Ben Brewster - Tread Athletics
Building The 95 MPH Body: The Keys To Ramping Up Velocity On Even Average Athletes.
Favorite Quote: The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. - Muhammad Ali
Note from Ben: My name is Ben Brewster of Tread Athletics and I help pitchers throw harder by getting strong, flexible and powerful.
I was once a scrawny 155 pound kid in high school, struggling to hit 73 miles-per-hour. My training and education led me to completing a degree in exercise science and pitching 4 years in the ACC. Along the way, I gained 65lbs, added more than 20 mph to my fastball and was selected in the 15th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.
But TreadAthletics isn't about me. It's about how myself, and our team can help you.
Pitchers' bodies, like race cars, are machines that can be upgraded, enhanced and fine-tuned through proper training, nutrition, and science.
I'm here to show you how.
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Summary and Action Plan below
SESSION SUMMARY
Ben didn’t have a ton of great instruction growing up, he’d just sign up for teams in the local league and didn’t get any extra work from parents or any coach.
Freshman year of HS was a big wake up call because it was his first year with more competitive players. That was a turning point in his career because he was forced to choose between staying the same and just not being special - or going 100% all in and see where this can go. He went the latter route.
Ben went to the internet for answers. He made a lot of mistakes and even hurt himself being over aggressive - “more is better!” actually isn’t always better. And he even delayed his progress but learned so much along the way.
But being on his own he was able to question the conventional wisdom and teaching and see what is actually beneficial and what isn’t.
Misinformation that he encountered was that velocity is something you have or you don’t. That weight training will make you inflexible. It’s just not true.
Ben showed out at a walk on tryout at University of Maryland to earn a spot on the team….only to find himself as the lowest man on the totem pole and have to earn his way up.
When a player first reaches out to Tread Athletics, they screen their players to make sure they’re up for the commitment that it takes to use this training to improve. The process to becoming the best you can be is very tedious at times and they need to weed out those who aren’t 100% committed.
If parents are the ones who are leading the the charge for training, it isn’t going to work.
Side note: Kids who are a bit behind the pack in their early teens tend to be the ones who really develop their work ethic in order to keep up. The players who develop sooner and have always been the best without having to strive for it tend to drift back to the pack as the years go on. So being at a disadvantage at a young age can actually be a big advantage if the kid decides to attack his development and growth.
Throwing velocity is the bread and butter of what Ben teaches. To throw hard, you have to be able to move efficiently and athletically through high level positions. And be able to exert a lot of force through those dynamic positions. If we can do that we can throw hard.
So then you break it down further: what does the back leg do? What does the front leg do? Understanding what efficient movement entails is step one. Some guys can’t get into efficient positions because they have tight hamstrings and tight hips. So you can’t cue a kid to use their front side better or something else if there’s a flexibility/mobility issue it won’t improve.
First thing people do when working with ben is send 20 videos of the player using certain movements. Overhead squat, push ups and several other fundamental movements are required.
Some static stretching, some foam rolling is included. A full range of motion/deep squat has a ton of benefits in loosening up hips and ankles. Lifting properly with a full range of motion can be corrective on it’s own. Meaning guys can increase mobility with weight training - which is what many people thought was exactly wrong.
So once they have proper mobility to get into the proper throwing positions, it becomes how much force can the player apply. That gets into strength training and adding muscle mass.
Every piece of the chain (kinetic chain) is important to transfer force. You have to have a certain amount of muscle mass in order to exert and absorb the forces needed.
And to gain muscle, you HAVE to have an excess of calories for the body to use. So you have to take your eating seriously.
That’s when you can see some crazy transformations. Ben worked with Rob Friedman (Pitching NInja) son and he added 70lbs over two years...roughly a pound a week with a few plateaus.
This is NOT a linear, constantly improving process. There are plateaus. There are set backs. If you don’t understand that you will be very frustrated and want to give up.
A common problem Ben sees with young guys is not properly getting into their back leg.Being very vertical with their back leg is bad. You want to be able to apply force back through the rubber, as horizontally as possible (meaning being lower with your belly button)
Also being able to segment the body: hips go first, then torso, then arm. Being able to move the hips while keeping the shoulders closed is vital for transferring energy and throwing hard.
Always educate yourself before you start giving advice and changing things in your son.
Over-cueing is a very real phenomenon. If you’re constantly giving advice after every rep and changing things at every practice you are causing harm. Focus on 1-2 things, at most.
The kids he sees who quit is because they feel so much pressure to be perfect now. Allow them to figure it out, give them time.
ACTION PLAN
Step 1 trength and mobility! You are never too young to start working on strength. Even just pushups, pullups, squats and lunges would be a good place to start, even if it is just body weight. Get that body strong and mobile.
(You can check out sample programs on treadathletics.com for more advanced examples).
One movement to work on is Ben’s demonstration - getting that back leg to drive *horizontally* back into the rubber. That will help generate energy at the beginning of the kinetic chain.