The last two weeks have been pretty crazy and I missed a week of posting, so I’m just going to combine the last two weeks into one post.
I’ve been trying to work back into higher intensity throwing, but my body just doesn’t want to cooperate right now. My flexor has been giving me some trouble and I thought I had a plan in place to help with improving strength in that area, but now my tissue is so balled up in there that I need to change my focus to improving my tissue quality. I think the issue stems from my neck, so I’ll have to work from there down the chain. I’m getting a mobility and tissue plan together so soon I should see some decent improvements.
Generally neck issues will refer down the chain, so it’s not a huge surprise that my neck could be the culprit. I had an assessment a few months back and my neck stood out as an area with very limited ROM, and some pain, so I’ve been working on it since then with nerve glides and CARS, but it may not have gotten as much attention as it needed.
So, I’ve decided that I’m going to shut down from throwing for a few weeks and focus on improving tissue quality. This was a tough decision because I really enjoy throwing and I feel a sense of urgency to improve myself, but I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall trying to get right for high intensity throwing and it isn’t going to happen without some recovery time. I’ll still be doing all of the other parts of training, and adding in more tissue work-like dry needling and ART (active release), I just won’t be throwing for a few weeks. The plan is to get this issue hammered out and work my way back into better patterning with my improved mobility, then gradually add intensity to that pattern, and be at 98mph by the end of January-20+ weeks-and throw for teams then.
My training will also change a little bit since I will basically be in offseason mode, rather than in season mode. But, unilateral strength, rotational power, and mobility will still be the main areas of focus because they are my limiting factors. My strength numbers are solid, but I don’t get into the extreme positions necessary to create elite velocity, so my mobility needs to improve so that I can properly pattern these positions.
The way you view setbacks has a huge effect on your development, so I’m staying positive and I know this is just a minor setback and I’ll come back better than ever from this. It’s frustrating, but pain is just a form of feedback that’s giving me information about what I need to focus on to get better. I’ll improve my tissue quality as well as my other limiting factors and then come back throwing 98mph!
Thank you for following me on my journey to the show and check back later this week for more content. Anyone interested in remote training feel free to reach out for more information!