One Week Check Up

First week feedback

For the first time in a very long time I'm thrown six out of seven days, and I'm feeling pretty good. My arm feels fine after my second Hybrid B of the week, and the drills and new arm path I'm trying to create are starting to feel a little more natural. My elbow was a bit sore during my Recovery work yesterday, but felt fine today. The only issue I've ran into physically is my knees. I tore cartilage in my "good knee" last summer and it swelled up after my velocity check and leg workout last Saturday. I've been attacking it with low doses of ibuprofen and some daily floss band work and it seems to be improving. However, it is something to keep and eye on as I move forward. It would really suck to do all this work to get my arm ready, reshape my delivery, and then not be able to pull down in my Velo phase because I can't run 5 steps. If I can't get full ROM in my knee before my Hybrid A next week I'll adjust the schedule to have 2 off days each week moving forward.... This process is definitely going to be more of a marathon than a sprint.

Recovery Rocks!

Last year a friend of mine invited me to go indoor rock climbing at a new gym that had just opened up not to far from where I live called "On The Rocks." From day 1 I absolutely loved it and I had been climbing pretty consistently before the pandemic and stay at home order put a stop to that. Rock climbing is like a vertical puzzle that has to be exercised through and it's quickly become my new thing to work on.

Climbing is a great workout for the back, shoulders, forearms, and fingers. Weakness in these areas can limit the ability to climb some route's simply because grip fails. So, for the past year I've been doing a ton of forearm work on top of my climbing and want to continue to do so. Studies have shown having adequate strength in the forearm flexor pronator muscles relieves strain from the UCL during pitching, so I'm going to look at my climbing work as incredibly good cross training. (Link at the bottom to an awesome article from Driveline with more detail on flexor pronator muscles and how they protect the elbow.)

I thought Recovery days would be a good place to fit in work on my hang board to try and keep some of the conditioning I have built up for rock climbing. During my Recovery days I also spend extra time on my foam roller and going through different yoga-ish movement patterns I learned in a Somatic Studies course taught by Professor Deb Vogel during my time at Oberlin.

This class took place at 9am on Mondays in a dance studio on the other side of campus, and it was my favorite class I took while I was there. I would walk in the room feeling like I had been hit by a truck after playing a 4 game series that weekend, and almost do cartwheels on the way out after spending an hour breathing and stretching. As an ex-student athlete, I highly recommend any current student athletes find a way to get a credit for taking care of their body in season. Taking a class makes getting the recovery work a requirement and you'll feel fresher during the season, at least I did. Yoga classes are great, or a class like Professor Vogel's that teaches how to listen to the body, recognize what's tight, and then address the problem goes a long way in staying healthy during a long season.

Feeling good so far! 75mph... I'm coming for ya.