtracting this from 4,000 calories, “the

rest” comes to 2,029 Kcal, equivalent to 509 grams of carbs per day.

Adjusting your macros as you go

If my calories need to be shifted up or down based on progress, this is where I do it. If I

need to add in 100 calories, I just add 100/4 = 25 grams of carbs. If I need to subtract

200 calories, I would just subtract 50 grams of carbs from my intake. Fat and protein

would stay relatively constant as you adjust things from week to week, although there is

the flexibility to shift your fat intake around slightly, provided you stay within the 20-

40% range.

Fiber

Fiber is technically a type of carbohydrate, but it has special properties that make

keeping track of it separately a priority. First, we don’t generally utilize all of the calories

in fiber, with the FDA estimating it at around 1.5 calories per gram. In this sense, fiber

has very high satiety, meaning it can help fill us up without being too calorically dense. It

helps to stabilize blood sugar levels, lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol, helps bowel

movements, digestion and reduces the risk of colon cancer.35-36

How much fiber should I get?

Minimum 20 grams / day

Maximum 20% of carb intake


It can be a pain to keep track of fiber, so the easiest thing to do is just focus on eating

whole food sources the majority (80%) of the time. Check once in a while to make sure

you’re over the minimum requirements – in most cases, you will be. If not, think about

supplementing some higher fiber staples into your diet such as veggies, beans and oats.

Alcohol

I’m not going to use fear-mongering tactics to convince you not to drink. If you are of

age, the occasional drink or two will not substantially hinder recovery or performance.

However, although it is technically a macronutrient, alcohol brings very little to the table

as far as nutritional density or real food value of any sort. In addition to adding to your

overall calorie intake, alcohol also temporarily blunts fat burning (lipolysis), which can

easily lead to fat gain (especially from high-calorie foods you ingest in conjunction with

alcohol). Furthermore, alcohol lowers testosterone as well, but only in any significant

way following binge drinking. Three beers daily temporarily leads to only a 6.8%

reduction in testosterone, although heavier drinking (i.e. 10 beers in one night) leads to

a 16-hour drop in testosterone of about 23% (although this may be partly a result of

impaired sleep quality).37-38 As far as affecting muscle recovery after a workout, the

effects only seem to be notable when significant drinking (6-7 drinks worth) is done

immediately after extremely stressful, exhaustive exercise training.39-40 We’re going to

limit the analysis of alcohol here. I’m not going to tell you to completely avoid alcohol,

but recognize that heavy or frequent drinking will impact your recovery. A once per

week, 3-drink maximum guideline is a good place to start. Make sure to account for the

calories in these drinks in your daily tracking as well.

Calories in common drinks ¾ Liquor: ~80-100 calories per 1.5 oz. serving ¾ Beer: ~150-250 calories per 12 oz. serving ¾ “Light” Beers: ~100 calories per 12 oz. serving ¾ Wine: ~100-125 calories per 5oz serving ¾ Mixed drinks: ~150-250 calories per 12 oz. serving

http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2128439


Macronutrient Recommendations Summary

¾ Eat 1.1-1.4g/lb LBM in protein (fat loss) or 0.8-1g/lb (muscle gain). More is not dangerous, but it’s also unnecessary.

¾ Eat 0.4-0.6g/lb LBM in fat (fat loss) or 20%-40% of calories (muscle gain). ¾ Fill in the rest of your calories with carbs. ¾ Every 2 weeks, adjust calories up or down by 100-200 if progress is not occurring

at the intended rate. Adjust the carbs from your macros to do this (i.e. +50g carbs = +200 cal)

¾ Check in periodically to make sure fiber intake is above 20g/day and below 20% of total carb intake.

¾ Limit alcohol intake to as little as possible, not exceeding 1-3 drinks, 1x/week.

PRIORITY #3: MICRONUTRIENTS AND WATER

To avoid this turning into a nutrition textbook, let’s get straight to it as far as

micronutrients and how we can apply the information to our diets.

“Micros” refer to vitamins and minerals – we need these things in very small amounts

relative to macronutrients. Using the car analogy from earlier, if macros are the gas to

the car providing direct energy for movement, micronutrients are the cooling fluids, oil


and lubricants that keep the car functioning in tip top shape (thanks to Andy Morgan for

this). If we become deficient in any of them, we are at risk of decreased performance

and a myriad of health issues.

Now, you could go get blood-work done to test for micro deficiencies, but it’s probably

easier and more reasonable to just take some simple steps to safeguard yourself against

developing deficiencies. If you run into any significant issues along the way, getting

blood-work done is always an option.

How to hit your micros

Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables every day. That’s it. Most of the micros from meat

and carbs won’t be an issue if you’re eating whole food sources. Thus, it’s beneficial to

just focus on 1) eating 1-3 pieces of fruit (or more) per day, 2) eating fibrous veggies at

each meal and 3) varying up your selections so that you aren’t just eating the same

exact fruit and veggie sources each day. Deficiencies aren’t likely to be an issue during a

caloric surplus, but during a fat loss phase an athlete is more likely to run into problems

if fruit/veggie intake isn’t on point. In these cases, it may be worth considering adding a

multivitamin and/or a greens supplement, which we will cover in the next section.

Water intake

Coaches have badgered athletes for years about the importance of drinking enough

water – this is well established and is not particularly controversial. While there isn’t a

proven “optimal” amount of fluid intake per day, a good way to make sure that you

aren’t dehydrated is to follow Lyle McDonald’s guideline of trying to have at least 5 clear

urinations per day. For most athletes, this won’t -ever be an issue – thirst is,

evolutionarily, the body’s way of regulating hydration. If you find that you are not

having clear urinations from just drinking when you are thirsty, then it may take some

active effort to get enough fluids throughout the day.

http://rippedbody.jp/


Micronutrient Recommendations Summary

¾ Eat 1-3 pieces (or more) of fruit per day. ¾ Eat a fibrous veggie with each meal. ¾ Mix up your fruit and veggie choices periodically - micronutrient diversity is more

important than quantity. ¾ Drink enough water to have 5 clear urinations daily.

PRIORITY #4: MEAL FREQUENCY & TIMING

As you may have begun to realize, meal timing and frequency is far less important than

you have been led to believe. However, there is still some merit in this topic worth

considering for optimal performance. In this section, we will cover:

¾ Why there actually isn’t a narrow post-workout “anabolic” window. ¾ How to best space out and time your meals for maximum growth and

performance.

Meal frequency

Eating less than three meals per day tends to increase hunger, and some studies have

also shown that eating 6 meals per day leads to less “fullness” than 3, due to smaller


meals.41-43 However, this effect is probably small because other studies have shown

essentially no difference in hunger or total caloric intake between different meal

frequencies.

More extreme approaches, such as eating one meal per day, or alternating whole day

fasts with regular days, show negative effects on hunger and irritability compared to

eating three meals per day.44-46 Additionally, studies on fasted athletes who participate

in Ramadan, a Muslim holiday that involves daily fasting, showed negative effects on

performance, alertness and cheerfulness.47-51 Then again, there are always exceptions to

any rule – some people don’t experience any adverse affects to their mood or

happiness.52

Additionally, you may consider having more frequent, but smaller meals if you are prone

to an upset stomach during practice or exercise training. More frequent meals are also

useful for individuals trying to pack a ton of calories into the day – it’s borderline

impossible for most athletes to squeeze 4,000 or even 5,000 calories into 2 or 3 meals.

Meal timing

It has traditionally been thought in the research that there exists an “anabolic window

of opportunity” immediately post-workout – and that ingesting certain amounts of

protein and carbohydrate during this window would provide some sort of special

anabolic response, improving both body composition and performance measures.53-54

While quite a number of studies have been done on the acute effects of post workout

protein and/or carbohydrate supplementation, very few well-controlled studies have

demonstrated meaningful effects on muscular hypertrophy over time.55 In other words,

research hasn’t been able to reliably take these studies a step further and, as you might

expect, demonstrate substantially greater muscle growth, strength or performance over

time in individuals using these post-workout protocols.55 According to a meta-analysis

by Alan Aragon, PhD,

http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/5


“On the whole, [chronic studies] have not corroborated the consistency of positive outcomes seen in acute studies examining post-exercise nutrition.”

A number of factors make this task difficult for researchers, so practical

recommendations should recognize the possibility that post-workout nutrition may have

some significance, despite the lack of solid supporting research available.

Specific macronutrient timing

Carb timing may not matter for growth and recovery – recent studies that control for

sufficient protein intake have shown no additional benefit to adding carbohydrate to a

post-workout dose of protein.55 Instead of worrying about timing, monitoring total daily

carb intake is advised. If you want to have carbs with your pre or post-workout meals,

that’s perfectly fine, there’s just insufficient evidence to suggest it’s any better than

other approaches. The only time carb timing may really matter is for endurance athletes

who have multiple competitions within the same day. In most cases though, muscle

glycogen (stored carbohydrate within the muscles) replenishes well within that 24-hour

window between training sessions, so it’s a non-factor for most athletes.

Fat timing doesn’t appear to matter for growth and recovery – keep monitoring your

overall intake, but don’t worry about getting fancy with the timing. Stick to your

preferences and be flexible.

Protein timing: despite the lack of convincing evidence using longer-term studies,

research suggests consuming both pre and post-workout meals separated by no more

than 3-4 hours, as this is approximately how long the acute anabolic effect of protein

lasts for. To be safe, aim for about 30-40 grams per meal for most male athletes.55 What

this means is that if you have a meal immediately before training, there is a less urgent


need for an immediate post-workout dose of protein, as that pre-workout meal is still

being processed and stimulating muscle recovery. Thus, these recommendations

essentially widen the post-workout “anabolic window” of opportunity, giving you more

flexibility with your nutrition rather than worrying about an urgent 30 or 60-minute

window before your training session is “wasted.”

Meal frequency and timing recommendations

¾ Eat 3-6 meals per day, based on preferences, goals and lifestyle. ¾ Consider having at least 1 meal per 800-1,000 calories needed in your total intake –

example, if your intake is 4,000 calories, have at least 4-5 meals per day to avoid routinely forcing down 1,000+ calories per meal, which can be difficult.

¾ For those on higher intakes, consider eating an early breakfast to get a head start and spacing our your meals so that you aren’t excessively full at any point throughout the day.

¾ Pre and post-workout meals should be separated by no more than about 3-4 hours. A good meal before training buys you time on the back end.

¾ Each of these meals should contain about 30-40 grams of protein for most males. Space out your fat and carb intake however you see fit.


PRIORITY #5: SUPPLEMENTS

No supplements are necessary if the above recommendations are met. In fact, I debated

even including a supplementation section, because many athletes will take this as a

“must buy” list of necessary supplements.

The truth isn’t sexy, but here it is: supplement companies are largely out for your

money. Supplements are not regulated, and frequently what you are paying for isn’t

even in the product in the dosages promised (or at all), and there may be added

contaminants. Very few supplements have strong scientific support, which may seem

odd given the extraordinary claims printed on nearly every supplement label. That being

said, some supplements can have benefit if the first four sections of the nutritional

hierarchy are covered. Until they are, you have no business buying anything on the list

below. For those that do have these things covered, let’s keep it brief:


1. Creatine monohydrate: this supplement is highly studied, safe and effective for

helping you train slightly harder. 3-5 grams per day is plenty (companies will tell you

to increase or “load” the dose so that you burn through more of their product and

buy more. Don’t do this). Note that creatine is naturally produced in your body in

small amounts and that you also already get it throughout parts of your diet - if your

red meat intake is high, you’re probably already getting enough from your diet that

supplementation is not likely to make a noticeable difference.

Mechanism: creatine helps by replenishing stores of creatine phosphate (a short

term energy substrate) within your muscles, indirectly and slightly increasing intra-

muscular hydration protein synthesis and general exercise capacity.61-64

2. A whey and/or casein protein supplement: This is not really a supplement, but it’s

fantastic for convenience to meet your protein goals. Again, this is just food (it’s

processed milk powder), and is not required at all. If you prefer to eat your protein,

do so. While it is a good on-the-go supplement, try to avoid using it as a regular

substitute for eating real whole food meals.

Supplements may account for 1% of progress, at best.

http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine

http://examine.com/supplements/Whey%20Protein


3. A vitamin D supplement: to improve muscular recovery from intense exercise. A

majority of people are deficient, even many of those who live in sunny climates.

Supplementation may have beneficial effects on overall health and performance.

Use the vitamin D3 forms over D2. Dosage is at least 2,000IU/day. Do not exceed

10,000IU/day.65-66

4. A fish oil supplement: for heart health, reduced inflammation, reduced levels of

cortisol and improved cardiovascular function during exercise. Take 1-6 g/day to get

most of the researched benefits.67-69

5. A pre-workout supplement, if desired. Studies support:

o Beta-alanine: 2-5g (2,000 – 5,000mg) for a slight impact on increasing muscular endurance, decreasing fatigue and fat mass, while increasing lean mass.70-73

o Caffeine: 4-6mg/kg bodyweight (~300mg) for increased alertness, decreased perceived exertion, increased training volume, power output and anaerobic capacity.74-78 I recommend only using as much as you feel you need, so as not to become dependent on it. Regularly using caffeine to mask poor recovery can become a real problem. If you are unable to productively get through a workout without caffeine, there’s an issue. It should aid performance, not act as a crutch.

*Note for college/pro athletes: supplements are not regulated. Choose ones that are certified by “NSF” on the label. These have been tested and are assured to actually have in them what the label claims, and will not contain contaminants that may lead to a failed drug test.

What about other supplements?

For all other supplement inquiries, refer to Examine.com, a supplement database that

summarizes all available research on a given supplement and provides unbiased

information on their efficacy. Fair warning: you will likely be shocked by how little

evidence there is supporting most supplements.

http://examine.com/supplements/Vitamin%20D

http://examine.com/supplements/Fish%20Oil

http://examine.com/supplements/Beta-Alanine/

http://examine.com/supplements/Caffeine

http://www.examine.com/


TOOLS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE NUTRITIONAL PYRAMID

Implementation of these nutritional rules can be tricky, which is why we guide our one-

on-one coaching clients carefully through the process from start to finish. Here are some

useful tools for actually putting into action much of the information covered above.

#1: Digital bodyweight scale

Daily measurements at the same time each day (both AM and PM), and under the same

conditions are important to appropriately gauge progress. Use average progress over a

2-week period, and don’t freak out if you have day-to-day fluctuations of 1-2 lbs (this is

normal due to transient changes in hydration, glycogen levels, etc.)

#2: Digital food scale

For beginners, a food scale is an absolute must to be able to accurately measure your

food portions for tracking. There is a steep learning curve, at least for the first couple

weeks. The food scale isn’t necessarily a long-term staple, but until you can estimate

your portions with about 90% accuracy, it’s a necessity.

#3: Tracking tools / database

While some old-school athletes like to use spreadsheets or notebooks to track their

food, this can be time-consuming and stressful. I recommend downloading a free

tracking app like MyFitnessPal. This allows you to enter all of your food, save meals, and

even scan item barcodes to have them directly added into your food log. This is a pain-

free way to consistently hit your calorie and macronutrient goals each day and ensure

consistent progress.

Putting it all together

Let’s take a look at what a sample day might look like in terms of food selection and

timing for an intermediate athlete looking to build muscle.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/


Sample Daily Nutrition: Intermediate (muscle gain)

Athlete: Ben Brewster Training Level: Intermediate Body Comp Goal: Gain muscle Energy Balance: +100-250 Kcal Starting Macros: 4,000 kCal, 187g +/-25g protein, 509g +/-25g carbs, 135g +/-10g fat. Supplements: 5g creatine monohydrate, 2,000 IU Vitamin D3, 1-6g fish oil, whey protein (as needed), pre-workout (as needed). ¾ 7-8am: Meal #1 – includes at least 30-40g protein, carbs and/or fats from whole

food sources. ~800 kCal. o Possible choice – 5-egg omelet with cheese, coffee, 1 cup vanilla Greek

yogurt, 1 handful of almonds, 1 cup water. ¾ 10-11am: Meal #2 – 1 ½ scoops whey protein mixed with water or 1 protein bar. ¾ 2 pm: Meal #3 - includes at least 30-40g protein, carbs and/or fats from whole

food sources. ~1,200 kCal. o Possible choice – Buffalo chicken wrap with extra meat, side salad with

extra veggies, 4 oz. whole-wheat pasta with butter, 1 cup water. ¾ 3pm: Training – Take pre-workout supplement if desired. ¾ 6pm: Meal #4 – includes at least 30-40g protein, carbs and/or fats from whole

food sources. ~1,000 kCal. o Possible choice – 2 cups beef chili over 2 cups cooked white rice. Veggies

mixed into chili or on the side. 1-cup water. ¾ 9-10pm: Meal #5 – Whey/casein protein shake mixed in blender to meet

remaining macros – add nut butters / full-fat milk to add fats, add frozen fruit, oats or ice cream to add carbs. Dial protein serving up or down to meet remaining macros.

o Possible choice – blend 1 scoop chocolate whey, 2 frozen bananas, ½ cup vanilla ice cream, 1 tbsp. peanut butter and 1 cup almond milk. Take all remaining supplements with 1 cup water.


ADDITIONAL RECOVERY MODALITIES

SLEEP

Everyone sleeps, but this plays such a large role in recovery that it must be mentioned

as a recovery modality. While a sound nutrition plan will drastically aid recovery, poor

sleeping patterns can mitigate many of the benefits of proper nutrition if not monitored.

Look, it’s no secret that we athletes need lots of sleep to recovery and perform

optimally – the problem is, few understand specifically what is happening to their

bodies when they fail to get adequate sleep. These recommendations simply pass in one

ear and out the other: Yeah yeah, I’ve heard this before. That’s great, but understanding

why will help ensure consistent compliance in the long run. Let’s get to it.

“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”

~ Thomas Jefferson


Effects of sleep deprivation:

As you might expect, missing out on sleep can jack up your training goals. Lack of quality

sleep is associated with impaired carbohydrate metabolism, appetite regulation,

cognitive performance, immune function and mood. This could not only screw with

focus and performance in training and competition, but one’s ability to follow consistent

nutrition habits.89 Furthermore, 24 to 48 hours of sleep deprivation is enough to elevate

urinary nitrogen excretion, which indicates a catabolic, muscle wasting state.79-81 This

muscle wasting was explicitly demonstrated in one study, where reducing sleep to 5.5

hours during a calorie deficit increased the percentage of weight lost as lean body mass

by 60%. 82-83 Even when not in a calorie deficit, sleep deprivation trashes an athlete’s

ability to recover. Studies show that 24 hours of deprivation reduces recovery rates to

just 72% of baseline, and to 42% after 48 hours.86

Sleep quality

All right, so seriously depriving sleep is an issue, but what about sleep quality? It turns

out, deep, uninterrupted, “slow-wave” sleep is when human growth hormone (HGH) is

at its highest levels – any interruptions of the sleep process will impair total HGH

release and therefore reduce some of its recovery benefits.87 This makes a strong case

for keeping your sleeping area dark, quiet and free from distractions.

Unsurprisingly, alcohol immediately before bed can reduce plasma growth hormone by

up to 75% from as little as 0.8grams/kg bodyweight, which corresponds to about 4

drinks for a 220lb male. While it may feel like alcohol promotes sleep, research shows

that the quality of this sleep is not comparable to natural sleep.88

Sleep extension

So what are the benefits to extending my sleep? It turns out there are benefits to mood,

reaction time and daytime alertness by extending sleep to 10 hours per night.84-85 If


that’s not enough, sleep extension may improve motor performance as well. One study

on division-one basketball players showed significantly quicker sprint times and free

throw accuracy (79% to 88%), when told to get at least 10 hours of sleep per night.90

Sleep Guidelines

¾ Aim for at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night (~56 hours per week) year-round. During competition (and especially the night before pitching), aim for 10 hours of quality sleep.90-91

¾ Avoid total sleep deprivation (such as pulling an “all-nighter” for an exam) in order to allow for total tissue repair.

¾ Go to bed in a regular, timely manner. Staying up half the night and “sleeping in” is not the same as going to bed at a more regular time.

¾ Avoid alcohol (as previously recommended), and certainly keep drinking to a minimum during intense training phases or the night before a game.


SOFT TISSUE / MOBILITY WORK

Soft tissue refers to tissues of the body that are soft – muscles, tendons, ligaments,

fascia and joint capsules. Soft tissue quality refers to the ability of the soft tissue to

function optimally, through full ranges of motion and without pain. Good tissue quality

is generally described as “limber” or “supple” – imagine how you feel immediately after

getting a deep tissue massage. For example, children generally have excellent soft

tissue quality – they exhibit full, uninhibited, pain-free ranges of motion. Injuries,

training stresses and environmental factors can over time lead to diminished soft tissue

quality – which will not only potentially inhibit range of motion and performance, but

can also delay recovery and lead directly or indirectly to injuries over time. Soft tissue

work can be broadly defined as work that addresses soft tissue quality, and includes

massage therapy, active release therapy (ART), Graston Technique®, self-myofascial

release (SMR), and many others. Though most people glance over this aspect of training,

its importance cannot be overstated for improving recovery, range of motion and

nagging aches/pains.136-137

Proposed mechanism of action

This is the predominant theory as to how soft tissue work exerts its beneficial effects.

When muscles are stressed – as through vigorous training, small tears in the muscle

occur. One the one hand, this stress is a necessary trigger for muscles to heal, adapt and

grow stronger. However, sometimes these “microtears” don’t heal properly, causing

muscle adhesions, which are essentially the tissues sticking to each other rather than

gliding smoothly during movement. Over time these adhesions can lead to decreased

blood flow, inhibited range of motion and loss of peak function. The goal of soft tissue

work is to gradually break up these adhesions, restoring tissue pliability, blood flow,

recovery and function over time. By diligently and properly doing soft tissue work, you

will not just feel and move better, but markedly reduce your chance of injury.


Self Myofascial Release (SMR)

This is work that you can do on yourself, and as such, is the most practical form of soft

tissue work for athletes to do routinely. A number of tools are used for SMR – there is

no single best tool, but here are some of the basics to add to your routines.

Foam Roller / PVC Pipe: a great tool for working out knots by rolling various body parts

over the object. Best for the mid back, lats, quadriceps, adductors, abductors and IT

band. Spending 5-10 minutes (or more) per day is a good starting point, depending on

your limitations and tissue quality.

Tennis ball / lacrosse ball: a more intense and pinpointed version of the foam roller,

these balls are painfully excellent for eliminating tight spots in the posterior shoulder,

anterior delts, pec minor, rhomboids, calves, glutes and more. Again, 5-10 minutes (or

more) per day is a good starting point. Exact SMR prescriptions are highly individualized

and based on the problem areas specific to the athlete. Because of the recovery

Say hello to your new best friends.


benefits, some athletes spend upwards of 60 minutes per day pinpointing every tight

and/or sore area, pushing their tissues to new levels of mobility. However, this is not

recommended for athletes just beginning a soft tissue routine, as intensity and duration

should be gradually increased over time. While some discomfort is normal, extreme pain

and or sensitivity should be avoided – use less aggressive implements to start (such as a

tennis ball) and build up to denser, more targeted implements over time (such as the

lacrosse ball and PVC pipe).

Other therapy techniques can be immensely helpful as well, but are beyond the scope

of this book. For baseball players, the most effective and commonly utilized ones are

massage therapy, active release therapy (ART) and Graston Technique®. Massage

therapy involves a therapist treating painful areas with their hands or fingers, while

Active Release Therapy is a more specialized manual therapy technique that involves

applying pressure to a trigger point while actively moving the tissue through a

lengthening range of motion.

Voodoo Floss Bands are a newly popular tool for reducing inflammation through

compression and active mobilization. To use them, you tightly wrap a band around the

An example of Graston Technique® for soft tissue quality.


joint, secure it, and then work the joint through various ranges of motion for a minute

or two. For minor tightness, swelling or pain, this can have an almost magical effect in

very little time. This is very effective as a post-throwing recovery modality, especially for

forearm, bicep and tricep soreness.

Graston Technique® involves using blunted metal

implements along with a massage cream or lotion to

“scrape” away muscle adhesions – this can be a

particularly aggressive technique that, as you can see

from my back (right), may initially leave bruising due to

the stress it places on the superficial tissues. Don’t be

fooled by the surface bruising, though. Try this once and

you will notice a significant difference.

Conclusions: I suggest seeking out a professional who has experience with these

techniques and determining how your body responds to them. For many athletes,

routine massage therapy work is an absolute game-changer.

Voodoo Floss Bands for cranky joints and improved recovery.


SAMPLE DAILY CHECKLIST

Calories: did you hit your overall calories within 100 kCal? Macros: did you hit your protein and carbs within +/- 25 grams and fat within +/- 10

grams? Did you hit your minimum fiber intake? Micros + Water: Did you eat 1-3 total pieces of fruit and have a serving of fibrous

veggies with the majority of your meals? Did you have at least 5 clear urinations throughout the day?

Meal Timing & Frequency: Did you space out your protein intake to at least 30-40 grams every 3-4 hours?

Supplements: Did you take your supplements, if applicable? General / Lifestyle: Did you choose mostly (~80%) whole foods? Did you get 8 hours

of sleep? Did you weigh yourself?

Note: implementing these nutritional habits is initially overwhelming for some athletes, which is why we use handy weekly tracking logs to monitor everything. Each log is specifically set up based on the athlete’s goals, and cells auto-update based on if values fall within target ranges. By constantly monitoring each athlete’s recovery, progress and adherence, we can better guide them through the training process step-by-step to ensure they are properly applying these concepts.

C h a p te r s i x Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 M P H Bo d y P 9 4

BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE TRAINING

PROGRAM As we covered earlier, everything we do in training is geared towards creating

adaptations to our physiology – to get bigger and stronger we need to eat more food

and progressively increase training stress over time. To develop power we need to first

build a solid strength base, and then combine this with lower-load, higher velocity

exercises performed in multiple planes of movement. Now let’s talk about the nuts and

bolts of an effective training program.

BALANCING VOLUME, INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY

How many sets/reps should you do? How heavy should those sets be? How many days

per week should you train? These are crucial questions to answer in any effective

training program. The interaction of volume, frequency and intensity will determine the

rate at which the adaptation / recovery process occurs. As you will see, volume,

intensity and frequency are inexorably linked variables within a training program that

must be carefully balanced.

Volume refers to the quantity of work done in a training session, week or cycle.

Generally, this is measured by the total number of reps done for a given muscle group.

10 total sets of 12 reps for the quadriceps (120 total reps) is far more volume than 8

total sets of 5 reps (40 total reps).

CHAPTER SIX


Too little volume will fail to signal adaptation and strength / hypertrophy gains. A higher

volume will lead to a higher training effect (up to a point). However, higher volumes also

take longer to recover from.

The effect of total volume and training stress on adaptation and recovery.

Note that too much volume will inhibit recovery, negatively affecting subsequent

training sessions, strength gains and hypertrophy.134

How much? A good starting point for volume, when it comes to building strength, is

about 40-70 reps per body part using a 6-12 rep max load, 2-3 times per week.135

Intensity generally refers to the amount of weight lifted, as a proportion of an athlete’s

1 repetition maximum. For example, if an athlete’s squat max is 300 lbs, doing 4 total

sets of 5 reps at 100 lbs (30% of 1 rep max) is a far lower intensity than doing the same

volume at 240 lbs (80% of 1 rep max).

Constantly training at too low of an intensity will fail to provide any significant training

stress and subsequent adaptation, while constantly training at very close to one’s

maximum all the time brings with it a high risk of burnout and joint pain, in addition to

making it difficult to achieve sufficient volume.134 In other words, if an athlete is maxing


out, or close to it, every single session, he may only be able to handle 10 or 15 reps per

muscle group at this intensity. At 75 to 85% 1RM, he may be able to handle well over 40

or 50 reps per muscle group while still recovering fully. It’s not hard to see why the

latter option may be a better range to base the majority of training off of.

Also remember, intensity relates to the physical characteristic being trained. Lifting

loads that cause failure within 1 to 6 reps (very heavy weights) favors maximum

strength adaptations, 6 to 12 reps favors hypertrophy and 15+ reps favors muscular

endurance.128 Other characteristics such as speed-strength and reactive ability are going

to use lighter loads than these, lifted explosively and typically for low reps (1 to 6).

How much? If the primary goal is strength and/or hypertrophy, training should occur in

the 1 to 15-rep range, with most of that taking place in the 6 to 12 rep range. For lighter

power-oriented work, training should occur in the 1 to 6-rep range to take advantage of

the maximal neural drive that occurs before muscular fatigue sets in.

Jack followed our program to a ‘T,” gained 27 lbs in 24 weeks and went from 76-77 to 85-87 mph at age 15.


Volume and intensity: an inverse relationship

Volume and intensity both contribute to total training stress, and so they must be balanced out to allow for recovery and adaptation.

An athlete can’t do high volume and high intensity and consistently recover from it.134 If the volume is high, the intensity will have to come down. On the flip side, if the intensity is very high, the volume will have to come down accordingly. This was shown explicitly in a 2006 study by Gonzalez-Badillo, which took 29 experienced weightlifters and had them train for 10 weeks, 4-5 days per week on either a low-volume/high intensity (LOW), moderate volume/high intensity (MOD), or high volume/high intensity (HIGH) program. The LOW group ended up performing 46 repetitions at 90-100% of 1RM over the 10 weeks, while the MOD and HIGH groups performed 93 and 184 repetitions respectively. Not only did the moderate group show the greatest strength gains, but also “all the subjects in HIGH were unable to fully accomplish the repetitions programmed.”134 Again, more is NOT better. Volume and intensity must be balanced to stimulate adaptation and to allow for recovery.

Frequency is simply how often these training sessions occur per week. Too little

frequency (i.e. once per week) makes it difficult to squeeze in sufficient weekly volume


while providing an unnecessarily long recovery time between training sessions.

Excessive frequency becomes impractical, and may lead to an “overreaching” or

“overtraining” effect, where recovery mechanisms don’t have time to catch up from

week to week.

As you can see, frequency must be balanced, along with volume and intensity, to

prevent either of these scenarios from occurring.

The effect of insufficient vs. excessive training frequency

The higher the frequency, the less time an athlete has between sessions and the less work he will be able to do while still being recovered for the following session. For example, training upper body twice per week (e.g. Mon/Thu = 72 hours of recovery) allows for longer, more stressful sessions than training it three times per week (e.g. Mon/Wed/Fri = 48 hours of recovery).

How much? For almost every scenario, training each muscle group two or three times

per week is a safe bet. If two, you’ll need to break up your upper and lower body work

(two sessions of each – four total per week). If three, you will typically be okay sticking

to three total body workouts per week.

Option #1: Upper body – day 1 & 4. Lower body – day 2 & 5 (Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri).

Option #2: Total body – day 1, 3 & 5 (Mon/Wed/Fri).


PROGRESSION / OVERLOAD

Any effective training program that prioritizes strength development must follow the

principle of Progressive Overload to be successful in the long term. The principle simply

states that in order for the body to adapt, it must be given a training or “overload”

stimulus that exceeds what it is accustomed to. This overload stimulus should be specific

to the intended purpose, be it maximum strength, strength-speed, speed-strength,

reactive ability, etc., although there may be substantial crossover between certain goals.

Stated simply, you must continue to progress your training sessions over time, or your

body will stop adapting! This is an incredibly fundamental principle, but so often

ignored by athletes attempting to achieve a given training goal who think that by just

“showing up” to the gym 4 days a week they are guaranteed continued progress.

Here are some ways to progress your training

1. Increase resistance – the amount of weight lifted, also called “intensity.”

2. Increase volume – the number of total weekly reps and sets per muscle.

3. Training density - shorten rest times between sets or exercises.

4. Increase complexity of exercise - add proprioceptive challenges, multi-part

movements, unstable surfaces, etc.

5. Increase/decrease range of motion – heavy partial reps or extended range of

motion variations.

6. Vary speed of movement/contraction - ballistic reps, isometric ‘pause’ reps,

eccentric ‘negative’ reps, etc.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Every individual will respond differently to training. Due to a huge number of factors,

both genetic (somatotype, hormones/recovery ability, anthropometry, etc.) and

environmental (stress, sleep, lifestyle, nutrition, etc.), every athlete will adapt differently

C h a p te r s i x Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 M P H Bo d y P 1 0 0

to the same training stimulus. Applying stimulus ‘X’ to athlete A might be too little stress

to trigger any adaptation at all, while that same stimulus might take athlete B a week to

adequately recover from.

Knowing not just to progress but how to progress requires intimate knowledge of both

the demands of the sport, and the specific training profile of each athlete. Additionally,

proper progression should be a dynamic process that constantly adjusts to the

individual. This process of adjusting training parameters on the fly is known as

autoregulation – the act of up or down regulating an athlete’s own training based upon

their physiological readiness. Being able to account for individual differences and

constantly adjust training on a week-by-week and day-by-day basis is why no “cookie

cutter” program will ever be as effective as one-to-one coaching, for truly optimal

progress.

EXERCISE SELECTION

There are thousands of exercises out there, so where do we start? How do we

effectively select, organize and execute key exercises that will help you reach your

performance goals as quickly (and safely) as possible? To answer this, we’re going to

delve into a few principles of exercise selection, and distill it down into usable and very

applicable recommendations.

1. Compound over isolation: Compound movements are movements that involve

multiple joints and multiple primary movers. Isolation exercises involve a single joint

and a single primary mover. It’s no secret that big, multi-joint movements are king for

packing on muscular strength and size.117-119 Not only is training compound movements

more economical in terms of time, but also it creates more total neurological and

hormonal stress, as more resistance can be used. The goal is to minimize and distill

exercise selection as much as possible without losing any effectiveness. This absolutely


doesn’t mean that isolation exercises have no place, but they should be used secondary

to compound movements to fill any apparent holes.

Compound (multi-joint) Isolation (single joint) Push-Up Pull-Up

Back Squat Deadlift

Chest fly Bicep curl

Seated leg extension Seated leg curl

2. Know the limiting factor: in every movement, there will be a muscle group that fails

first – this is the muscle that is primarily being targeted by the exercise. As such,

secondary musculature may receive insufficient stimulation if the exercise always ends

prematurely. In most individuals, for example, the triceps (not the pecs) are the limiting

factor in a bench press, while the biceps (not the lats) are the limiting factor in a chin-up

or lat pull-down. This means that neither of these exercises alone will be ever fully

fatigue those muscle fibers. For an individual already crushing chin-ups and bench press

variations, adding extra bicep and tricep work may be unnecessary, while adding in

extra pectoral and lat isolation work may be a great idea. Another common limiting

factor is grip strength – if the forearm flexors fail in a deadlift before the glutes and

hamstrings, the training stress isn’t going where it is supposed to. A solution here would

be to use lifting straps on particularly heavy or high-rep sets in order to fully stimulate

the target muscles, while progressively strengthening the forearms over time until they

are no longer a limiting factor.

Exercise Potential limiting factor/s Push-Up Pull-Up

Back Squat Deadlift

Triceps Biceps

Low back or quadriceps Grip, low back or glutes


3. Must use a full (but safe) range of motion: Training muscles through a fuller range of

motion not only increases strength and rate of growth better than training partials, but

may also improve tissue length and flexibility better than static stretching.111,114-115

The

one caveat is when added range of motion begins to take the body outside of

anatomically safe positions or form begins to break down, such as significant lumbar

rounding during a squat. Limit the range to clean and full reps, stay within ranges that

allow for perfect execution, and work to improve mobility over time to allow for more

optimal positions to be achieved. There is never an excuse for training with poor form.

Good range of motion Bad range of motion

¾ Full squats as low as possible while maintaining a neutral lumbar spine.

¾ Full range push-ups getting a slight stretch at the bottom and touching the chest to the ground.

¾ Partial rep squats or excessively deep squats where the lumbar spine begins to round.

¾ Half rep push-ups or excessively deep push-ups on handles that hyperextend the shoulder.

Note: there are occasions when partial range of motion exercises can be useful, particularly when rehabilitating injuries or overcoming sticking points in an exercise. That being said, these occasions are rare. 4. Closed-chain over open-chain: Closed chain exercises are exercises where the object

being moved is your body, i.e. a push-up. Open chain exercises involve moving an

external load while the body remains relatively static, i.e. a bench press. In both

examples, the same musculature is being worked through a similar range of motion,

however, the closed chain variation is potentially superior as far as muscular activation

and tissue stress distribution. This is because closed chain exercises allow more freedom

of movement, allowing the joints and segments to orient themselves such that the

stress is distributed more to the muscles as opposed to the joints.109-110 The body isn’t

made to move in fixed ranges of motion – joints are rotational in nature, and each

individual has unique anthropometry (limb lengths, joint angles, etc.) that cannot be

accounted for using primarily open-chain (including machine-based) training.112


A great example is the barbell bicep curl vs. a weighted inverted row using gymnastic

rings or TRX straps. The fixed range of motion of the barbell curl restricts the biceps

from doing its job (flex and externally rotate the elbow) and locks the wrist joint in a

position that sends much of the stress to the joint, rather than the target muscle. A

weighted inverted row on rings or TRX straps allows the joints to dynamically adjust and

self-align throughout the range of motion to allow for optimal distribution of stress. Not

only does that make closed-chain movements generally safer and more effective, but it

is widely believed for these reasons that closed chain exercises are therefore more

“functional” and may have more sports “carry-over” than open-chain exercises,

although that’s a story for another day. 113,116 Should you never do open-chain

exercises? That’s not what I’m getting at; I’m just saying that the backbone of a solid

training program should consist of closed-chain movements.

Closed-chain Open-chain Push-up

Squat Nordic leg curl

Bench press Leg press

Seated leg curl

5. Must allow for incremental progression: Driving continual growth and adaptation

requires continually increased training demands – we covered this in the progressive

overload section. Doing this sounds simple, but it’s difficult to gauge progress if an

exercise cannot be incrementally progressed and measured over time.122 All else being

equal, the exercise that allows for systematic measurement and progression will lead to

superior results in the long term. This is why techniques like manual resistance or

resistance bands have only limited use for most strength training purposes – they are

difficult to objectively and incrementally measure and progress.

6. Type of contraction: Not all contractions are created equal. Muscles primarily

contract in three ways: eccentrically, concentrically and isometrically. An eccentric

https://youtu.be/w4vQcST4pMw

https://youtu.be/w4vQcST4pMw


contraction corresponds to the “negative” phase in most movements, and involves a

muscle lengthening under load (think lowering slowly to the bottom of a squat). An

isometric contraction corresponds to the “pause” in a movement, and involves a muscle

contracting against a load without any net movement (think the pause at the bottom of

a squat, however brief). A concentric contraction corresponds to the “positive” phase in

most movements, and involves a muscle shortening under load (think rising back to the

top of a squat).

For building size and strength, traditional exercises that involve all three types of

contractions are typically best. However, there are scenarios where emphasizing one

type of contraction may be beneficial –

¾ Adding slow negatives (added eccentrics) is useful to increase tissue stress,

reinforce good technique and stimulate hypertrophy.

¾ Adding pause reps (isometric holds) is useful to strengthen muscles at specific

joint angles, reinforce good technique, and eliminate the stretch-reflex, placing

more of the load on the actual musculature for athletes who have a tendency to

“bounce” their reps.

¾ Using concentric-only exercises like sled pushes, concentric deadlifts, etc., is

useful in-season or as a substitute when an athlete needs to be fresh for the

following day. Eliminating the soreness-causing eccentric phase will enhance

recovery while still giving a reasonable training stimulus.

7. Accommodating the strength curve: The strength curve of a movement is essentially

how much force the muscu+lature can produce at a given point within the range of

motion. In a squat or a push-up, the body is more powerful at the top end of the range

of motion as opposed to the bottom of the movement. To maximally stimulating a

muscle requires maximally stimulating it at every point within the working range of

motion, not just the middle ranges. Few exercises do this on their own – they only

create maximal stimulation at the “sticking point” – i.e. at the bottom or mid range of a


squat, at 90 degrees in a standing bicep curl, or at the bottom of a push-up. The best

exercises accommodate the strength curve, by adding resistance to the easy parts of the

range of motion in order to create a more effective exercise. Imagine getting near-

maximal muscle stimulation through the entire range of motion as opposed to only

within a small sliver of that range of motion. Some exercises naturally accommodate the

strength curve, but they are rare. A better solution:

Bands and Chains: Adding resistance in the form of bands or chains totally changes the

dynamic of the movement, and is by far one of the most widely underutilized strategies

in the field of sports performance.120-121 Be careful though, you just want to add enough

resistance so that the easy part of the movement is now difficult, but not so much that

you have to significantly lighten the previously difficult part of the movement. Because

it’s hard to fine-tune exactly how much accommodating resistance to use, start

conservatively and experiment. To give you some reference, an individual who typically

reps 300 lbs in the squat should, in most cases be able to keep almost as much weight

Chains and bands accommodate the strength curve.


on the bar (i.e. 250 or 275lbs), while increasing the weight at the top of the movement

by 50 or even 100+ lbs. The end result should be a smooth contraction with no sticking

points – and difficult throughout the entire range of the lift.

8. Risk vs. Reward: This one gets butchered all the time in the strength and conditioning

industry. There is a certain amount of risk inherent in any training regimen or exercise,

but that risk can be almost entirely mitigated under the right circumstances. It becomes

necessary to weigh the potential benefits of the exercise vs. any risks associated with

performing that exercise. Does this exercise lend itself to rapid deterioration in form

under fatigue? Is this exercise highly technical with potential for serious injury should

something go wrong? Are there safer available variations that give the same training

effect?

Note: the “million dollar arm” rule for exercise selection

As a strength coach, I treat each one of my athletes as though he is a professional athlete with a “million dollar arm.” As such, any excessive risk that does not bring with it an exponentially greater benefit is unacceptable. This is not to say that a developing high school pitcher needs the exact training parameters as a mature pro pitcher, but there is no excuse for programming exercises for amateur athletes that a coach wouldn’t also be comfortable programming for a Clayton Kershaw or a David Price.

Below are some commonly programmed exercises that have over time been shown to

have less-than-optimal risk: reward ratios and could be substituted with better

alternatives. Keep in mind that if you perform these exercises, it doesn’t mean that you

will get injured, just that over time and over a larger sample size, these exercises tend

to cause issues at higher rates than their alternatives. Look, I’m not saying I’ve never

done any of these exercises, I’m just saying I’ve learned lessons the hard way and seen

lots of other athletes do so as well. Save yourself the pain and take these

recommendations to heart.


EXERCISES WITH POOR RISK VS. REWARD

Exercise Stupidity / 10

Explanation Substitute

High box jump 8 / 10 The jump trains powerful knee, hip, and ankle extension. A low box softens the landing with minimal risk. A high box contributes nothing besides a massive risk of falling.

Squat jump or low box jump.

Power clean variations 7 / 10

Cleans are a common way to load up explosive knee/hip/ankle extension. Unfortunately, they take years to master even with great instruction and carry a heavy risk of back, elbow and wrist injury.

Speed deadlift variations (bands/ chains) or high pulls.

Power snatch 10 / 10 Same as above, although the shoulders are in an even more biomechanically risky position. Not great for a group of athletes who are already known for having general shoulder instability.

Dumbbell snatch or snatch-grip high pull.

Straight bar/ chair dips 6 / 10 Poor anatomical position, especially for taller athletes with longer arms.

Unnecessary risk of anterior shoulder issues.

Push-up variations through full range of motion.

Overhead pressing 4 / 10 May be applicable in some cases, but carries a risk of impingement issues

depending on the athlete and his mobility/anatomy. Medium / low incline pressing

Barbell bicep curls 5 / 10 Commonly causes wrist pain due to the fully supinated grip and fixed

range of motion. Dumbbell or TRX bicep curls.

Barbell bench press 5 / 10

May be fine for some athletes, but form is generally butchered. High frequency of anterior shoulder problems due to bad technique, insufficient mobility and/or overuse. An open-chain exercise that is less forgiving than its dumbbell or closed-chain counterparts.

Dumbbell bench press, weighted or blast strap push-ups.

Kipping pull-ups 11 / 10

Most athletes performing these don’t have the sufficient strength (and joint integrity) to perform true bodyweight pull-ups, and use this as a cheating variation. Unfortunately, violently yanking a weak and unstable joint into hyperflexion isn’t the best idea. Nice job, Crossfit.

Chin-ups / inverted rows from rings or TRX handles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dvp4Q1y7tI

https://youtu.be/OmdsfUE2PrQ

https://youtu.be/dRJvWLsXaFY

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRPrHgDpkQ

https://youtu.be/qnjYyfkcaNI?t=3m32s


ORGANIZING YOUR TRAINING CYCLES

Beginners – keep it simple with linear progression!

If you are a novice when it comes to resistance training: congratulations! You don’t have

to worry about the following section on periodization quite yet (although technically this

is a basic form of periodization as well). Novice lifters can actually recover rather

quickly, due to the fact that they aren’t strong enough to create very significant training

stress. Because novices can make rapid increases in strength while still recovering quite

quickly, they don’t need to worry about following more advanced programming.

Advanced programming primarily exists as a way to build in more recovery and

specificity into a training plan by varying volume, intensity, exercise selection, etc. This

means, if you can make progress, while recovering, on a basic beginner plan – absolutely

do so for as long as you can!

Linear progression doesn’t try to carefully balance training variables with planned cycles

and deload weeks. A novice will be responding so powerfully to the volume and

intensity of a basic heavy lifting regimen that there is no need to overcomplicate the

process. Every session, the attempt will be to increase intensity (i.e. weight lifted) for

each set, thereby increasing the total training stress.

Example: Day 1: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 100 lbs Day 2: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 110 lbs Day 3: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 120 lbs Day 4: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 125 lbs …You get the idea. This will work remarkably well up until a point, that point being

where the novice is strong enough such that the training stress he is incurring cannot be

fully recovered from between sessions. At this point, progress will plateau and the

novice will need to transition to an intermediate, periodized plan.


Periodization for intermediate and advanced athletes

Past a certain point, constructing an optimal training program requires some sort of

systematic organization on both a large and small scale (day, week, month and year).

This approach, called periodization, organizes training into cycles. The macrocycle is the

organization of your entire training phase, and usually spans 4 to 6 months. A mesocycle

is usually a period of 4 to 6 weeks, although we will use a single month for simplicity.

This block typically has one or more very specific training goals that differentiate it from

the other mesocycles: for example, building maximum strength. A microcycle generally

refers to a single week of training, and tends to include between 3 and 6 training

sessions. Each individual training session has a focus as well – generally either “upper-

body,” “lower-body” or “total body.” These sessions should be divided up within each

microcycle to maximize recovery, with at least 48-72 hours between training the same

muscle group.

Sample Off-Season Baseball Periodization Plan

= Recovery period / de-load week

Notice how the macrocycle encompasses the entire offseason phase, while each month

is designated as a mesocycle that encompasses four smaller microcycles. In this case,


the total training stress (volume x intensity) of each microcycle increases for three

consecutive weeks, with a brief deload week where the training stress is reduced. The

pattern is then repeated, with total training stress gradually increasing over time.

There is only one “type” of periodization

Yes – I said it. For a more in-depth look into this concept, please read this article by Greg

Nuckols. The bottom line is this – people talk about periodization as though the

different iterations of it are mutually exclusive from one another. They aren’t – in fact;

they all share the same three main components, just to varying degrees. Remember,

these are just the elements that we can modify to make sure our programs keep

working optimally over time.

1. Linearity (progressive overload) – progressing a training variable or variables,

such as sets, reps or intensity in a linear fashion.

2. Undulation – changing the training volume and/or intensity to change the stress

on the body or develop different physical characteristics.

3. Exercise variation - changing or rotating exercises to change the stress on the

body or develop different physical characteristics.

When and how to apply these components becomes the question. Each element can be

applied on different time scales, such as between training sessions, microcycles (from

week to week), mesocycles (from month to month), or macrocycles.

Linearity (progressive overload)

A less advanced athlete might be able to use linearity from training session to training

session (i.e. increase squat weight/reps/sets on Monday and again on Wednesday),

while a more advanced athlete may only be able to use it from week to week (i.e.

increase squat weight/reps/sets on Monday and not again until the following Monday).

http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/10/29/one-type-periodization-part-1/


Linearity should be used as much as possible. If you can add weight/reps/sets every

session, do so. Most intermediate athletes won’t be able to do this indefinitely, but

should be able to progress each lift from week to week at the very least.

Undulation

Undulation may take place from training session to training session (i.e. 3x10 squats on

Monday, 5x5 squats on Wednesday), from week to week (i.e. 3x10 squats on Monday,

5x5 squats the following Monday), or from month to month (i.e. 3x10 squats every

Monday for month 1, and 5x5 squats every Monday for month 2). Unfortunately, there

is no solid answer for the optimal amount of undulation. Some undulation or variation is

better than none, and there are plenty of effective programs that utilize it in different

ways and on different timelines.133 For intermediates, undulating from training session

to training session and from month to month is generally a good idea (for example, a

“max strength” squat day and a “strength-speed” squat day each week). Each month,

slightly change the sets/reps/weight for each day to change the stress on the body or

the physical characteristic desired (i.e. speed-strength or reactive squats).

Exercise variation

There isn’t a clear answer as to how much exercise variation is necessary or how many

total different exercises should be included in a program. However, some variation is

better than none.129 This intuitively makes sense, as different exercises will hit muscles

at different angles, with different strength curves and loading vectors, and through

slightly different ranges of motion.129 Exercises can obviously be varied training session

to training session (i.e. back squats on Monday and front squats on Wednesday), week

to week (i.e. back squats on Monday of weeks 1 and 3, and front squats on weeks 2 and

4), and month to month (back squats all month 1, front squats all month 2). Variation is

generally a good thing, but varying too many exercises too frequently can make it

difficult to gauge steady progress. Thus, we recommend sticking to a fairly steady


backbone of exercises so you can consistently judge improvement. Varying between

training sessions is okay (i.e. a back squat day and front squat day each week), but

week-to-week variation may undermine progress. Sticking with a movement for at least

a month allows an athlete to view their progression on that movement. As long as it is

progressing, there is no real need to vary things up – as the saying goes: “don’t fix what

ain’t broke!”

Here are some examples, now that we have established that there is only one type of

periodization, and that different forms of it are just different ways of manipulating the

exact same variables.

Traditional (linear) periodization

Typically, volume starts high and intensity starts low. Each week, intensity is increased,

with a corresponding reduction in volume. This process is then repeated for the

following mesocycle, this time with higher starting volume/intensity. It employs linearity

from month to month, undulation from week to week, and may or may not utilize

exercise variation depending on how a coach decides to structure it.

Traditional periodization – Descending volume, ascending intensity

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Volume Intensity


Here is an example of this type of periodization for a given exercise. Let’s use a single

arm dumbbell bench press with a starting 1-rep max of 100 lbs.

Month 1 Week 1: Day 1 - 3x12@60lbs, Day 2 – 3x12@60lbs Week 2: Day 1 - 3x10@70lbs, Day 2 – 3x10@70lbs

Week 3: Day 1 - 3x8@80lbs, Day 2 – 3x8@80lbs Week 4: Day 1 - 3x6@90lbs, Day 2 – 3x6@90lbs

Month 2 Week 5: Day 1 - 3x12@65lbs, Day 2 – 3x12@65lbs

Week 6: Day 1 - 3x10@75lbs, Day 2 – 3x10@75lbs Week 7: Day 1 - 3x8@85lbs, Day 2 – 3x8@85lbs Week 8: Day 1 - 3x6@95lbs, Day 2 – 3x6@95lbs

Month 3 Week 9: Day 1 - 3x12@70lbs, Day 2 – 3x12@70lbs


In this example, the 1 rep max of 100 lbs is now the conservative 6-rep max. This estimates the new 1 rep max at about 115 lbs. Note: Click here for how to calculate your 1 rep max on an exercise.

Block Periodization

This method is similar to “traditional periodization,” except that, instead of adjusting rep

ranges each week, they are adjusted each mesocycle to allow more time for focusing on

developing a specific physical characteristic. Therefore, linearity or progressive overload

is used training session to training session and week to week within each mesocycle.

Undulation is used month to month, and exercise variation may or may not be used,

depending on how the coach decides to structure it.

Here’s an example. Let’s use a single arm dumbbell bench press with a starting 1-rep

max of 100 lbs.

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html


Month 1 (Endurance): 3 sets of 10-12 reps Week 1: Day 1 - 3x10@60lbs, Day 2 – 3x11@60lbs Week 2: Day 1 - 3x12@60lbs, Day 2 – 3x9@65lbs

Week 3: Day 1 - 3x11@65lbs, Day 2 – 3x12@65lbs Week 4: Day 1 - 3x10@70lbs, Day 2 – 3x12@70lbs

Month 2 (Hypertrophy): 3 sets of 8-10 reps Week 5: Day 1 - 3x10@75lbs, Day 2 – 3x7@80lbs


Month 3 (Strength): 3 sets of 4-8 reps Week 9: Day 1 - 3x7@90lbs, Day 2 – 3x8@90lbs Week 10: Day 1 - 3x4@95lbs, Day 2 – 3x5@95lbs Week 11: Day 1 - 3x8@95lbs, Day 2 – 3x7@95lbs Week 12: Day 1 - 3x9@95lbs, Day 2 – 3x5@100lbs

In this example, the 1 rep max of 100 lbs is now the conservative 5-rep max. This estimates the new 1 rep max at about 115 lbs.

Daily Undulating Periodization

This method is very similar to the others, with the major difference being that set/rep

ranges are varied training session to training session as opposed to week to week

(traditional periodization) or month to month (block periodization). The idea here is to

constantly be providing a novel training stimulus in order to trigger muscle growth.

An example, using the same starting 100 lb 1RM as before:

Month 1 Week 1: Day 1 (Endurance)- 3x12@60lbs, Day 2 (Hypertrophy) – 3x10@65lbs Week 2: Day 1 (Strength) - 3x6@75lbs,

Day 2 (Strength-speed) – 3x3@60lbs Week 3: Day 1 (Endurance)- 3x12@65lbs,

Day 2 (Hypertrophy) – 3x10@70lbs Week 4: Day 1 (Strength) - 3x6@80lbs,

Day 2 (Strength-speed) – 3x3@65lbs Month 2 Week 5: Day 1 (Endurance)- 3x12@70lbs, Day 2 (Hypertrophy) – 3x10@75lbs


Week 6: Day 1 (Strength) - 3x6@85lbs, Day 2 (Strength-speed) – 3x3@70lbs

Week 7: Day 1 (Endurance)- 3x12@75lbs, Day 2 (Hypertrophy) – 3x10@80lbs Week 8: Day 1 (Strength) - 3x6@90lbs,

Day 2 (Strength-speed) – 3x3@75lbs Month 1 Week 9: Day 1 (Endurance)- 3x12@80lbs, Day 2 (Hypertrophy) – 3x10@85lbs Week 10: Day 1 (Strength) - 3x6@95lbs,

Day 2 (Strength-speed) – 3x3@60lbs Week 11: Day 1 (Endurance)- 3x12@85lbs,

Day 2 (Hypertrophy) – 3x10@90lbs Week 12: Day 1 (Strength) - 3x6@100lbs,

Day 2 (Strength-speed) – 3x3@65lbs

You’ll notice that in all of the examples, the primary goals were strength and

hypertrophy, and this hypothetical athlete made sweet gains, ending with similar

improvements on each type of periodization. He trained the movement twice per week,

which means that all of these examples used a four-day upper/lower split.

As you can see, there are lots of effective ways to organize things, and while some form

of periodization is better than no form, research has not yet identified which form is

superior, although not for lack of trying.

Sound complicated?

Don’t worry. We take all of these factors into consideration when designing custom strength programs for our athletes. At the end of the day, taking all of the guesswork out of the training process allows you to focus on what really matters: bringing consistent effort day in and day out.

http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/strength/tables/#35



http://www.treadathletics.com/home/

http://www.treadathletics.com/home/


STRUCTURING INDIVIDUAL TRAINING SESSIONS

Once you have the details mapped out, structuring the individual sessions is just about

piecing all of the information together. Some things to consider when doing this:

Exercise order: generally, neurally fatiguing work, such as maximum strength or speed-

strength work should come before general hypertrophy and accessory work.

Movements per muscle group: generally 2-3 movements per muscle group is sufficient

per training session, and any more than 5-6 per mesocycle tends to be too much

variation. Each of these movements should offer something the others don’t – for

example; blast strap push-ups or incline landmine presses offer distinctly different

stimuli for the pressing musculature than a dumbbell bench press. Pick your money

movements for each muscle group, making sure each one has a distinct purpose, and

progress the hell out of them!

Super-sets / tri-sets: nobody wants to be in the weight room for hours on end. That

being said, a useful trick is to do a superset – perform sets back to back of two different

exercises to spend less time just sitting around resting. This should generally only be

done in a way such that the second exercise does not interfere with the recovery of the

first exercise. For example, super-setting a “push” with a “pull” makes sense, but not a

“push” with a “push.” For your one or two main lifts of the day, you may want to avoid

supersetting, so as to focus all of your energy and attention on your primary movement.

Timing: although there is some evidence that training in the evening is superior to

training in the morning with regards to power output, the effect is marginal at best.130

The main factor to consider is how the timing of your training interacts with your

throwing and baseball-specific work. For any training that goes beyond a maintenance-

level volume, we recommend training after your throwing for the day. This is because

regularly throwing through arm fatigue is associated with a 36-fold increase in risk of


arm injury.131 The muscles that are involved in stabilizing, accelerating and decelerating

the arm during throwing are less able to do their job in a fatigued state. Getting much

more in depth on this topic is beyond the scope of this e-book, although we hope that

this information will get you started.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Conditioning work

You do need a base level of aerobic conditioning, especially as a starting pitcher, in

order to say you have truly maximized your physical preparation. There are recovery

and cardiovascular benefits to aerobic fitness and conditioning. That being said,

conditioning is WAY overdone in the baseball realm. The hard truth that nobody is

willing to say is that coaches generally use daily conditioning as a time-filler. Pitchers

don’t typically need five hours to get their work in, while hitters may. Thus, running

bridges the gap as something for them to do during down time. Second, it is one of

Sean gained 31 lbs in 24 weeks with our coaching and touched 93 mph for the first time.

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/long-duration-low-intensity-cardio/

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/long-duration-low-intensity-cardio/


those traditions that have stuck with the culture of the game for decades, although

there has been a shift from distance running to sprint-work in recent years. The bottom

line is this: have a purpose. If your goal is to build a base of aerobic or anaerobic fitness

while positively impacting day-to-day recovery, do you need to be running six days a

week to achieve that goal, or would three days suffice? Do you have a way of measuring

and progressing this conditioning work or is it just the same thing over and over again?

For athletes who are being run into the ground by their high school or college coaches, I

feel for you. Aching joints, shin splints and impaired recovery are nothing to be proud

of, but you do have some control in the situation. Re-double your efforts on recovery

work each day, and be sure to start on the conservative end when it comes to your total

training volume. Stay on top of your soft tissue work, and above all else, aim to hit our

minimum sleep guidelines.

We don’t have specific conditioning recommendations, as it ranks very low on the

priority list for most athletes looking to increase velocity and performance. Rarely is too

little conditioning a limiting factor, although often the reverse is true. Whatever

moderate benefits can be derived from conditioning for throwing athletes should be

attainable in 2-4 sessions per week of 10 to 20 minutes, with an emphasis on anaerobic

work (sprint variations, agility circuits, Airdyne bike intervals, slide board intervals, etc.).

Injury prevention and pre-hab work

Injuries are a part of sports, but proper training and preparation will be able to minimize

these risks. Evaluation and assessments help identify weak links that may be

predisposing an athlete to injury. Individualized training and nutrition addresses these

weak links and maximizes recovery. Progressive throwing programs that properly utilize

various tools such as long toss or weighted balls allow the body to slowly and safely

build up to higher work capacities and levels of performance. The overarching theme

for injury prevention, however, is auto-regulation. This is being able to self-regulate or


adjust workloads up or down (ideally with the feedback of an experienced coach), based

on progress, fatigue, soreness, etc.

An example of auto-regulation:

Billy is getting ready to train lower body today. He had a final exam this morning and

was up all night studying for it. He has barely eaten any food all day and doesn’t feel

fresh, motivated or recovered.

He has some options for his training session:

a. Take some serious stimulants and push through a hard workout, digging

himself into a deeper recovery deficit

b. Push back the workout by a day or two until he is recovered.

c. Reduce the volume or intensity of the current workout to compensate for his

lack of recovery but still get some training effect.

It is not surprising that most athletes and coaches choose option a). After all, a coach

can’t allow certain players to not follow his cookie-cutter program to a “T,” as that

would undermine his authority. While b) may be a better option, it’s not as realistic in a

team setting with structured training times. In fact, some variation of c) is actually the

best bet.132

It isn’t hard to see why this concept should be applied to throwing as well. Obviously,

most pitchers already do this on some level, i.e. throwing lighter on days they are sore.

However, this can and should be structured into progressive throwing programs.

Although we do offer these to our clients, a good rule of thumb to use is simply to

“listen” to your arm and do as much as your arm will allow on a given day. This does not

mean blowing it out every day and throwing until your arm is hanging, but it also

doesn’t mean babying your arm for ten minutes a day, never going past 60 feet and only

throwing with any real intensity when you enter a game.


In-season vs. off-season training

Big time development happens in the offseason. This is when an athlete can prioritize

his training and handle the types of throwing and training volumes necessary to make

real progress. The problem with baseball is that there is so little time to develop due to

constant competition. As a player, always being called on to compete at a high level

means that development gets put on the backburner. You can’t risk being sore if you are

constantly being evaluated on the field and fighting for playing time.

The typical college pitcher is being asked to throw for six to eight weeks during fall ball,

and then from January through August with pre-season scrimmages, in-season games

and summer ball games. There is such a small window for development that it’s no

wonder many players struggle to make noticeable improvements from year to year. The

bottom line is that during the season, training volume must be lowered so that strength

gains are maintained, but not lost.

The main focus in-season will be putting on display the improvements made in the

previous off-season, and making slight refinements in terms of the psychological,

technical or tactical aspects of performance. Conversely, there is so little time in the

offseason that pitchers must enter armed with a plan of attack. This is precious time

that must be used wisely in order to set the athlete up for success and improvement the

following season.


Take control of your career

Chase after and tackle your dreams, don’t passively follow the status quo. That is the

fastest route to mediocrity.

I believe in pushing the envelope, constant self-improvement and swallowing the

occasional clump of protein powder in your blender bottle.

Why? Because that’s what it takes.

I have been in your shoes, and I have navigated through the maze of high school, college

and (currently) professional baseball. I urge you to take the road less traveled, to

continue doing those things that your teammates are not willing to do.

The game doesn’t lie – if baseball is your number 3 or 4 priority behind partying or

drinking, it will be exposed as such before long. More than anything, I urge you to refuse

to accept mediocrity for yourself. Your brain will try to impose subconscious limitations

on you at every turn in the road; you must push through those limitations and keep

going. Pour your heart and soul into the game and it will reward you - both on the field

and off.

“Who you become in the process of chasing your dreams is more important than actually achieving them.”

~ Roger Law


Excellence is a choice

Take the information within this book and apply it. Become the very best version of

yourself. Use the new tools at your disposal to begin to mold your body into its most

powerful and athletic form. Continue refining your mechanics, pushing the boundaries

of your delivery and your athleticism. Continue becoming a student of the game,

learning to command your emotions, rather than letting them command you.

Apply this information, but don’t do so in isolation. Start to piece together your own

training philosophy, your own routines, and take pride in your preparation each day.

Remember, you don’t have to have the most talent – I sure didn’t. But what I did have

was a fierce and unbreakable desire to see just how far I could push myself. If a skinny

lefty throwing 73 miles per hour can do it, what’s your excuse?

It’s time to get to work and take what’s yours.

“Life is just a game of inches…these inches we need are everywhere around us. We fight for that inch…because when we add up all those inches, that’s going to make the difference between winning and losing.”

~ Al Pacino


INDIVIDUALIZED PERFORMANCE COACHING

If you liked what you learned here and want to take the next step, we offer

individualized coaching to a select number of athletes. We take all of the guesswork out

of the training process so you can focus on what’s most important – crushing your goals.

For more information, and to stay up to date on our latest free content, please visit us

at www.treadathletics.com and don’t forget to like us on Facebook.

Here’s to reaching your potential,

Ben Brewster

Founder of TreadAthletics

Our coaching includes a custom monthly training regimen…and much more.

http://www.treadathletics.com/

http://www.facebook.com/TreadAthletics

Re fe re n c es Bu i ld in g th e 9 5 M P H Bo d y P 1 2 4

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BUILDING · To two of my earliest training influences, Paul Nyman and Eric Cressey, whose groundbreaking work helped kick start my passion for strength, velocity and athletic performance