Training without a plan is just guessing.
Structured Pitching Programs for Teams and Athletes
What is Hacking the Kinetic Chain?
Hacking the Kinetic Chain combines the same throwing and lifting templates used at Driveline with the Why behind our approach to develop durable, high-velocity pitchers of all ages.
Train with a Plan
What to do, when.
You have to do the work, but you will not be stuck without a gameplan for how to get better.
The training program spells out the sets and repetitions for each drill, detailed high-speed videos explain the core drills, and comprehensive equipment lists show you what you need to become your best.
Know the “Why”
If you don’t have conviction behind your training, a program is just words on a page.
What good is a plan if you do not have the will to execute it?
Hacking the Kinetic Chain explains in detail every aspect of training a pitcher including assessing athletes and adjusting programs, which pitching mechanics we consider “optimal” (and why we don’t like that word), the role of stress in training pitchers, and how to train away from specific movement faults and strength deficits.
Stay Up-to-Date
Your Hacking the Kinetic Chain is a living, breathing product. Because we constantly test new programs and products, Hacking the Kinetic Chain customers will receive lifetime updates with the best of what we have researched.
The training program templates in Hacking the Kinetic Chain are the same that we use in-house.
These training plans update twice per year. You get access for life. The training templates you use will be what we use to build programs for athletes at our gym.
Integrated Throwing, Strength and Education
You can piece together elements from different programs to build a training program.
Hacking the Kinetic Chain has been written with both throwing and strength integrated.
With separate throwing and lifting plans, you might have max deadlifts on days you were supposed to give your arm a break.
How Does It Work?
Hacking the Kinetic Chain programs modulate stress and intensity by time of year and workout type.
The programs mix work days, recovery days and volume days, modified by time of year. Whether you are on-ramping, developing ability, working on transitioning to the mound, or maintaining the work you did during the off-season, you will have a plan for how to maximize your limited time.
A day for a college-age pitcher making a start in 4 days is not the same as a 15U player in the off-season is not the same as a 10U player in January is not the same as a Minor Leaguer needing to add velocity.
Hacking the Kinetic Chain has a plan and framework for developing each of those athletes.
On-Ramping
Before beginning a focused pitching development period, proper preparation is critical.
The on-ramping protocols in Hacking the Kinetic Chain cover multiple times of year. Whether you are starting in the summer, fall, winter or spring, we have a way to help you get started the right way.
The focus is on learning the drills and building enough fitness to prepare for the work ahead.
Development
Development programs are periodized by age and throwing velocity. During development, you will be focused on building better athleticism, strength and throwing ability.
During this period of time, you will be regularly throwing Plyo Ball ®. A few days a week, we will look to train at high intent to prepare you for the intensity of the game.
Warm-up and recovery are critical to your success during this time. You will be spending at least 30 minutes before and after throwing preparing yourself to get after it the next day.
Transfer
Learning how to throw harder transfers to learning how to pitch harder. While pitching isn’t a game of fastest fastball wins, it does help quite a bit.
But we can do better. Specific blend-to-season programs help ensure that the strength and arm speed gains you’ve made in the off-season transfer to the mound.
During this transfer window, the programs shift focus towards preparing to compete on the mound. You will progress command drills.
Your intent will shift from trying to throw hard to trying to throw hard through a target.
Maintenance
You’ve trained all off-season with a detailed plan. The season starts and you decide you do not have any time to continue maintenance work.
15 games into the season you are wondering why your velocity is down.
Maintenance plans are just as important to the durability of a pitcher over his career. The season is the time to compete with whatever you have, not try to squeeze the last 2mph out of an over-tired pitcher.
But that does not mean you should regress. Specific maintenance plans are designed to give you a simple, repeatable routine that takes your mind off training and allows you to focus on winning.
Specific in-season arm care protocols help steer you towards effective in-season programming.
What is included in Hacking the Kinetic Chain?
A physical training guide, year-round throwing programming, a complete drill video library and dedicated support for helping you get started and make smart programming choices.
Structured throwing programs
with plans for in-season,
off-season, and blending to
the season.
Both a UV-coated physical
copy and PDF Version of
Hacking The Kinetic
Chain.
Complete Video Library:
all of the drills and lifts
shot in high quality and
downloadable.
Testimonials
Drew Thomas
Pitching Coach at Coastal Carolina University
“Hacking the Kinetic Chain: Advanced Pitching offers any program a very organized and coherent presentation on the many aspects of pitching development. There isn’t another program out there that describes the framework for development like Hacking the Kinetic Chain: Advanced Pitching!”
Chuck Ristano
Pitching Coach at University of Notre Dame
“Many people are comfortable using aggressive and outside the box training methods, but very few take the time to incorporate legitimate research into their training and throwing protocols. This, to me is where the guys at Driveline have really separated themselves, and it’s why Hacking the Kinetic Chain: Advanced Pitching is such a valuable piece of our pitcher development program.”
Patrick Hallmark
HC at U-Incarnate Word, Former PC Rice, U-Missouri
“Matt and the guys at Driveline Baseball have done a great job reproducing HTKC. The 2nd edition, Hacking the Kinetic Chain: Advanced Pitching, is a bit more coach-friendly, and still packed with great pitching mechanics and arm care information. Critical thinkers in the baseball world are indebted to the Driveline staff for their relentless quest to improve the art of throwing.”
Caleb Cotham
Retired MLB, Player Agent & Director of Pitching – Bledsoe Agency
“Hacking the Kinetic Chain: Advanced Pitching is hands down the ultimate tool in the pitching world. With so much information available to coaches and athletes, many get lost without having a clear path to what they want to accomplish. HTKC is by and far the best resource for developing your WHY and also clearly explaining the HOW. The original version was so instrumental in my journey/growth and now the second version is even more elite. It’s a must own for anyone serious about truly taking ownership of their career.”
Rob Friedman AKA @PitchingNinja
High School Coach & Father
“The information included in HTKC is far from a guess. No one in the industry has done more first-hand research than Driveline Baseball, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in its own lab and testing its techniques with pitchers of all levels over many years, as well as researching nearly all available books and papers on pitching, training, nutrition, injuries and more. By reading HTKC, you are benefiting from years of Driveline’s investment, mistakes and hard-work, all synthesized down to one comprehensive resource. And, even better, as Driveline’s testing and research uncovers new techniques or improves or revises existing ones, you get the new information for free through updates!”
Corey Muscara
Pitching Coach at The University of Maryland
“Hacking the Kinetic Chain was my first introduction to Plyo Ball ® and weighted baseballs. Through the research based information by the Driveline team my knowledge and grasp of weighted ball training grew exponentially. In the spirit of continued growth and learning, Matt Daniels has upped the ante with his new book Hacking the Kinetic Chain: Advanced Pitching. In the latest edition there is more insight and information on Plyo Ball ® drills, programming, pitching delivery analysis, nutrition, in-season programming, and much more. This book is a must for anyone trying to elevate their knowledge on developing pitchers.”