Home Posts tagged "strength and conditioning program" (Page 16)

Strength and Conditioning Programs: How Hard Are You Working?

Everyone likes to think that they bust their butt all the time in their strength and conditioning programs. The truth is that deep down, we all know that we dog it sometimes. Nobody can give 100% every single day (or 110%...ever; I hate that adage). Along those same lines, here is a pretty amusing study that shows just how much your mind can get in the way of the efforts you SHOULD be putting out in your workout routine.  Researchers had three groups each perform ten 6s sprints on a cycle with 24s rest between sets.  The first group (control trial, or CL) knew they were doing ten before the session.  The second group (deception trial, DC) was told they were only doing five - but then informed that they had five more to go after the fifth sprint.  The third group (unknown trial, or UN) weren't told anything; they were just stopped after ten sprints.

When researchers examined the total work performed over the first five sprints, they found that the deception trial group was 6.5% greater than the control and unknown trials.  The others had paced themselves because they knew the ending was further off.  People are going to pace themselves and hold back a bit whenever you give them a reason to do so - so plan accordingly in your exercise prescriptions. What's one way to work around this if you aren't being coached in-person? Make yourself accountable to a program. There is a tendency to want to skip the last set or strength exercise when you design your own programs, but when you're answering to someone else's program, you're more likely to stick to it. Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better is a great resource to check out in this regard.  Just ask James Cipriani, a personal trainer who used the program to kick his own personal gains up a notch: “I just read your recent blog post in which you mentioned sending Show and Go testimonials.  Well…it would be a travesty if I didn’t give you a shout out. “I’m a personal trainer myself.  And after over 23 years of training myself and 16 years of training others, to say I grow “bored” with conventional weight training programs would be an understatement.  I first trained to augment sport (football), then I got into powerlifting, and really became addicted to it when I started bodybuilding.  I competed for eight years in the sport and did very well.  But…I outgrew it.  Yes…I was bored.

“I, like many others that I train, look to other sources to not only motivate me in my own training (mentally more than physically), but also to broaden my horizons as a trainer.  That is what led me to purchase your Show & Go program.  I have to say, Eric, it is the most comprehensive, integrated program I have ever used.  From the warm-ups, to the strength exercises, to the stretching, to the cardio enhancement….my strength, flexibility, conditioning, and muscularity all improved ten-fold.  And my bodyfat level went noticeably down without me tweaking my normal diet.  I even had nagging shoulder and low back pain that inhibited me from doing certain movements that are now gone.  I was able to deadlift weight I haven’t been able to use since my powerlifting days.  Plus, a couple of the core movements you include are ones I have never seen or done and I loved them!  I now use many of them with my own clients. “One last thing to note…I very rarely get through a 16 week program.  I tend to grow bored and need a different style of training.  That never happened.  Not only that…I am starting a second go-round this week of it with a few of my own personal tweaks to it.    Great product, Eric!  Thank you so much!” James Cipriani - CFT, CSCS, NS Brookfield, CT

Click here to check out Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better for yourself.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
Name
Email
Read more

Strength and Conditioning Programs: Understanding the Absolute Strength to Absolute Speed Continuum

A few questions from one of our pro baseball guys inspired me to create this video "tutorial" on how to develop power.  It starts general, and progresses to specific.  Think about how it applies to YOUR sport and your training history.

For more detail, check out The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual. Please enter your email below to sign up for our FREE newsletter and receive a FREE deadlift technique tutorial.4
Name
Email
Read more

Strength Training Programs: The Higher Up You Go, the More Hot Air You Encounter

A buddy of mine - we'll call him Bobby Ballsofsteel - has been really working at it lately in a dedicated push to pack on a little muscle mass with his strength training program.  He's somewhat of a classic "hardgainer" who needs to really forcefeed himself to gain every ounce. Nonetheless, Bobby's busted his butt in the gym (I train with him, so I know) and the kitchen over the past few months and has gone from 200 to 210 pounds.  This is a huge deal, as we aren't talking about "newbie" gains; we're talking about a guy who had already gone from 160 to 200 over the previous two years. Bobby was super-intimidated about starting a strength and conditioning program back in 2007 because, although he was a great athlete, it was unfamiliar territory for him because he immediately become the little dog at the pound. It took a lot of guts to start things up - something we see with a lot of people from different walks of life who begin exercise programs with motivation and a desire to change, but a long way to go and a fair amount of intimidation and embarrassment in their minds about where they stand with respect to the challenge ahead.  Whether you're an elite athlete who has never trained in an organized setting, an untrained 14-year old baseball player, or a 55-year-old female who is just getting into exercising to drop body fat, the first step is the toughest - and it's our job as fitness professionals to make this first step more manageable and less daunting. The problem is that we have outside influences with which to compete. With many people embarking on a strength training program, there are other people in their lives - maybe it's relatives, spouses, employers, best friends, or others - who for whatever reason go out of their way to find fault with people for making the decision to start exercising or eating healthy.  In many cases, these "disablers" sabotage people's efforts at the exact time when they need the most support from those close to them. Usually, the ones doing the "disabling" are simply insecure about themselves.  Maybe they are just comfortable eating poorly and not exercising, and they perceive it as a threat when someone close to them starts changing these habits, as it may have a spillover effect to them.  Or, perhaps they're deconditioned and just don't want to be alone - so it's easier to try to bring someone else down a peg than elevate themselves.  Maybe it's just that the world wouldn't be safe with only one overweight superhero as opposed to two.  Batman wouldn't just leave Robin out to dry like that.

superfan

And that's how we come back to my buddy, Mr. Ballsofsteel, and his great progress of late.  Bobby came to the gym royally pissed off the other morning, and proceeded to tell me the story of how he had met up with some of his best (long-time) friends the previous night.  While it had been good to see all of them, one of these friends - we'll call him "Tommy the Tool" - went out of his way to remark (in front of the entire group) that Bobby had "gotten awfully big suspiciously quickly."  Effectively, he was implying that Bobby was using steroids (which is clearly not the case if you ask anyone who has seen him regularly throughout this time period).  The accuser (or shall we say "disabler?") practically tried to turn it into a group intervention. You can imagine what an awkward position this created for Bobby.  On one hand, if he had gotten defensive in light of all the hard work he'd put in to do things the right way, they'd have thought he had something about which he should be defensive.  On the other hand, if he had just shrugged it off, they'd have thought that the accusation is true and that Bobby just wanted to change the subject.  Awkward situation, indeed.

awkward-moments

Awkward situation aside, there is a "not-so-coincidental coincidence" that emerged in my eyes as Bobby told me the story.  Apparently, Tommy the Tool presented to this gathering about 15 pounds of "not-so-good weight" heavier himself because he'd been on the road for work, eating poorly and not exercising. It's funny how our disabler chose to call someone out and attempt to delegitimize someone else's progress at the exact same time when he was feeling the worst about himself.  Actually, it's not really "funny."  It's more "predictable" and "pathetic."  You try to take someone down a peg to make your unfit, unhealthy status quo feel more acceptable; it's easier to take when everyone is miserable.  Or, maybe it simply takes the attention off you, Tommy the Tool.

socal_network_tool

This happens in fitness, athletics, business, academics, and countless other components of our everyday lives.  I always tell our athletes that the higher up you go, the more hot air you are going to encounter.  Get negative people out of your life and surround yourself with those who are not only supportive of your goals and your progress, but can actually help to set you up for more success. In Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, one message from authors Chip and Dan Heath is that you will almost never effect quick change a person, but you can always work to change the situation that governs how a person acts - and do so relatively transiently.

switch-dan-chip-heath

As an example, we've had numerous high school athletes who have completely changed their family's nutrition for the better by applying the principles they've learned in nutrition consultations at Cressey Performance.  It isn't that their parents didn't want to be healthy prior to that point; it was just that the situation in which they cooked and ate was different.  Once a young athlete came home excited about nutrition armed with knowledge and recipes, though, their supportive parental instincts enabled him to adopt these new habits, and his enthusiasm and newfound education and resources enabled them to adopt new practices for the family.  They were still the same people; they just happened to have new situations. It's why I think our semi-private training model at Cressey Performance works so well.  Sure, it makes training more affordable, and the strength and conditioning programs are obviously very individualized.  However, I think that most important thing we've done is creates an unconditionally positive training environment where people can support each other - even if they may have different fitness/athletic goals.  Success is both visible and encouraged.

 

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a deadlift technique tutorial!
Name
Email
Read more

3 Things Everyone Should Know About the Shoulder

A while back, I sent off an email to my good friend Alwyn Cosgrove about our Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set, and he asked me what I thought were the three most important things that folks - from fitness professionals to regular ol' weekend warriors - ought to know with respect to the shoulder.  Here were the first concepts that came to mind: 1. You should NEVER be intimidated when you hear/see the words "rotator cuff tear" or "labral tear." Why?  Because if you are training clients, you are absolutely, positively already training people who have these issues but are 100% asymptomatic.  Some interesting research: Miniaci et al. (2003) found that 79% of professional baseball pitchers - the people who put the most stress on their shoulders on the planet - actually had "abnormal labrum" features.  They concluded that "magnetic resonance imaging of the shoulder in asymptomatic high performance throwing athletes reveals abnormalities that may encompass a spectrum of 'nonclinical' findings." Meanwhile, rotator cuff tears often go completely unnoticed. Sher et al. (1995) took MRIs on the shoulders of 96 asymptomatic subjects, and found cuff tears in 34% of cases, and 54% of those older than 60.  Meanwhile, another Miniaci study (1995) found ZERO completely normal rotator cuffs in those under the age of 50 out of a sample size of 30 shoulders.

rotator_cuff

What's my point?  Both the people who are in pain AND those who have absolutely no pain can have disastrous looking shoulder MRIs.  So, in many cases, it is something other than just the structural deficit that causes certain people to experience pain.  To me, that difference is how they move. A torn labrum may become symptomatic in a thrower with poor shoulder internal rotation.  Or, a partial thickness cuff tear my reach the pain threshold in a lifter who doesn't have adequate scapular stability. In short, a MRI report doesn't tell you everything there is to know about a shoulder - and you need to assume that a lot of your clients are already jacked up. 2. When assessing a shoulder, everything starts with total motion. In healthy shoulders, total motion - which comes from adding internal rotation and external rotation - should be the same on the right and left side.  This "arc" may occur in a different place on each shoulder, but as long as it's symmetrical from side-to-side, you're off to a good start - and that's when you work further down the chain to see what's going on with scapula stability, thoracic spine mobility, etc.

shoulder-performance-dvdcover

3. 100% of all shoulder problems involve scapular dysfunction. The interaction of the glenoid fossa of the scapula (socket) and humeral head (ball) is what allows the glenohumeral joint (shoulder) to do what it needs to do.  However, most individuals have some form of shortness (e.g., pec minor, levator scapulae) or weakness (e.g., serratus anterior, lower trapezius) of muscles working on the scapula.  These inefficiencies alter glenohumeral alignment and increases stress on the rotator cuff, biceps tendon, labrum, and glenohumeral ligaments.  Identifying and addressing scapular issues is a key step in preventing shoulder pain. For more information, check out the Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set. Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
Name
Email
Read more

Strength and Conditioning Programs: Acts of Commission vs. Omission

At the last Winter Olympics, Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer missed out on a gold medal because his coach, Gerard Kemkers, directed him into the wrong lane part way through the race.  Kramer finished the race with an Olympic record time - four seconds ahead of his nearest competitor - but was immediately disqualified because of an incorrect lane change with eight laps remaining on his long-time coach's cue. In the aftermath of the disqualification, Kemkers obviously came under a ton of scrutiny.  After all, he committed a pretty big coaching mistake - and it'll probably become a huge part of his legacy, as unfortunate as it is.

sven-kramer_1585448c

Here is a guy who has likely helped thousands of speed skaters over the years, presumably devoting countless hours to research, coaching, and becoming the best he could be - both as a coach and an athlete (he won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics).  And, as Kramer noted, it is hard to argue with the success Kemkers helped him achieve:  "Three times world champion, four times European champion, so many World Cups and Olympic gold in the 5,000 meters." In the process, Kemkers had to have omitted little to nothing; otherwise, he wouldn't have been coaching at such a high level. Had Kemkers never endeavored to get to a high level - or taken shortcuts to get there - there would have been countless omissions along the way: gaps in his knowledge, an inability to befriend athletes, and a fundamental misappreciation for what it takes to compete at a high level.  He would have been mediocre at best.

kemkers

Kemkers' mistake was an act of commission, not omission. Meanwhile, millions of "armchair" quarterbacks around the world will criticize him for being an idiot, when in reality, the opportunity to make this mistake might never have come along if he hadn't spent so much time preparing to not be an idiot. Speedskating isn't really our thing here in the United States, so let's apply this to something that better fits our existing schema: ACL injuries in female athletes.  We know ACL tears are extremely common in female athletes, particularly those participating in basketball, gymnastics, and soccer.  I actually recall reading that the average NCAA women's soccer team has one ACL tear every year, and that typically, 1 in 50 female NCAA basketball players will blow out an ACL in a given season.  These numbers may be a bit dated now, but you get the point: if you don't train to prevent these injuries, you're omitting an insanely valuable initiative that protects your athletes...and mascots.

56782079

Now, we need to see another "ACL Injury Prevention Protocol" on Pubmed like I need to experience another Tony Gentilcore Techno Hour.  In other words, there are plenty of them out there, and we know what kind of strength and conditioning programs work; it is just about execution. So, let's take your typical strength and conditioning coach who puts his female athletes through everything he should to protect them from ACL injuries - but one girl drops a weight on her foot and breaks a toe to miss the rest of the season. Had he omitted external loading from his strength training program, this never would have happened - but he probably would have had four times as many ACL tears as broken toes and his athletes wouldn't have performed as well.  Here, an act of omission would have been far worse than an act of commission - just like we saw with Kemkers.  This isn't always the case, but it's important to realize that two kinds of mistakes occur, and sometimes you're better being proactive and making a mistake than you are ignoring a responsibility and just keeping your fingers crossed. It's been said before that strength and conditioning programs are both a science and an art - and the art is interpreting what to leave out and what to include in light of risk-reward for each unique athlete.  For instance, a front squat is a fantastic exercise from a scientific standpoint, but on the art side of things, it may not be appropriate for an athlete whose spine doesn't like axial loading.  Or, it may be a problem if an athlete hasn't been front squatting, and introducing it right before competition would cause soreness that might be counterproductive to performance. Think about how this applies to the next strength and conditioning program you write, and the next client/athlete you coach. Related Posts Risk-Reward in Training Athletes and Clients Why Wait to Repair an ACL? Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a deadlift technique tutorial!
Name
Email
Read more

Strength and Conditioning Programs: Efficiency May Be All Wrong…

In my strength and conditioning writing, I throw the term "efficient" around quite a bit; in fact, it's even in the title of our Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set.  I'm sure that some people have taken this to mean that we're always looking for efficiency in our movement.  And, certainly, when it comes to getting from point A to point B in the context of sporting challenges, the most efficient way is generally the best. And, just think about strength training programs where lifters simply squat, bench press, and deadlift to improve powerlifting performance.  The goal is to get as efficient in those three movements as possible. And, you can look at NFL combine preparation programs as another example.  Guys will spend months practicing picture-perfect technique for the 40-yard dash.  They might not even get faster in the context of applicable game speed, but they get super efficient at the test.

070226_adrianpeterson_vmed11awidec

However, the most "efficient" way is not always the right way. In everyday life, efficiency for someone with poor posture means picking up a heavy box with a rounded back, as it's the pattern to which they're accustomed, and therefore less "energy expensive."  This would simply prove to be an efficient way to get injured!  I'd rather lift things safely and inefficiently.

bent-over-row-hunched

And, take those who run long distances in hopes of losing fat as another example.  The research has actually shown that runners burn fewer calories for the same given distance after years of running improves their efficiency.  While this improvement is relatively small, it absolutely stands to reason that folks would be smart to get as inefficient as possible in their training to achieve faster fat loss.  In other words, change modalities, intensities, durations, and other acute programming variables. Training exclusively for efficiency on a few lifts might make you better at those lifts, but it's also going to markedly increase your risk of overuse injuries.  I can say without wavering that we'd see a lot fewer knee and lower back injuries in powerlifters if more of them would just mix in some inefficient single-leg training into their strength training programs.  And, shoulders would get a lot healthier if these specialists would include more inefficient rowing variations and rotator cuff strength exercises. In the world of training for athletic performance, it's important to remember that many (but not all) athletes perform in unpredictable environments - so simply training them to be efficient on a few lifts fails to fully prepare them for what they're actually face in competition.  A strength and conditioning program complete with exercise variety and different ranges-of-motion,  speeds of motion, and magnitudes of loading provides athletes with a richer proprioceptive environment.

In other words, inefficiency in strength and conditioning programs can actually facilitate better performance and a reduced risk of injury.

Taken all together, it's safe to say that we want inefficiency in our training, but efficiency in our performance - provided that this efficiency doesn't involve potentially injurous movement patterns. Related Posts Why I Don't Like 5x5 Strength Training Programs Weight Training Programs: The Basics, but with Variety Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
Name
Email
Read more

“My Coach Says I Shouldn’t Lift…”

I got this question in person from the parent of a new athlete the other day and thought I'd turn it into a blog post, as I've received the email before on many occasions. Q: I read with great interest your blog on Crossfit for Baseball, but my question would be what your response would be to a coach that insists that baseball players shouldn't lift weights PERIOD?  My son's baseball coach is completely against it. A:  This is definitely going to be one of those "where to even begin" responses, but I'll do my best.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll start with a quote directly from my e-book, The Truth About Unstable Surface Training: "...resistance training exercises performed on stable surfaces have been demonstrated effective in numerous research studies with respect to improving a variety of athletic qualities, including:
  • muscular strength (5)
  • power (5)
  • aerobic endurance (53)
  • running efficiency (54)
  • anaerobic endurance (5)
  • rate of force development (66,90)
  • hypertrophy (5)
  • reactive strength (66,90)
  • agility (47)
These qualities transfer to improved performance in a variety of sporting tasks, including vertical jump (74), throwing velocity (79), sprinting speed (22), and running economy (53)." (FYI, these numbers are references from the e-book, so if any of you would like the exact studies, please just request them in the comments section) Now, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that your coach IS NOT looking to field a team that lacks agility, sprinting speed, jumping prowess, throwing velocity, rate of force development (think of a catcher's pop time).  In fact, even those who are clinging to a worthless training initiative like long-distance running for pitchers can get closer to their chosen training effect (as silly as it is) from lifting! Taking this a step further, we know that resistance training can enhance immune and endocrine function, so players will get sick less often and feel better when game time rolls around. And, just as importantly, remember that resistance training is one of the foundations of modern physical therapy.  Would your coach tell a physical therapist that resistance training as part of a rehabilitation program was inappropriate? Of course not!  How in the world it is within his scope of practice to tell a kid that lifting is bad for him - either in terms of increasing injury potential or decreasing performance - is completely beyond me.  Throwing a baseball is the single-fastest motion in sports; you simply don't decelerate 7,500 degrees/second of humeral internal rotation without at least a bit of muscular contribution. And, let's not forget that an ideal strength and conditioning program encompasses a lot more than just strength exercises. It includes good self massage work (foam rollers, etc), mobility training, sprinting/agility/plyos, and much, much more.  It begins with a detailed assessment to determine what mobility or stability deficits may lead to injury down the road.  It may also be the only avenue through which an athlete learns proper nutrition. The fundamental problem is that many baseball coaches think of garbage like this when they hear the words "lifting weights:"

Can someone please tell me how my "biceps will develop" with this?  Only at "Expert Village" does the biceps EXTEND the elbow.  Yikes.

Ouch.

The take-home message is that a lot of coaches think that lifting programs are either a) a waste of time or b) flat-out dangerous.  Sadly, as the videos above demonstrate, in many cases, they're right. However, completely contraindicating lifting can really stunt the development of players and predispose them to injuries.  Throwing is dangerous when done incorrectly, and so are sprinting, fielding ground balls, and taking batting practice.  We don't contraindicate those, though, do we?  We educate athletes on how to participate in these training initiatives properly.

I can tell you that at Cressey Performance, each one of our pro baseball players lifts four times a week, throws the medicine ball 2-3 times a week, and does supplemental movement training 2-3 days per week during the off-season - and they continue lifting during the season (at a lower frequency and volume).  This is true of both position players and pitchers.

Our high school guys get after it as well; I don't know of many other private sector facilities in the country who have eight high school guys throwing 90mph+ before the age of 18 (with several more right on the cusp of this milestone).  Something is working.

And, beyond just the direct training benefits of this system, there is something to be said for the camaraderie strength and conditioning does for teammates on top of regular practices.  The fact that kids actually requested this says volumes!

Hopefully, blogs like this - and bright coaches who are "in the know" - will help to spread the word about what safe, effective training is - and where to get it.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive a Copy of the Exact Stretches used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
Name
Email
Read more

Strength and Conditioning Programs: Crossfit for Baseball?

I've received a lot of emails just recently (as well as some in-person questions) asking me what I think of Crossfit for strength and conditioning programs with baseball players and, more specifically, pitchers.

Let me preface this email with a few qualifying statements.  First, the only exercise "system" with which I agree wholeheartedly is my own.  Cressey Sports Performance programming may be similar in some respects to those of everyone from Mike Boyle, to Louis Simmons, to Ron Wolforth, to the Crossfit folks - but taken as a whole, it's entirely unique to me.  In other words, I will never agree completely with anyone (just ask my wife!).

CP_monogram_ol.eps

Second, in spite of the criticism Crossfit has received from some people I really respect, I do feel that there are some things they're doing correctly.  For starters, I think that the camaraderie and enthusiasm that typifies their training groups is fantastic; anything that gets people (who might otherwise be sedentary) motivated to exercise is a plus.  Moreover, they aren't proponents of steady-state cardio for fat loss, and they tend to gravitate toward compound movements.  So, good on them for those favorable traits. Additionally, I know some outstanding coaches who run Crossfit franchises, so their excellent skill sets may be overshadowed by what less prepared coaches are doing simply because they have the same affiliation.

However, there are several issues that concern me with applying a Crossfit mentality to the baseball world:

1) The randomness of the "workout of the day" is simply not appropriate for a sport that has quite possibly the most specific sport-imposed asymmetries in the world of athletics.  I've written about these asymmetries in the past, and they can only be corrected with specific corrective training modalities.

I'm reminded of this constantly at this time of year, as we get new baseball players at all levels now that seasons are wrapping up. When a player presents with a 45-degree glenohumeral internal rotation deficit, a prominent scapular dyskinesis, terrible right thoracic rotation, a big left rib flair, a right hip that's stuck in adduction, and a complete lack of rotary stability, the last thing he needs to do is a 15-minute tri-set of cleans, kipping pull-ups, and push-ups - following by some 400m sprints. It not only undermines specificity of exercise selection, but also the entire concept of periodization.

Getting guys strong isn't hard.  Neither is getting them powerful or building better endurance.  Finding the right mix to accomplish all these initiatives while keeping them healthy is the challenge.

2) The energy systems development found in Crossfit is inconsistent with the demands of baseball.  I wrote extensively about my complete and utter distaste for distance running in the baseball world, and while Crossfit doesn't go this far, in my eyes, anything over 60yds is "excessive distance" for baseball guys.  Most of my guys sprint two times a week during the off-season, and occasionally we'll go to three with certain athletes.  Let's just say that elite sprinters aren't doing Crossfit, and the energy systems demands of baseball players aren't much different than those of elite sprinters.

3) I have huge concerns about poor exercise technique in conditions of fatigue in anyone, but these situations concern me even more in a population like baseball players that has a remarkably high injury rate as-is.  The fact that 57% of pitchers suffer some sort of shoulder injury during each season says something.  Just think of what that rate is when you factor in problems in other areas, too!  The primary goal should not be entertainment or variety (or "muscle confusion," for all the morons in pro baseball who call P90X their "hardcore" off-season program).  Rather, the goals should be a) keeping guys on the field and b) safe performance enhancement strategies (in that order).

cockingphase

As an example, all I need to do is look back on a program we used in one of our first pro pitchers back for the off-season last fall.  He had a total of 20 pull-up and 64 push-up variation reps per week (in addition to some dumbbell bench pressing and loads of horizontal pulling/scapular stability/cuff work).  This 84-rep figure might be on the low-end of a Crossfit program for a single day.  Just like with throwing, it's important to do things RIGHT before even considering doing them A LOT.

4) Several of the exercises in typical Crossfit programs (if there is such a thing) concern me in light of what we know about baseball players.  I'll cover this in a lot more detail in an article within the next few weeks, but suffice it to say that most have significant shoulder (if not full-body) laxity (acquired and congenital), abnormal labral features, partial thickness supraspinatus tears, poor scapular upward rotation, retroversion (gives rise to greater external rotation), and diminished rotator cuff strength in the throwing shoulder (particularly after a long season).  Most pro pitchers will have more than 190 degrees of total motion at the shoulder, whereas many of the general population folks I encounter rarely exceed 160 degrees.

totalmotion

In short, the shoulders you are training when working with baseball players (and pitchers, in particular) are not the same as the ones you see when you walk into a regular ol' gym.  Want proof? Back in 2007, on my first day working with a guy who is now a middle reliever in the big leagues, I started to teach him to front squat.  He told me that with only the bar across his shoulder girdle, he felt like his humerus was going to pop out of the socket.  Not surprisingly, he could contort his spine and wrists like a 14-year-old female gymnast.  This laxity helps make him a great pitcher, but it would destroy him in a program where even the most conservative exercises are done to the point that fatigue compromises ideal form.  And, let's be honest; if I was dumb enough to let someone with a multi-million dollar arm do this, I'd have agents and GMs and athletic trainers from a lot of major league systems coming after me with baseball bats!

5) Beyond just "acts of commission" with inappropriate exercise selection and volume, there are also "acts of omission."  For example, a rotational sport like baseball requires a lot of dedicated work to address thoracic spine and hip mobility and anti-extension and anti-rotatoin core stability.  If you exhaust your training time and recovery capacity with other things, there may not be enough time or energy to pay attention to these important components.

All that said, I would encourage anyone who deals with baseball players to learn to borrow bits and pieces from a variety of methods available today.   Along the way, take into account the unique characteristics of the overhead throwing athlete and manage accordingly.  Simply saying "I'm a Crossfit guy"  and adhering to an approach that was never intended for a baseball population does a huge disservice to the athletes that count on you to bring them the most up-to-date, cutting-edge training practices available.

If you're interested in learning more about some of the asymmetries and training techniques I noted above, I'd strongly encourage you to check out Optimal Shoulder Performance, where both Mike Reinold and I go into some detail on assessment and corrective exercise for pitchers in this seminar (and there's also a lot more fantastic information for anyone looking to develop pitchers). You can buy it HERE, or learn more about it HERE.

shoulder-performance-dvdcover

Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive Instant Access to a 47-minute Presentation from Eric Cressey on Individualizing the Management of Overhead Athletes!

Name
Email
Read more

Want to Get Strong? Quit Switching Strength Training Programs Every Week.

Day in and day out, I see loads of athletes and regular fitness enthusiasts who have hit plateaus in their quest to get stronger, bigger, and leaner - or run into injury issues.  Each situation is unique, but one thing that I am always especially attentive to is learning whether someone has recently altogether overhauled their approach to training.

As is the case in so many things in life, "Slow and steady wins the race," "Rome wasn't built in a day," and "Don't run sideways on treadmills while wearing jeans."  Actually, that last one wasn't all that applicable to what I'm getting at, but it's probably still good advice to heed for some of our easily distracted teenage readers.

I come across a lot of "program hoppers" in what I do.  These are individuals who might do four weeks of Sheiko, four weeks of 5x5 workouts, four weeks of Crossfit, four weeks of German Volume Training, and then four weeks of Tae-Bo DVDs in spandex.  At the end of this five month journey, they are somehow more fit - but literally have no idea what training principles were key in them achieving that end.  Everything was too muddled; they overhauled the entire strength and conditioning program rather than keeping the valuable stuff.

About 8,000 strength coaches before me have used the line, "The best program is the one you aren't on."  Well, I would agree with that - unless, of course, it means that this new strength and conditioning program leaves out all the important stuff that you learned from previous training experiences.

I mean, honestly, I've heard of guys going to strength training programs where they only squat, bench, and deadlift.  They don't even do warm-ups;  nothing else stays!  Then, after six weeks of this program, they email me to ask why their shoulders, back, and knees hurt.  Uh, maybe become the only thing they kept from your old program was specificity?  With no single-leg work, no horizontal pulling, and no mobility work, it's a surprise that they have only been diagnosed with a musculoskeletal injuries - because they probably should have been institutionalized for being so dumb that they're a harm to those around him.

For instance, rather than tell this individual to stop squatting (he actually kept a pretty good neutral spine on the way down), I'd encourage him to a) get a squat rack, b) get a training partner/spotter, and c) put on some clothes.

Major kudos for rocking "The Final Countdown," though; seriously.

Where am I going with this, and how does it apply to you?  Well, the message is very simple: never overhaul.  Instead, tinker, fine-tune, adjust, or whatever else your thesaurus recommends as a synonym.  Good strength and conditioning programs all share certain things in common, and anything that deviates from those qualities isn't worth it.  It's something that I really tried to take into account when I wrote Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.


To take it a step further, I encourage you to be leery of those who encourage you to adapt an entire discipline and change everything that you're doing.  I find that even in the most injured and hopelessly weak folks that come to me for help, I can always find several things that they're doing correctly that deserve to stay.  This is something I've seen in some of the best physical therapists and strength and conditioning coaches with whom I've worked in the past, too.  A good professional should work with athletes and clients to meet halfway on what works, not simply pass judgment on a strength training program and overhaul it altogether.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Barefoot Weight Training Guidelines

Q: I know that you're a bid advocate of including barefoot weight training in your strength and conditioning programs.  What in general is your "shoeless" policy with your athletes, if any? A: Yes, we use a lot of barefoot weight training around Cressey Performance in our strength training programs.  In addition to strengthening the smaller muscles of the feet, barefoot training "accidentally" improves ankle mobility in athletes who have been stuck in restrictive shoes their entire lives. Here are the exercises we're open to doing barefoot: All deadlift variations (rack pulls and DB variations included), box squats (hip dominant), and all any body weight mobility drills.

We don't go barefoot for any loaded single-leg movements (aside from 1-leg RDLs and 1-leg squats/pistols) or more quad-dominant squatting variations. All that said, we are careful about integrating barefoot drills in very overweight or very weak clients.  These individuals do not go barefoot for any of our dynamic flexibility warm-ups aside from in-place ankle mobilizations, as lunging variations can be a bit too much stress on them at first. We do, however, encourage clients (in most cases) to go with a good minimalist shoe. My personal favorite is the New Balance Minimus. Sign-up today for our FREE newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
Name
Email
Read more
Page 1 14 15 16 17
LEARN HOW TO DEADLIFT
  • Avoid the most common deadlifting mistakes
  • 9 - minute instructional video
  • 3 part follow up series