Three Isometric Exercises Every Baseball Player Should Do

Isometrics don't get the attention they deserve in baseball training. They're not flashy. But they're one of the most effective tools for building durable, high-output athletes.

The concept is simple — hold a fixed joint angle. This can be done with bodyweight or under load. No movement, no reps, just sustained effort in a specific position. Time under tension builds tendon stiffness, positional strength, and resilience. ISOs can also be leveraged to build strength in ranges traditional lifting can skip.

Here are three ISO exercises we use with our athletes to improve performance and maintain long-term health.

Deep Push-Up ISO

Set up two benches, boxes, or dumbbells (standing up tall, not lying down flat) parallel to each other and perform a push-up between them. The key is to drop down into the bottom range as far as you possibly can — hold that position.

At the bottom, your scapulae are fully retracted and your pec is loaded at its longest length. This is a position the shoulder and pec rarely get trained in — but is regularly encountered under high stress during the throw. Building strength and tissue resilience here prepares the musculature and supporting structures to handle the demands of the throw in that range.

Hold for 30-45 seconds. Try to imagine pulling yourself lower and pulling yourself into the bottom range as you hold.

Pullover ISO

Position yourself supine on a bench and get into thoracic extension. This can be done by positioning yourself perpendicular to the bench and setting the bench underneath your scaps, or by putting a med ball on the bench, lining it up with your mid-upper back, and lying down on it. Take a light dumbbell and hold it with both hands. Extend your arms overhead until you feel a full stretch through the lats. Hold it there at your deepest range.

The lats and posterior musculature are the primary decelerators of the arm after ball release. Every throw, those structures absorb enormous force to slow the arm down. The pullover ISO trains them in the stretched, lengthened position that mirrors that demand. Tricep and pec are also involved, making this a genuinely comprehensive exercise with direct throwing carryover.

Hold for 30-45 seconds. Start light — this is more demanding than it looks. Imagine tucking your ribs down as you hold your arms overhead at full length.

Reverse Lunge ISO

Step back into a reverse lunge, back knee just above the floor, front shin vertical. Hold it.

The pitching delivery is entirely unilateral — you're loading and transferring force through one leg at a time. If that foundation isn't strong, nothing built on top of it will be either. The reverse lunge ISO builds stability in the exact ranges involved in the delivery while exposing and closing bilateral strength gaps.

Hold for 60 seconds per side. You can add load and / or time as strength improves. At the bottom of this position, imagine the back leg lengthening and the front hip pulling back.

The Bottom Line

These three exercises build strength, stability, and tendon resilience in positions that matter for throwing.

The above are foundational staples in our program and we recommend you give them a try in your own training. Time, ranges, and external load varies depending on the athlete’s level.

Build a strong, robust body capable of handling the stresses of the throw — that starts with ISOs.

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Seamless Athletics train athletes in-house in Murfreesboro, TN and remotely nationwide.

Schedule a Discovery Call to learn how we train athletes to move better, throw harder, and compete longer.