Happy Labor Day! I hope you're enjoying a long weekend with family and friends. In case you get a few quite minutes to catch up on some reading and listening, here are some good things to check out:

International Youth Conditioning Association High School Strength and Conditioning Certification - I was one of the contributors on this resource, and it's on sale for $100 off using the coupon code HSSCSFLASH through Tuesday at midnight.

9 Ways to Help People Change While Staying Within Your Scope - I thought Krista Scott-Dixon did an excellent job with this article for Precision Nutrition. As she notes, sometimes, the line between "coach" and "therapist" gets very blurred.

Stacey Hardin on Purposeful Collaboration in Pro Sports - I loved this podcast from Mike Robertson, who interviewed Stacey Hardin of the Minnesota United soccer club. There was some great information on how sports medicine teams should collaborate for the best care for the athletes they serve.

Forget About Squat Depth - This was an excellent JL Holdsworth article about why squat depth should be individualized to each lifter.

Top Tweet of the Week

Putting a baseball team through a bunch of military training to try to build mental toughness doesn’t make you a good leader. On the contrary, it actually makes you an underwhelming exercise physiologist, biomechanist, and sports psychologist. So much for specificity of training.

— Eric Cressey (@EricCressey) September 1, 2018

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The adductors (groin muscles) have a complex structure, but a solid knowledge of functional anatomy in two specific regards can help you to keep these tissues healthy. 👇 First, stretching into abduction alone isn't enough. You have adductors that flex the hip, and others that extend the hip - so you have to account for both in your mobility work. Second, they have a large cross sectional area that runs from just above the knee all the way up to the pelvis, so you need to use both broad and specific approaches to self myofascial release. Swipe left to check out some approaches you can implement to cover all your bases. 👍 1️⃣Adductor Rolling w/Med Ball on Table: Just don’t make eye contact with anyone while doing this one. 2️⃣Adductor/Ab Rolling on Lacrosse Ball: You’re working on the adductor tendons as they attach on the pubis (bottom of the pelvis). 3️⃣Split-Stance Kneeling Adductor Mobilizations: Stretch the hip into both flexion and extension without substituting low back motion. 4️⃣Half-Kneeling Adductor Dips: This “open” position can be more comfortable for those with limitations to hip internal rotation. This option also provides ankle mobility benefits. 5️⃣Split-Stance Hip Abduction End-Range Lift-offs: Here’s a good @functionalrangeconditioning inspired movement to build some motor control at end-range hip abduction to make ROM changes “stick.” Don’t let the hip “fall out.” 6️⃣Lateral Lunge w/Band Overhead Reach: Get the arms overhead without arching the lower back to integrate some core stability with your hip mobility changes. 💪 Give these a shot and let me know how they went in the comments below! #cspfamily

A post shared by Eric Cressey (@ericcressey) on Aug 22, 2018 at 5:43am PDT

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Yesterday was a busy travel day for our family as we headed up to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving week, so this list of recommended reading comes a day late. It turned out well, as I updated the list with a few articles that were just posted yesterday.

Before we get to the reading list, though, I wanted to give you two quick reminders:

1. Our Black Friday sale is currently taking place. You can get 20% off on a bunch of my products using the coupon code BF2016. Click here for more information.

2. My 30 Days of Arm Care series is also ongoing. You can see all these videos (currently on day 9) via the hashtag #30DaysOfArmCare on both Twitter and Instagram. 

Now, we're on to the content...

30 Seconds of Undivided Attention - I'd argue that this might be the single most important blog many novice trainees can do to take their strength and conditioning results to the next level. The ability to "flip the switch" and train hard is essential - and it's one reason why so many individuals make huge strides when they get in the right training environment. Huge thumbs up to CSP coach Tony Bonvechio for pulling this together.

3 Reasons Athletes Get Injured - Mike Robertson delivered some great stuff in this week's article. Injuries are multifactorial, but Mike hits on some of the big rocks in this one.

How to Quite Weakend Overeating - Krista Scott-Dixon wrote up this outstanding practical article for Precision Nutrition just in time for the holidays.

Top Tweet of the Week

Fun little brainstorming session on all the different things that could cause anterior shoulder pain. There are actually a lot more than 16. pic.twitter.com/wUB9jrRJDZ

— Eric Cressey (@EricCressey) November 21, 2016

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Today is Day 5 of #30DaysOfArmCare. Thanks to #Brewers prospect Monte Harrison for his help with this demo. Key takeaways: 1. Optimal scapular (shoulder blade) function is dependent on appropriate core positioning. Doing arm care with poor core positioning is like trying to shoot a cannon from a canoe. 2. As the arms go overhead, the lats are put on stretch - and the challenge to the anterior core and scapular upward rotators increases. 3. You need strong lats for a variety of athletic endeavors - including throwing - but you also need to be able to tone them down when they aren't needed. Follow #30DaysOfArmCare and @cresseysportsperformance for more tips to keep throwing arms healthy. #cspfamily #armcare #baseball #mlb

A video posted by Eric Cressey (@ericcressey) on Nov 18, 2016 at 8:14am PST

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Happy April Fools' Day! I don't have any clever tricks to play on you, so I'll have to just go with posting good content from around the 'net. Enjoy!

Identifying an Untouched Fitness Niche - My business partner, Pete Dupuis, talks about taking lessons learned in building the CSP baseball niche and applying them to other realms in the fitness industry.

Dry Needling is the Next Big Thing in Physical Therapy - Dr. James Spencer offers a tremendously thorough review of what dry needling is, and how it works. James has been a great resource for many athletes at Cressey Sports Performance - Florida.

7 Priceless Things You'll Learn from the Right Mentor - I loved this article from Krista Scott-Dixon for Precision Nutrition. It parallels some of the great tips on mentorship that Robert Greene covered in Mastery.

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