What Exercises Should Throwing Athletes Avoid?

by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS

This is an age old question.  For years there have been thoughts and theories on what throwing athletes should and shouldn’t be doing to remain healthy and improve their performance.  This debate goes back years longer than I have been seeing and treating people, but I can recall very early in my career when I was with the New York Yankees organization that there were questions about whether or not their players should lift and if so, what they should or shouldn’t be doing.

The traditional thought is that since overhead throwing athletes rely a lot on mobility and motor control, that lifting weights can limit those two items, thus decreasing performance and exposing them to injury and should ultimately be avoided.  It has been thought that any lifting overhead is dangerous and should not be done, as should anterior pressing activities, such as the bench press.  But, is all of that a reality?  My answer is no, but with some exceptions.

In my opinion, the shoulder is the most complicated joint in the body, thus there are a number of factors to consider when looking at the throwing athlete.

From a high level overview, I have personally never understood the notion that we shouldn’t lift or place the shoulder overhead for a throwing athlete.  If we expect them to move through that motion with stability and control at very high speeds, shouldn’t we expect that they can do it at slower speeds and a moderate load?  Performing an overhead press should be relatively easy to perform for the throwing athlete and improving strength and stability in that range should improve shoulder function.

One argument against this that I often hear is that pressing will force the shoulder into an impingement position.  But, the truth is that if they have scapular stability and have been coached to press properly, they shouldn’t be put into an impingement position, so it is a non issue once those things are cleared.

My guidelines for lifting the overhead athlete are as follows:

• First and foremost, training the trunk stabilizers and lower extremity for strength and power has to occur to improve throwing performance and to bullet proof a shoulder.  Squatting, lunging, and olympic lifting should all be part of a good program for the throwing athlete.  They need this strength and power and it will only come with lifting weights.
• All movements that are prescribed MUST be performed with full range of motion and the quality of motion has to be prioritized over a load.  This will help to ensure mobility issues don’t become a problem and will keep “chronic” issues to a minimum.
• Because scapular stability is so, so important for the throwing athlete, always perform at least as many pulling motions as pushing motions, of not more.  Rows, pulldowns, and retractions build the foundation for the throwing shoulder.
• I’m not a fan of isolated rotator cuff strengthening for reasons that you can read in my blog here.  I prefer to train the rotator cuff as a stabilizer, not a prime mover, which is how it is intended to work, so I avoid isolated internal and external rotation exercises.
• If there is a history of a previous injury, I may be more selective with my programming.  For example, if they have a history of an anterior shoulder injury, then I may limit the range of motion in anterior pressing movements.  Using dumbbells for a bench press tends to limit anterior stress on the shoulder because people don’t tend to feel pressured to touch the bar to their chest.  The same is true of pushups.  If they have a posterior shoulder issue, I’m going to avoid or limit overhead pressing.  If they have some biceps tendonopathy history, I’m not going to do a lot of front raises (I don’t do a lot of them anyway).

Overall, good training works for every athlete in just about every situation.  Training smart and efficiently will ensure that throwing athletes can stay healthy and improve performance.