Strength in Numbers #6
What does “lead leg block” mean? A great conversation with a prominent cricket performance coach inspired this week’s ArmCareIQ session, as lead leg blocking mechanics are so different between pitching and cricket.
In this week’s Strength in Numbers, I’m excited to deliver new research on lead leg blocking mechanics focused on how a pitcher coordinates their stride leg after foot contact in the delivery.
In a nutshell, lead leg blocking refers to the stride leg directing force into the ground to decelerate the body’s forward momentum headed toward the plate. It is essential that the lead leg block transfers as much linear energy as possible into rotation.
What is Lead Leg Blocking?
In baseball, the lead knee is more flexed at foot plant and braces aggressively through the delivery by increasing knee extension at a high rate. Cricket is the opposite as the lead knee is more extended at the foot plant and continues to propel the body toward the wickets, like throwing a javelin.
Here’s a video of fast bowling in slow motion to give you an idea of how this looks different.
The big difference is that the cricket bowler has a much higher body speed (can reach speeds over 8 mph in the run-up) going into foot contact and has plenty of room after ball release to decelerate. Also, in cricket, there is no mound, which allows for a more extended leg when contacting flat ground versus pitching.
As it relates to baseball pitching, lead leg blocking is important to throwing velocity. Highly proficient athletes coordinate stride knee extension at the right time and at the right joint angle to extend the knee at the right velocity. In theory, for every 100 degrees of knee extension added per second, an athlete can increase their velocity by 1mph.
How to Improve Your Lead Leg Block
To accomplish this, athletes need to focus on strength, stabilization, and power production on one leg.
We have talked about the three important measures of efficiency in throwing:
- Achieving the highest velocities with the lowest throwing arm forces.
- Achieving the highest velocities with the least energy generated by the throwing arm.
- Displaying minimal strength loss post-game while delivering the baseball with a high amount of accuracy (a measure of repeatability).
The lead leg block is essential to all three of these efficiency criteria. If not coordinated properly, the shoulder and elbow may experience strength loss and higher loading rates, lower velocities, accuracy issues, and an increase in repetitive stress.
Without a testing device, you don’t know how well you maintain strength after an outing, affecting your competitive success. But with the ArmCare App, you will know if your throwing arm is weaker after pitching, which is the first clue to ensure your delivery, workload, and recovery strategies are optimized.
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Lead Leg Blocking is Essential to Throwing Hard Lead leg blocking refers to the stride leg directing force into the ground to decelerate the body’s forward momentum headed toward the plate. It is essential that the lead leg block transfers as much linear energy as possible into rotation.
