I remember when I was a kid, one of my dreams was to be a professional baseball player, preferably a pitcher. I loved playing the game and was pretty good at it. Well, like a lot of people, my dreams started taking me somewhere else and even though I’m not playing professional baseball, I’m still part of a killer softball league. But for the serious baseball players out there, I’d like to share a great workout program for pitchers. Many people think that pitchers don’t have to stay in shape to perform at a high level, but that’s simply not the case, strength is key and maintaining strength is very important throughout the season.

The good thing about staying in shape as a shooter is that all you need are dumbbells or resistance bands. In this pitching workout program, we’ll focus on the shoulders, rotator cuff, wrists, and legs. Again, these are very simple but effective ways to improve your game.

Let’s start with the shoulders and rotator cuff, let’s start using a lighter weight. There is no need to insult yourself while lifting weights, then you can raise your weight, but never push yourself. Stand straight with arms at your sides, palms should face away from the body, in a smooth motion pinch shoulder blades and raise arms to shoulder height, thumbs should be up, hold then return slowly back to the starting position. When doing this exercise, you should look like the letter “t.” Do this over and over until you start to feel the burn. The rotator cuff workouts are all very similar with slight differences, with the following workout instead of lifting your arms out to the sides; raise them in front of your body. Raise them to shoulder height with your palms facing down, remembering to maintain control throughout the movement.

Another way to improve your throwing skills is to strengthen your wrists. Here is a simple way to do it. Sit on a chair or ball so that your legs are bent at a 90 degree angle and your feet are flat on the floor. With your forearm resting on your leg, grab a dumbbell or resistance band and do wrist curls, your palms should face the ceiling, this should help you increase your speed.

One of the best ways to save your arms and shoulders a lot of pain is to have a great lower body to push off the rubber. Here is a great exercise to help strengthen your legs; they are called single leg raises. Stand on one leg, with the opposite arm reach down and take a dumbbell, this will also help you keep your balance. You should not be hunched over, but your back should be completely horizontal. With the leg you are standing on, go forward and press up and down, but always keep the leg slightly bent, the knees should never be straight. Do this until you feel like you’ve done a good workout. This pitcher’s training program should get you started on your path to becoming a strong, injury-free pitcher.