Arm Care for Pitchers: The Daily Routine That Keeps Arms Healthy

The pitchers who stay healthy through a full high school season aren't the ones with the strongest arms. They're the ones with the most consistent warm-up.

I have coached pitchers for 20 years. Hundreds advanced to college baseball. 10 were drafted by MLB organizations. Almost every one of them did the same band routine, every day, before throwing. The pitchers who skipped it are mostly the ones who got hurt.

What you need

One band. Red (10 lb) is the daily go-to. The Coach Grady's Arm Care Bands set comes with a door anchor strap so you can run the routine in any room with a standard door.

That's it. No machines, no expensive recovery devices. Five minutes, a band, and a door.

The routine (five minutes, same every time)

1. External rotation, 90/90 (15 reps)

Anchor the band at elbow height. Stand with the throwing arm bent at 90 degrees, elbow at shoulder height. Slowly rotate the forearm up. This wakes up the rotator cuff.

2. Internal rotation (15 reps)

Same setup, opposite direction. Slow tempo.

3. Scap retraction (12 reps)

Band anchored at chest height. Pull the band straight back, squeezing the shoulder blades. Trains the scap stabilizers.

4. Y-raises (12 reps)

Band anchored low. Pull both hands up and out into a Y shape. Builds the upper trap and rear delt.

5. Rows (15 reps)

Same chest-height anchor as scap retraction, but row the elbow back and down. Builds rear-delt and lat together.

6. Decelerator pulls (10 reps)

Anchor the band high. Mimic the throwing motion in reverse: arm starts at release point, pulls back to cocked position against resistance. Trains the muscles that slow the arm down. Most missed exercise in HS pitching, most important for arm health.

On off-days

Swap the red band for the black band (20 lb). Same routine. The heavier band builds real strength in the small stabilizers. Off-day strength is what carries you through the back half of a season.

Why this works

The rotator cuff and scap stabilizers don't get strong from throwing. They get strong from targeted, low-resistance, high-rep work. Throwing breaks them down. Band work builds them back up. Same way a runner builds glutes outside of running.

Five minutes a day. Same exercises. Same order. The pitchers I coach don't think about it any more than they think about brushing their teeth.

If you want the whole throwing-plus-arm-care protocol we run, that's inside Grady's Off-Season VIP Program.