"All Weighted Ball Programs Are Not Created Equal"-By The Best Pitching Lessons In Naperville

Spades Pitching’s, the best pitching lesson in Naperville, weighted ball program is designed to do several things for our athletes. First, we need to be able to build up the accelerators of the arm for us to throw harder. Now, if you speed up the Bugatti then you need to have brakes on it otherwise, you’re going to wreck eventually. The same is true for an athlete’s arm, we need to simultaneously be building up the decelerator’s strength as well. Longevity is the name of the game for Spades athletes, where we feel the best pitching lessons in Naperville are conducted.

To preface the weighted ball routine, we first have to talk about what impacts the arm. The two hardest things on the arm are, arm speed and actually releasing the object. So the heavier an object is, the slower the arm speed we can create which makes it easier on the arm. Especially on the releases the heavier weights will help to work the accelerator muscle groups. Meanwhile, the lighter weights we know the arm will be able to move much quicker. Thus the 5 ounce, 4 ounce and 2 ounce balls are really going to force the declarator muscle group to work in stopping the arm. At Spades, the best pitching lesson in Naperville, we believe that our athletes must have more holds than throws stored up in the bank.

To begin, we have our athletes start on their knees at approximately a 20 degree angle. This will allow them to experience hip and shoulder separation while primarily focusing on their glove “blocking” as they finish and maintain good head posture throughout the movement. Our athletes will proceed with doing 3 holds and 2 throws with our weighted ball sets that include a two pound, one pound, six ounce, five ounce, 4 ounce and 2 ounce ball. These throws and holds are done at maximum effort. The throwing portion is what is working the accelerators in the arm and the holds are what is building the decelerating muscles.  Both pieces are critical to developing both a powerful arm and a healthy arm and how we become the best pitching lesson in Naperville.

After our athletes complete the weighted ball progression from their knees, they will move to a rocker position and proceed to follow the same throwing and holding pattern. 3 holds, 2 throws with the 2lb, 1lb, 6oz, 5oz, 4oz and 2oz weighted ball. The rocker allows our athletes to set their posture as they would similar to when they get to the  foot strike position off of a mound. We want their front foot slightly closed, not fully closed off, as we need their hips to be able to fire through on their release and get squared to their target. The rocker also allows our athletes to check their column, or stack, where we want their head on top of their shoulders and their shoulders on top of their hips. The column moves as one through the rocking back and forth in the rocker position. In order to maximize rotational efficiency, the column must stay vertical until we begin to get into the release phase of our delivery. This knowledge and so much more is imparted our on athletes as they are provided the best pitching lesson in Naperville.

Once our athletes have completed this progression from the rocker position, they move into a “run and gun.” Following the same pattern as before, 3 holds with 2 throws. Again, with the same weighted balls, 2lb, 1lb, 6oz, 5oz ,4oz and 2oz. The run and gun is a great way to help an athlete sync their entire kinetic chain as they work their holds and throws. We feel that this weighted ball program is one of the aspects that makes Spades, the best pitching lesson in Naperville.

After our last test date with our Spades athletes, on 12/30/23, we saw an average velocity increase in all of our athletes by 5.2 MPH! That’s after 7 weeks of work. Within that testing bullpen, our lowest total “strike zone” strikes was 66%, while the highest was 89%. We were very impressed with the results our guys have been able to achieve so early on.

A well planned out weighted ball routine, is a pillar in building an arm that can throw harder but doing it at maximum efficiency which is what is going to protect it long term. Any program claiming to be the best pitching lesson in Naperville, must have something like this in their programming.

Beginning Step of Weighted Ball Program

Third Stage of Weighted Ball Program-"Run n Gun"