Home 2012 (Page 7)

Show and Go: Making People Healthier Inside and Out

I received this awesome email feedback from a happy Show and Go customer, and thought I might share.  He also references Brian St. Pierre' Show and Go Nutrition Guide, which is available only to those who purchase the main guide first. 

EC and BSP,

I hope you guys are doing well! I just wanted to send you two a quick note of thanks. The Show and Go System has made considerable changes to my body, both outside and inside.

I’ve completed Show and Go three times with maintenance periods in between. Initially, I completed the 4x/week program. Really effective, but required too much time given I’m working full time, teaching two courses, and finishing up my PhD. Next, I completed the 3x/week program. Finally, I went back to the 4x/week program but only lifted 3x/week. I love the upper/lower split and the recovery time between sessions it offered me. It was during this last program that I absolutely destroyed my PRs! That is no joke! Here is a listing of gains I’ve made from January 2011 until June 2012:

Bodyweight (6’1”): 192.5 ---> 209.5
Body Fat: 14.5% ---> 11.5%
Front Squat: 165x3x5 ---> 235x3x5
Deadlift (conventional): 275x1 ---> 415x1
Bench Press: 235x1 ---> 285x1
Pull ups: +10x3x5 ---> +37.5x3x5

I’m not brutally strong, but strong for someone who wasn’t blessed with the strong gene. I could go on and on about the gains, but the primary reason I’m emailing is to thank BSP for the Show and Go Nutrition Guide and to thank EC for including it. My family has a notorious history of heart disease. My dad’s grandpa died from his first heart attack at 50, my dad’s dad died at 56 (he had four heart attacks and three strokes), my dad’s uncle died from his first heart attack at 62, and my dad had his first heart attack at 48 (thankfully still alive). Odds not trending in my favor.

My wife and I switched to eating as BSP recommended as of July 2011. I had labs done in June 2011 and just had them done again yesterday at my yearly physical. Everything keeps improving as seen in the comparison from June 2011 to August 2012:

LDL: 108 ---> 88
HDL: 40 ---> 64
Triglycerides: 81 ---> 55

I know these aren’t the only indicators of health, but they are pretty damn important to heart health. I owe just about all of the changes I’ve made to you two! This is crazy!

Anyways, thanks again and keep producing quality programs and providing quality information!

Best,

Ryan W.

P.S. - In 15 months, Show & Go also transformed my wife from a non-lifting marathon runner into an absolute beast in the gym. At a body weight of 130, her current lifts are:

Back Squat: 170x5x3
Conventional Deadlift: 185x5x3
Full hang Chin-ups: 7
Bench Press: 110x1

Hopefully our kids get her strong gene! Thanks again!

To learn more about Show and Go, click here.

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Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 17

In collaboration with Cressey Performance Coach Greg Robins, here are this week's tips to get your nutrition and strength and conditioning programs on track.

1.  Avoid quad dominance on trap bar deadlift technique.

2. Eat more pumpkin!

Fall is here! For those of you who don't know, I love fall. The air smells better, the leaves put on their party pants, football arrives, sweats and hoodies become fashionably acceptable (by my standards), and, of course, pumpkin flavored everything becomes available! While pumpkin tastes great, it's actually quite good for you, too! For starters, pumpkin seeds are a great source of essential fatty acids. That's probably not breaking news to you, but you know what is? Pumpkin oil actually exists! It is delicious as a dressing, and an easy addition to shakes and smoothies. Just make sure not to cook with it, as the heat will destroy the important fatty acids.

You may have noticed that pumpkins are orange - very orange, actually. That means they, too, provide the health benefits found in other vividly orange fruits and vegetables. These include high amounts of carotenoids and vitamin C. Carotenoids help fight free radicals in the body, cardiovascular diseases and infection. Just like carrots, the high lutein & zeaxanthin content protects the eyes, and prevents formation of cataracts. You will also be happy to know that pumpkin is low calorie and serves up a tremendous amount of quality fiber. Do you like pumpkin too? If so, please do me a favor and let's get some recipes posted up in the comments section!

3. Be careful about looking to professional athletes for nutrition advice.

In a recent study conducted at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, researchers investigated the use of sports references in the marketing of food and beverage products at supermarkets. Every product fettered in two major supermarkets with a sports reference was purchased and evaluated for its nutritional merit, via the Nutrient Profile Model. Researchers found that"72.5% featured a character exercising, 42.2% were endorsed by a professional sports entity, and 34.0 % were child-targeted." The median nutrition score, out of a possible 100 (being the healthiest), was 36! Additionally, more than two thirds of the beverages purchased were 100% sugar sweetened. Needless to say, the message being delivered to kids is not great. Therefore, it's important for the rest of us to serve as better examples for these kids. After all, many young athletes will not play sports professionally, but the lessons they learn in the gym and on the field can serve them for life.

As an example, just last week I was in the office with Chris Howard not even an hour after I had told one of our college prospects about my usual shake ingredients, when he received a text message: "Where can I buy chia seeds and coconut oil?" Furthermore, not a week goes by that I'm not greeted with the oh-so-pleasant sound of: "I made that shake, it was great!" or "I tried kale last night, it was actually pretty good!" Little tips and cues can go a long way when they come from the right person.

4. Shut everything off to really relax.

I (Eric) am a complete workaholic; that probably isn't a surprise to anyone who has followed me for an extended period of time.  One thing I've learned over the years is that I can't just shut my brain off for a few hours by going out to dinner or catching a movie; it's really always going.  That's a blessing and a burden.  On the positive side, it helps me to come up with a neverending content stream for this blog, but on the not-so-positive side, I can get easily distracted when I should be spending quality time with family and friends.

With that in mind, I've discovered that I need to really get away if I'm going to relax.  The only time my brain really turns off is when I don't have my laptop with me, and my cell phone is either turned off or in a dead zone.  I've discovered this on two trips up north to Maine this summer.  The end of the day rolled around, and I realized I'd managed to turn my brain off with respect to work for the entire day - and that's a big deal for me. With a view like this, my morning reading wasn't too stressful!

So, if you're a workaholic like I am, make sure that when you plan time off, it means technology off, too.

5. Taste the fish before you try to learn how to fish.

I'm sure many of you have heard the Chinese proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

In the context of strength and conditioning programs, this means that many folks would benefit from learning to write their own programs.  However, it's easy to get overwhelmed with this task if you haven't already done a lot of strength and conditioning programs to get a feel for how a session should flow, what exercises should be included, how you respond to fluctuating training stress, and a host of other factors.  So, it's not a bad idea to taste the fish (try some programs) before you run out to buy a fishing pole and bait, then spend all day knee-deep in water (attempting to write your own program).

When you are ready to try to write something up for yourself, check out this webinar.

For more information, check out Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better

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Off-Season Sale: Get $50 Off Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better

For many minor league professional baseball players, the 2012 season wraps up this week. And, while the big leaguers won't be back for another month, this week still marks the beginning of off-season training at Cressey Performance. To celebrate the start of my favorite time of year, I thought I'd put my "flagship" product on sale. From now through Sunday, September 9 at midnight, you can get $50 off Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.

Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to get a comprehensive, versatile resource at a huge discount. Check it out now:

Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better

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Coaching Cues to Make Your Strength and Conditioning Programs More Effective – Installment 2

Today marks the second installment of a series that looks at the coaching cues we use to optimize training technique at Cressey Performance.  Here are three more cues we find ourselves using with our athletes all the time.

1. Move the shoulder blade on the rib cage, not the arm on the shoulder blade.

In many cases, as an athlete does a rowing exercise, he'll flare the rib cage up (lumbar hyperextension/arching of the lower back) and then pull the humerus into extension past the body.  In the process, the scapula (shoulder blade) won't go where it's supposed to go; it either won't move, or it'll slip into anterior tilt.  In both cases, this creates anterior instability at the shoulder girdle.  And, a quick search for "row" on YouTube yields hundreds of videos of horrible technique.

We're especially cognizant of coaching rowing variations perfectly because anterior shoulder stability is so important for baseball players because of their increased external rotation (which also creates more anterior instability).  Our goal is to make sure that the elbow is about even with the body in the retracted position, as this will ensure that the ball-on-socket congruency is in place.

2. Pick it up early.

I'm a big fan of manual resistance external rotations at 90 degrees of abduction in the scapular plane. They are the best strength-building exercise for the cuff because they train eccentric control and do so at shoulder level, affording the most carryover to real-world performance in throwers. However, they are also great for improving cuff recruitment at the most vulnerable point in the throwing motion: lay-back. 

When we do a drill like this, I encourage the athlete to “pick it up early.” In other words, I won’t apply downward pressure (eccentric overload) until they apply some external rotation force into my hand.  This not only builds stability in the most important part of the range of motion, but also ensures that I won't push before an athlete is ready and potentially do more harm than good.

3. Work through the heel.

Watch any complete beginner attempt a lunge, split-squat, or step-up variation, and you'll usually see a short stride with the front knee way out in front of the toes (assuming adequate ankle mobility).  This happens, in part, because they lack sufficient strength at the hip (gluteus maximus, predominantly) to control the hip flexion, internal rotation, and adduction that's occurring.  The weight shifts forward so that the quads can take on the deceleration load.

To that end, it's almost always better to cue athletes to "work through the heel," as it keeps the weight back so that the posterior chain can decelerate on the way down, or propel for the way back up.  You'll know you hit the nail on the head when you've got a vertical shin.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 8/28/12

Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:

Concurrent Training: Strength and Aerobic Training at the Same Time: I thought this was an excellent post from Patrick Ward.  If you've enjoyed the distance running for pitchers features here at EricCressey.com, you'll "geek out" with this one.

Mighty Cholesterol - Brady Cooper did a great job of discussing what cholesterol levels really mean for your health.  This is the kind of article you can send to people who just don't "get it."

Does a Normal Elbow Really Exist? - This is an old post of mine that somehow got lost in the archives, but it's well worth a read, particularly if you deal with throwing athletes.

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Lose Fat, Gain Muscle, Increase Strength, Be More Awesome: Live Q&A #4

It's time for another live Q&A here at EricCressey.com!  To get your questions answered, just post your inquiry in the comments section and I'll approve it and then reply.  

My only rule is that your question must be limited to five sentences or less.  I'll answer the first 25 that are posted, so please don't bother posting questions if you come to this post days, weeks, or months after it was originally posted.

With that said, head on down to the comments section below and ask away! 

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Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 16

Here are this week's strength and conditioning and nutrition tips to make you just a little more awesome, compliments of CP coach Greg Robins.

1. Spread - don't sit - when squatting.

2. Read the entire food label.

Reading food labels is an important step in selecting quality products to include in your diet. It may seem rudimentary, but I often find that people neglect to take into account the nutrition facts as a whole. Rather, they fall victim to the flashy marketing on the front cover, or go immediately to checking the macronutirent breakdown (protein, fat, carbohydrate). By doing so, they select foods that seem like better choices than they are, and discard many solid choices they believe to be "unhealthy." So, how should we read the labels?

First, make sure you look to see how large a single serving is. Many foods will advertise an appealing amount of calories or other benefit per serving. However, a single serving will be much smaller than perceived by looking at the product as a whole. Interestingly enough, even products as small as a 16oz beverage or single nutrition bar will show a food label that is representative of a single serving, not the total amount within the package or bottle. Don't skip the first line; make sure you know how big a serving is, and how many servings you are buying in all.

Next is the most popular part of the label: the middle portion. Here you will find information on calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Additionally, you will see information on sodium content, as well as how many grams of fat come from different fatty acid profiles, and how many grams of carbohydrates come from sugar and fiber. These are obviously important considerations, but not to be viewed outside the context of the product as a whole. Remember to view these within the parameters of a single serving, and then within the parameters of the package as a whole. For example, many canned products will provide an entire day's worth of sodium.

Moving down the label, vitamins and minerals are featured next. This is important for everyone, and a good gauge of how nutrient dense a product is. You should be trying to fill your diet with as nutrient dense foods as possible, and the bigger numbers you see here, the more sure you can be that what you are taking in is filling your requirements for a healthy diet.

Last, but surely not least, is the ingredients list. I, for one, move my eyes directly to this paragraph when investigating a new product. Often, a product will check out fairly well until you get to this section. I often joke that the more blurbs on the front telling me what's not in a food, the skeptical I am of what actually is in the food! More times than not, there are loads of ingredients I can barely pronounce, and a paragraph long enough to warrant a comfortable chair and barista to make it feel like a more appropriate setting for the day's reading. Limit ingredients to five or less, and take note of the order in which they are featured. When sugar is the second ingredient after water, you can be pretty sure that you're about to consume just that.

3. Remember that booze continues to be a poor post-training nutrition strategy.

Many people sabotage their gym efforts by consuming far too much alcohol. In fact, it's probably more prevalent than we think even in the most dedicated gym-goers. After all, many people who consider themselves avid exercise enthusiasts are also those who frequent bars and clubs to show off their hard work in the gym. Consider this study, published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, that found alcohol ingested post-training by rugby players had a detrimental effect on both peak power outputs and recovery. It's not something you didn't already assume, but nonetheless, it's a reminder that alcohol and peak performance don't mix. If you are an athlete over the age of 21, reflect on what is important to you. Be a professional, and do the things that separate the average from the elite. This includes taking into account your recovery, something alcohol certainly will not expedite. For the rest of us, if you are going to embody a healthy lifestyle, do it to the fullest and be aware of your alcohol consumption. For further reasoning, consider these additional ways alcohol negatively impacts your training and health: it contains empty calories, raises estrogen (beer, mostly), dehydrates you, taxes your liver, ruins your sleep, diminishes muscle recovery functions, I could go on. Bottom line, if your training is important to you, you will limit alcohol consumption.

4. Get into a routine for continued success.

Spontaneity is not a bad quality to possess. I once dated a girl who actually commented that she liked me because I was spontaneous. I laughed, because in reality, I'm a creature of habit. I am purposefully habitual because being so keeps me focused, consistent, and successful. You don't need to organize your entire life into a routine; that would be boring, and girls/boys will never like you for your spontaneity. You should, however, form routines for activities that need to take place regularly and set you up for continued success in the long term. I have routine for cooking my meals, writing, continuing education, sleeping, hygiene, and training. I approach my food prep the same way every week by allotting certain days for grocery shopping, and certain times for cooking. I have a nice routine for clearing my head to write, and another for reading books and articles to keep me up to date on happenings in the industry. Likewise, I have a routine that helps me get to bed, as well as stay clean and groomed. Lastly, I approach my training in a very similar fashion every week so that I don't overlook my pre-training nutrition and checklist of cues before each lift.

5. Consider training capabilities - not just specific movements - for increased performance.

Specificity in training for sports performance is a complicated subject. It's complex in of itself, and also because there are so many schools of thought on how to maximize the requested outcome. It is important that we breakdown movements past what they look like in relation to the sport of question, and more to the desired improvement of certain capabilities (strength, energy system demands, etc.). A recent study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness found that counter movement jump ability (think: depth jumps, reactive heidens) had a positive correlation to the improvement of elite basketball player's repeated sprint ability (RSA). While training explosive strength via jumping doesn't seem to have any surface linkage to sprint ability, the concept makes perfect sense. In order to repeat high output sprint efforts during the game of basketball a player needs to have adequate strength and an ability to call upon that strength quickly. This in turn requires an efficient management of their energy in relation to the demand. While training these characteristics with actual sprint work will increase their RSA, so will using other means that elicit similar and nearly identical demands / outputs. These would include jump variations, resistance training, and various other special strength exercises. Don't assume that in order to increase one skill you must train it specifically (at least not all the time). Additional training of other movements, that utilize similar properties, will also increase other like skills. A steady combination, and intelligent organization, of both the specific and the general will gamer the best result.

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Cressey Performance Facility Tour

I thought you all might be interested in a tour of the new facility, which opens up today.  A special thanks goes out to all the CP staff members and clients who helped out with the big move.

For those interested, we'll be hosting the first annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar here at the facility on October 28th.  Click here for more information

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Register Now for the 1st Annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar

I'm psyched to announce that on Sunday, October 28th, we'll be hosting our first annual fall seminar at Cressey Performance.  This event will showcase both the brand new Cressey Performance, as well as the great staff I'm fortunate to have as part of my team, and our outstanding sponsor, New Balance.  We want to make this an affordable event for everyone and create a great forum for industry professionals and fitness enthusiasts alike to interact, exchange ideas, and learn.

Here are the presentation topics:

Understanding and Managing Congenital Laxity - Presented by Eric Cressey

In this era of semi-private training, boot camps, and group exercise, it’s not uncommon for coaches and trainers to try to train all athletes and clients the same. This can quickly lead to injury in a population with significant congenital laxity. In this presentation, Eric will teach you how to assess for laxity and safely train with it to improve how people feel and move.

The Food Freakshow: What Will You Be Eating in the 21st Century? - Presented by Brian St. Pierre

Burgers grown from dinosaur DNA? Tomatoes carrying a delicious basil lemon gene? Red meat with the fatty acid profile of an avocado? Science is starting to change the way we look at food. And in the coming years our food will be very, very different. Want to know what you'll be eating? What your kids will be eating? What your grandkids will be eating? Let Brian untangle the mystery. In this talk he'll discuss what's on the horizon for those of us who like to eat, and like to eat healthy. Join him for a fascinating exploration of the future of food – and for useable, practical strategies you can put into action immediately.

Deep Squats: Are They Worth It? - Presented by Tony Gentilcore

In this presentation, Tony will highlight research on the squat under various conditions and discuss population-specific considerations one must take into account when programming squat variations. He’ll discuss improving the squat pattern, as well as exercise recommendations for those who should avoid squatting altogether in their programs.

“Out with the Old:” A new model for preventing injury and improving performance in the throwing athlete - Presented by Eric Schoenberg

The system is broken! Injury rates at all levels of baseball are alarming. Despite improvements in research, technology, and sports medicine principles, the numbers continue to rise. Each year, teams work tirelessly and spend millions to recruit, draft, and sign the best talent from all over the world. However, only a small percentage of that money is invested to keep these athletes healthy and allow them to showcase their talent on the field. This presentation will help to debunk some common myths, identify disturbing problems, and provide solutions to help keep athletes on the field and out of the training room.

How "Strong" Does An Athlete Need To Be? - Presented by Greg Robins

In this presentation, Greg will discuss how various strength qualities contribute to an athlete's power potential. Each sport requires a slightly different blend of these strength qualities to provide for high-level performance. Learn which qualities athletes need to improve and how to get the job done.

Current Trends in Manual and Manipulative Therapy - Presented by Nathaniel Tiplady

Nate will present a review of Active Release Technique, Graston Technique, Fascial Manipulation, and joint manipulation. He’ll cover what we know, what we don't know, and present his thoughts and experiences on the best methods to get people pain-free.

Program Design Considerations for the Young Athlete - Presented by Chris Howard

In this presentation, Chris will discuss important considerations one must take into account when designing and implementing programs for young athletes. Topics to be covered are exercise selection and progression, creation of a fun training environment, and the role of the strength coach in educating young athletes. He will stress the fact that young athletes can be trained similarly to adults, but that there are distinctions that need to be made.

Location:

Cressey Performance,
577 Main St.
Suite 310
Hudson, MA 01749

Cost:

Regular - $129 regular, $149 day of the event
Student (must present current student ID at door) - $99 regular, $129 day of the event

Date/Time:

Sunday, October 28, 2012
Registration 8:30AM
Seminar 9AM-5:30PM

Continuing Education:

NSCA CEU pending (seven contact hours)

Click Here to Sign-up (Regular)

or

Click Here to Sign-up (Students)

We're really excited about this event, and would love to have you join us! However, space is limited and each seminar we've hosted in the past has sold out in less than two weeks, so don't delay on signing up!

If you have additional questions, please direct them to cresseyperformance@gmail.com. Looking forward to seeing you there!
 

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Should Pitchers Distance Run? What the Research Says.

Today's guest blog comes from current CP intern, Rob Rabena.  Rob recently completed his master's thesis research on the effects of interval training versus steady state aerobic training on pitching performance in Division 2 pitchers.  He's in a great position to fill us in on the latest research with respect to the distance running for pitchers argument.

“Ok, guys, go run some poles.”

A baseball coach often voices this phrase during the season to keep his pitchers in shape. Utilizing distance running to enhance aerobic performance among pitchers has always been the norm, but do the risks outweigh the rewards? There is strong evidence in the scientific literature to support that coaches should rethink utilizing distance running with their pitchers.

Jogging Might Not be the Answer

The current practice utilized for conditioning is for pitchers is to go for a long run the day after a game to “flush” the sore arm of lactic acid, or minimize muscle soreness to recover faster for the next game. These theories are not supported by the current literature and the physiology of the sport.

In the current research study examining the physiology of pitching, Potteiger et al. (1992) found no significant difference between pre-pitching and post-pitching blood lactate levels of six college baseball players after throwing a 7-inning simulated game. Even though during an inning there is a slight lactate production of 5.3-5.8 mM, (which is not high, considering resting lactate is 1.0mM), it does not cause a buildup of lactic acid in the arm of a pitcher after a game. As a comparative example, a high lactate response would occur from squatting for multiple reps at about 70% 1RM; this might produce a lactate level of about 8-10mM (Reynolds et al., 1997). Furthermore, jogging to flush the arm of lactic acid after a start is unnecessary and not supported by the literature, especially since we learned all the way back in 2004 that lactate was not the cause of muscular fatigue ; even the New York Times reported on this in 2007! A lot of coaches simply haven't caught wind yet - in spite of the fact that exercise physiology textbooks have been rewritten to include this new information.

Should Pitchers Distance Run?

When a person jogs at a pace where he/she is able to hold a conversation (at or below ventilatory and lactate threshold), the goal is to improve V02 and to enhance aerobic performance. For pitchers, this practice is utilized to enhance and maintain endurance during games, as well as to maintain body composition throughout the season
In the research study conducted by Potteiger et al. (1992), the researchers found that mean V02 only reached 20 ml. kg.min during the simulated game, and returned to 4.9 ml.kg.min between innings (resting is 3.5 ml.kg.min). The V02s of endurance athletes are approximately greater than or equal to 60 ml.kg.min. Based off this study, V02 does not seem to be a limiting factor for pitchers who want to pitch deep into games. Since a high V02 does not make a great pitcher, why are we training like an endurance athlete, when pitching relies predominately on the anaerobic system? While jogging may help you with body composition and endurance, it’s not going to help you throw more innings in a game. Our emphasis should be on building strength and speed, which are more anaerobic qualities.

Endurance Running or Sprints?

Still not convinced that sprint or anaerobic training is right for your pitching staff? Okay, coach, here are a few more studies comparing sprint training to aerobic training and their effects on pitching performance.

One study examined dance aerobic training (yes, dance training) to sprint training in baseball pitchers and found a significant improvement (p<0.05) in the pitching velocity and anaerobic power measures of the sprint groups (Potteiger et al., 1992).

In a similar study that compared sprint training and long, slow distance running in-season, Rhea et al. (2008) found a significant increase in lower body power for the sprint group, and a drop in power for the distance group. Do we want our pitchers dropping in lower body power? I don’t think so!  Would you like to see their power production increase? Absolutely!

My Research

My Master’s thesis, “The Effects of Interval Training on Pitching Performance of NCAA Division II pitchers”, examined the in-season steady state exercise and interval training on pitching performance. Prior to collecting data, I hypothesized that I was going to find a significant difference in pitching velocity, WHIP (walks+hits/innings pitched), 30m sprint time, fatigue index and muscle soreness.

The results of my thesis study found no significant difference (p>0.05) in any of the hypotheses. However, there was a very strong trend (p=.071) for the distance training group presenting with more soreness based off a 0-10 scale. The distance group did not drop in velocity, get slower, or decrease pitching performance like the previous studies suggested. When examining the results of my thesis study with the current literature, I continue to question if there is an appropriate place and time to implement distance running for pitchers within a training cycle, and if so, when would it be most efficient to do so?

Now What Do We Do?

Most of the research available supports that assertion that pitchers should stop distance running or not make it a focal point of their baseball strength and conditioning program. Distance running trains the aerobic energy system, where pitching is purely anaerobic in nature. I’m not totally bashing distance running because it does have its benefits for certain populations, just not for the performance goals of pitchers.

Now that we know what we shouldn’t be coaching, what should pitchers be doing for conditioning instead of running poles during practices? There are few things to consider when designing sports specific conditioning for pitchers:

● What should the rest periods be between sprints?
● What distances should pitchers sprint?
● How many days a week should pitchers actually condition, and does this fit into the overall training program?

The time between pitches is 15-20 sec (Szymanski, 2009), or longer for guys who are known for working slow on the mound. This can really help coaches when implementing interval sprints. Based off research and my time spent at Cressey Performance, anything 40 yards and under for 4-8 sprints, 2-3x a week is recommended. This, of course, depends on time of year (in-season vs. off-season). At the end of a workout, if the equipment is available, a lateral sled drag, farmers’ walks, or sledge hammer hits are always a plus to increase the anaerobic energy systems, which for a pitcher are most important.

Training pitchers out of the sagittal plane is another key consideration often overlooked with training baseball players; for this reason, using rotational medicine ball exercises is extremely valuable. Check out this study by Szymanski et al, (2007), which compared a medicine ball and resistance training group to resistance training only. Researchers found an increase torso rotational strength for the medicine ball group.

This explains why med balls are a great option for baseball players to not only develop rotational power, but also to blow off some steam. With that in mind, during a movement/conditioning day for pitchers, exercises like band-resisted heidens and lateral skips should be incorporated, along with the more traditional straight sprints mentioned above.

Conclusion

Based off the literature, long distance running should not be implemented for pitchers. When it comes down to it, a well-developed training program that incorporates strength, movement and conditioning is the most efficient way to enhance the way your athlete moves and plays on the field.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to leave comments below, as this is the start of a process and something that coaches need to further consider and discuss to improve the efficiency of the conditioning programs for pitchers.

About the Author

Rob Rabena M.S., C.S.C.S, is a strength and conditioning coach who is currently interning at Cressey Performance. Rob recently earned his M.S. in Exercise Science with a focus in Strength and Conditioning. Prior to his graduate work, Rob obtained his B.S. in Exercise Science with a focus in Health Promotion from Cabrini College in 2011. Although Rob has a particular interest and experience with coaching collegiate athletes, he also enjoys working with clientele of diverse backgrounds and dictates his coaching practice to making his clients feel great, both physically and mentally, while placing a strong emphasis on the specific goals of the client. Feel free to contact Rob Rabena directly via email at robrabena@gmail.com.

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References

1. Fox EL. Sports Physiology (2nd ed). New York, NY: CBS College Publishing, 1984

2. Potteiger, J., Blessing, D., & Wilson, G. D. (1992). The Physiological Responses to a Single Game of Baseball Pitching. Journal of Applied Sport Science Research , 6, 11-18.

3. Potteiger, J., Williford, H., Blessing, D., & Smidt, J. (1992). The Efect of Two Training Methods on Improving Baseball Performance Variables. Journal of Applied Sports Science Research , 2-6.

4. Reynolds, T., Frye, P., & Sforzo, G. (1997). Resistance Training and Blood Lactate Response to Resistance Exercise in Women. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 77-81.

5. Rhea, M., Oliverson, J., Marshall, G., Peterson, M., Kenn, J., & Ayllon, F. (2008). Noncompatibilty of Power and Endurance Training Among College Baseball Players. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 230-234.

6. Szymanski, D. J. (2009). Physiology of Baseball Pitching Dictates Specific Exercise Insensity for Conditioning. Journal of Strength and Conditioning , 31, 41-47.

7. Szymanski, J., Szymanski, J., Bradford, J., Schade, R., & Pascoe, D. (2007). Effect of Twelve Weeks of Medicine Ball Training on High School Baseball Players. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 894-901.

8.Torre, J., & Ryan, N. (1977). Pitching and Hitting. NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.

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