๐ Helping elite athletes own their data and development |๐ฑ A front office in the palm of your hand | โพ๏ธ Trusted by 50+ professional players |
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Spencer Strider put up incredible numbers last year, despite it only being his rookie season.
His warm-up routine was no doubt part of his success ๐
Should you do Spencer Striderโs pregame warm-up?
A thread on the Spencer Turnbull (
@spencerturnbull
) no hitter.
The best executed sequence of the night was his last one, which is impressive in its own right. Even more impressive that it came after a potential game ending double play. The ability to lock back in is ๐๐ป
โฝ๏ธ 5 Things you can learn from Eric Simโs (
@kingofjuco
) 95 or Die Challenge to throw harder and stay healthyโฝ๏ธ
Eric gained 9 mph in 151 days in 2020. Thatโs no easy feat.
His journey highlights what true hard work isโฆ
Weโre at the point in the season where organizations are starting to worry about pitcher and hitter workloads. Coming off of a shortened season in 2020, or no season in 2020 if youโre a minor leaguer, you may see your pitch counts and playing time decrease. The fear is that more
Sleep extension (attempting to get 10 hours in bed per night) has been shown to increase shooting percentages in basketball players close to 10%. If throwing a ball towards a small target very accurately is important for your sport, thatโs a quick way to improve 10% over the next
The data age is here to stay in baseball, but most data is collected on field. Quantifying what happened is great, but the ability to explain why is more powerful. That requires collecting data on yourself off the field every day. For example, do you remember what you did the 3
Pitcher command is important to track and quantify. Charts like this can help both the catcher and pitcher improve at getting the ball to the desired spot. Itโs easy to look at a heat map and say โthrow it in the greenโ but that doesnโt tell you how to do it. Hereโs an example of
Itโs no secret how important sleep is for the athlete๐ด...
The image below is a graph of the times at which one of our clients has gone to bed throughout the season.
With complex travel schedules and inconsistent game times, itโs no wonder why this plot is all over the place.
High-level tools should not be reserved for only the highest levels of Sports.
That is what we believeโฆ
And that is why we made an app!
Introducing 4APP V.1 โ featuring our proprietary Command Tracker..
For both โพ๏ธ and ๐ฅ!
Live now:
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We are 4APP (4 Achieving Peak Performance), the first independent front office operating on behalf of individual athletes, not the clubs that employ them. In addition to the analytical services offered by a front office, we give our athletes the freedom to utilize wearable
Consider these graphs from one of our athletes. A couple of key points.
1) first and foremost, if you arenโt collecting this data, you canโt produce the insights. But players should not be giving this data to the teams because it will be used against them at some point. We exist
๐ค Sleep Toolkit ๐ค
5 free ways to fall asleep faster
1. Consistent sleep & wake times
2. Hot shower before bed
3. AM & PM sun exposure + no screen time 1 hr before bed
4. Breathwork (ie. box breathing)
5. Reading before bed
Optional:
Magnesium + L-Theanine 30 mins before bed
๐จ New Features Unlocked in 4APP Sports For All Users ๐จ
Becoming a Data-Driven athlete is not an easy process.
At 4APP, we aim to change the perception around using data to better one's self and lower the barrier of entry so that any athlete can
#AchieveMore
Should you add this?
Yes, weโre big fans of RPR!
Itโs an easy way to activate certain body parts without creating muscular fatigue ๐
Here are some RPR areas you can focus on ๐
๐ค 5 Ways to Avoid Throwing Pain ๐ค
1. 8-10 hours in bed per night
2. Frequent soft tissue work
3. Full body dynamic warm-up
4. Nutrient dense pre-game snack & diet
5. Proper workload management
6. Efficient mechanics/sequencing
Should you throw or lift the day after pitching? โพ๏ธ
What should you be doing to optimize your post-pitching recovery? ๐ค
As with most things, this is individual to the athlete ๐คทโโ๏ธ๐
Read on for information that will guide you in crafting the best routine for yourself
If you ask a pitcher how their last bullpen went, youโll likely get an answer like โgoodโ or โbadโ. Thatโs mostly useless info. If you ask a 4APP pitcher how their last bullpen went, theyโll probably show you a chart like this that quantifies exactly how it went. If you ask a
โ๏ธโ๏ธ An Athleteโs Guide to Caffeine โ๏ธโ๏ธ
A thread on how to leverage caffeine to perform better in your sport and enhance cognitive performance while avoiding negative effects on sleep and energy.
๐ Recover like a Superhuman Toolkit ๐
1. Sleep
2. High protein intake
3. Cold exposure
4. Active recovery
5. Collagen/Creatine
6. True rest
Optional:
Red Light Therapy + Marc Pro
โฌ๏ธ Reduce your elbow pain with THESE โฌ๏ธ
Poor tissue quality is a common cause of throwing pain.
Here are 3 overlooked soft tissue areas and simple ways you can address them:
(Refer to the Xโs in each photo for specific trigger points)
1๏ธโฃ RPR
Strider starts his routine with RPR: a system of breathing & soft tissues that resets your body from โsurvivalโ mode to โperformanceโ mode ๐ช
He uses RPR to activate his glutes, hamstrings, and abs.
The Marc Pro is a very effective recovery device, but it costs $700.
If you read this thread, you'll be able to turn yourself into a โHuman Marc Pro,โ for free ๐
You can achieve this through active recoveryโฆ
Saunas are recovery amplifiers, but are difficult to come across ๐งโโ๏ธ
Just because you donโt have a sauna doesnโt mean you canโt get the benefits!
If you read this thread, you can do that in the comfort of your home ๐
Average WAR by fastball rpm so far this season. With 1 WAR being valued around 9 million, you can see why pitchers would want to increase their spin rate. Largely explains MLBs sticky situation.
No hitters are often a combo of well executed pitches and happy accidents. Happy accidents can be a combo of bad decision and good command, good decision bad command, or bad decision bad command. Here are some examples of bad decision good command.
Big leaguers have impeccable command. They almost never miss their spot, right? ๐ฏ
Wrong ๐ณ
Weโve all heard that statement, but it just isnโt true.
So how close do they actually get? ๐ง
Lets dive into 2๏ธโฃ things that make both Gerrit Cole and Gavin Williams exceptionally hard throwers.
Weโre going to focus on how they set themselves up to sustain upper 90s FBsโฆ how they execute the โDriftโ and โDropโ phases effectively โญ
Both Jhoan Durรกn and Brusdar Graterol are among the league's hardest throwers with their fastballโs averaging 101.8 mph and 98.6 mph, respectively ๐คฏ
Weโve seen athletes improve their performance when they address both their mind & body in their pregame routine.
Clayton Kershaw is known for his nasty 12-6 CB. Heโs also devoted significant effort to creating his start-day protocol ๐ช
Should you do Kershawโs game day routine?
Stuff, the combo of velo and movement, will always be more important than command. This surely wasnโt an elite command game, as you can see. Many pitches missed the intended location by more than a foot. But that doesnโt matter when you have good stuff and some luck on your side.
๐จ 4APP Throwing Warm-up ๐จ
The ideal throwing warm-up is built around your needs as a thrower and body type โพ๏ธ
It should, however, contain these 5๏ธโฃ componentsโ typically in this order:
What if you were able to significantly improve your game or training metrics in only a couple of weeks? ๐
Sounds too good to be true? Well, it isnโt!
๐งต This is just some of the power of being a data driven athlete ๐งต
This athlete changed 1 thing and immediately saw a 40% increase in their Recovery Score โก๏ธ
Any idea what it was?
This thread could change your career.
Think about the best player in 2001. Think about their attributes. Their speed. Their power. Their velocity. Their breaking pitches. Etc. now put those attributes in todayโs game. Is that player still a big leaguer? Sure. Is that player an elite big leaguer? No. But the human
days before your best game? What time did you go to sleep and wake up? What time did you eat? What training and recovery did you do on those days? The people who know these answers will be the best players in the future. Shouldnโt you start now?
Mobility is important for a pitcherโs ability to create velocity and stay healthy ๐ฅ
But most people arenโt maximizing its benefits.
๐งต Avoid these 3 mobility mistakes ๐งต
Trying to gain weight? ๐ Want to recover better? ๐ฅ Want to PERFORM better? ๐ฅฉ
Tracking nutrition just might hold that key for you! ๐
Here are different degrees that you can track nutrition atโฆ
If this is your Velocity v. Command chart, do you really throw 90 mph?
In this example, the athlete loses significant Command as they jump up to 100% intent.
๐งต A thread on the importance of training at max intent ๐งต
"My arm hurts, but throwing with pain is normal."
No, it's not โ
Here are 4 steps you should take to manage your workload to maximize your arm health:
Pitchers, catchers, fielders: have scouting report cards to check whenever.
Hitters: โheโs got fastball change curve slider, mixes early. More change to lefties but sometimes to righties. Fastball runs, sometimes cuts. Get him up middle over the plateโ ๐คฎ๐คฎ
Makes you think...
โผ๏ธ Do this before you throw โผ๏ธ
How would you feel if you were looser?
This 1 minute trick uses your eyes to increase your range of motion by 5-15 degrees and can effect every limb! All you need is a pen to guide your eyes ๐
Subjective metric tracking is the best place to start one's data collection.
Easy to track consistently, with tremendous resulting insights!
๐จWith that, we are excited to launch a new feature in our public app
A daily subjective health-metric questionnaire (aka HQ)๐จ
You're not breathing correctly after your games, workouts, and other training
And it's hurting your recovery.
Luckily we have a solution for you, and it takes less than 5 minutes ๐จ
Protocol: Cold Exposure (Shower) ๐ง๐ง
Research shows that cold exposure has many benefits:
Improvement to your body's response to stress & Hormone optimization
โฌ๏ธ Motivation, Focus, Metabolism, Sleep, Mood
โฌ๏ธ Inflammation
Here's how you can get started using your shower:
If sleep is this impactful on the human body in general, shouldnโt you be prioritizing sleep as a professional athlete? 4APP athletes track their sleep and our analysts use that data to predict on field performance to show the athlete EXACTLY why it matters and how to improve it
โ Rest Day Checklist โ
Lower your stress levels ๐ง
Quality nutrition + hydration ๐ฅฉ ๐ง
Sleep & sunshine ๐ค โ๏ธ
Movement ๐ถ
Check the caption for the mistake that is killing your recovery ๐
Want to protect your UCL? Sleep more.
Increased sleep duration is associated with increased grip strength ๐ช
Increased grip strength is associated with decreased elbow injury risk.
#AchieveMore
๐งตSleep Thread๐งต
๐ค๐ค๐ค An Athleteโs Guide to Naps ๐ค๐ค๐ค
Should athletes take naps? The words of this wise Jedi master are applicable yet again ๐
Youth players, how do you get better? ๐ค
You compare yourself to the pros! Professional players track thingsโฆ youth players do not.
What we measure, we improve ๐-- thatโs why we love to track as much as we can