Josh Gessner

Full Yips Guide - How I Overcame the Throwing Yips:

If you want help with advancing your baseball career: DM me "LAB" and we'll come up with a plan for you.

Because if you want to achieve your goals... you can’t just follow the norm. You need to look weird, stand out, be cringe. That’s what puts you ahead.

You need to be "cringe". For baseball players, “cringe” means doing what others won’t. And if you just do what everyone else does, you’ll end up where they do: nowhere.

My journey took 2 years of lonely, frustrating, slow growth. I made many mistakes and wasted hours. I hope these 5 steps might make it easier for you.

Instead of throwing a bullpen midweek, I did a plyo velo day. Instead of throwing 100 pitches on the weekend, I did a weighted ball pulldown protocol. Instead of going lighter to reduce soreness, I pushed my body.

I needed to focus on training to increase my velocity... Without worrying about competing every weekend. This allowed me to structure my throwing sessions to maximize throwing velocity.

5) I Stopped Playing Yes, I stopped playing for half of 2017 and most of 2018. Why?

In 2017 I was a 16 yr old throwing 78mph. Fast forward 2 years, I’m consistently hitting 95mph. Here's how I increased my pitching velocity (step by step):

Velocity-Based Training: Lifting weights as quickly as possible and measuring the bar speed. My favorites were: • Trap bar jumps • Speed Swiss bench press • Speed squats As I got bigger and stronger, I pushed more weight for higher speeds.

Plyometrics: I performed variations of jumps including: • Box jumps • Broad jumps • Band Assisted Jumps

Power & Speed: I trained this component through plyometric and Velocity-Based Training.

My favorite exercises during this time: • Front Squat • Trap bar Deadlift • DB Bench • Pull-ups As a newbie, strength and muscle gains came quickly.

Progressive overload. Gradually increase the amount of weight you're able to lift. When I first started lifting, I struggled to squat 135 lbs. In 2 years, I was squatting 405.

4) Lifting There were two main things I worked on in the weight room: • Progressive overload • Increasing power & speed.

After 2-3 weeks of this: I took a deload week to rest, recover, and get ready for the new cycle. I didn't touch the mound this whole time. The focus was to develop a body capable of throwing 90 mph+.

Weighted Ball Pulldown AKA Run n Guns Run as fast as you can toward the target, turn, and let it rip. This taught athleticism and intent.

Plyo Velo: I went through throwing drills that helped me throw efficiently. I threw each plyo ball as hard as I could and tracked my velocity for each throw. Each week, I would try to beat my previous week's velocity.

3) 2 High-Intensity Throwing Days/Week. I followed a weighted ball throwing program. This included a Plyo velocity day at the start of the week. Weighted ball pulldown day at the end of the week.