12 year old pitcher

would it be wise for a 12 year old who pitches to start lifting weights for inproved velocity? too young?

until recently it has been said that it was too young, but there have been some studies lately that say it would be alright. my advice would be to work very light weight if ANY. but for sure get him on a regular sheduele of runnin to get legs stronger, a lot of velocity comes from the legs it also helps with endurence. he also should be long tossing. but as with the weights get him on the jobes weight program if u decide to let him lift.

It would be fine IMO to start lifting, but supervised lifting and his training should emphasive perfect form for every lift. And stretching would be more beneficial to a pitcher IMO...

thanks fellas. where can i get some info on jobes weight program?

google it, every college and pro team does these excersices in thier program

not sure about weight lifting but i have a story about a 12 y/o pitcher..
i was at the memphis redbirds game the other night with my g/f and my buddy and his g/f.. they wanted to play some of the games off to the side so we followed them over there and they had a speed pitch (how fast can you throw) game....anyway the girls egged on us to throw so we both did..we both play college ball (can't say where...just incase someone sees this...sorry) anway i went first and threw 89-91-88... he threw 90-90-91... then we stepped to the side to see watch a few kids throw...this little boy comes up and throws his first pitch 83....his dad was standing there and i said how old is he? he said he would be 13 in 4 months.....i was in highschool before i could throw that hard..

it was incredible...he was avg. build for a kid his age....
this really impressed me and i figured a few of you ball fans would get a kick out of it....

that is incredible! when i was 12 in 6th grade there was a kid at another school who was clocked at 65 or something close to that and was unhittable. he pitched against us and no-hit us both times. he went on to pitch in college (some juco in oklahoma). that kids got a future, how big is he?

man when i was in LL i could bring close to 70..

id say no to weights but pushups, pullups, situps and no weight squats w/ 20 yard sprints inbetween sets heres a sample.

Pushups-20 reps
superset w/ pullups-10-15 reps(if he cant get to 10 pullups u can assist him)

Sprints

No weight squats-10-15(or u can let him squat and put his back to a wall and lean against it and hold that postions for as long as he can)
superset w/ situps- 25 reps (shoot for 25 in 2 min.,)

do tihs for about 3 sets for each exercise and after he gets used to it icrease the reps or sets.

i say let ur kid grow naturally (no weights) until he's about 15-16 .... then incorporate the weights .... all u should really be concerned about is his pitch count and how often he pitches .... most kids end up gettin hurt from overthrowing ... so keep an eye on that

I agree with quietstorm33. Waiting til high school is generally a good rule. Most kids are 14-16 when starting high school. Long toss, stretch, run, and allow him to have fun. He's still a kid, don't make it too serious for him too early, in my opinion.

I believe that 12 is too young to start lifting heavy weights. If you want your son to develop velocity focus on core and leg strength. Try weightless workouts such as lunges and wall squats. Mechanics is the key to becoming a great pitcher.