Daisuke Matsuzaka and how his pitching philosophy and regimen pertain to running

I think it makes perfect sense. I don't know a thing about training pitchers, but the basic logic makes sense-- if you want your arm to get stronger, you throw more!

The concept of a "base", in the Lydiard sense, is not well understood by many other sports.

I am a rock climber who is able to train in a climbing gym, and I easily do 2-4 times the overall volume of easy climbing compared to my expert compatriots. They may have impressive short-term gains, but by the end of the season they are often unable to climb because of finger, elbow or shoulder injuries. I have had scarcely a niggle in the last 15 years.

I feel that the seemingly (to the onlooker) endless laps that I perform on easy/moderate terrain develops the proper connective tissue strength, as well as cementing my technique, without undue stress on my body. When the season begins in earnest, I can then launch from an ever-enlarging base of fitness and experience.

I was just reading that article this morning. The thing that struck me was the fact that he never uses ice on his arm. Although the rest of the article made sense and could be translated to running, that part didn't. How could not using ice make you a better runner???

Yeah, that was the one thing that didn't really fit the running correlation. Seems most hard-core runners benefit and speak highly of ice baths. Although, I've heard there is no evidence to prove they aid in recovery. Again though... I bet there were never guys with bags and bags of ice strapped to them 40-50 years ago.

There was a story that while getting ready for the 1972 Olympics Frank Shorter had a persistent hip injury. Rather than miss training, he'd tape an ice bag to his hip before each run.

On the other hand I always took very hot baths and that was inspired by the Japanese marathoners of the era who believed that hot baths were the best way to remove fatigue products from your blood.

Baseball seems to be slow to catch on to new things. It makes perfect sence when you compare it to running. I loved the quote by Francona where he said he'd be fired if he let Dice-K throw in the bullpen after games... It's called COOLING DOWN! How backwards can you get?

magness covered it in his blog this week.

http://stevemagness.blogspot.com/

dean moriarty wrote:

I think it makes perfect sense. I don't know a thing about training pitchers, but the basic logic makes sense-- if you want your arm to get stronger, you throw more!

Until you reach the optimal gain. Each individual has a breaking point. More isn't always better especially with athletic training.

HRE got my attention to this thread. I just wonder how many people know that Lydiard actually influenced a handful of guys who won 5 or 6 gold medals in kayaking in 84 and 88 Olympics??? How about his principles were applied to the "base" training for Kristi Yamaguchi... Or, this may be a bit better-known, how Australian national swimming coach applied them to a bunch of record breaking swimmers from Australia...

It's all so logical and straight forward. I couldn't help but remember Soh brothers running around Mt. Egmond in New Zealand, some 125 miles "just for the heck of it"...in marathon racing flats! Wonder how many exercise physiologists and podietrists would be against that sort of thinking...

samiam wrote:

dean moriarty wrote:

I think it makes perfect sense. I don't know a thing about training pitchers, but the basic logic makes sense-- if you want your arm to get stronger, you throw more!

Until you reach the optimal gain. Each individual has a breaking point. More isn't always better especially with athletic training.

True. But I think the idea that the Matsuzaka article advances is that the breaking point, point of optimal gain, etc. is actually much higher than we currently believe.

I was just reading a quote from Ron Clarke a couple of days ago about training volume. He said something similar to what you did, that many people do too much and become fixated on how much they do. Then he added that really, most people don't do enough.

Nobby wrote:

... Or, this may be a bit better-known, how Australian national swimming coach applied them to a bunch of record breaking swimmers from Australia...

I think you're referring to Bill Sweetenham? If so, I've read his Long Term Athletic Development Program and it is very volume-focused.

Most people look for the minimum amount they can do and still improve (some) without ever knowing what is their maximum they can do without breaking down.

I believe the swimming coach in Australia is Dave Wright who in fact wrote a book called "Swim to the Top" with Arthur Lydiard.