Thursday, August 20, 2015

Muscle Memory is a waste of time.

Every movement you see your body make out of your front leg lift is created by your mind's "built-in response mechanism".

When you're response produces an unacceptable result, you spend hours in the bullpen battling the way your mind's "built-in response mechanism" functions.

Muscle memory is you trying to figure out what you need to "feel" to make your next pitch more competitive.
  • All the while you've done nothing to change the way your mind's "built-in response mechanism" impacts your motion.
  • In any one bullpen session, through lots of reps, you'll figure out for that day what you need to feel to produc fastball command for that day.
  • Sadly, the next time you take the mound, you discover your mind's "built-in response mechanism" is still impacting your movement and the good "feel" you had in the bullpen is gone???
When you synchronize your mind's "built-in response mechanism" with your actions...
  1. You can stop wasting your time with muscle memory and
  2. You can thinking about the actions you know will produce acceptable outcomes all the time!!!
To your mind's "built-in response mechanism" to produce acceptable results all the time, contact me.
L.A. "Skip" Fast
Independent Major League Pitching Coach
Pro Pitching Institute
856-524-3248
“My simple, yet extremely powerful, business rule: fix it once and move on!”

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Stress Free Pitching

Imagine a motion where, as long as you properly place your feet in a particular location and you lift your front foot in a proven way, your ball will go...
  • Directly to your target with extremely late ball movement and, no matter your grip or release, a deceptive fastball arm speed.
What I just describes is exactly the way your body works when you let your mind's "built-in response mechanism" do the work for you! 
  1. By landing your foot plant with your front hip lower than your back hip...
  2. You force your mind's "built-in response mechanism" to spontaneously use your throwing arm to get your body back in balance.
Your throwing hand seamlessly moves through the same tiny release window all the time, no matter your grip, your opponent sees a fastball arm speed and your ball breaks right in front of the plate.

You challenge your opponent to make solid contact with each pitch, show evaluators your ability to immediately compete at the next level and receive serious consideration to any next level opening.

Ask me to make your motion stress free.

L.A. "Skip" Fast
Independent Major League Pitching Coach
Pro Pitching Institute
856-524-3248


“My simple, yet extremely powerful, business rule: fix it once and move on!”

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

A simple test that separates pitchers from throwers.


This simple test tells you whether you’re... 

  • A "thrower" who needs to make a throwing action or 
  • A "pitcher" who has to make a throwing action.

Before we begin, first realize that, no matter the speed, your mind's "built-in response mechanism" keeps your body in balance in exactly the same way.

To find out whether you're a throwing or a pitcher ... just do your motion as slowly as you possibly can.
  • Pitchers - Your motion stops with your chest facing your target, your body tilted forward and your throwing hand beside your head.
    - Your slow movement forces your 
    mind's "built-in response mechanism" to make a throwing action.
    - You produce a naturally productive and totally spontaneous throwing (re)action. 
  • Throwers - Your motion stops with your body upright, your throwing hand behind your head.
    Your slow movement forces your mind's "built-in response mechanism" to get your front foot back on the ground and your hips back to level.
    - To complete your delivery, 
    your mind's "built-in response mechanism" force you to make a secondary throwing action.
To make your throwing action a natural part of your foot plant and indicate to everyone that you’ll be immediately competitive at your next level, ask me for some help.
L.A. "Skip" Fast
Independent Major League Pitching Coach
Pro Pitching Institute
856-524-3248
“My simple, yet extremely powerful, business rule: fix it once and move on!”

Monday, August 17, 2015

How often do you think about your mound routine?


A "good outing" is a collection of individual pitches that discourages the hitter from consistently making solid contact with your pitches.

A good mound routine is critical to your consistently "good outings".

Every mound routine tells your mind that you’re preparing to deliver your next pitch.

  • You prepare for each pitch with the same action in the same order.
  • Your mound routine is what works for you. 
  • Only adjust your mound routine when some element causes your hips to move from level.
  • You work on your mound routine every time you throw a bullpen or in a competitive setting. 
  • With a consistent mound routine, you begin your motion knowing you’ve done all you need to do to execute your next pitch as best you can.
  • A good mound routine breeds and builds confidence.
Following your routine limits the time you have for counter-productive thoughts.

Good mound routines include these elements.  
  1. Visualize your pitch.
  2.  Focus on a precise target within the catcher’s glove.
  3.  A check that your initial footwork promotes level hips.
  4.  Take a deep "belly" breath (compared to a chest breath).
  5. Begin your motion the same way you begin every motion.
  6. No matter the result, ask for the ball back and begin your routine all over again.
Instead of focusing on a good outing, a laser focus on your mound routine will make your good outings happen more and more often.

Ask me to make your mound routine more productive.
L.A. "Skip" Fast
Independent Major League Pitching Coach
Pro Pitching Institute
856-524-3248
“My simple, yet extremely powerful, business rule: fix it once and move on!”

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Why you need to personalize your movements?

Every action begins with a thought >>> Each action creates a reaction >>> Each reaction starts a chain of predictable events that end when you get your body back in balance.

The only variable in this process is the personal way you think about your actions.

  • We use the way your body reacts to the actions to know whether the way you think about your actions keeps your hips level and putting you in a position to create sustainable fastball command.
  • We expect every time we give you a way to think about your actions that the reaction we help you create will prompt your hips to pull your throwing hand through a consistently tiny release window.

Every time we see an action force your hips to prematurely move from level, we give you a new way to think about the movement we working on. 
  1. Your reactions guide our recommendations.
  2. Our recommendations keep your hips level at the top of your front leg lift.
  3. Seeing your hips prematurely move from level tells me to introduce a new thought proven to produce the same action.
For a more flexible, highly efficient and extremely personal thought process, contact me.

L.A. "Skip" Fast
Independent Major League Pitching Coach
Pro Pitching Institute 

856-524-3248   


“My simple, yet extremely powerful, business rule: fix it once and move on!”

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

“Coach Google”

Anytime your regular pitching coach can’t help you get hitters out, you count on the internet to help you with your motion.
  • Human nature dictates, when you search the internet for solutions, you accept instruction that's consistent with your beliefs.
  • When you look for solutions consistent with your beliefs, you really aren't solving anything, but you listen to "Coach Google" anyway.
  • “Coach Google” is everyone’s all-knowing pitching coach.
  • “Coach Google” is entitled to his own beliefs and opinions, but not his own facts.
  • Your successful motion has a basis in having your hips level at the top of your front leg lift.
Any time you listen to "Coach Google" and you still struggle with your results, you're listening to the wrong stuff!

“Coach Google” continually forgets these simple facts …
  • You can’t change a reaction!- As soon as you make your first movement toward the plate, your body begins reacting.  Until you get both feet on the ground and get your hips back to level, your body continues to react.  Attempting to alter you reactions as
    if they were controllable action is a complete waste of your time.
  • With “Coach Google”, your improvement still turns into a DIY (Do It Yourself) project.- Unless you’ve spent 10,000+ hours looking at and understanding how your body reacts to itself, there's a very low probability you’ll ever focus on the right skill at the right point in your motion.
  • “Coach Google” can’t see your hip orientations- Unfortunately, in too many cases,you obsess over what “Coach Google” thinks you need to do without seeing any improve.  So what do you do... you look for another "Coach Google" who says the same things in a different way?
  • You expect “Coach Google” to help you.You want you succeed so badly that you use your occasional successes to support your improvement, but, unfortunately, “Coach Google” does fully address your worst misses.
The mere fact you thought to reach out for “Coach Google” tells me you’re searching for answers.
  • You're going to spend hours with “Coach Google” and only succeed in reinforcing what you already know.
  • The only way to truly improve comes from looking at your motion in another, more basic, manner. 
"The only way to change is to decide to change!"

Contact me to take you to heights that “Coach Google” can only dream of producing.
L.A. "Skip" Fast
Independent Major League Pitching Coach
Pro Pitching Institute
856-524-3248   

“My simple, yet extremely powerful, business rule: fix it once and move on!”

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Are you mentally tough?

Mental toughness is relying on your footwork to produce sustainable fastball command.

- Your footwork is a very repeatable position.
- Your footwork involves a couple of measured movements.
- Mental toughness doesn't mean you hope to battle back when you get behind in the count.

It takes mental toughness to religiously rehearse the same movements that get you into the same front leg lift position in the same way and in the same order on every pitch. 

- The way your mind works … you do the same skills in the same order over a two to three week period and your movements become natural and automatic. 
- Within two weeks, you know every pitch is going to to into your target area.
- Now, you spend time making the mini-adjustments that refine your command even more.

A Test - You know your skill is natural and automatic when you can successfully complete the movement with your eyes closed.


Sadly, the pitching culture makes you believe only the top pitchers display mental toughness.

Fact is that, with a focus on your footwork, everyone can display what onlookers perceive as mental toughness.

- Mentally tough pitchers realize that, as long as they put their body in the right position at foot plant, they know their ball travels into their catcher's mitt.
- When in a pinch, mentally tough pitchers refuse to change what they know works.  
- They use their footwork to force their lower body to produce naturally productive results.

Only the mentally tough pitchers, the pitchers who will achieve their dreams at the highest levels, keep doing the skills they know work and this begins with their footwork. 

Contact me to become mental toughness.  

L.A. "Skip" Fast  
Independent Major League Pitching Coach  
Pro Pitching Institute  
856-524-3248 

“My simple, yet extremely powerful, business rule: fix it once and move on!”