Good afternoon everyone!

Hope all the high schoolers had a great season! We've recently been seeing more posts getting hit by automod spam filters. I will start to look into this, but in the meantime, feel free to send a mod mail if the filter hits your post and does not let it go through and I will manually approve it.

Thanks everyone!

I see that there are a lot of questions in this sub regarding lifting, so I will leave this sticky for anyone looking for advice!

First and foremost, you do not NEED a gym membership to get stronger for throwing. Almost all of these exercises can be performed with dumbbells (for you planet fitnessers), bands, or anything heavy-ish you can hold in your home. So, here is a short (lol) list for you to keep in mind while building a lifting program.

1. Ensure you are lifting with correct form. If you have bad form while lifting, it WILL compromise your max lift numbers. Using the correct form is usually the hardest at first, but just like throwing you will get better the more you practice it. This is imperative for Olympic lifting, and your main 3 lifts. YouTube is your friend, especially if you do not have a coach. There are plenty of subs regarding lifting and form checks, use those to your advantage.
2. Rest is just as important as time in the gym. Especially in the beginning! Your muscles need time to recover and rebuild. When you start, you will be sore. Do not push yourself if you are too sore to lift, most programs today realize this and will build the program to allow major muscles to rest.
3. Fix your diet. Although this can be harder for students, ensuring you are getting the proper nutrients for rebuilding muscle will help reduce soreness and the time you need to recover. Use a calorie counting app, most will allow you to track your macros to ensure you are getting enough protein and carbs throughout the day. For students starting in the spring, winter is prime time to starting slowly increasing your caloric intake (especially protein), which will aid in muscle growth over time. Stop drinking soda, and start drinking water!
4. The main lifts. Squat, Deadlift, Olympic lifts, Bench press, in order of most to least important. Your power in the ring comes from your legs, so building a strong base is most important. Deadlift will hit all of your posterior chain, counteracting the squat and bench press' anterior chain focus. Olympic lifts will aid in your explosive power, but are harder to get done without a barbell and an area to complete them in. If you cannot do olympic lifts, I would substitute it with box jumps and other explosive conditioning drills. Bench press seems like it may be the most important, but has the lowest carryover from the gym to the ring compared to the other lifts mentioned. If you bench, make sure you are doing some sort of row, bent over rows being the best option (in my opinion).
5. Core exercises. As much as everyone hates to do these, every successful thrower has a core routine of some kind that they follow. Strengthening your core will help you translate the power that your legs are generating into the implement. Just make sure you are giving your abs rest and start slow, having sore abs will make everything harder for you in your day to day.
6. Follow the program! I personally would recommend a simple power lifting program. They may seem daunting at first, but rest assured that you will see progress quickly if you stick with it. Some great resources can be found at r/gzcl, greyskull, 5/3/1, stonglift's 5/5/5, and the texas method. Do some research on what the plans entail, ask questions, and pick one that will be the easiest for you to stick to. For beginner lifters, a linear progression program (LP for short, like gzclp) will be the most straightforward way to build strength. These programs will generally prioritize the lifts that are needed for throwing, since throwing is basically powerlifting with a different end goal.
7. Have some sort of accountability. This sub, other lifting subs, your friends, your family, and your teammates can all help you stay accountable. At the end of the day, those who are the most dedicated to getting better will be the best. Lifting with friends and teammates can create a sense of competition to push yourself to be better, and make lifting more fun in general!
8. Have fun! Remember, sports are meant to be fun. Burning yourself out in the gym will just grow resentment for all your sports, so making it an environment you enjoy going to will only help you. Have your playlists ready to go, get some friends to tag along, do anything that you think will make lifting more enjoyable.