Jack Barry Performance

Arm actions for me are like that first car you get: it drives you nuts and never seems to work right, but when it does, it holds a very special place in your heart.

Now I’ve come to realize that my arm shouldn’t be super short. It also shouldn’t be super long.

It needs to be somewhere in the middle to maintain leverage throughout the throw. and that’s what works for me.

What works for you might be VASTLY different.

There’s guys that throw 100 with short arm actions. Same thing for guys with long arm actions.

The easiest way to figure this out is finding what’s comfortable for one, when the ball comes out easiest and also what is repeatable/sustainable.

Throwing like a catcher is cool, yeah, but it’s hard to do that for 3+ innings and sustain Velo (I’ve tried. Forcing 89 requires a lot of musculature stamina)

Questions on it? Hit me with a message or comment.

Just Rip.

Be Sexy.

Make it make sense

I’ve been very anti-post throw for awhile now, but this analogy just makes it even more stupid in the grand scheme of things for me

If you want any form of “arm care”, just incorporate load and moving into end ranges in your upper body lifts or movement routines throughout the week

Save the workload for the actual bullets.

Just Rip.

Be Sexy.

Moving today

Back to regularly scheduled educational s**tposts tomorrow

And a reminder to run, do NOT walk, to your nearest goals.

Just Rip.

Be Sexy.

Even if you think you need a “baseball specific” place to train,
It can be overwhelming for baseball players when it comes to training styles, programs and the implementation of information they receive through their phones/the internet

One big fallacy is that you need to train with the facilities that post “soyboy” open mouth thumbnail type content (I will not be naming names. Just do your due diligence)

Just find a coach that can be real with you, that you enjoy talking to, and that knows their stuff. Sinple.

But some of the best coaches out there don’t have facilities (yet)

So your options can be limited (IF you take that mindset)

In my experience, if you can BEAR to separate the place that you throw and lift, commercial gyms offer many training solutions that may not be available to you at some hyper specialized facility

If you’re willing to spend the extra money, it could lead to some major mindset and training unlocks

Here are the reasons I love them:

1. Sauna (recovery)
2. Pool (movement, shoulder strength, anaerobic training)
3. TORSO ROTATION MACHINES (rotation. Enough said)
4. Some facilities may not have a GHD or reverse hyper. These are necessities in my opinion that 99 percent of commercial gyms have
5. Rock wall (finger/forearm/elbow/shoulder strength and total body mobility and movement solutions. Also fun af)
6. Diverse sport options (pickleball, basketball, squash/racquetball) great for warming up and general athletic development
7. Surplus of cardio equipment. Do your cardio swole kings!

Have anything I missed out on? Let me know in the comments.

Just Rip.

Be Sexy.

COMMITTED

So proud of Jake. Absolute Dawg. So much room still to grow but already made such massive strides

Shows up every day.

Excited to watch him compete at the next level this fall!

Just Rip.

Be Sexy.

Nothing was stronger than the frustration of seeing 30 high school players paying 400 bucks to learn hang cleans when NONE of them weighed more than your standard St. Bernard

The weight room should be a simple tool that young guys can use to make immediate progress in a short period of time if untrained

Not a classroom

The younger you are, the simpler the programming should be

Keep it easy. Keep it fun. Watch the progress skyrocket

Be Sexy

Struggling with complex training solutions?

Not seeing the progress you want?

Let’s hop on a mechanical analysis and talk about what you can be doing better right NOW!

Link in bio.

Just Rip. Be Sexy.

It’s up there with “just throw strikes” (not nearly as bad, but it’s close)

If you want a guy to be more explosive, you’re going to have to train him accordingly

No verbal cue is going to get a doughboy to move like OBJ (shoutout Lamar)

Train for what you want to do in sport.

Just Rip. Be Sexy.

I’ll tell you what your sons outlier pitch is:

He throws Cheese its.

If you were smart you’d invest in pasture raised beef and eggs, a home gym and an infrared sauna instead of the toy that only the big dogs can play with

(Also be careful about what pitch tracking tech your buying because some of it is complete junk)

Just Rip. Be Sexy.

Homage

But seriously. Is there a section of the CSCS textbook that mentions what you need to look like in order to program like a dawg?

Must be something running through the sinks at Westside all these guys are ordering on the dark web.

Weird coincidences are fun.

Bald dudes with beards who dip and drink a lot of coffee can be sexy. You can too.

Free Mechanical Analysis link in bio.

We still got guys doing this?

Why is distance running always the parameter we use to gauge “hard work” in the off-season

There’s so many other ways to test wether a guy prepared in the off-season

WITH stuff that going to help your team win.

Someone let me know when they change the basepaths to 5,280 feet. Then I’ll believe these coaches are doing it right.

“Dry January” isn’t going to change your relationship with alcohol as a frequent drinker

What most people do during this kind of break is hunker down with the fear of public interaction without intoxication, then immediately go back to pounding booze regularly as soon as Feb 1 hits.

Until you realize that social events sober can improve your confidence, conversational skills, and filter out surface level relationships that were defined by drinking
Not much is going to change in your life

Aside from the fact that your workouts are going to go crazy and your physique will improve dramatically:
- You’re going to have more money (average Weekend Warrior spends upwards of 5k on booze a year. I did the math.)
- You will be happier and stronger mentally. Alcohol puts you into 3-4 day depressive periods that people just cycle through feeling like s**t because of how chronically boozed up they are.
- You’re going to be more confident

When I told my friends that I actually enjoyed going out sober they looked at me like I just rubbed beef tallow all over my face (IYKYK). They couldn’t comprehend going to a function without having the inhibition lowering compounds in their body

Is it fun to have a few drinks with the fellas to celebrate something every once in awhile? Absolutely.
But getting blackout is so wash.

I’ve taken breaks from booze for up to 4 months and I’m excited to see how my business and body improve as we head through Q1.

Cheers folks. Wether it’s an adult beverage or just a DC I wish you the best.

Got a lot of questions on this after posting on twitter that “I’ve never seen a guy throw 95+ in sub 40 degree temps.

Throwing outside is great. Hell, I’ve been doing it in sub 30 degree weather for the past three months.
But there are days when the elements get in the way of a productive session

If the wind or sleet or anything else gets inhibits your ability to replicate the positions you want to ultimately hit in game, your best bet is to find a place indoors to rip into net or at least throw plyos.

The next best option is to do a full warm up inside and then just go outside for catch play or long Toss.

FWIW, said the best way out of AA is to sit 98-101 when it’s below 50 in west Texas.

Just some thoughts. Curious to hear yours below!

What are you leaving in 2022?

Let me know ⬇️

#2022

When I was unemployed, broke and had no purpose or direction I really thought cold showers and meditation were going to get me out of a funk.

In reality, all the anxiety and sadness improved when I gave myself a difficult task to execute on even in the least ideal of circumstances.

Could you imagine everyone telling you it’s a terrible time to start a business because gas prices are through the roof and the economy is going to collapse?

And doing it anyway?

That’s pressure.

NOTHING compared to sitting in a foxhole 2000 miles from your family or not knowing where your next meal is going to come from

But when you grow up with uptown problems, it can give you some nerves.

I had to GAMIFY every aspect of my life. Turning uncomfortable situations into challenges to achieve

-talking to potential clients with no testimonials on wether or not your service works
-talking to girls and convincing them you’re worth the date when you have no money and live with your parents
-building systems even though you have no idea what you’re doing and if it’s going to work.

The more you can learn to succeed when things aren’t “optimal”, the better off you will be when the winning run is on second and you have to get the right fielder who’s 4-5 on the day with two bombs out.

You won’t have an infrared sauna or a tens unit or enough protein in a hotel room in the middle of Danville, Virginia.

Get uncomfortable in situations you WILL be in one day.

Use these things as help along the way, not a crutch.

The truth hurts sometimes, doesn’t it?

Before I have a bunch of low fruit reachers coming after me, I want to say:

-I’m not advocating for people to go get drunk as a means to improve their performance. I’m pointing out that there are anomalies in sports that are able to destroy their bodies with alcohol and substances and still are able to perform at the highest level
-This just shows how important the mental side of the game is. All the training in the world pales in comparison to having the utmost belief in yourself and your abilities no matter the circumstances
-FWIW, I wasn’t one of these guys. Hence my fascination with them.
One of the best players I ever played with would eat Oreos and drink Mountain Dew before getting high and playing video games instead of going to get extra reps.
Did it matter? F**k no. Dude was the National POY lol.

Sometimes it helps to train your inner dog rather than the external one🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

“I can teach you how to gain X MPH in 60 days through the pdf way?”

“Lose 45 Lbs in 90 days using my xyz system!!!”

It’s all bulls**t. At the end of the day you’re paying for a cookie cutter program that has a 50 percent success rate and they use the good testimonials from the low hanging fruits to advertise their services.

Generally, those coaches don’t care about making people better. They care about getting theirs and splitting.

Making money isn’t a bad thing, but if you have to sell your soul to the current marketing nomenclature is it really worth it?

Develop sustainable systems that allow you to help as many guys as you can while still maintaining what made you a great coach or trainer in the first place. Be elite.

I can’t stay here another day because all I’m gonna want to do is move here

One more day in Texas and had to pay my respects

RIP SRV.

For guys that struggle to cut or lean out, you’re simply allocating too much of your calories towards food sources that aren’t going to help you maintain muscle mass.

Carbs are important for recovery and energy, sure, but if you’re hammering white rice you’re probably going to get hungry, especially if that’s a big source of the food that’s on your plate.

If you get out of the mindset that you can have “too much protein” in a meal, you’ll be shocked at how much more full you feel after meals and how much you lean out.

Three 60-80 protein meals is what I shoot for every day and my lean mass hasn’t changed while being 10 lbs less total BW.

Nutrition experts can come for me if they want, but I’m my own case study🤷🏻‍♂️

Coaches: just keep it in your pants.

It’s awesome if you can recite the entire Kinesiology textbook that you have on your desk for “continuing education purposes”

And if you’re super smart, that’s awesome!!! Your athletes don’t really care.

They just want to know how they can increase their squat, run faster, throw harder etc.

As coaches, realize that when you were playing you were a part of the 1 percent that actually wanted to dive deeper into the training process. Not everyone is going to be the same.

In college half of the weight room I was in was studying EXSC. I studied journalism. I’m the only one who’s still working in the field (besides a select few who know who they are).

Keep it enjoyable. You need to keep the athlete engaged and having fun. Nobody wants to go back to school.

You can read any study you want, go through any checklist you want, or listen to any expert you want.

But what it comes down to is finding your most athletic position that allows you to deliver a missile consistently.

If you told any of these guys that getting in their toe early was a red flag or that their back hip flexing forward was an issue they’d look at you like you were crazy.

You’re cleared for landing✈️

It doesn’t really matter if you’re landing “across your body” or you’re “flying open” (to a point obviously), but more often than not guys are just going to land wherever their hips feel most comfortable.

A couple weeks ago when a troll commented on how I landed with my front foot too far open and I was going to need shoulder surgery, this idea came back into my head.

Look at some video of your hardest throws or pulldowns. That will tell you exactly where you want that front foot to land.

In this example, two 100 mph throwers land in two very different spots that allow for them to clear their hips and maintain a clean block with the front leg.

Does their hip anatomy tell us this? Maybe, but you can probably figure out more by just watching them throw.

We should take more of an active approach to how we assess athletes.

I guarantee some of the most elite athletes would fail your standard FMS but have great movement quality within the context of their sport.

What else did I miss? Lol

“But did you consider!..!!.!!!!”

What consideration is there? You’re not putting excess valgus on the elbow by doing some skull crushers. Also, it may actually improve your shoulder mobility.

Keep your waiter walks. I’m going to the farm.