Pro Pitching Institute Blog - Simplifying Command.

The way your body works.

• Your brain listens to your movements.
• While you move, to make sure your body stays upright and balanced, your brain constantly sends instructions back to your body.
• At the same time, your brain orchestrates micro-adjustments that’ll smoothly transition you from one movement to the next.
• When you combine every adjustment your brain makes, the likelihood you fall over is minimal.

“Whisper Down the Lane”

In case you’re not familiar with “Whisper Down the Lane”, the object is to whisper a secret message among a group of people and have the last person speak the original phrase. 

In pitching, like in “Whisper Down the Lane”, your movements send a message to your brain, your brain interprets how your movement impacts your balance and fires a new command.

When your new directive differs from the intended message, your body fails to produce the results you expect.When you send your brain the right messages, nothing is misinterpreted and, consequently, your throwing arm generates a very consistent and totally sustainable result.

Distorted messages.

When playing “Whisper Down the Lane”, too many people in your “lane” limit the possibility the last person repeats the original message.

Too Many Pitching Whispers.

1. One whisper - When something as controllable as your foot placements tell your brain to end your front leg lift with your weight centered over your back foot, as you move down the mound, your brain fights to keep your body in balance.
2. Endless messages – Because you move down the mound (see any of the last 10 posts for an explanation), you see your ball often miss your target, decide what you need to do to make your next pitch more competitive and, instead of changing your foot placements, you adjust a random movement within your motion. 

Sadly, when you let this happen, you’ll spend your entire pitching career trying to get the message right.

Simplified messages.

When you limit the number of people in your “lane”, you increase the chance your secret message makes it to the last person. To take this a step further, when you make your original message so simple that people couldn’t misinterpret it, the chance your original message makes it to the end increases exponentially.

Two Pitching Whispers.

1. One whisper - Your foot placements and front leg lift whisper to your brain to complete your front leg lift in a dynamically balanced position.
2. Second, and final, whisper – One movement rotates your body out of your starting position.
   
   As you move out of your starting position, to keep you from falling over, complete your stride. Your front foot hitting the ground stops your rotation which, you get your body back in balance, forces your brain to bring your throwing arm forward and across your body.

Your throwing (re)action becomes a spontaneously productive and very repeatable outcome.

Every “what” deserves a “how”.

To discover the foot placements that’ll produce sustainable results, visit the Pro Pitching Institute.

No excuses, only reasons.

There’s no excuse for you not knowing how to send your brain the right messages. Your first step to removing this tragic flaw is to pick up your cell phone, call “Skip” at 856-281-2596 and schedule your FREE 20-minute, Pro Pitching Institute Pitching Session.

Tell a friend! Have a friend struggling with their command? Make sure to tell them about the Pro Pitching Institute posts!

Skip Fast
Expert Pitching Coach
E-Mail: skip@propitchinginstitute.com
Cell or Text: 856-281-2596

Copyright © 2018

Pro Pitching Institute Blog - Gravitate toward command.

Gravity is the elephant in the room.

Baseball treats gravity as something that applies to everything except pitching, when, in fact, it’s gravity that rules your pitching motion.

The way your body works.

• Your body is driven to equalize gravity.
• Since you’re born with the ability equalize gravity, reacting to the impact gravity has on your body is something that happens, not something you do.
• Movement occurs only when your body needs to equalize a shift in gravity.
• You get the best results when you trust the way your body reacts to gravity.
• Interfering with the way your body works diminishes your results.

Does your set-up work against Gravity?

Your body position into your front leg lift either forces gravity to take over or neutralizes gravity’s impact on your body.

• Ordinary - When you begin with your feet outside your hips, your front leg lift works against gravity which, to equalize gravity’s impact on your body, forces you to end your front leg lift with your weight over your back foot.
• Elite – At no point during your front leg lift does your body work against gravity.

How gravity influences your body determines your command!

As soon as your body senses a gravitational pull, your body automatically goes into equalization mode.

• Ordinary command – By beginning your motion with your weight over your back foot, only a weight shift moves you toward your target. As soon as a weight shift moves you down the mound, your body goes into equalization mode. Once your body equalizes gravity, your body stops moving.  Without a movement to react to, your throwing action becomes in independent event and, as such, you never really know where your next pitch will end up.
• Elite command – Rotation down the mound creates two well-planned-out reactions. As you move toward your target, your stride neutralizes gravity’s impact on your body. Your front foot hitting the ground stops your body’s rotation. Consequently, by plan, you land your foot plant with your weight to your glove hand side. At this point, the only way to equalize the gravitational force on your body becomes a spontaneous throwing (re)action.

With elite command, your throwing reaction takes your throwing hand through a very natural and consistently productive release window.

Every “what” deserves a “how”.

To discover the movements that’ll generate elite command, visit the Home Page of the Pro Pitching Institute.

No excuses, only reasons.

There’s no excuse for you not knowing how to use elite command to supercharge your pitching. Your first step to removing this tragic flaw is to pick up your cell phone, call “Skip” at 856-281-2596 and schedule your FREE 20-minute, Pro Pitching Institute Pitching Session.

Tell a friend! Have a friend struggling with their command? Make sure to tell them about the Pro Pitching Institute posts!

Skip Fast
Expert Pitching Coach
E-Mail: skip@propitchinginstitute.com
Cell or Text: 856-281-2596

Copyright © 2018

Pro Pitching Institute Blog - Your front leg lift predicts command.

The way your body works.

• You have complete control over where you place your feet.
• When you lift your front foot off the ground, your body interprets your new state of balance.
• As a result, your body either places your weight over or in front of your back foot.

Dynamic command.

Dynamic command comes from your front leg lift centering your weight just in front of your back foot.

• When you make this happen, as you move down the mound, your hips and shoulders rotate around your head.
• Your rotation causes you to begin your stride with your back hip to the home plate side of your back shoulder.
• Your body gets itself back in balance by forcing your back shoulder to catch up with your front hip.
• With your back hip-to-shoulder relationship forcing your throwing arm to whip forward, you spontaneously generate command, maximize your throwing arm speed and create extremely late ball movement.
• As an instantaneous reaction, you come to expect your ball to travel into your intended target with the ball movement you expect.

Through the simple act of repeating the same foot placements, your dominance becomes incredibly sustainable.

Static command.

Static command comes from your front leg lift placing all your weight over your back foot.

• When you let this happen, as you move down the mound, your body moves straight down the mound without any hip or shoulder movement.
• You end your stride with your front shoulder closed to your target and your body already in balance.
• Without your body having any imbalance to react to, your throwing action becomes something you do, not something that happens.
• As a separate action, you never really know where your ball will end up, your ball takes a more predictable path into your target and your arm slots/speeds tip your off-speed pitches.

A simple change in foot placements will turn your static command into dynamic dominance.

Every “what” deserves a “how”.

To discover the movements that’ll generate dynamic command, visit the Home Page of the Pro Pitching Institute.

No excuses, only reasons.

There’s no excuse for you not knowing how to use dynamic command to supercharge your pitching. Your first step to removing this tragic flaw is to pick up your cell phone, call “Skip” at 856-281-2596 and schedule your FREE 20-minute, Pro Pitching Institute Pitching Session.

Tell a friend! Have a friend struggling with their command? Make sure to tell them about the Pro Pitching Institute posts!

Skip Fast
Expert Pitching Coach
Professional Pitching Institute
WWW: http://www.propitchinginstitute.com
E-Mail: skip@propitchinginstitute.com
Cell or Text: 856-281-2596

Copyright © 2018

Pro Pitching Institute Blog - Command is a hardwired reaction.

Self-Coaching.

To completely bridge the gap between your best and worst outings, you need to become your own best Coach. With an understanding into gravity’s impact on your command, self-coaching becomes that much easier.

The way your body works.

• Your body is hardwired to evenly distribute your weight around your body.
• When an action creates a gravitational force on one side, your body spontaneously offsets the weight shift.
• Your body doesn’t care about your pitch results, it only cares about eliminating any gravitational shifts.
• Your body rotates around itself only when gravity becomes a non-issue.

Hopeful command.

When your moves straight down the mound ...

• Your lower body precedes your upper body and, consequently, gravity pushes down on your upper body.
• As you complete your stride, to equalize gravity’s force, you use your legs to center your weight around your core.
• Once your body successfully distributes your weight around your core, your body has no reason to move and, accordingly, your throwing action becomes a separate conscious action.

By moving straight down the mound, you can only hope each pitch goes where you want with the movement you expect.

Unavoidably excellent command.

When your body rotates down the mound ...

• Your lower and upper body remain vertically aligned, but gravity will push down on your core.
• To stop gravity from being a factor, your stride stops your lower body rotation, but, when this happen, causes you to land your stride with a glove side weight shift.
• To get your weight back to center, your body makes a throwing (re)action.

By rotating down the mound, your throwing (re)action allows each pitch to naturally travel into your target with the behavior you expect. 

Every “what” deserves a “how”.

Should your pitches not end up where you expect, on the Home Page of the Pro Pitching Institute we present the skills that’ll use gravity to challenge every hitter on every pitch.

No excuses, only reasons.

There’s no excuse for you not knowing how to use gravity to your advantage. Your first step to removing this tragic flaw is to pick up your cell phone, call “Skip” at 856-281-2596 and schedule your FREE 20-minute, Pro Pitching Institute Pitching Session.

Tell a friend! Have a friend struggling with their command? Make sure to tell them about the Pro Pitching Institute posts!

Skip Fast

Expert Pitching Coach
Professional Pitching Institute

WWW: http://www.propitchinginstitute.com 

E-Mail: skip@propitchinginstitute.com
Cell or Text: 856-281-2596

Copyright © 2018

Pro Pitching Institute Blog - Pitch command comes from opening your front shoulder.

How your body works.

• Your hips and shoulders want to stay over one another.
• With both feet on the ground, you’re able to twist your hips and your shoulders will follow.
• When perched on one leg, without resistance the ground, it’s physically impossible to rotate just your hips.

The flawless command you want.

The ability to start your delivery by opening your front shoulder begins with you ending your front leg lift with your weight centered just in front of your back foot.

Your lower body is driven to follow your upper body rotation. Your lower body reacting to your upper body creates the imbalance that sends your body rotating down the mound.

As a natural reaction to rotating down the mound, you lose control of your stride and foot plant. Your front foot hitting the ground generates a spontaneous chain reaction that produces flawless command.

Your chain reaction looks like this.

1. Your front hip finishes your stride to the home plate side of your back-shoulder.
2. As a natural reaction, your back-shoulder needs to catch up with your front hip.
3. Consequently, your back-shoulder pulls your throwing hand through a consistently tiny release window.
4. No matter your grip or release, your ball goes where you want, with the movement you expect and your opponent clearly seeing a fastball arm speed.

Your textbook command begins with you opening your front shoulder.

The spotty command you have.

By ending your front leg lift with your weight over your back foot, to move into your motion, you must shift your weight toward your target and, as a result, move straight down the mound.

When you let this happen, your hips lead your upper body your shoulders, and, at foot plant, you use your legs to get your core back to vertical.  When you move straight down the mound, your shoulders and hips stay over one another, and you end your stride with your front shoulder closed to your target.

By using your legs to right your body, you must use your upper body to complete your motion.

Therefore, when you start your motion with your weight over your back foot, by opening your front shoulder to your target, you turn your results into a competitive nightmare.

Every “what” deserves a “how”.

To discover a starting position that lets your front shoulder opening produce the high-level command you need to succeed, visit the Pro Pitching Institute.

No excuses, only reasons.

There’s no excuse for you not knowing where your next pitch is going to end up. Your first step to removing this tragic flaw is to pick up your cell phone, call “Skip” at 856-281-2596 and schedule your FREE 20-minute, Pro Pitching Institute Fast-Track Pitching Session.

Tell a friend! Have a friend struggling with their command? Make sure to tell them about the Pro Pitching Institute posts!

Skip Fast

Expert Pitching Coach
Professional Pitching Institute

WWW: http://www.propitchinginstitute.com 

E-Mail: skip@propitchinginstitute.com
Cell or Text: 856-281-2596

Copyright © 2018

Pro Pitching Institute Blog - Pitch command comes from the way you move down the mound.

When you actively stride, push off the rubber, lead with your front hip or let gravity take you straight down the mound, you'll forever struggle to put together back-to-back good outings???

There’s no excuse for spotty command, only reasons!

When you move straight down the mound, your lower half comes toward the plate faster than your upper body.

With your lower body moving ahead of your upper body, before you can complete your delivery, you’re forced to use your legs to bring your upper body over your lower half.

Where do good outings come from?
You have a good outing when you develop a “feel” for your legs bringing your body back to vertical at the same pace on every pitch. 

How do bad outings happen?
When you can’t “feel” the right tempo, your various body-alignments mean you’re going to  fight each hitter on every pitch.

Since a productive “feel” is nearly impossible to carry from one outing to the next, wouldn’t you get better results by permanently eliminating tempo as the reason for your poor outings? 

Want to expect a good outing every time you take the mound?

When you finish your front leg lift with your core already vertical, instead of moving straight down the mound, you can rotate toward the plate.

By rotating down the mound, you …

• Finish your stride with your core already vertical,
• Completely remove tempo as a reason for your poor outings,
• Permanently bridge the gap between your best and worst outings, and
• Come to expect every outing to be a good one.

As a bonus, when you complete your stride with your core already vertical, your legs actively engage with the rest of your body to let you ...

• Live down in the zone,  
• Induce misses and weak ground-balls, 
• Throw all your pitches into your target, 
• Stay away from big innings, 
• Execute a game plan, 
• Possess a collection of pitches. 
• Show a clean and repeatable delivery, 
• Go deep into your outings, 
• Maximize your velocity, 
• Have late ball movement, 
• Become extremely reliable, 
• Repeat your arm slot,
• Maintain your velocity throughout your starts, 
• Keep hitters from barreling up the baseball, 
• Have an effective three-pitch mix and   
• Show emotional maturity. 

… on every pitch all the time!!!

When you eliminate your core tilt, you can expect a good outing every time you take the mound!

Every “what” deserves a “how”.

To discover “how” to end your starting position with an upright core and then spin around this vertical axis, visit the Pro Pitching Institute.

No excuses, only reasons.

There’s no excuse for your worst outings not being as good as your best. Your first step to removing this gap is to pick up your cell phone, call “Skip” at 856-281-2596 and schedule your FREE 20-minute, Pro Pitching Institute Fast-Track Pitching Session.

Tell a friend! Have a friend struggling with their command? Make sure to share the Por Pitching Institute posts with them!

Skip Fast

Expert Pitching Coach
Professional Pitching Institute

WWW: http://www.propitchinginstitute.com 

E-Mail: skip@propitchinginstitute.com
Cell or Text: 856-281-2596

Copyright © 2018

Pro Pitching Institute Blog - How your stride can control more hitters more often.

How your body works?

To make sure we’re on the same page, these are your body’s physiological realities.

1. Your body uses your throwing arm to offset your stride.
2. Your body keeps your weight centered between your knees.
3. “You” make an action and “your body” reacts to the action. Before “you” can make your next action, “your body” must finish reacting to the action "you" made.

Unsustainable stride results.

Your motion: When you begin your motion with your weight over your back foot, to move toward your target, you’re forced to stride. Once you actively stride, your body uses your throwing arm to offset the forward weight shift your stride creates. When this happens, you lose complete control of your throwing arm path. Once your body senses your weight is back to center, your body lets you complete your delivery.

Your command: When you begin your motion with your weight over your back foot, your command comes out of your stride tempo. The same stride tempo on each pitch produces the same throwing arm path. The same throwing arm path places your ball in relatively the same spot on every pitch.

We use the word relatively because your stride tempo is based upon a “feeling” that changes from outing to outing and even from pitch to pitch. Your command depends upon a less-than-repeatable “feeling”?

Sustainably excellent stride results.

Your motion: When your front leg lift centers your weight just in front of your back foot, instead of moving down the mound, you can rotate down the mound. By rotating down the mound, your body uses your stride to keep you from hurting yourself and, at the same time, creates the torque that’ll drive your throwing arm path.

Your command: Your command comes from your body using your throwing arm to release the energy you generate as you complete your stride. Your body’s predictable movement patterns insure your throwing hand moves through the same tiny release window on every pitch.

The sustainable release window your stride creates lets you become one of the rare Pitchers able to execute your Team’s pitching plan and one of the few Pitchers your Team counts on to keep them close enough to win.

Every “what” deserves a “how”.

To discover “how” to turn your stride into a reaction, produce sustainably excellent command, maximize your throwing arm speed and make you a critical part of your Team’s future, visit the Pro Pitching Institute.

There are no excuses, only reasons.

When you apply the simply executed skills the Pro Pitching Institute presents and still feel your stride is hurting your results, contact“Skip” to schedule a FREE 20-minute, Face-Time pitching consultation.

Tell a friend!

Have a friend struggling with their command? Make sure to share our blogs with them!

Want to completely close the gap between your best and worst outings? Please feel free to contact me.

Skip Fast

Expert Pitching Coach
Professional Pitching Institute

WWW: http://www.propitchinginstitute.com 

E-Mail: skip@propitchinginstitute.com
Cell or Text: 856-524-3248

Copyright © 2018