You know how everyone has that one friend who is just absurdly smart? You know, the kind of person who could hear something once, instantly remember it, and then instantly apply it in a productive manner?
Unfortunately, not all these people are all that motivated, so they may take their impressive ability to learn and leverage it to the max by studying everything they can get their hands on. However, when you do find one of them who is ultra motivated, you wind up with game changers. In our industry, guys like Bill Hartman and Charlie Weingroff are two that come to mind: quick learners who love to learn and apply.
That said, you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I realized that I had one of these in the making as an intern at Cressey Performance in the summer of 2011. You may have even heard of him by now: Eric Oetter. And, as this somewhat recent photo demonstrates, he's only 13 years old.
Okay, the age was a joke, but the brain power isn't. In addition to interning at CP, he's also spent a lot of quality time at Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman's facility in Indianapolis, and undertaken a bunch of continuing education coursework (PRI, DNS, and several other schools of thought).
That said, to make a very long story short, Eric's making a name for himself in the industry - and as a little example of it, I'd strongly encourage you to check out this free video on Energy Systems Development he did as part of the pre-launch for Robertson's Bulletproof Athlete resource. You'll need to opt in to view it, but I guarantee you'll find it to be well worth it.
In this presentation, Eric discusses a lot of the myths surrounding aerobic exercise and energy systems development. Most importantly, though, he provides practical recommendations to help you put this knowledge into action to improve your training programs, regardless of whether your goal (or your athletes' goals). I learned some good stuff, and I'm sure you will, too. Here is the link to check it out.
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Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
Corrective Carries - This excellent piece from Bill Hartman highlights just how valuable carrying exercises can be if they are executed with correct form.
The Paradox of the Strength and Conditioning Professional - This guest blog from Rob Panariello for Bret Contreras' blog was excellent, even if it did read very "sciency." I'd call it must-read material for up-and-coming strength and conditioning coaches.
6 Primo Pressing Permutations - Here's another innovative article from Ben Bruno. He always has some good exercises for spicing things up in your strength training programs.
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Here are a few recommended strength and conditioning reads for the week:
Acts of Commission vs. Omission - I got to discussing the concept of "risk: reward" with a seminar attendee last week, and it reminded me of this blog I wrote back in 2010. The message is incredibly valuable for novice and experienced strength and conditioning coaches alike.
Assessing Apical Expansion - This is another great video from Bill Hartman, this time on the topic of breathing. We heavily "scrutinize" breathing in our baseball guys and do several breathing drills on the table as part of their warm-ups. The more extension your athletes encounter in the sport, the more powerful this stuff becomes. For more information, be sure to check out the Postural Restoration Institute.
Fitocracy - I've been logging my training sessions on here for the past few weeks and really enjoying it. If you're looking for a way to quantify your efforts and even add a little competition to your training, this is a great outlet through which to do so.
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Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
Increasing Dorsiflexion: Cuboid Mobilization - With yesterday's post on ankle mobility, I thought I'd highlight another great "complementary" perspective on the topic from Bill Hartman.
Managing Structural and Functional Asymmetries in Ice Hockey: Part 1 and Part 2 - I've talked a lot about how much becoming familiar with the Postural Restoration Institute philosophy has helped me in the way I manage baseball players. In these two blog posts, Kevin Neeld talks about how they've helped him with hockey - from assessment to corrective exercise.
The Age of the Pitcher and How We Got Here - This might be the single-best article I've ever read at ESPN.com. Jayson Stark did an awesome job of reviewing all the factors that may have contributed to why pitchers are thriving and hitters are struggling compared to previous years - and it's a trend that has lasted 12 years. I'll definitely echo the sentiment about pitchers being better than ever, particularly with respect to the number of power arms coming out of the high school ranks. Years ago, throwing 92mph out of high school made you an extremely noteworthy prospect; now, it just makes you another guy that *might* get drafted - even as a lefty!
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Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
Treadside Manner: Confessions of a Serial Personal Trainer - Greg Justice sent me an advanced copy of this book he wrote on the business side of the fitness industry, and I thought it was outstanding (so, outstanding, in fact, that I read it non-stop on a long plane ride). Greg has run a successful personal training facility in Kansas City since 1986, and he discusses many of the lessons he's learned along the way. It's become mandatory reading for our entire staff at Cressey Performance.
Glutes Gone Wild - I really enjoyed this T-Nation article from Ben Bruno not just because there were some exercises I hadn't seen before, but because a lot of these exercises are great options for maintaining a training effect on the uninjured side in someone who has a lower extremity injury. Ben has great perspective in this regard, as he's dealt with knee issues and had to be creative to keep his muscle mass and strength up.
IFAST Assessment: Breathing Patterns - I was psyched to see that Bill Hartman is blogging again! Bill's a super smart guy and always has great information to share, and this post (and the videos in it) touch on an important, but commonly overlooked issue.
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We received the following testimonial from a very satisfied Assess and Correct customer via email last week, and I thought I'd share.
"After spending five years heading in the wrong direction regarding my training, I was left with many injuries in my upper as well as my lower body. I had multiple muscle/strength imbalances and horrible posture which caused overuse injuries, chronic pain, pinched nerves and other problems. I physically couldn’t do a single thing without causing some sort of pain. Even though I was only 22 years old at the time, I just assumed that I had headed so far down the wrong path that I would never recover and never be able to comfortably work out again. I accidentally came across one of Eric’s articles about one of my many problems. I read the article and instantly looked for others.
"After some deliberation I decided that Assess and Correct might be something that could help me. I gave it a try, consistently performing the exercises, in combination with other exercises recommended by Cressey, Robertson, and Hartman aimed at restoring correct posture. The best way to describe this product was that it completely changed my life.
"I have loads of mobility and stability in all the right places. I went through every exercise or mobility drill in every progression even if I didn't need to. All the exercises are described thoroughly and simple to complete. Injuries or no injuries, I would recommend this product to every single person who lives and active lifestyle. I am a believer and will be a lifetime follower of Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, and Bill Hartman. Thanks, guys!"
Click here to pick up a copy of Assess and Correct for yourself!
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We sometimes get questions about how our products differ from one another, so Mike Robertson stepped up and created the following webinar to describe a bit about one of our most popular products, Assess and Correct. If you're on the fence about purchasing, this should help with your decision.
“Assess and Correct may be the most comprehensive corrective exercise product on the market. I feel this DVD is a must have for anyone looking to make positive changes in their athletes’ bodies – or their own.
The assessment section provides simple and detailed information for tests that can help anyone become more aware of their body’s limitations while the correction progressions offer forward thinking solutions that guarantee optimal performance.
Eric, Bill and Mike have done it again!”
Mike Irr
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, Charlotte Bobcats
"Assess and Correct is the most useful physical evaluation tool I’ve ever seen. It’s like having instant access to the knowledge that Hartman, Robertson, and Cressey have gained through years of experience studying anatomy and human movement, and working with real people.
"But most important, it’s presented in a way that you can put it to use immediately. In fact, the design of the manual is genius because you’re given a series of simple tests to identify postural and movement problems, followed by smart exercise progressions–which you can tailor to a client’s ability—to correct any issues. So it’s a powerful tool that will help any coach create more effective training plans, customized to an individual’s true NEEDS. The upshot: Assess and Correct will make any fitness professional better at what he or she does.
"One other note: Because I’m a fitness journalist, the authors offered me a free manual for review (common in the industry), but I had already purchased it. When they tried to refund my money, I requested that they not. The reason: I found the material to be so valuable that I felt like I SHOULD paid for it. I’m not sure there’s any testimonial I could give that’s better than that."
Adam Campbell
Fitness Director, Men’s Health
Today, we've got a follow-up of my blog from late last week, Rehab=Training, Training=Rehab: Top 10 Takeaways - Part 1. This mini-series highlights some of the key takeaways from Charlie Weingroff's great new DVD set, which is on sale at an introductory price through midnight tonight only. We pick up today with #6.
6. I’ve written a lot in the past about why a hip internal rotation deficit (HIRD) is a huge problem in both athletes and the general population. Weingroff raises an interesting point in discussing the “Hip Internal Rotation Paradox” that I’d never really considered – probably because nowadays, I really don’t train as many female athletes where we see valgus-initiated knee and lower leg injuries. In this population, we see lower extremity pathologies largely because a lot of females can’t control femoral/tibial internal rotation and pronation at the subtalar joint (left side in the photo below).
The casual observer to kinesiology might say that a good way to prevent these injuries would be to make sure that athletes have insufficient internal rotation and pronation; if you can’t hit a dangerous end-range, then you can’t tear anything nearly as easily. Hooray for HIRD then, right? Wrong.
The problem with this thought process, though, is that it doesn’t appreciate that the hip DOES need full internal rotation for proprioception. As Charlie puts it, the hip “needs to know it to prevent it.” If we don’t have adequate proprioception, we can’t get the hip external rotators to turn on to prevent it from becoming excessive. This is really true of all joints; we must have full mobility so that the mechanoreceptors can tell the brain that a joint can go from point A to point B. Otherwise, we can’t stabilize naturally and reflexively.
7. Weingroff reaffirmed a great assertion that I remember Bill Hartman making a year or two ago: you only need stability in the presence of mobility. In other words, “functional” mobility is not just about being capable of adequate stability in wild excursions of joint range of motion – unless that’s what your functional demands are. In other words, a powerlifter, gymnast, and baseball pitcher would all have different “optimal mobility” schemes, and even within these populations, you’d see different needs for different folks based on body type and the specific activity in question.
This also can influence our training programs. While exactly simulating the sporting movement will only lead to overuse without enhancing functional mobility, working to improve stability in similar joint alignments and ranges of motion can still have a favorable carryover. This came to mind the other day when Kansas City Royals prospect Tim Collins was doing some core work at the facility; you just have to consider the movement alongside his functional demands.
8. Charlie also cited some more up-to-date research that shows that problem with lateral knee pain is usually too much femoral internal rotation during closed chain movements (e.g., squatting, lunging), not too much lateral patellar tracking. So, you think the hundreds of thousands of lateral release surgeries that have been performed in the last decade were a good idea? A lot of people could have gotten their issues under control the right way by getting the hip under control – because the patella was already where it was supposed to be.
9. I liked the way that Weingroff broke corrective exercise down into three categories: isolated, integrated, and functional movement.
Isolated work might include manual therapy (massage or joint mobilizations) or stretching. Essentially, this category consists of interventions where the client/patient has little to no active participation (foam rolling would technically be a mild exception, as the client has to actively reposition his/her body for this soft tissue work). Effectively, these modalities get the ball rolling on undoing a dysfunction that won’t clear up with gross movement because the individual with the problem will simply go to the path of least resistance and feed into that dysfunction.
Integrated work is aimed at tying this new mobility with the core – whether it’s with a more comprehensive mobility drill or stabilization exercise. Many people can benefit from going directly to integrated work; examples include someone who has always trained on machines, or someone who sits at a desk all day; they simply need to move).
Functional movement is the third piece of the puzzle and involves tying the upper and/or lower extremity to the core. This is the fun stuff.
10. There is a difference between functional movement and functional exercise. This might seem like wordplay, but in reality, it’s an important differentiation to make.
Charlie cited the example of a baby going into lumbar flexion when squatting down. It’s a range-of-motion that a child should have and utilize in normal development and day-to-day living. That doesn’t, however, mean that it’s a good idea to put 405 on your back and squat through lumbar flexion.
That wraps up my not-so-quick recap of Rehab=Training, Training=Rehab. To be honest, I could have written another dozen blog posts just like this on all the other stuff – both “big picture” points and finer subtleties – that I picked up from Charlie’s presentation. That, however, is best left to Charlie – which is why I’d strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of the DVD set yourself, especially since it is on sale at the introductory price ($50 off) through Monday 12/20 at midnight. You won’t regret it:
Rehab=Training, Training=Rehab
Here are a few good reads from the archives for you for today:
Things I Learned from Smart People: Installment 1 - This features some stuff Bill Hartman taught me about the diagnosis of disc herniations.
Shoulder Range-of-Motion Norms - What's normal - if there is such a thing?
Avoiding the Workout Routine Overhaul - This piece talks about the problem with people that jump completely from one workout routine to another at the drop of the hat - and outlines a better strategy.
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