Top 11 Drills And Exercises To Build A Powerful Back Leg Drive
It baffles me that coaches still ignore the back leg! The back leg drive is an important component in the high velocity pitching delivery. Once you lift your front leg, the back leg is the only leg attached to the ground. It’s role is to accelerate your body down the mound and power hip rotation. This is key to optimizing the kinematic sequence and putting energy through the kinetic chain. Powering your hips open into front foot strike and delaying shoulder rotation, to maximize hip to shoulder separation, is the name of the game. The result is higher ball velocity and reduced risk of injury. In order to train the back leg drive you need to address mobility, speed/strength/power and motor control with biomechanics drills.
11. Banded Lateral Walks
Strengthening hip abductors is extremely important for the back leg load position. It allows you to hold external rotation, torsion and pelvic control on the drive leg as you load down the mound. The back leg load position is all about putting the back leg into an optimal position to drive and produce force. Poor back leg load position leads to a poor back leg drive. A lot of pitchers have weak hip abductors that set their drive legs up for failure from the start.
10. Sled Sprints
Sled sprints are another great way to build power through triple extension. The name of the game is rapidly pushing force through the ground to overcome your own bodyweight. I typically use prowlers for an overload stimulus and sled sprints for a more speed/velocity based exercise with lighter loads (<30% of bodyweight). If you want to build explosive legs, resisted sprints is a great exercise to incorporate into your training.
9. Sled Drives
Sled drives are a great way to build power through the back leg drive in a sport specific way. All you are doing is adding resistance to the drive leg. It is a more advanced drill that shouldn’t be attempted by beginners. Master the back leg drive in your medicine ball throws and then progress to sled drives to add a little extra pop to the back leg.
8. Quadruped Banded Hip Extension
Glute powered hip extension and lumbopelvic control are two important qualities for a powerful back leg drive. A lot of throwing athletes have an anterior pelvic tilt that leads to brutally tight hip flexors, quads and psoas. This, along with poor internal rotation of the drive leg hip, makes it difficult to power the hip fully open. This is a phenomenal exercise to build glute powered triple extension and improve hip extension.
7. Lateral Depth Jump
Lateral depth jump is another advanced plyometric. Dropping off a box creates an overload that forces the athlete to absorb the landing forces eccentrically and then quickly rebound and jump as far out as possible. It is basically a loaded jump that will help you bridge the gap between speed and strength. I love this exercise for athletes that are stronger than they are fast. They need more speed/velocity movements to tap into their strength and turn it into explosion on the field. Lateral depth jump is a great way to build more power in your back leg drive. Make sure your deadlift and squat are at least 1.5x bodyweight before attempting plyometric training.
6. Sled Drags
Heavy sled drags are a great exercise to build strength in the frontal plane. By using a lighter load you can make it a more dynamic high velocity exercise to work on speed and explosion. Many exercises in the weight room focus only on the sagittal plane. Sled drags allow you to work on building strength, speed and power in a more sport specific manner. This exercise is a must if you want to have a monster back leg drive.
5. Lateral Med Ball Throw
Sport specific exercises are a must when talking about improving the back leg drive. It doesn’t get much better than a lateral med ball throw. It allows you to work on every major component of the pitching delivery back leg load, back leg drive, hip to shoulder separation, trunk rotation/horizontal abduction, front leg extension, forward trunk tilt. When coached correctly you can improve the kinematic sequence and build power through the entire kinetic chain.
4. Single Leg Bounds
Single leg bounds are an advanced plyometric. Running, jumping and throwing all require high levels of force production and absorption. The ability to rapidly push force into the ground is what propels the body and overcomes gravity. You also need to be able to absorb high levels of force to safely perform a movement. Single leg bounds are a great way to build power in the legs and work on the ability to absorb/stabilize force safely. This translates to more power out of the back leg drive and more power out of front leg stabilization/extension. Make sure your deadlift and squat are at least 1.5x bodyweight before attempting plyometric training.
3. Side To Side Med Ball Throw
The side to side medicine ball throw is an excellent plyometric and ballistic medicine ball exercise to build power off the back leg. The ability to eccentrically absorb the load and then concentrically redirect that energy into a leg drive is massively beneficial. I love this exercise for athletes who need to get quicker and more explosive out of their back leg.
2. Squat/Deadlift Variations
This is a bit of a cheat, but squat/deadlift variations are the best way to build strength in the lower half. Lunges, step ups, single deadlifts, back squat, deadlift, sumo deadlift etc. are all variations that we use to build strength/stability in the legs. Baseball performance requires a ton of leg strength. It is a goal in our program to get to 2x bodyweight in squat and deadlift. Maximum force is the backbone to athletic performance and building power. Squats/deadlifts are a must for building a powerful back leg drive.
1. Power Clean Variations
The power clean and its variations is one of the best lifts build power through the kinetic chain. In my opinion it is the best bang for your buck exercise for baseball players and it is a core component in our training. It will help you build massive amounts of power through the kinetic chain, stimulate neuromuscular adaptation, and create freakish levels of rate of force development. It is the only lift in the weight room where you are throwing the barbell. Triple extension of the ankle, knee and hip transfers power from the ground up through the kinetic chain. It is the same sequencing you want to see on the mound and many studies have shown they are one of the best lifts to enhance jumping, running, throwing.
Build A Powerful Back Leg Drive For Velocity And Health
These are the top 10 drills and exercises to build a powerful back leg drive. There are many more exercises that could have been included, but this is a good blend of strength lifts, power lifts, medicine ball drills, plyometrics and mobility style exercises. Hope this helps you develop a monster back leg drive for both velocity enhancement and health in your career if there is anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to reach out. If you want to learn more please follow us on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,) @stevenguadagni (Youtube) @5toolsportsscience and feel free to send in video of your pitching or hitting mechanics for a free analysis. If you want to train with us we have several options. Come down for Long Term Training at our facility, Remote 1 on 1 Online Training from home or The 5 Tool Prospect Manual and Nutrition Manual. Learn how to optimize your mechanics and perform at the highest level possible! Hope you guys enjoyed the article. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.