written by JOSH GESSNER |

Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is today’s newsletter, exploring stories, ideas, and frameworks to be the best Baseball Player you can be.

FULL PITCHERS STRENGTH WORKOUT TO THROW 95MPH:

(if you’d rather watch than read, you can do so here):

Most baseball players make one of two mistakes when trying to throw harder:

• They skip the weight room entirely.

• Or they do “baseball-specific” workouts without ever building a foundation.

But if you throw slow — and you’re not strong — that’s the problem.

Because strength is the engine behind pitching velocity.

Strength Is the Engine

Let me explain it like this:

Imagine you have two cars. One has a V6 engine. The other has a W16 engine like a Bugatti.

All else equal — which one is going to move faster?

Obviously, the one with the bigger engine. Why? Because it can produce more force.

Strength works the same way in pitching. Mechanics, mobility, and power are all important — but without a strong engine, none of it really matters. You can’t apply force to the ground, and that means you’ll never generate elite velocity.

The Strength Foundation That Took Me From 78 to 98 MPH

When I started training, I couldn’t even squat 135 lbs.

I was weak. A hardgainer. Skinny. No real lifting experience.

And yet over the course of 5 years, I went from barely lifting to squatting 450 lbs — and I eventually hit 98 MPH as a professional.

How?

I didn’t mess around with advanced methods or jump from program to program. I just focused on getting strong through one core principle:

Progressive Overload: The Key to Getting Stronger

Progressive overload means doing more over time — adding weight, adding reps, or doing both.

This works because of the SAID Principle — Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. When you consistently expose your body to more weight, it adapts by getting stronger:

• Muscle grows (especially if you’re a beginner).

• Tendons get stiffer and more resilient.

• Neural pathways from brain to muscle become more efficient.

That means more force. More durability. More carryover to the mound.

Strength Base vs Strength Overflow

But how strong do you actually need to be?

You don’t need to become a powerlifter. At a certain point, strength stops giving you returns — not because it’s useless, but because you can’t express it fast enough in a pitching delivery.

Pitching happens in milliseconds. If you’re strong enough to squat 700 lbs, it might take 5+ seconds to produce that force. You don’t have that luxury on the mound.

So what matters is building up to a strength base — the point where strength is no longer your limiter.

Here's what I consider a solid strength base:

• Squat: 2x bodyweight

• Deadlift (trap bar): 2.5x bodyweight

• Bench: 1–1.5x bodyweight

• Pull-Ups: 10+ clean reps

• Dumbbell Row: 100 lbs per arm

Once you hit those benchmarks, strength alone won’t be the bottleneck anymore — and you can shift your focus to impulse, elasticity, and explosiveness.

Training Economy: Why You Shouldn't Do Everything

You only have so much energy. That’s your training economy.

Think of it like a budget. If half your energy goes to high-effort throwing, the other half should go to what you need most in the weight room.

• If you’re weak, spend that energy getting strong.

• If you’re strong, spend it on developing impulse, elasticity, RFD.

Too many guys burn themselves out doing advanced methods before building the base.

Don’t do that.

Full Body Strength Template (3 Days/Week)

This is the exact structure I used to build elite-level strength and lay the foundation for 90+ MPH velocity. All workouts are done after high-intent throwing days, stacked together to allow full recovery days in between.

NOTE: This is a sample program and not custom to any athlete.

FREE PROGRAM

Each week, add 5 lbs or 1–2 reps to your main lifts. Go slow. If you plateau, deload and rebuild.

I hope this helps.

Before you go, here are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Watch My FREE 95 MPH Guide Here.

2. Apply to work directly with us at ThePitcherLab here.