by Gerald Warner,  Softball Pitching Instructor

Warming up properly and completely…in practice or before a game…is essential for good pitching performance.  Depending on the pitcher, her age, and the types of pitches she throws, warm-up time varies from as little as 15-minutes to more than 1-hour.   A 10-year old rec league pitcher with a 35 mph fastball can be ready to go in a few minutes.  Top college and pro pitchers routinely take 45 minutes or more to prepare and warm-up before throwing their first pitch in a game.

The better your pre-practice or pre-game preparation
(your warm-up drills), the better you will pitch.

If you are a young pitcher with no advanced pitches, you can probably do a preparation in 10 minutes or so.  For most high school pitchers with a repertoire of 3 or more pitches, we recommend a minimum 30-minute plan.  Warm-up with your regular catcher if at all possible.  She needs to see what is working and what is not, and what pitches your are throwing accurately.

Practice does not make perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect.
Take your warm-up seriously.  Don't goof around, and don't get sidetracked in other conversations that will make you loose your concentration.  If you start doing something wrong, then you end up practicing a mistake.  With each pitch, practice the RIGHT things.

Time the start of your warm-up right: as close to practice or game time as possible.  But don't cut things too close.  You don't want to get warmed too soon, and then cool down and loose your sharpness before the game.  But you also don't want to start warming-up too late and not have enough time to get everything loose and your pitches working.

Before You Start Throwing:
Jog/Run - 5 minutes
Stretch your muscles  (especially arms, shoulders, trunk, and legs) - 5 minutes or longer

Warm-Up With Practice Throws:
1.  Overhand - start easy at a short distance, then gradually take a short step back after each pitch, and work up to full distance and full speed
2.  Underhand - same thing...start close and easy, then work up to full distance and full speed

The article above can be downloaded and printed from Microsoft Word



Do you want to reprint this article or use it on your website or in your newsletter?   
As long as it is not for profit, our only requirement is that you first notify us, then include the following sentence:
Article by Gerald Warner of PitchSoftball.com
and include a reference to this website:  www.pitchsoftball.com