It’s hard to believe it’s been 72 weeks, but here we are.
This was my second week back to throwing, and it’s been solid. My elbow is starting to feel much better since I’ve gotten some new strategies for improving function at the joint through greater joint space (shout out to Rob for the help).
I’m still currently building volume and intensity as I’m in my on-ramp phase. My arm action is starting to feel better, but the first couple of weeks are always a bit weird trying to get back into it again. I’m excited to get to higher intensities because that feels more natural and tends to lead to better patterns for me.
Stress consolidation has been a big focus now that I’m back to throwing so that I can adequately recover between training sessions. My big training days require a lot of sustained focus due to the need to do sport specific, strength/power, and mobility in the same day. Mobility may seem like it wouldn’t be very demanding, but with contract and relax variations and focused range of motion training, these sessions are very taxing.
The weight room is still a necessary piece here, even though it isn’t the focus anymore. I’ve built enough strength to throw 100mph, now it’s a matter of bringing my other athletic attributes up to their necessary levels. For me that means improving power, tissue quality/recovery, and mobility.
Specifically, I need to improve my pec, lat, upper trap, and forearm flexor tissue quality and my t-spine rotation, shoulder horizontal abduction, and hip internal rotation. I’m doing a lot of targeted work for each of these areas involving a mix of more and less stressful/damaging techniques. For example, I can do some light forearm self-myofascial release every day, but I can’t do ART or other heavy manual work every day and expect to recover. This same idea applies to mobility, I can do a lot of low level mobility drills like 90/90 hip series most days, but hip internal rotations CARS (controlled articular rotations) are super taxing on my CNS, so I only do them post-throwing.
Successful training for high level athletic goals requires an approach that accounts for a variety of stressors and still allows for recovery. I’m enjoying the process and I’m excited to see where I can get to in a few weeks.
Thank you for following me on my journey to the show and check back later this week for more content.