Learning to Whip your Arm When it Doesn’t Come Naturally

Loose arm whip is absolutely critical to pitching fast. It’s not a stylistic choice; every single elite pitcher whips her arm, regardless of how she was taught to follow through after the arm whip takes place. Some lucky windmill pitchers begin whipping their arms within the first few days of learning; it just comes naturally to them. To many, however, it does not come naturally, and in those cases I believe teaching the arm to whip is the hardest thing for a young pitcher to do. BUT, it’s not impossible. It’s a long and arduous process that requires a lot of dedication and patience, but it’s not impossible. For those who are trying to learn arm whip and aren’t quite getting it, or for those who have learned a different way to pitch and are now trying to switch to the arm whip, I will compile some resources that you can use to help get the job done.

Understanding the Mechanics of the Whip

The key element in the arm whip is the involvement of the elbow. Just as the elbow begins to lead slightly before snapping the forearm (and, as a result, the wrist) through during an overhand throw, so must the elbow lead the arm down the back of the circle before kicking the forearm and wrist through during the windmill pitch. Think of it as an overhand throw, just upside down.

The vast majority of pitchers who do not whip their arms do one of two things instead: they lock their arms perfectly straight throughout the whole circle (usually finishing with their arms high up over their heads), or their elbows point back toward second base while their hands lead them down the back side of the circle, setting them up for a “hello elbow” / elbow-to-the-catcher finish. I have never seen a serious softball player throw overhand using either of these methods, so take heart in the fact that you / your pitcher CAN whip; it’s just a matter of incorporating what the arm does naturally during the overhand throw into the underhand throw.

For diagrams of arm and hand position around the circle, take a look at this article. This is probably too much information for a young pitcher to digest, but it’s important for the parent or instructor to understand what to look for.

Here is a video explanation of the whip mechanics (we call it “forearm fire”):

Keep in mind that Coach Phil is breaking down the motion slowly in a way that it can be seen, and so his arm is not very limber. For a realistic example of what the whip should look like, check out these videos of Yukiko Ueno. Her arm whip is amazing!

Drills and Methods for Getting the Arm Whip

There are two methods for teaching arm whip. The first is my preferred method, and I think it should always be attempted before resorting to the second.

The “Feel It” Method

Whether the pitcher in question is getting the whip naturally or not, the whip is natural. What she’s doing instead is fighting what her body wants to do naturally. The way to solve this is to get her to relax, stop thinking, and remove the association of “pitching” with the action she’s trying to accomplish with her arm.

The first thing you can try is having a loose, easy underhand catch. Alternate one overhand throw, one underhand throw, trying to get them to feel really similar. Speed and accuracy don’t matter at all here—in fact, they don’t matter at all until the whip is achieved on a consistent basis. If the pitcher can’t help but stiffen up to try to throw strikes, have her throw by herself into a wall, fence, or net.

This is a really good drill for feeling the whip too:

Once the feeling of the whip is introduced, speed up the G-flop drill and introduce a full (but isolated) arm circle without a catcher. The pitcher should just focus on throwing into a wall/fence/net as hard as possible. She can even do it indoors with a ball of socks or a beanbag, something that has a little weight to it. The catcher can be re-introduced once she’s whipping every time without thinking about it.

The “Break It Down” Method 

The Feel It method is ideal, but it doesn’t work on everyone. In other cases, you may have to break down the whip piece by piece.

Again, the elbow involvement is the critical piece. Have the pitcher stand close to a wall/fence/net and perform the isolated Forearm Fire movement that Coach Phil demonstrates in the above video in super slow motion. Starting with the arm reaching back, very slowly bring the elbow all the way into the hip before flipping the forearm through past the body. Once this elbow involvement feels natural, gradually speed it up, and eventually progress to the drills in the Feel It method.

15 Comments

  1. troy gregory on July 12, 2013 at 7:39 PM

    my 12 year old daughter has developed a bad habit of cupping her wrist and coming over top her head and finishing her arm circle pushing the ball almost like throwing a curve ball. do have any good arm circle drills? most drills she does correctly it just seems to be full motion that she does it. thanks



    • Carly on July 13, 2013 at 9:35 AM

      Try this progression of drills: http://youtu.be/5upQcyPQlL8

      It gives her 3 checkpoints for her hand: the reach at the beginning, the touch of the glove in the middle, and the finish at the end. The hand should always be in the same position at those checkpoints, like she’s shaking hands with the catcher (thumb on top, ball facing the midline of her body, wrist relaxed).

      You can also try having her do the motion in a mirror or filming her a lot till she realizes what she needs to change.



      • troy gregory on July 13, 2013 at 3:31 PM

        thanks! after reading your checkpoints i realized at the top of her circle her hand was on the wrong side of the ball with the ball being over top her head.now i know where to start. thanks for your help!!



  2. Katie on March 20, 2014 at 11:05 AM

    Hello! I have a pitcher who doesn’t do a full arm circle. Instead, he arm breaks away from her body and she in turn tries to over correct. What can I do?



  3. Lisa on May 31, 2015 at 12:22 PM

    Hi,

    I am in desperate need of a drill or a specific aid that will help my daughter keep her arm straight while going up on her windmill. It’s bent and she has hit herself in her head several times with the ball.. it’s a really bad habit. Thank you, Lisa



  4. Tricia Atkinson on May 14, 2016 at 9:19 PM

    My daughter is just starting to pitch. She is in a 10U rec league and has been asked to join a travel team. We started her with a pitching coach (her 2nd lesson is tomorrow). Her coach was a pitcher for LSU and I definitely feel she knows what she’s doing. She is teaching my daughter the regular elbow snap that was shown in the video above instead of the forearm fire. She says it’s more to protect the shoulder. Is the forearm fire something she can pick up later or should I talk to our coach about this video? I’m so new to this (pitching) that any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you!
    Tricia Atkinson



    • Carly on May 14, 2016 at 9:27 PM

      Hi Tricia,

      Forearm fire is EXTREMELY hard to learn later after you’ve learned a different way, so I would DEFINITELY recommend starting it now. Elbow snap does not protect the shoulder; if anything, it puts more stress on the whole arm because it involves tensing the muscles, stopping the momentum of the arm, and going against gravity, whereas forearm fire is the opposite.

      Forearm fire can be difficult and many people do it incorrectly, which leads to the misconception that it’s hard on the shoulder. But correct forearm fire is the safest, fastest, and most natural motion.



  5. Camryn on September 8, 2016 at 7:09 PM

    I’m a twelve year old pitcher, and I’m having a lot of trouble keeping my arm straight throughout the pitch. What can I do to fix this?



    • Phil on September 26, 2016 at 12:57 PM

      Hi Camryn!
      Unfortunately, without seeing your pitching motion, it is difficult for us to help you. If you’d like you can send a slow motion video from your pitching hand side to jill@fastpitchpower.com and we can analyze it. We can then try to help get you on the right path!



  6. Jake on March 10, 2017 at 12:13 AM

    It is hard for me to discern from the video, but it appears that his hand pronates at the very end and has an almost sideways positioning as it comes through the release point. My concern is My daughter wants to get more zip on her fastball but what will this do to her spin? She currently throws a pretty accurate 4 seam ball with a fair amount of forward spin. Her current finish is more out front then up. She is a petite 12u player and our focus has been more on leg explosion but I’m thinking there is more to be tapped on the arm circle and whip.



    • Carly on March 10, 2017 at 2:26 PM

      Hi Jake, you’re right about the hand positioning. While it’s totally possible to get 4-seam rotation this way when the wrist is relaxed, I would recommend not worrying about the direction of your daughter’s fastball spin at all, as long as it’s getting a lot of spin. I can create perfect 4-seam spin with just my fingers, but that won’t get me any speed or accuracy; the forearm fire whip is much more important than the spin direction. Check out this post for more info: https://www.fastpitchpower.com/fastball-spin/



  7. Bill on November 10, 2018 at 3:57 PM

    Hi:
    For a 11 year old hardball player who has very little whip…any drills that might help?
    Thanks