Long Toss is the bread and butter of our entire throwing philosophy. We believe strongly that throwing is the most important aspect of arm development, and there isn’t a substitution for Long Toss. Simply put, your most optimal Health, Strength, Endurance, Recovery, Athleticism, Feel, Life/Carry, Mechanical Synch, Leg/Core Activation, Pelvic Tilt, Glute Load, Ground Forces, and Mental Freedom are all optimized by Long Toss.

Long Toss Defined

Long Toss is broken down into two major phases: Stretching Out and Pulling Down. The main objective of Long Toss is to stretch your arm out, progressively, to its furthest distance by gradually throwing the ball uphill, with arc, as you slowly move away from your throwing partner (Stretching Out Phase), and then gradually downhill as you incrementally move back in toward your throwing partner (Pulling-Down Phase).

The Stretching Out Phase

By gradually and progressively throwing the ball uphill, with arc, you are positioning your arm to “stretch” out or “open up” in the most optimal way. That’s because throwing uphill sends a signal to the body to “relax,” “loosen up” and be “free.” So, simply by throwing with arc, the body and mind are learning (relearning) what it feels like to throw with relaxation, looseness, and freedom. And these are all characteristics that we want the athlete to feel and focus on throughout the entire stretching out phase of Long Toss (and take this mentality into the Pull-Down Phase).

Throwing in this manner not only promotes optimal Range of Motion in the arm, but helps develop incredible feel, or proprioception, because you are making micro-adjustments (variability) with your release point as you gradually throw uphill (and eventually downhill in the Pull-Down phase). Hence, feel and accuracy is another incredibly beneficial by-product of Long Toss.

Long Toss also activates your maximum amount of athleticism. By throwing the ball, incrementally, higher and farther, you are promoting dynamics that are consistent with your most innate and athletic movements. For example, when you watch an athlete throw a ball, uphill, 300 feet or more, you are seeing a type of athleticism coming out of the body that would be hard to experience or replicate at 120 feet.

And from a mechanical point of view, by progressively throwing the ball uphill (and then progressively downhill), you are allowing your most innate and athletic movement patterns to organize freely, and thus, your “mechanics” can synch naturally. This is one of the greatest ironies of Long Toss – that your best mechanics “come out” of Long Toss as a by-product of “not” trying to be mechanical. Thus, variability actually promotes repeatable outcomes, rather than “trying” to repeat mechanically. This is a very liberating and rewarding way to experience throwing.

The bottom line is that throwing the ball uphill, gradually, with arc, as you move away from your partner is how the arm can “stretch out” in the most optimal way. And by having full range of motion, your arm is best prepared for the more aggressive phase of Long Toss – the Pull-Down Phase.

As you will see in the next section, it is crucial to create “optimal freedom in the arm prior to optimal explosiveness”, so that you don’t shock the arm. And when the arm is best prepared for high intent throwing, it has a much better chance of RECOVERING well the next day. As we saw earlier, better recovery is an essential aspect of Arm Development and Maintenance.

Note: Though it normally takes an arm 4-5 weeks to get FULLY “stretched” out (assuming that you are throwing 5-7 times a week), for the purpose of our Throwing Schedule (because we have at least 4 months to work with), the Stretching Out phase will also include an Active Rest Phase (4 Weeks) and a much slower Throwing Build-Up Phase (7 Weeks).

The Pull-Down Phase of Long Toss

Pulling-Down is the second Phase of Long Toss, and doesn’t occur until the arm has been FULLY stretched out to its maximum distance. Generally speaking, an arm can get fully stretched out to its maximum distance in about 4-5 weeks, assuming the athlete is throwing at least 5-7 days a week.

HOWEVER, because we have designated approximately 11 Weeks for the purpose of slowly “building” the arm into shape in the Stretching Out Phase, Pulling Down won’t occur until the last 2 months of our Throwing Progression (January and February) – and only on days that that arm is FULLY stretched out to its maximum distance.

Pull-Down Defined

A true Pull-Down is to maintain the same intent of your maximum distance throw, and compress it into shorter distances as you get closer to your throwing partner. Thus, if your maximum distance throw is 300 feet or “x”, the idea is that you maintain the exact same effort, “x”, on the way back into your throwing partner.

We have found over the years, for a number of reasons, that most athletes have a hard time Pulling Down correctly because it’s not easy to maintain the same intent of your furthest throw as you get closer to your partner. For starters, athletes subconsciously, and understandably so, want to be sure that they are accurately hitting their partner on the fly – they simply want to play “catch” – and they don’t want to chase the ball around.

Thus, athletes will tend to decelerate, or ease up a bit to make sure this happens. Also, the concept of “maintaining the same intent of your furthest throw” as you move in toward your partner is something that may not be fully understood or practiced.

Whether it’s because it’s something that is simply a foreign concept or something the player has never been introduced to, to maintain full intent on your throws on the way back in to your throwing partner, we have found from countless experiences that Pulling Down is truly an art form, and does take practice.

Principles to help you Pull-Down Correctly

Here are a couple of principles that will help you best understand and implement this principle. As we referenced above, think in terms of your furthest throw (ie 300 feet) as being “x”. As you make your way back into your throwing partner, just keep reminding yourself to MAINTAIN “x”. In other words, every throw is 300 feet, whether you are at 290, 250, 150, or 70 feet. Naturally, the arc will gradually lower as you get closer to your throwing partner, but the key is to not decelerate one inch of that 300 feet.

We recommend that you come back into your throwing partner approximately 10 feet per throw so you can gradually and optimally adapt to your release point  (so from 300 feet, it would take 23 throws to get back into 70 feet). Theoretically, because “every throw” is “x’ on the way back in, you can come in a bit faster or slower than 10 feet per throw. But we have found that 10 feet is the sweet spot for making these micro adjustments to your release point, and to best develop your feel or proprioception.

Now if you are new to Pulling Down, you will probably notice one of two things happening: 1) you will begin to decelerate, especially as you get closer to your partner, because you want to be sure that you are playing “catch”, or 2), the ball will fly over your partners head because you didn’t decelerate (and you aren’t used to making this adjustment downhill yet).

So here are two remedies for both: 1) “miss lower than higher on the way back in to your throwing partner” (it’s better your ball bounces 50 feet in front of your partner, than 1 inch over their head), and 2) ask yourself on each throw as you move in, “if I had thrown that last throw with the same arc as my furthest throw, would it have gone as far as my furthest throw, ie, 300 feet? Both of these checkpoints will help you intimately understand the art of Pulling Down.

*Managing your Pull-Down Workload (Flat Ground vs The Slope)

Though a true Pull-Down technically occurs only on days you have FULLY stretched your arm out to its maximum difference, we have changed our stance when it comes to the “first half” of the Pull-Down Phase.

Because it is widely considered that there is more stress put on your arm on Flat Ground versus the Slope of the Mound, we actually highly recommend that you refrain from Pulling-Down with full intent until you start getting into the “second half” of your Pull-Downs (i.e. 150 feet if you extended out to 300 feet). You can still “Pull-Down” from 300 to 150 feet in this example – we just want you to reduce your effort to 80% or so.

This principle is also highly beneficial on game days if you are a Starting Pitcher. We would still recommend you fully stretch out your arm, and Pull-Down on the way in, but again, go lighter on the Pull-Downs until you get back into 150 feet (assuming 300 feet is your maximum Long Toss distance that day).

Another important reason why we want you to start your higher intent Pull-Downs at 150 feet is because as the angle gets much lower as you make your way into your throwing partner, you are able to get much “taller” and more easily “downhill” because you are Crow-Hopping off of your back leg. Crow-Hopping off your back leg enables you to get much more support from your legs, core, and ground forces – all of which takes a great deal of load off of your arm (proper Crow-Hopping is essential to our throwing philosophy, and will be addressed shortly).

Modified Pull-Downs

Pull-Downs in theory can also be “modified” because there are going to be days in which you don’t get out to your maximum distance. For example, if your maximum distance is 300 feet, but you only went out to 150 feet, you can still make “Modified Pull-Downs” – it would just be with 50% effort (since 150 feet is 50% of your typical maximum distance). And if you went out to 250 feet in this example, you could Pull-Down with 75% effort. The bottom line is that Pull-Downs should be made with modified effort unless the arm is FULLY stretched out to its maximum distance.

A Note on Progressive Build-Up of High Intent Pull Downs (Phase 5)

Be sure that once you begin the “Pull Down” phase of your throwing program – which in your Throwing Schedule begins once you have reached your peak distance – to also incorporate your “higher intent” Pull-Downs progressively.

For example, on your first Pull-Down day (in January), we have recommended that you use only 85% effort (even though the arm is fully stretched out), and then we add 5% on your next Pull-Down Day so that it takes you 3-4 more throwing sessions to get to your full intent, Pull Down effort. As you’ll see, it is only at THIS point in the Throwing Schedule that your arm is ready to throw off the mound with full intent.

Pull-Downs – Summary

Even though Long Toss, on most days, won’t include high intent Pull-Downs, it still plays an essential role in the development of Arm Strength, Arm Speed, Athleticism, Leverage, and Life (Vertical Break) on the ball.

But it’s vital to remember that Pull-Downs are designed to be integrated in the months of January and February, and to only be incorporated on days when the arm is fully extended out to its maximum distance (and as you’ll see your best Long Toss/Pull-Down days are scheduled on your Mound Days).

Lastly, once you do start the Pull-Down Phase, you’ll notice that you will be incorporating Pull-Downs “every other day” until you begin your Mound Work. The reason we are having you do it this way is because once you begin high intent throwing, we want to balance it out with recovery, restoring, and rebuilding days (much more on this in the Phase 5 section).

Note: For SAFETY reasons, please keep in mind that we highly recommend that you don’t come in closer to 70 feet on your Pull-Downs unless you have a geared up catcher with a facemask. If you are Pulling Down correctly for the first time, you may be shocked to find out how much life, carry, and explosiveness are on your ball at these close distances. So please be safe!

Long Toss Videos

Full Long Toss Demonstration Video

• * Stretching Out Phase: (Time Code, 0:00 – 4:05)
• * Pull-Down Phase: (Time Code, 4:06 – 6:45)

Low Intent, Massage Throwing with Arc