“Hesitations” Revealed

Phantom Weights puts to rest the hesitations…

We understand argument that adding resistance to an already “unnatural motion” can be a cause for concern.That actually is the #1 opposition we’ve encountered. However, you can’t argue with the science and proof that we have backing our products and programs; therefore we’d love to go into more detail on this matter because that argument also happens to be the #1 largest misconception. Phantom has consulted numerous professionals in the athletic field from orthopedic surgeons, to kinesiologists, physical therapists, and even chiropractors to construct an training device that is the perfect storm. We have succeeded and members of the athletic community are predicting this to revolutionize the athletic and medical industries for the following reasons:

1.  Problem - Weighted balls, weighted footballs, donuts, etc. place all the weight at the end of the lever (if your arm/leg were a lever). This places all the stress on the fulcrum (elbow, knee). One pound of weight in your hand is 8lbs of pressure on your shoulder so all of that added pressure is placed on the Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) during the throwing motion.

Solution - Placing the weight closer to the fulcrums reduces the stress levels. Additionally, placing the weight on the larger muscle groups (forearm, biceps, and calf for each of the different sleeves) allows your body to biomechanically absorb the weight easier, thus resulting in reduced stress.

2.  Problem - Weighted balls, donuts, etc. disrupt your body’s autonomic nervous system (ANS), thus resulting in a depletion of skill, not additional skill. In lamens terms, when you exercise with any ball/bat other than your normally game weighted ball/bat, it throws off your “repeater muscles.” For example, after you’ve thrown with a weighted ball for a while and switch back to a normal 5oz. baseball, do you find yourself spiking the ball into the ground on the first few throws? This is because your brain doesn’t know where to release the ball with any accuracy.

Solution – by placing the weight on your arm/leg in optimal locations, you are able to exercise with your normally game weighted ball/bat of choice thus not disrupting your ANS. Mechanics and location are not disrupted at all.

3.  Problem - You can only throw/swing a ball/bat as fast as your decelerators allow you to. Example: you wouldn’t drive your car 90mph if your brakes only worked up to 60mph. Your arm works the same way. Any added benefit of weighted balls is gone by the time they release your hand– there’s nothing there to strengthen the deceleration portion of that motion which is equally important.

Solution - With the weighted sleeves, even after you release the ball, the weight is still attached to you to strengthen the deceleration portion of the user’s motion.

4.  Problem – Other muscle strengthening solutions such as weightlifting or theraband exercises do not translate into direct results.  Your muscles are constricted to the movements that the weightlifting motion or machine forces you to do.  Therefore, the muscle strengthening that occurs is only happening during those specific motions, which are not the motions used during play.  In other words, bench pressing 7 times a week is not going to make you throw a baseball harder/farther.  How do you practice throwing a baseball?  That’s right.  You throw a baseball.  If you are muscles are strengthened during this motion, the results are tremendous.

Solution – By using Phantom’s weighted sleeves, your muscles are strengthened during the exact motions that are used during play; therefore the gained muscle strength that occurs directly correlates to desired results.