Improving pitching mechanics so that needed adjustments stick is
challenging. Many pitchers, although they want to make changes in their
mechanics and have good intentions, find that the improvements they
hoped to make do not stick. So they revert back to their old way.
This is very common and probably occurs more often than not for many
good reasons. It’s the main reason why most pitchers do not improve
during the off-season.
Many pitchers are not able to improve their pitching mechanics during the off-season because of the following reasons:
1. they are working on correcting the wrong mechanical fault
2. they work on too many aspects of pitching mechanics at a time
3. they do not do enough repetitions of the new way during each practice session
4. they don’t take enough time in between each new trial pitch so that the brain learns the new way
5. they do not use video feedback to see if the improvements are actually occurring
This article will address #4 in the above list and why not taking
enough time in between each new trial pitch is one of the big reasons
why changes to pitching mechanics don’t work.
This is also true for ball control.
I am sure you have seen many pitchers simply throw their practice
bullpens in a “rapid fire” fashion throwing pitch after pitch without
taking time in between. In fact if you watch most high school bullpens
you will see that pitchers do not throw enough pitches to not only warm
up properly but to prepare themselves for the first inning.
If enough pitches are not thrown with time taken in between each
pitch then the pitcher will normally not have good ball control during
the first part of the game. In fact, you may have seen this happen
often. The pitcher just can’t seem to get through the first couple of
innings before he is walking hitters or giving up too many hits and
runs.
The problem is he just did not take enough time so that his brain was
able to teach his body how to control the ball. The brain is in charge.
Plus there is no such thing as muscle memory.
When we do a lot of repetitions with time taken in between each trial
we are able to learn something. If there is little to no time taken in
between trials, then learning does not occur.
This is true in the case of baseball as well as other sports.
Here’s How To Improve Pitching Mechanics A Proven Way Based On Real Research
Above I outlined 5 ways to improve pitching mechanics during the
off-season so that the new changes would stick and become unconscious.
All of those 5 aspects should be taken into consideration for
improvement to occur in mechanics during the off-season.
Most pitchers, as well as many coaches and instructors in my
experience, do not understand that because pitching is such a highly
skilled action that many more practice repetitions are required than
most think.
If enough practice repetitions are not performed then relearning a
new aspect of mechanics will not likely occur. Thus the pitcher reverts
back to his old way. His mechanics nor his pitching velocity improve.
Many just get closer to an arm injury.
The same thinking goes into understanding that enough time must be
taken in between pitches during practice trials in order for re-learning
of the new way to occur.
Thus instead of throwing practice pitches one after the other, time
should be taken in between each pitch. This time could be used to take a
deep breath, look around, have some water and possibly think about the
result that the pitcher wants to produce on the next practice pitch
trial.
One thing we know about pitching is that one way to avoid fatigue
during practice, which can deteriorate mechanics, is to take at least 20
seconds in between pitches so that the body can physically recover
before throwing the next one. The muscles must have enough time to
recharge.
Plus now that we know that by taking this additional time based on
the study below, the pitcher creates two benefits – less fatigue and
more learning.
The study below provides the evidence about this new way of learning.
BETWEEN TRIALS ACTIVITY
Magill, R., & Lee, T. D. (1984, October). Interference during the
post-KR interval can enhance learning motor skills. Paper presented at
the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Psychomotor Learning
and Sport Psychology, Kingston, ON.
Several conditions of post-trial activity were evaluated for effect
upon performance. After a learning trial (the
“post-knowledge-of-results” interval) Ss were involved in no activity,
verbal activity, related motor activity, or unrelated motor activity.
Performance was affected by the type of post-trial activity.
Performance was either maintained by some form of post-KR activity or
superior to when there was no post-KR activity.
It was advocated that after a practice trial of a skill, a learner
should engage in some activity (not yet determined if that activity
should be related or unrelated to the skill) before the next repetition
of the skill.
Implication. For effective learning to occur between
repetitions of learning trials there has to be a minimum amount of time
to allow feedback from a trial to produce a learning effect. That
effect does not seem to be modified to any great extent if
between-trials activity is related or unrelated to what is being
learned. This means that it is possible to repeat trials too close
together. Such rapidity does not allow the full learning effects from
each repetition to occur.
For example, when practicing basketball free throws, after each shot
there should be some non-shooting activity (e.g., put the ball down,
walk around the circle, recommence the pre-shot routine) before
commencing the physical movement in the next trial.
There obviously is too short of a period and too long of a period that can occur between trials where learning is intended.
As a further example, when tennis players practice from behind a
baseline and stroke at a rate of approximately one every two seconds, it
is unlikely that effective learning will occur, that is shot accuracy
and technique will not be improved. In that form of practice not only is
one type of shot not developed because there are usually a variety of
strokes played, but the lack of feedback utilization most probably will
result in the player developing more consistency in performing both the
good and bad strokes practiced rather than improving in any one class of
stroke.
It is possible to practice repetitions at too fast a rate to the
extent that feedback from one practice trial cannot be used to influence
the performance of the next trial. Without that utilization learning
will not occur optimally.
So it is important to make changes in pitching mechanics during the
off-season to improve pitching velocity, ball control while also
reducing the risk of arm injuries.
The key to making permanent changes that stick is to first of all
find the correct mechanical fault, to do enough repetitions of the new
way while enough taking time in between pitches do that new learning
occurs. Plus coaches should be videotaping so that the pitcher gains
valuable feedback on whether he is actually improving or not.
Article Source:
Pitching.com
