Exercise Tips

Bicycle Crunch: Lay flat on your back, legs stretched out. Lift both legs up just an inch or so above the ground. Bring the left knee and your right shoulder towards each other in a similar crunch exercise. Return to start position. Next repetition, switch your crunch so that your left shoulder and your right knee come closer together. Both legs and arms will stay above ground throughout the entire exercise.

Partner Leg Lifts: Your partner will stand looking down to you on the ground with your ears between their feet. Anchor yourself by holding onto the back of your partner's shoes. Have a partner throw your legs down fairly hard. Don't let your legs touch the ground, but bring them back up, slowly. Your partner will then throw your legs to one side, you lift back to middle, throw them down in the middle, then the other side. If you do not have a partner hold on to something heavy like cinder blocks in the same location for a comparable exercise.

Pushup:

Lie chest-down with your hands at shoulder level, palms flat on the floor and slightly more than shoulder-width apart, your feet together and parallel to each other. Keep your legs straight and your toes tucked under your feet. Straighten your arms as you push your body up off the floor. Keep your palms fixed at the same position and keep your body straight. Try not to bend or arch your upper or lower back as you push up. Exhale as your arms straighten out. Pause for a moment. Lower your body slowly towards the floor. Bend your arms and keep your palms in fixed position. Keep body straight and feet together. Lower body until nose touches the floor. Try not to bend your back. Keep your knees off the floor, and inhale as you bend your arms. Pause for a moment. Begin straightening your arms for a second push-up. Exhale as you raise your body. For "modified pushups" the same movements as above, but knees and toes remain on the floor. See how many Pushups you can perform, and if necessary, finish a set with "modified" pushups.

Situp: Lie on your back on the ground. Your knees should be bent about 90 degrees. Keep your feet close together and knees wide apart. Reach your hands at a 45 degree angle from the ground. Keeping your torso straight and stiff, start the sit-up by tightening your lower abs. As you continue up, imagine trying to push your face up against the ceiling (think up, not around) and let your hands lead you.
When your hands are parallel to the floor out in front of you, hold for a second and blow out through your mouth.
Lower yourself down slowly and under control. Do not just drop back to the ground.

Squat Jump: Start in a deep squat position on the balls of your feet with knees bent and feet parallel to your shoulders. Arms should be bent pointing forward. From this position, explosively jump up as high as you can and reach for the ceiling with your hands as you jump. As you come back down, land on the balls of your feet, avoiding your heel touching the ground.

Squat Thrust: Stand with feet together. Squat down and place your hands on the floor next to your feet. In an explosive movement, jump feet backwards into a push-up position, jump feet back between hands and stand up.

Stretching: As a pitcher, it is important to prevent injury while working out by stretching. This is going to warm up your muscles for use. It is a good idea to stretch before AND after a workout. Its also a good idea to stretch more frequently if you find you are sore from working out. A few of the most common stretches include one arm across the body, pause/hold, and then repeat with other arm. Another stretch includes standing upright, and bending down to touch your toes. To stretch the legs further, try standing on one leg and bending the other leg to your butt - hold/pause, release and repeat with the other leg. It is important to stretch to where you feel a little strain - pause - then release. Repeating this will allow you to stretch a little further each time!