The Coach & Parent Guide: How to Run Efficient Pitching Workouts Anywhere
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Every youth coach and baseball parent knows the struggle: field space is limited, weather is unpredictable, and getting meaningful bullpen reps during a packed practice or travel schedule is tough.
Whether you are managing a travel team without dedicated pitching mound access, or need to supplement what you already have, or maybe you are trying to set up an effective bullpen in your backyard, running an efficient pitching workout comes down to three things: planning, portability, and consistency.
Here is how you can set up high-quality pitching workouts anywhere without sacrificing form, safety, or field surfaces.
1. Plan your work, work your plan
No matter where your baseball practice is situated: a turf field, a dirt field, a multi-purpose field, a gymnasium, or even a backyard - there still has to be a plan. Don't waste 15 to 30 minutes of your limited practice time trying to decide what you are going to do. Too many coaches show up to the field with a plan to plan their practice while everyone warms up. That's a recipe for what we like to call a Hot Mess. Wasted time equals wasted reps. Put your practice plan together the night before, the day before, the week before. It doesn't really matter when so long as the planning happens before you're at the practice location. Check out these tips for developing a solid practice plan:
Start With Warm Ups: Part of teaching and mentoring young athletes is showing them what a good warm up looks like. Make sure all of the players know what you expect during a warm-up and take time to model it for them until they know the routine without asking. Then trust and verify as time goes on. As a frame of reference every warm-up should include a general body activation. This could be light jogging, jumping jacks, high knees, butt kickers, etc. After completing a good body activation players should begin working dynamic mobility. This could be leg swings, walking lunges, inchworms. There are a ton of different exercises and you may have your favorites. What matters most is that they are completed. From there you move on to Core and Joint Activation. Things like planks, glute bridges, and A-Y-Ts are great. Warm ups are NOT about warming up old bodies, they are about gearing up a body for athletic performance. If you skip this while they are young because "you don't have enough time" or "they're young they don't need this until they're older" you should remember what you teach them now echoes in their whole career. Give them the right traits right now. After, your athletes are ready for what they think is the "real" warm up. Throwing. Start out with short distance, focused reps that allow the body to warm up. Progress to longer distances and focusing on technique and accuracy. After a sufficient distance is achieved start working game effort throws as the players work their way back in. Too many kids trying to throw 10 foot rockets makes for upset teammates and/or injured players.
Define the Workout: Every practice plan needs a goal. Are you developing foundational skills, are you building on foundational skills, are you working mechanics or just need a feel day? We are not here to tell everyone what they should do because we believe every athlete needs different things at different times. Development is a trickly thing and exactly why you can't just wing it. Know your players and understand where they are at, and what they need. If you don't define the goal of any practice we can almost guarantee gains will be limited.
Cool Down & Recovery: We are specifically talking pitchers here. One of the most overlooked things in all of youth sports are cool downs and recovery. With the rate of injuries sky rocketing in baseball part of every plan should include a cool down and recovery. Over worked arms, year round play, and higher velocities than every before - believe us, these athletes not only need this but should learn it early and often. Coaches that gloss over warm ups, often do the same with cool down and recovery. They are in a rush to get to the "important" stuff.
Need to know how to recover & reset for fall, check this out.
2. Portability - Streamline Setup Time
If it takes 15 to 30 minutes to haul and set up a mound, you’ve already lost a chunk of your bullpen window. High-efficiency practices rely on quick deployment:
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Utilize Integrated Mobility: Flat ground won't cut it, pitching mounds are a must. Gear built with integrated wheels, like the Velocity pitching mound by Leadoff Baseball, allows a single coach or player to roll a mound right out of a truck bed or storage shed, and straight to the bullpen lane.
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Establish Dedicated Stations: Setting up the field isn't what you want to spend your time doing as a coach. Not because you are too good for it, but spending time you'll never get back is best spent teaching the game and helping athletes hone their craft. Assign two players to manage bullpen station setup as part of their pre-practice routine. Tell them where you want it and focus on everyone participating int he field setup. This helps teach the game and builds an atmosphere of teamwork right from the jump. Don't forget, this is accomplished much easier when most of your gear is portable.
3. Structure High-Rep, Low-Downtime Workouts
When running a team practice, players shouldn't be standing around waiting for their turn. Structure your 30-minute pitching block into these rotating stations to provide a consistent experience for your pitcher's to work through. Often times, assigning some pitcher's other duties initially, like catching balls coming back from the infield/outfield for the fungo hitter can help stagger the start/finish of the following steps.
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Long toss/pull downs:
Whether this is part of the warm up or belongs down here in this section is up to your planning. Pitcher's should use a controlled progression working up to a moderate or even max distance, using easy smooth movements with throws that have an arc. Not a ton of throws, just enough to get the body moving. Then the throws can reduce the arc and increase the velocity, think pull-downs as they work their way back in closer to their throwing partner.
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Flat-Ground Drill Station: Throwing is different than pitching. With the step above the body is ready to throw and pitch. Now it's time to focus on pitching skills like balance, hinge, heel/toe, foot alignment, or any specific mechanics you want your pitchers working on. One of the best novel tools to give a good feel on flatground movements is the Flatwork Pitching Bump, take a look here.
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The Portable Mound (Live Bullpen): Conducting consistent bullpen is the only way to handle a pitcher. Whether you have access to a field mound, or a portable pitching mound is the only thing you have to work with, or maybe you are using it to supplement what you have to get more pitchers through their work; throwing from a pitching mound is essential. Whether your plan is for the bullpen to be a low intent day or to a high intent, this is where their success begins. Give them a game day feel using a regulation pitching mound, like Leadoff Baseball's Prospect pitching mound.
Tip: Make sure your Portable Pitching Mound Isn't a Ticking Time Bomb. -
Recovery & Arm Care: Jaeger band routines, light mobility work, and cool-down protocols. Too many pitcher's are getting hurt, and this is one easy step that too many are skipping. Go from a good coach to a great coach by demanding compliance on solid recovery and cool down protocols.
Build Your Portable Bullpen Setup
Having a reliable, full-stride mound with built-in portability makes it effortless to bring professional-grade bullpen sessions to any practice location or facility. Need to know if you have enough space, check this out?
Explore our complete lineup of durable, wheel-equipped Pitchers Mounds designed to handle the daily grind of travel ball and home training.