Velo University

Training the way up. Our tall guys start from the bottom of the squat and accelerate the bar as fast as they can. Every lift has a speed range: too slow and the weight comes down, too fast and it goes up. The bar speed decides the load, not the number on the plates.

The athletes we flag most: high-level throwers, ages 13 to 16. Skeletally immature, and capable of more force than their bones can handle. The time to be most careful with high-stress moments. Dr. Nick Serio. Book a free call with our staff. Link in our bio.

Training the way down. Coach Paul Franzese has Gary Gill Hill drop as fast as he can and stop hard at the bottom, with an OVR sensor on the bar measuring the speed of every rep. The goal is to absorb force fast, and each rep should be faster than the last.

Shoulder pinches when you press overhead? Before you blame the cuff, look at the shoulder blade. Dr. Nick Serio's two-test check: painful arc, then assist the blade up. If the pinch goes away, it's upward rotation, and you can train that.

The pitchers who threw hardest weren't the ones guaranteed to get hurt. The ones with a sudden jump in velocity were. Volume can climb before intensity, because the stress gap between 5 and 10 throws is far smaller than a jump in effort. Dr. Nick Serio. Book a free call with our staff. Link in our bio.

Adonys Guzman threw out 29 base runners in his first full pro season. His offseason focus: one spot he can get to every time, staying narrow, with all his energy going toward second base.

Velocity and arm stress rise together. What changes the risk is how you get there. 80 to 88 in two months is not the same as 80 to 88 over six, with the body getting bigger and stronger along the way. Dr. Brandon Erickson and Dr. Nick Serio. Book a free call with our staff. Link in our bio.

The gap under the acromion is about 1 cm. When the scapula doesn't upwardly rotate as the arm rises, the supraspinatus tendon runs into the roof. That's the pinch. Dr. Nick Serio's full staff breakdown is on our YouTube.

A check for any overhead thrower from Dr. Nick Serio: overhead squat with a 15 lb bar and try to break the bar backwards. It keeps the bottom of the shoulder blade tight to the ribs as it rotates up.

Velocity is a lagging indicator. By the time in-game velo is down 3 to 4 mph, the damage is probably done. Baselines, taken before any injury, are what make earlier signals useful. Dr. Nick Serio. Book a free call with our staff. Link in our bio.

Why Henry Williams pulls from the rack, not the floor: he's 6'5" with long femurs, so the floor isn't a strong hinge position for him. He's a pitcher. The goal is force in a good position, not a powerlifting number.

In a study of MLB draft combine pitchers, 90%+ of shoulder MRIs showed SLAP tears and 75% showed rotator cuff changes. In a thrower, much of that is adaptation. Tighten the shoulder back to "normal" and he may not get his external rotation back. Dr. Brandon Erickson, VeloU Chief Medical Advisor. Book a free call with our staff. Link in our bio.

Every couple of weeks our pros retest on force plates. Brandon Neeck (Pirates, Triple-A): up 3 lb, peak power back over 6,000, jump height 20.2, thigh pull 4,026, up about 150.

Brendan White (ex-Tigers) had been struggling to find intensity on the mound. Our force plate mound reads both legs 1,000 times a second, so Coach Mike put this bullpen next to his last one: the front leg extends on time now, and more of the force comes from the lower half.