Weeks 3 and 4 - Thrower Preseason Strength Training Made Easy!

Terrible, terrible, terrible week for me.

Sorry for the lateness of this blog post.

Last Monday night my laptop shut down and wasn't able to start up again. I took it to the Apple store on Tuesday, found out it was SUPER broken (hard drive cable burnt out) and they sent me to another repair place in state.

The new place diagnosed it themselves on Wednesday, fixed it Thursday, and I paid for it and picked it up on Friday.

So as you can imagine, there was no blog post last week and there was no way for me to edit or upload the week 3 preseason video. Not good. Sorry!

This week has been all catching up on stuff because of last week. FINALLY I am back on schedule and it is time for another video blog post on pre-season strength training for throwers

I hate you MacBook!

Week 3 and Week 4 are very different. Week 3 is the very last week of our initial 3 week block of training for the preseason. Week 4 is the first week of the second 3 week training block. For some details, please check out the videos below:

Here are some big takeaways from week 3 video:

First is scheduling. Most of the coaches and athletes reading this probably won't have a full 13 week preseason because of when school starts, when the kids can meet with the coaches, and when the season begins.

If you don't have a full 13 week preseason, you need to get rid of an entire 3 week block. I would rather you get rid of weeks 10-12 and do weeks 1-9 right in a row. This way you test on week 10 instead of week 13. Think of it this way. Weeks 1-3 you are using a movement that you will probably test with. Most likely a back squat, a bench press, and a deadlift. Weeks 7-9 you will do those movements again. Week 10 you test using that movement. So out of 10 weeks you are doing those main tester movements 7 times. That's a lot of practice with that movement and you will see big results.

Here is a sample calendar if you are starting week one this week:

November 18th - Testing week 10

November 11th - Start of week 9

November 4th - Start of week 8

October 28th - Start of week 7

October 21st - Start of week 6

October 14th - Start of week 5

October 7th - Start of week 4

September 30th - Start of week 3

September 23rd - Start of week 2

September 16th - Start of week 1

I hope this helps you schedule your preseason training.

Week 4 is a change of scenery from the first 3 weeks. In weeks 4, 5, and 6 you are going to vary the main movements slightly. My favorite way of varying the movement is by adding a pause. So do the same squat, press, and deadlift movement as the first three weeks with a pause.

For squats, stay super tight and pause at the bottom of the movement for 1-2 seconds before standing up. For bench press, stay super tight and pause at the chest (or one inch above the chest) for 1 second before pressing. For deadlift, you can pause a few inches off the floor or pause just below the knee.

Please don't change a bunch of things. So for your squats, don't add a pause, widen your stance, add bands, and use a different bar. That's 4 changes! Just change one thing.

The secondary movement of the day is going to be the same main movement you did for weeks 1-3 but a lot lighter. This will allow you to add more volume with lighter weight so you get the extra work and you still practice the movement.

Remember, championships are built in the off-season. I truly believe that. I hope you are willing to put in the work to make this your best season yet. That training starts today!

As always...THROW FAR!!

Coach Matt Ellis