Happy Monday! And, to all the Dads out there, I hope you had a great Father's Day. Here's some good strength and conditioning content from around the web as a belated gift:
How I Accidentally Raised a Professional Athlete - This awesome ESPNW article was written by Edie Ravenelle - who happens to be the mother of long-time Cressey Sports Performance athlete Adam Ravenelle. Adam has trained with us since he was in 8th grade, and won a national championship with Vanderbilt before being drafted by the Detroit Tigers.
Cressey Sports Performance on Snapchat! - CSP just started up a Snapchat account; you can follow us at CresseySP.
It's time for the June installment of "Random Thoughts on Sports Performance Training." With the introductory sale on Functional Stability Training: Optimizing Movement ending on Sunday at midnight, I'm going to use this post as an opportunity to highlight one of the key concepts that resounds throughout the product: relative stiffness.
1. All successful coaching hinges on relative stiffness - whether you're aware of it or not.
I first came across the concept of relative stiffness in reading Shirley Sahrmann's work. This principle holds that the stiffness in one region (muscles/tendons, ligaments, or joint) has can have a functional impact on the compensatory motion at an adjacent joint that may have more or less stiffness. You'll also hear it referred to as "regional interdependence" and the "joint-by-joint" approach by the FMS/SFMA and Mike Boyle, respectively.
For those who do best with examples, think of lower back pain in someone who has an immobile thoracic spine and hips. They don't move through these regions (excessive stiffness), so the lumbar spine (insufficient stiffness) just compensate with excessive motion. Likewise, a female soccer player with insufficient "good stiffness" in the hip external rotators and hamstrings might be more likely to suffer an ACL injury, as this deficit allows excessive motion into knee valgus and hyperextension.
This is why a knowledge of functional anatomy is so key for strength and conditioning coaches. Every cue you use is an attempt to either increase or decrease stiffness. When you hear Dr. Stuart McGill say, "lock the ribs to the pelvis," he's encouraging more (anterior) core stiffness. When you hear "double chin," it's to increase stiffness of the deep neck flexors. When you ask an athlete to take the arms overhead during a mobility drill, you're looking to decrease stiffness through the lats, thoracic spine, pec minor, etc. - and increase stiffness through the scapular upward rotators, anterior core, deep neck flexors, etc.
In short, absolutely everything we do in training and in life is impacted by this relative stiffness.
2. Remember that elbow hyperextension doesn't only occur because of joint hypermobility.
I've written frequently about how elbow hyperextension at the top of push-ups is a big problem, especially in hypermobile athletes who may be more predisposed to the issue. Typically, this is simply a technique issue; you tell athletes to stop doing it, and they do.
However, this doesn't mean that they'll automatically correct the tendency on other movements - like catching a snatch overhead, or throwing a baseball. It's when we look at the problem through a larger lens that we realize there is a big relationship to a lack of scapular motion. If you don't have enough good stiffness in serratus anterior to get the scapula to "wrap" around the rib cage and upwardly rotate, you'll have to go elsewhere to find this motion (elbow hypermobility). This is why I'm a huge stickler for getting good scapular movement on the rib cage - and the yoga push-up is a great way to train it. Think "more scap, less elbow."
3. If you want job security, become a hip surgeon.
The other day, I was speaking with a good friend who works with a lot of strength competitors - powerlifting, Olympic lifting, and Crossfit - and he made a comment that really stood out to me: "I'm seeing uglier hips than ever - even with females."
This has some pretty crazy clinical implications. Most females of "strength sport competitor age" have quite a bit of natural joint hypermobility, so they typically present with excellent hip range-of-motion prior to the age of 40. Even females who sit at computers all day rarely present with brutal hip ROM before they're middle-aged. What does this tell us? We have a lot of females who are developing reactive changes (bony overgrowth = bad stiffness) in their hips well too early, and when they later add increased ligamentous stiffness and a greater tendency toward degenerative changes (both normal with aging), we are going to see some really bad clinical hip presentations.
As an aside, it’s widely debated whether those with femoracetabular impingement (FAI) are born with it, or whether it becomes part of “normal” development in some individuals. World-renowned hip specialist Marc Phillipon put that debate to rest with a 2013 study that examined how the incidence of FAI changed across various stages of youth hockey. At the PeeWee (10-12 years old) level, 37% had FAI and 48% had labral tears. These numbers went to 63% and 63% at the Bantam level (ages 13-15), and 93% and 93% at the Midget (ages 16-19) levels, respectively. The longer one played hockey, the messier the hip – and the greater the likelihood that the FAI would “chew up” the labrum.
Source: Lavigne et al.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15043094
So, whether it's strength sport athletes, hockey players, or some other kind of athlete, if you want job security, become a hip surgeon - and expect to do a lot of hip replacements in 2040 and beyond. There's a good chance these folks will need multiple replacements over the course of their life, too, if the longevity of the hardware doesn't improve before then. The same can probably be said for shoulders, too.
How does it relate to relative stiffness? Once you've used up all the "bad" stiffness you can acquire - muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joint - there's a good chance that you'll have beaten at least some structure up enough to warrant a surgery.
Wrap-up
I could go on and on with other examples of relative stiffness in action, but the truth is that they are countless - and that's why it's so important to appreciate this concept. To that end, I'd highly recommend you check out Mike Reinold and my new resource, Functional Stability Training: Optimizing Movement. It's on sale at an introductory $30 off discount through this Sunday at midnight.
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Here's another teaser from Mike Reinold and my resource, Functional Stability Training: Optimizing Movement. While the Bulgarian Split Squat (also known as the Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squat) has always been viewed as a "generally safe" exercise, it does require good hip extension range-of-motion that you can't just always assume is present. Check out this video to learn more:
Here's some recommended strength and conditioning reading/viewing to get your Tuesday started off on the right foot:
How Neural Tension Influences Hamstrings Flexibility - This Mike Reinold video is an excerpt from our new resource, Functional Stability Training: Optimizing Movement. It's on sale for $30 off through the end of the week.
Why Physical Therapists are Movement System Experts? - I thought this was an excellent article from my good friend and colleague, Eric Schoenberg. I collaborate with Eric on a weekly basis with various rehab cases and he's an outstanding therapist and even better friend.
I just wanted to give you a heads-up on one-day seminar with me in Chicago, IL on Sunday, July 31, 2016.
We’ll be spending the day geeking out on shoulders, as the event will cover Shoulder Assessment, Corrective Exercise, and Programming. The event will be geared toward personal trainers, strength and conditioning professionals, rehabilitation specialists, and fitness enthusiasts alike.
Agenda
9:00AM-9:30AM – Inefficiency vs. Pathology (Lecture)
9:30AM-10:15AM – Understanding Common Shoulder Injuries and Conditions (Lecture)
10:15AM-10:30AM – Break
10:30AM-12:30PM – Upper Extremity Assessment (Lab)
12:30PM-1:30PM – Lunch
1:30PM-3:30PM – Upper Extremity Mobility/Activation/Strength Drills (Lab)
3:30PM-3:45PM – Break
3:45PM-4:45PM – Upper Extremity Strength and Conditioning Programming: What Really Is Appropriate? (Lecture)
4:45PM-5:00PM – Q&A to Wrap Up
Location
TC Boost Sports Performance
600 Waukegan Road
Unit 108
Northbrook, IL 60062
Continuing Education Credits
The event has been approved for 0.7 CEUs (7 contact hours) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
Note: we'll be capping the number of participants to ensure that there is a lot of presenter/attendee interaction - particularly during the hands-on workshop portion - so be sure to register early, as the previous offering sold out well in advance of the early-bird registration deadline.
I'm a day late with this weekly recommended reading/viewing list in light of the Functional Stability Training: Optimizing Movement launch yesterday. Fortunately, though, that launch led to our first piece of highlighted content!
What Goes Into Optimal Movement Quality? - Here's a quick excerpt from one of Mike Reinold's webinars in our new FST resource:
Don't forget: you can pick this resource up for $30 off HERE during our introductory sale.
Strength Faction Eric Cressey Q&A - I did a call with the Strength Faction a few weeks ago, and this was the summary of some of the big takeaway points. Most of it has to do more with business and personal development than training.
Top 5 Coaching Cues - This was great stuff from Mike Robertson. He highlights five coaching cues that I find myself using all the time, too!
As with the previous three installments in this series, Mike and I heavily emphasize the collaboration of the rehabilitation and strength and conditioning worlds. The resource is available in both online-only and DVD formats, and includes a combination of webinars and lab sessions.
Through June 19, Functional Stability Training: Optimizing Movement will be available at a $30 off launch discount, and you can also get even bigger savings if you choose to purchase the entire "Functional Stability Training" bundle.
When it comes to deadlift technique, one thing I find myself coaching individuals on all the time is their hand position - and this is especially true with the conventional deadlift. Learn more in this deadlift technique tutorial with a specific focus on the grip set-up:
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We're excited to announce our next Elite Baseball Mentorship offering: a lower-extremity course that will take place on August 21-23, 2016 at our Hudson, MA facility.
The Cressey Sports Performance Elite Baseball Mentorships provide an educational opportunity to become a trusted resource to this dramatically underserved athletic population. Through a combination of classroom presentations, practical demonstrations, case studies, video analysis, and observation of training, you’ll learn about our integrated system for performance enhancement and injury prevention and rehabilitation in baseball athletes. Cressey Sports Performance has become a trusted resource for over 100 professional players from all over the country each off-season, and this is your opportunity to experience “why” first-hand at our state-of-the-art facility.
Course Description:
The Lower Extremity Cressey Sports Performance Elite Baseball Mentorship complements our upper extremity course by introducing attendees to the most common injuries and movement impairments encountered by baseball players in a sport that combines violent extension, rotation, change-of-direction, acceleration, and top speed sprinting. Core control and lower extremity function considerations will be applied to the throwing and hitting motions.
Course Agenda:
Sunday
Morning Session: Lecture
8:30-9:00AM – Registration and Introduction (Eric Cressey)
9:00-10:00AM – Movement Impairments of the Lower Extremity and Core (Eric Schoenberg)
10:00-11:00AM – Common Injuries and their Mechanisms (Eric Cressey)
11:00-11:15AM – Break
11:15AM-12:15PM – Common Mistakes in Training and Rehabilitating the Core and Lower-Extremity (Eric Schoenberg)
12:15-1:00PM – Lunch (provided)
Afternoon Session: Lecture and Video Analysis
1:00-2:00PM – Understanding and Managing Asymmetry in Rotational Sport Athletes (Eric Cressey)
2:00-3:15PM – Video Evaluation of Throwers: Lower-Extremity Considerations for Push-off and Foot-Plant (Matt Blake)
3:15-3:30PM – Break
3:30-4:45PM – (Matt Blake) – Video Evaluation of Hitters: Lower-Extremity Demands and Sequencing
4:45-5:30PM – Case Studies and Q&A
5:30PM Reception (Dinner Provided)
Monday
Morning Session: Practical
8:00AM-10:00AM – Lower-Extremity Physical Assessment: Static and Dynamic (Eric Cressey and Eric Schoenberg)
10:00-11:30AM – Lower-Extremity Prehabilitation/Rehabilitation Exercises (Eric Cressey and Eric Schoenberg)
11:30AM-12:00PM – Lunch (on your own)
Afternoon Session: Observation at Cressey Sports Performance – 12PM-6PM*
Tuesday
Morning Session: Practical
8:00AM-9:30AM – Training Power Outside the Sagittal Plane (Eric Cressey and Eric Schoenberg)
9:30-11:00AM – Individualizing Driveline to the Pitcher (Matt Blake)
11:30AM-12:00PM – Lunch (on your own)
Afternoon Session: Observation at Cressey Sports Performance – 12PM-6PM*
* The afternoon observation sessions on Monday and Tuesday will allow attendees to see in real-time the day-to-day operation of the comprehensive baseball training programs unique to Cressey Sports Performance. This observation of live training on the CSP floor with our professional, college, and high school baseball players will allow you to experience firsthand our approaches to:
• Programming
• Proper coaching cues for optimal results
• Soft tissue techniques
• Activation and mobility drills
• Strength/power development
• Medicine ball work
• Multi-directional stability
• Metabolic conditioning
• Sprint/agility programs
• Base stealing technique
In addition, you will experience:
• Live throwing sessions
• Biomechanical video analysis using the Right View Pro system
• Movement evaluation
• Live evaluations of attendees with Eric Schoenberg
Location:
Cressey Sports Performance
577 Main St.
Suite 310
Hudson, MA 01749
Cost:
$999
No sign-ups will be accepted on the day of the event.
• No prerequisites required.
• Participants will receive a manual of notes from the event’s presentations.
• Space is extremely limited
• We are keeping the size of this seminar small so that we can make it a far more productive educational experience.
•This event will not be videotaped.
For details about travel, accommodations, and other logistics, please email cspmass@gmail.com.
