It’s the middle of December as this is being written and we’re in the middle of the offseason, which means a pretty heavy training schedule. The bulking phase is slowly turning into the strength/speed, explosive phase and athletes are starting to notice a little more fatigue following their workouts and a subsequent lack of recovery/get-up-and-go leading into their next training session. There are many ways to improve this recovery process and I’ll be going over a more psychological/neural approach towards recovery.

Let’s set the scene really quick. Music is blaring, teammates are shouting at you trying to motivate you to make the next big lift that you sort of doubt you’ll be able to do, adrenaline is at an all-time high right now. The sympathetic nervous system is in full force and it’s a necessity to even come close to getting that weight up. Your body is entering a pseudo fight or flight state. So not only are you muscles breaking down, but your body’s immune system is taking a beating as well. The fix for that is to enter into a parasympathetic state (rest and digest).

Sometimes a cool down (foam rolling, stretching, etc.) isn’t enough to significantly enter into a parasympathetic state. A great way to achieve this is to take slow controlled breaths. In through the nose, into the belly (diaphragm), and out through the mouth. A technique called box breathing is also another great way to achieve this. Box breathing is where you inhale through the nose for 4 seconds, hold that air in for 4 seconds, exhale out the mouth for 4 seconds, hold that exhale for 4 seconds, and repeat for ideally 4 minutes. Another way to get into a parasympathetic state is meditation. Don’t be intimidated or put off by the fact you’ve never meditated before. The apps Calm and Headspace are free and will guide and teach you how to do it. It’s shown that 10 minutes a day of mindfulness meditation can have multiple benefits on the body and mind.

If you’re interested in rehabbing an injury or improving your body’s capacity to resist injury, let Gestalt Performance take care of you. We have an office in Troy, MO at Winchester Spine and Sport as well as Eureka, MO at Comprehensive Chiropractic. For more information like this, follow Gestalt Performance on Facebook, Twitter, or Instragram.

Keep working hard,

Tyler White

Gestalt Performance co-founder

To learn more about what the Dr.’s of Gestalt Performance are up to, follow Gestalt Performance on social media (Facebook, Instragram, Twitter) or if you are interested in rehabbing an injury or improving your body’s ability to move, check them out at Comprehensive Chiropractic in Eureka, MO or Winchester Spine and Sport in Troy, MO.

The Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization Approach To Arm Care

Should You Even Stretch?

Earlier this week we completed the first retesting from the initial group of Mach 1 Baseball sign-ups. Here is a quick snippet of the successes (this is before detailed analysis of mechanics or outcomes such as power measurements.) This is strictly looking at body composition (which we know increase lean body mass leads to greater velocity) and velocity. Please let us stress that we aren’t only looking to improve velocity- we are also trying to build a more complete athlete and pitcher- including the mental aspects of pitching. For body composition analysis we used the InBody 570 Body Composition Analyzer and for velocity we measured with Rapsodo.

Pitcher #1- 16-year-old

This young man gained 5 mph in velocity going from 75-80 mph. He gained 8 pounds, including 4 pounds of muscle! Putting in the work consistently is paying off!

Pitcher #2- 16-year-old Two-way player

This young man gained almost 8 pounds, of which almost 7 pounds were muscle. His body composition changed from 13 to 11.5% body fat. Really impressive! Velocity is up from 78 to 82 mph! This is in a little under 3 month’s time.

Pitcher #3- 15-year-old pitcher    

This is a great example of why testing, and specifically body composition analysis, is key to measure success. This athlete only gained 1 pound of true weight. However, he gained 5 pounds of muscle while losing about 4 pounds of fat. His body composition went from 15.4% to 11.5%- Very impressive!! Had he looked only at a scale weight of one pound gained, he might have been discouraged. This pitcher’s velocity has gone up a few miles per hour, but once he figures out how to use this newfound muscle he will begin to gain more velocity quickly.

In the next few weeks we will be looking at some more metrics from our testing data related to improved mechanics to power output.

If you are interested in meeting with our Sports Registered Dietitian, Eric Finley, can usually be found in the Athletic Republic gym at All-Star Performance.

Thank you for reading,

The MACH 1 Baseball Team

Momentum = Mass + Speed

The dreaded Leg days!!! Well, if you are a pitcher and want to throw Heat, you need to get in the gym, and be a beast on leg days. Simply put, the lower body is what provides a solid foundation, creates the Momentum toward the plate, and redirects that momentum upward through the kinetic chain.

A Study published by the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine details these key points:

Key points

• High-ball-velocity pitchers are characterized by greater momentum of the lower limbs during pitching motion.
• For high-pitched-ball velocity, stabilizing lower limbs during pitching plays an important role in order to increase the rotation and forward motion of the trunk.
• Computation of the lower-extremity kinetics and measurement of lower-extremity strength may help clarify the role of muscle strength in determining knee and hip function in baseball pitching.

Basically if you want to throw Gas, you need to have a strong……

The Study can be read at length here.

Kinematic and Kinetic Profiles of Trunk and Lower Limbs during Baseball Pitching in Collegiate Pitchers

Thanks for reading!

The MACH 1 Baseball Team