The BIG 3 Exercises

written by JOSH GESSNER | The Athletter

The Athletter is brought to you by ThePitcherLab.

The PitcherLab is a program specializing in helping high school and college baseball players increase pitching velocity.

• A full stack, customized throwing, lifting and mobility program

• Daily Mechanical Analysis and Feedback

• Unlimited access to 2 Professional pitchers who trained themselves to throw 98+mph

A full stack, customized program executed on daily + Daily feedback makes it inevitable for you to gain velocity.

For those looking to train in the winter: ThePitcherLab is currently running a 3 month package deal through the offseason.

If that interests you, book a direct call with me here (parents must be on the call):

In my last post I told you guys about my plan to throw 100mph.

I gave you a brief overview of how I plan to do this.

Today, I want to dive into 3 exercises I’m prioritizing in my training:

1. AssToGrass Front Squat

When I injured my back while doing back squats:

I became deathly afraid of any kind of axial load.

But I want to start rebuilding that confidence and strength.

Enter: The Front Squat.

It places less axial load while still maintaining full benefits of a squat.

I’m going to be doing these through a full range of motion for 2 reasons.

1. Trains the VMO muscle.

Your VMO muscle isn’t maximally trained without full range of motion.

And the VMO muscle is so important because it’s the most fast-twitch muscle in your thighs.

“Fast-twitch” means it’s responsible for quick bursts of energy, like sprinting and jumping.

This is an exercise Stefan Holm used to become one of the best high jumpers in history:

Stefan Holm is 5 foot 11.

Relative to his height, he was the greatest high jumper of all time - he even won a gold medal.

You can see him squatting through a full range of motion here:

2. Addresses my weak links.

When I squat to parallel - I have a crazy amount of strength.

But when I squat lower… I become extremely weak.

It makes sense, since I never trained these ranges.

But I want to be the best athlete I can be, and that means addressing my weak links.

Getting stronger at the ATG front squat is going to be a slow and gradual… but rewarding process.

Squat low… Jump high.

Nordic Curl

Nordic Curls have shown to:

• Reduce injuries by 51%

• Improve sprint times by 2-3% 

• Increase jump height by 3-5%

All good things for an athlete.

And world-class athletes have been incorporating them to increase performance for the longest time.

1. Martin St. Louis

Martin St. Louis is a former NHL right winger known for his speed. 

He maintained his speed late into his 30s - and performed Nordics regularly.

2. Jonathan Edwards 

Jonathan Edwards is a British triple jumper...

Best known for setting the world record in 1995, which still stands today. 

He's one of the greatest triple jumpers in history.

He performed nordics for 20 years.

This resulted in the fastest approach in triple jump history.

At the same time, he was resilient late into his 30s.

3. Adam Archuleta 

Adam Archuleta was a first round pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. 

To get there - his trainer laid out a 6 year plan.

During those 6 years he performed nordics regularly, even adding weight.

Right now, I can grind out 5 full reps of the Nordic Curl.

My goal is to get to a point where I can rep out 10-20 of these consecutively.

Back of the Shoulder

This isn’t a single exercise, but more of a circuit.

When I met with KneesOverToes guy, we talked about how baseball players can increase performance.

He’s developed elite jumpers by training the opposite muscles of the action.

Since a jump is forward and high - train backwards and low.

Why?

The body can only produce as much as it can handle.

Without the strength to handle the forces you produce - the body will break down causing injury.

As you strengthen the opposite of the muscles that produce force, you can keep pushing the limit and make progress.

So this is what we explored.

How can we apply this to Baseball Players?

Training the back of the shoulder.

Here are 3 of our favorites to do this:

1. DB external rotation

As a baseball player, we’ve done a million external rotations.

But did you ever progressively overload them?

I know I didn’t.

So simple yet so effective - make these as important as the bench press.

2. Side lying DB raise

Get up on to the bench so that you can get better range of motion.

Lift the DB and focus on controlling every rep.

3. Trap Raise with eccentric overload

Grab some heavy DBs, press them into position…

Then fight it with everything you have.

These not only hit the back of the shoulder, but mid & lower back as well.

These are 3 areas I’ve been training, and plan to develop world class strength in.

There are many more exercises that I’m placing a big importance on…

But here are 3 for today.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great week ahead.

Josh

P.S.

If you want to work directly with me to gain pitching velocity:

Book a direct call with me here (parents must be on the call):

That’s it for today, thanks for reading!