Thursday, October 14, 2010

Windup 1


Phase 1- Windup 1

From your starting stance, begins when you step back with the front foot, and bring your hands together over your head 180˚


Shoulder Girdle
Upward rotation of both scapulas with middle/lower fibers of the trapezius muscle and serratus anterior muscle.

Shoulder Joint
Flex shoulder joint 180˚ by concentrically contracting your anterior deltoid and upper pectoralis major muscles.

Elbow Joint
Elbow flexes about 45˚ by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles.

Hip Joint
With the leg you take your back step with, your hip extends concentrically by using your semitendinosus, semimembranosus, biceps femoris, and gluteus maximus muscles. This causes a posterior pelvic tilt.

Knee Joint
Remain extended 180˚ by  concentrically contracting your rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus lateralis, and vastus medalis.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Windup 2


Phase 2- Windup 2

After your hands are together above your head, raise your lead leg by flexing at the hip and knee. At the same time, bring your hands from above your head, back to your chest. The windup phase ends when the front leg is at its maximum height and the two hands begin to separate.

Shoulder Girdle
Downward rotation of both scapulas using the pectoralis minor and rhomboid muscles.

Shoulder Joint
 Extend shoulder joint by eccentrically contracting your latissimus dorsi, teres major, lower pectoralis, and posterior deltoid muscles.

Elbow Joint
Flexed about 30˚ by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles.

Hip Joint
With your step leg, your hip is flexed by concentrically contracting your iliacus, psoas major and minor, rectus femoris, sartorius, pectineus, and tensor fasciae latae muscles, causing an anterior pelvic tilt. The opposite of your hip externally rotates by eccentrically contracting your piriformis, gemellus superior and inferior, obturator internus and externus, and quadratus femoris muscles. This causes a left transverse rotation.

Knee Joint
Step foot knee is flexed to 90˚ by concetrically contracting your biceps femoris, popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus. The opposite knee externally rotates by isometrically contracting your biceps femoris muscle.

Early Cocking

Phase 3- Early Cocking

Begins after the windup as your hands spread apart to form a T shape with your body. Simultaneously, your lead foot starts its motion towards the target you are throwing to.

Shoulder Girdle
Both scapulas upward rotate using using your serratus anterior muscle and middle/lower fibers of your trapezius muscle.

Shoulder Joint
Abduction of both shoulder joints by concentrically contracting your supraspinatus, deltoid, and upper pectoralis major muscles.

Elbow Joint
Extension of about 170 ˚ by eccentrically contracting all three heads of the triceps brachii, and anconeus muscles.

Hip Joint
Lead leg cause the hip to extend  and abduct. Your hip extends concentrically by using your semitendinosus, semimembranosus, biceps femoris, and gluteus maximus muscles. This causes a posterior pelvic tilt. It also abducts by eccentrically contracting your gluteus medius and minimus, along with your tensor fasciae latae muscle. This causes a left lateral rotation pelvic tilt.

Knee Joint
Lead knee starts to extend by concentrically contracting your rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus lateralis, and vastus medalis. The opposite knee remains externally rotated by isometrically contracting your biceps femoris muscle.

Late Cocking

Phase 4- Late Cocking

Begins when your front or lead foot makes contact with the ground. As your foot hits the grounds, your body twists to face home plate, or the target you are throwing to and your glove hand flexes at the elbow and tucks into your shoulder.

Shoulder Girdle
Scapula of your throwing shoulder maintains upward rotation using the middle/lower fibers of the trapezius muscle and serratus anterior muscle. The scapula on your glove hand shoulder downward rotates using your rhomboids and pectoralis minor muscles.

Shoulder Joint
Throwing Hand-Slightly starts to diagonally adduct the shoulder joint by concentrically contracting your pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, and coracobrachialis muscles.
Glove Hand- Adduct shoulder joint by eccentrically contracting your latissimus dorsi, teres major, and lower pectoralis major muscles.

Elbow Joint
Flexion to 30˚ of your glove hand elbow by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles. Your throwing hand forearm is slightly supinated by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachioradialis, and supinator muscles.

Hip Joint
Your lead foot causes the hip to externally rotate by eccentrically contracting your piriformis, gemellus superior and inferior, obturator internus and externus, and quadratus femoris muscles. This causes a left transverse rotation. The opposite side of your hip internally rotates by concentrically contracting your gracilis, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus muscles causing a right transverse rotation pelvic tilt.

Knee Joint
Lead knee slightly flexes by concetrically contracting your biceps femoris, popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus. The opposite knee internally rotates by isometrically contracting your popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus muscles.

Arm Acceleration

Phase 5- Arm Acceleration

The movement of bringing your arm forward from the late cocking position. This phase ends when the ball is released from your hand.


Shoulder Girdle
With your throwing shoulder, the scapula protracts using the serratus anterior muscle and pectoralis minor muscle. The scapula of your glove hand will maintain retraction using your rhomboid muscles and the middle/lower fibers of the trapezius muscle.

Shoulder Joint
Throwing Hand- Diagonally adducts shoulder joint by concentrically contracting your pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, and coracobrachialis muscles.
Glove Hand- Shoulder joint stays in adduction by eccentrically contracting your latissimus dorsi, teres major, and lower pectoralis major muscles.

Elbow Joint
Stays flexed to 10˚ with your glove hand elbow by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles. Your throwing hand forearm also stays slightly supinated by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachioradialis, and supinator muscles.

Hip Joint
Your lead foot causes the hip to stay externally rotated by eccentrically contracting your piriformis, gemellus superior and inferior, obturator internus and externus, and quadratus femoris muscles. This causes a left transverse rotation. The opposite side of your hip stays internally rotated by concentrically contracting your gracilis, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus muscles causing a right transverse rotation pelvic tilt.

Knee Joint
Lead knee remains slightly flexed by concetrically contracting your biceps femoris, popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus. The opposite knee remains internally rotated by isometrically contracting your popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus muscles.

Arm Deceleration

Phase 6- Arm Deceleration:

Arm deceleration begins after release of the baseball. It is the continuation of the downward movement of your arm across your body.


Shoulder Girdle
The scapula on you throwing shoulder continues in protraction using your serratus anterior and pectoralis minor muscles. The scapula on your glove hand shoulder stays retracted using the middle/lower fibers of your trapezius muscle and rhomboid muscles.

Shoulder Joint
Throwing Hand- Continues to diagonally adduct shoulder joint by concentrically contracting your pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, and coracobrachialis muscles.
Glove Hand- Shoulder joint stays adducted by eccentrically contracting your latissimus dorsi, teres major, and lower pectoralis major muscles.

Elbow Joint
Stays flexed to 10˚ with your glove hand elbow by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles. Throwing elbow is extended to 180˚ by eccentrically contracting all three heads of the triceps brachii, and anconeus muscles.

Hip Joint
Follow through leg causes the hip to flex and internally rotate. Flexion occurs when by contracting concentrically with your iliacus, psoas major and minor, rectus femoris, sartorius, pectineus, and tensor fasciae latae muscles, causing an anterior pelvic tilt. Lead foot keeps the opposite side of the hip remains slightly flexed by concentrically contracting your iliacus, psoas major and minor, rectus femoris, sartorius, pectineus, and tensor fasciae latae muscles, causing an anterior pelvic tilt.

Knee Joint
The follow through knee flexes slightly by concetrically contracting your biceps femoris, popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus. The opposite knee remains in flexion by concetrically contracting your biceps femoris, popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus.

The Followthrough

Phase 7- The Follow through:
After your arm decelerates across your body, the leg on the same side as your throwing arm will swing around and land about shoulders length apart from the opposite leg. You want to be balanced on the balls of your feet. After balanced on both feet, quickly bring your glove and hand up into a fielding position. This will allow for a quicker reaction off the mound if a ball is hit towards you.

Shoulder Girdle
The scapula on your throwing shoulder upward rotates with the use of the middle/lower fibers of your trapezius muscles. The scapula on your glove hand shoulder protracts using the pectoralis minor and serratus anterior muscles.

Shoulder Joint
Throwing Hand- Slight diagonal abduction of the shoulder joint by eccentrically contracting your posterior deltoid, infraspinatus, and teres minor muscles.
Glove Hand- Shoulder joint stays adducted by eccentrically contracting your latissimus dorsi, teres major, and lower pectoralis major muscles.

Elbow Joint
Glove hand elbow is slightly pronated by isometrically contracting your brachioradialis, pronator teres, and pronator quadratus muscles. Throwing elbow is flexed to about 30 ˚ by concentrically contracting both heads of the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles. It is then slightly pronated by isometrically contracting your brachioradialis, pronator teres, and pronator quadratus muscles.

Hip Joint
Both hip joints remain in a slightly flexed position by concentrically contracting your iliacus, psoas major and minor, rectus femoris, sartorius, pectineus, and tensor fasciae latae muscles, causing an anterior pelvic tilt.

Knee Joint
Both knees remain flexed by concetrically contracting your biceps femoris, popliteus, semimembranosus and semitendinosus.