The Perfect Dynamic Warm-Up for Baseball Players

How to protect the rotator cuff and shoulder joint in pitchers, catchers and ball players.

Arm care programs, shoulder health and how to warm-up before a baseball game are all hot topics, particularly for pitchers and catchers. But too often, baseball players (sometimes even pros) default to warming up with some static stretches and a few sprints before jumping right into throwing motions and hitting practice. This is no bueno.

Even if we cut less experienced players some slack, presuming the issue is that they just don’t have a clue what they should be doing, failing to bring your A-game starting with the warm-up puts players at a massive disadvantage. You won’t be as fast and explosive out of the box or on the base path, and you’re also taking massive risks for sidelining yourself with muscle strains, a rotator cuff tear, a Tommy John's or hip/back injury.

But before we dig into the optimal pre-game warm-up for baseball players, with a specific focus on protecting the shoulder and rotator cuff from overuse injuries, let’s back up for a second and discuss overall arm health.

Arm Health

Beyond a proper warm up, there are three key factors to zero in on when it comes to protecting baseball players' arms:

1. Throwing volume

2. Efficient force transfer through the kinetic chain

3. Efficient mechanics

Optimizing these factors will ensure total arm and total body health for all baseball players, as weak links in the chain will be eliminated and excess stresses will be removed. (Check out our previous post about preventing elbow pain in pitchers.)

We can’t hammer this point home enough:

The best way to protect your arm is to have a sound, full body program in place.

Doing some arm circles, dynamic stretches and resistance band exercises to activate the rotator cuff are only a fraction of the battle. The whole point of of a warm up is to make sure the body is ready to react and throw a ball HARD.

That doesn’t mean that using some band exercises for muscle activation isn’t an integral portion of the warm-up routine — it absolutely is. But it’s almost a moot point if we don’t have a quality strength and conditioning program in place and quality mechanics on the field. Focusing solely on the warm-up would be like putting a Sunday shine on a car that has a busted engine. Let’s build strong engines with efficient training programs that prioritize increasing physical capacity! If you need help crafting the right strength program to address your personal inefficiencies and improve your mechanics, let's talk. Reach us anytime at FixMe@ClutchPT.com.Back to the business of getting ready to dominate.

Baseball-specific Warm-Up

A quality warm-up for baseball looks much like the warm-up for any other sport, but we have to make sure we incorporate baseball-specific movement patterns to foster carryover to the game.

A solid baseball warm-up should get the heart pumping, up your core temperature, enhance range of motion and light up your whole central nervous system. The goal is to improve strength, power, mobility and reduce risk for getting hurt — avoiding shoulder injuries in particular.

Here's what we need to include to get the job done (starting from the top and working our way down): cervical spine (neck) mobility, shoulder mobility, shoulder activation, shoulder stability, thoracic spine mobility, hip mobility, ankle mobility, core/glute/rotator cuff/scapular activation, rotational power, and sprinting. That’s a lot to cover — so let’s get to work! 

See our dynamic warm-up in action as Dr. James demos how to get the whole body fired up and protect the shoulder/rotator cuff. And yes, order matters.

• Hip Mobility: 90/90 Hip Switches 

• Thoracic Spine Mobility: World’s Greatest Stretch 

• Ankle Mobility: Leg Swings 

• Core Activation: Shoulder Taps 

• Glute Activation: Single Leg Bridges 

• Rotator Cuff Activation: Side Plank with Band ER

• Scapular Activation: Hinge “Y’s” with Band 

• Rotational Power: Knee to Hip Skips 

• Sprints 

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Try out this baseball-specific warm-up before your next game or practice. Then let us know how you play!

By the way, all of this is relevant for softball players, too, unless you're a pitcher. Since softball pitchers don't throw overhand, the mechanics and stresses are different, and need to be addressed individually. Hang tight, we'll focus on softball specifics soon!

Go get em.

— Dr. James Sinodinos, PT, DPT, CSCS

Injury Prevention and Training Hacks for Runners and Triathletes

Here are 31 ways to avoid injury and become a better athlete in one month.

Stay healthy and avoid rookie mistakes by incorporating these simple suggestions into your daily routine.

LIFESTYLE

• STRIKE A POSE. Every time you’re on a train platform, stopped at a light or trapped in line at Trader Joe’s for cauliflower gnocchi, check your posture. Unlock your knees, tuck your tailbone and lift your chest. You’ll automatically engage your core. Ladies, we’d put money on you standing with your weight to one side and jutting your hip out… Improving your daily posture will improve your core and overall athletic performance. It’ll also make you look at least 27% taller and more effective at your job. Probably.

• BALANCE ON ONE LEG OR IN TREE POSE WHILE BRUSHING YOUR TEETH. It’s a super easy way to work on balance and core stability during your daily routine, and challenge key muscles that support your spine. If you have trouble balancing while brushing for a minute, imagine how hard your brain and body are working to keep you upright while pounding miles and miles of trails. No bueno. Want to up the ante and work on proprioception? Shut your eyes and try not to topple over!

• TAKE THE STAIRS. Don’t be the one who gets out of the elevator on 2. Enough said.

• EARN that fancy coffee by walking to the location that’s not quite so convenient.

• Schlepping laptops, heavy bags or purses? ALTERNATE SHOULDERS REGULARLY OR USE A BAG WITH 2 SHOULDER STRAPS as often as possible to avoid developing imbalances in strength. That Jansport full of textbooks you were sporting on one shoulder only from 1992-2002 was a terrible idea.

• DON’T LET WORK LITERALLY KILL YOU: CHECK YOUR DESK ERGONOMICS. Back straight, toosh all the way back in your seat, monitor 1″ below eye level and 18″ from face, knees and elbows at 90° with arm rests, feet flat on floor (or footrest.) And take breaks from sitting every 30 mins. Better posture at work will make you look smarter and more productive, totally justifying a fat raise. Maybe.

  In all seriousness, how you’re working from home will have a huge impact on your long-term well being. Let’s get you set up properly with a Home Workspace Ergonomics Evaluation, especially during this time of “new normal” that isn’t normal at all.

• PLANK WHILE BINGE WATCHING. Offset the guilty pleasure of watching trash TV by planking before you hit play – just :90 of planks (:30 front, :30 each side) each day will change your core and improve your stability. Need to progress the movement? Add some shoulder taps to the front plank and lift each leg into a star plank on each side. Already checked off your core workout? Swap planks for a Figure 4 stretch. Trust us, you need it.

• PRACTICE AMBIDEXTERITY. Brush your teeth, reach for that glass or try using chopsticks with your non-dominant hand. It will improve your balance, particularly on the bike. Can you grab a bottle with either hand and still handle the bike with the other hand? If not, try this!

• SLEEP. Shut eye can help improve performance more than extra intervals. Rest is critical for recovery, as is consistency. Try to turn in at the same time every night, shut off the tech and let yourself wake without an alarm as often as possible.

TRAINING

• DOMINANCE ISN’T ALWAYS A GOOD THING. We all have one side that’s stronger than the other – which can lead to imbalances in form, and possibly injury over time. Use the off-season to target your weaker side and strengthen it. Not sure where yours is or how to fix it?Come see us. Every initial eval at Clutch PT + Performance includes a full postural and structural assessment.

• NAVIGATE SLIPPERY SURFACES BY SHORTENING YOUR STRIDE AND INCREASING YOUR CADENCE. If you do fall, resist the urge put your hands out to catch yourself – you could wind up with broken wrists along with that bruised ego. Tuck your arms in and try to minimize impact by landing on your shoulder or hip.

• When it comes to recovery, ORDER MATTERS: Stretch. Roll. Ice. THEN shower.

• LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. We listen to coaches and to smack talk from friends and to our stubborn brains. But make sure you’re tuning into what your BODY is telling you, too. It’s called gut instinct for a reason.

• UPPING MILEAGE TOO FAST (by more than 10% a week) UPS THE RISK FOR INJURY TO ODDS VEGAS WOULDN’T TAKE. We’ll be here to fix you if you do it, but we’re just sayin’.

• A 10-MIN ICE BATH WILL DO MORE FOR YOUR RECOVERY THAN A WHOLE AFTERNOON IN COMPRESSION SOCKS. And no one has to be subjected to your questionable fashion sense. Here’s how: Run a cold bath. Bundle up and put on a hat. GET IN QUICKLY – the longer you dilly-dally, the worse it is. Dump in the ice. Suck it up for 10 minutes. Let skin come back to room temp before taking a warm shower.

• DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT. Squats are the foundation for all fitness. Do them daily with proper form: Keep your weight in your heels, back straight, legs parallel and knees over your toes. Don’t let your knees dive in. If you’re a parent, sneak in squats with activities like picking up the endless small plastic toys that have accumulated around your home.

• CHECK YOUR LACES. If you’re not racing a triathlon and are prone to feeling tightness or pain across the top of your feet when you run, keep regular laces in your running sneaks instead of bungee ones. While great for transition, they’re not so great for properly distributing force in the foot on a regular basis. Laces that don’t come undone could be your undoing.

• NEVER COME TO A STOP IN YOUR BIG CHAIN RING. Shift down – it’ll be a lot easier to get moving again. You’re welcome.
  

NUTRITION

• DRINK A FULL GLASS OF WATER AS SOON AS YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING. Leave it on your bedside table the night before as a visual reminder when the alarm goes off. You’re at your most dehydrated first thing in the morning, and downing a full glass will get your whole system moving. It will also help you digest your breakfast more efficiently. (You weren’t thinking about skipping breakfast were you?)

• There’s no magic involved in achieving race weight: CALORIES IN vs. CALORIES OUT. Get a handle on how many calories you’re really taking in, and burning. Apps like#MyPlate make it super easy to track.

• DON’T BONK. Your body needs a steady intake of calories and hydration to function properly. Starving yourself or not drinking because it’s too cold/inconvenient/insert-excuse-here is ineffective and can encourage reward binge eating later on and really mess with your metabolism. Set an alarm on that fancy sports watch to remind you to eat/drink at regular intervals of 10-30 minutes, depending on activity.

MINDSET

• SET GOALS. They could be performance based, like PR-ing a 5K, but they could also be habit-based, like going to bed at a reasonable, consistent hour or doing 20 push-ups while the shower heats up. Small goals can become great habits quickly, and meeting them gives you a boost of confidence.

• GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME. Mental prep is just as crucial as all those intervals. Visualizing a perfectly-executed race from start to finish not only improves performance, but builds confidence and calms nerves. Solve problems mentally ahead of time so you’ll know what to do on instinct if they actually happen.

• IT’S OK TO FAIL. JUST DON’T QUIT. Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn — not every event should be an A race. If you never fall over the edge, how do you know exactly where it is? (It’ll hurt, but if you feel pain, particularly if it’s sudden, cool it.)

• PAIN HAPPENS FOR A REASON. Don’t ignore it or train through it – your body is trying to tell you something. If it’s persistent and/or sharp and sudden, see a medical professional.

RECOVERY + TREATMENT

• SOMETHING HURTS? Try RICE first. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation plus an over the counter anti-inflammatory like Advil or Aleve, or a natural one like cherry juice. If it’s persistent, then get it checked out by a medical professional. We’re happy to help.

• THIS IS HOW WE ROLL! Make that foam roller your BFF. Use the pressure of your own body weight to release adhesions in your soft tissue – those things that feel like muscle kinks. Roll slowly, methodically, 2″ up, then 1″ back down, til you reach the top of the muscle. If you hit a spot that’s particularly sore, hang out for a few seconds right on it and breathe deeply (cuz it’ll hurt like a @#$!) Stretch, roll, ice, sleep should be your recovery mantra.

• LIKE FRANKIE SAYS, RELAX. THERE’S NO QUICK FIX FOR INJURY. It’s hard to be a patient patient, and we get why some jump from PT to acupuncture to chiropractors to unicorn tears in a desperate attempt to get better faster. But the best plan is to trust your medical professionals and build an integrated treatment protocol together. Good clinicians have a network of providers to help tackle pain from multiple angles.

  If you’re not sure you’re getting the care you need, speak up. But recovery often just needs more time and rest rather than additional treatment (which we know you hate hearing.) Focus on the long term goal, like having a body that works for the rest of your life, and trust that we want you back out there ASAP too.

• S-T-R-E-T-C-H. Blah, blah, blah, right? We all know we should, but we often blow it off. Without proper post-exertion stretching and recovery, we’re just sabotaging our next workout and risking injury. Get it done. And have a phenomenal, healthy year!

• COMPRESSION SOCKS ARE FOR RECOVERY. NOT PERFORMANCE. For most people, compression socks constrict crucial blood flow to muscles and could actually hinder performance.

• TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS. Use your off-seasons or down periods to address lingering aches and pains – especially if you’ve already met that deductible for the year. (Not sure if you have? Shoot us a note and we’ll check for you.)

Here’s to new starts and lots of strong finishes!

Happy training! See you out there.
— Team Clutch PT + Performance