To wrap up my “Best of 2018″ series, I’ll highlight the top product reviews I did at this site in the last year. Here they are:
1. Complete Youth Training - This was Mike Boyle's great new resource for those who work with young athletes. He touched on everything from the problems with early specialization to age-specific training stages. It's a good investment for parents and coaches alike. I loved how his perspective as a parent coalesced with his commentary as a strength and conditioning coach and business owner. Since it was the most popular product I reviewed this year, I reached out to Mike to see if he'd be up for running a quick promo sale for my readers, and he kindly agreed. From now through January 4, you can get $50 off on the resource. No coupon code is needed; just head HERE.
2. The Culture Code - This new book from Dan Coyle was one of my favorite reads of the year. Dan's become a friend over the years, so I was able to get him to do an interview here at EricCressey.com when the book was released:Coyle on Culture.
3. Bought In - Brett Bartholomew is an outstanding strength and conditioning coach who has taken a huge interest in the art of "getting through" to athletes. In this course, he outlines a lot of great strategies for building rapport with athletes. Brett authored a guest post for this site as well:5 Quick Tips to Enhance Coach-Athlete Communication.
Also in 2018, I released a product of my own that was a long time in the making: Sturdy Shoulder Solutions. This resource includes close to seven hours of webinars and lab sections on everything upper extremity.
We're back to the regular EricCressey.com content this week. Thanks for all your support in 2018! We've got some great stuff planned for 2019.
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With baseball athletes being the largest segment of the Cressey Sports Performance athletic clientele, it seems only fitting to devote a "Best of 2018" feature to the top baseball posts from last year. Check them out:
2. Is It Really Biceps "Tendonitis? - One of my biggest pet peeves is when all anterior shoulder pain is given a "blanket diagnosis" of biceps tendonitis. With that in mind, this webinar excerpt from my Sturdy Shoulder Solutions resource delves into the topic in greater detail.
4. How to Win 99% of High School Baseball Games - I've haven't coached a high school baseball game in my life. I know a lot about adaptation to training in youth athletes, though, and that puts me in a unique position to comment on how to win high school baseball games.
5. Why Injuries are Highest Early in the Baseball Season (Video) - Major League Baseball Injuries are highest during Spring Training and early in the regular season. Surely, some of this has to do with the fact that some players had lingering issues from the previous season that never went away - but it definitely goes further than this.
We've got one last "Best of 2018" list running tomorrow, so stay tuned for the closer!
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I really enjoying creating features with multiple installments because it really allows me to dig deep into a topic that interests both me and my readers. It’s like writing a short book, with each post being a different chapter. That said, here were a few of my favorite features from 2018 at EricCressey.com:
1. Random Thoughts on Sports Performance Training
This is definitely my longest standing active series, and while I don't update it every month, it'll always include some gems.
I've already highlighted the top articles and videos I put out at EricCressey.com in 2018, so now it's time for the top guest posts of the year. Here goes…
4. The Truth About Dodgeball and Tag - Lee Taft is a tremendous coach on the speed and agility front, and in today's post, he touches on a controversial topic: the elimination of dodgeball and tag from youth physical developmental programs.
5. What Research Can Tell Us About "Super Champion" Athletes - Tennis training expert Matt Kuzdub delves into commonalities of success among the most high achieving athletes - and how they differentiate themselves from those who don't quite "make it."
I'll be back soon with the top strength and conditioning features from 2018.
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With my last post, I kicked off the "Best of 2018" series with my top articles of the year. Today, we'll highlight the top five videos of the year.
1. Supine Banded Shoulder Flexion on Roller - I love this exercise for building thoracic spine mobility, shoulder flexion, and scapular posterior tilt.
2. Split-Stance Hip Abduction End-Range Lift-off - CSP coach Frank Duffy contributed this awesome hip mobility challenge as part of a guest post this year.
3. Landmine Lateral Lunges - This is an exercise I thought up on the fly while working with three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, and we liked it so much that it's become a mainstay in his offseason programming.
4. Rhomboids Functional Anatomy - this webinar is an excerpt from my popular new resource, Sturdy Shoulder Solutions.
5. Knee-to-Knee Rollover Medicine Ball Stomp - this new medicine ball drill was a power training exercise thought up by my CSP-FL business partner, Shane Rye. The knee-to-knee approach encourages the athlete to stay in the back hip longer.
I'll be back soon with the top guest posts of 2018!
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With 2018 winding down, I'm using this last week of the year to direct you to some of the most popular content of the past 12 months at EricCressey.com, as this "series" has been quite popular over the past few years. Today, we start with the most popular articles of the year; these are the pieces that received the most traffic, according to my hosting statistics.
5. Why You Shouldn't Look Up When You Lift - It drives me bonkers to see lifters looking up at the ceiling during squats, deadlifts, and even arm care exercises. In this post, I discuss why that's the case.
I'll be back soon with another "Best of 2018" feature. Up next, the top videos of the year!
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This will be the last recommended reading/listening of the year, as we're switching over to the "Best of 2018" series in the next few days. In the meantime, check these out! And happy holidays!
How Should We Space Training to Optimize Skill Acquisition - This was a quick, but awesome listen on Rob Gray's Perception and Action Podcast. A special thanks to CSP-MA pitching coordinator Christian Wonders for sharing it with me.
Are You Doing Too Much Rotator Cuff Work Before Throwing? - This article came from my series on common arm care mistakes, and I decided to bring it back to the forefront in light of a conversation I had with an athlete about how his warm-ups shouldn't take 60 minutes.
Top Tweet of the Week
We use off-bench oblique variations often. They can be useful unloaded in early post-op upper body cases when other core exercises are off limits. You can eventually progress to loaded reaching variations when athletes have built up proficiency w/them. https://t.co/m9ygjoh9HGpic.twitter.com/OEvtLku2Ot
We've started using kettlebell windmills a lot more with our athletes this year. I think they slide in nicely (similar to Turkish Get-ups) as a first exercise on upper body days, even if they are more of a full-body exercise.
Generally speaking, I think we underappreciate how solid motion (or resistance to it) in the frontal plane really matters for folks from all walks of life. If you haven't read it already, check out my recent blog, Assessments You Might Be Overlooking: Installment 6, where I discuss the importance of assessing lateral flexion.
To me, the kettlebell windmill is the perfect exercise for teaching athletes how to groove proper core positioning as they load into the hip in multiple planes of motion. My most common cue to athletes with this exercise is, "Load into the hip hinge; don't just side bend."
As you'll see in this picture below, it's possible to get the motion in the wrong places. This would qualify as a side bend - and you can easily appreciate that not all motion is good motion.
We'll perform this exercise both "regular" and with a bottoms-up approach. I think it's best positioned early in the training session for 2-8 reps per set. Make sure athletes have adequate hip mobility and entry-level core control before jumping right to it. I actually like it as a subtle regression from Turkish Get-ups, especially in uncoordinated individuals and those who may lack a bit of shoulder mobility.
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I hope you had a great weekend. We're getting back on an every Monday schedule with this recommended reading. Before I get to it, just a quick reminder that I just announced a new date for my one-day shoulder course. It'll be taking place near Dallas, TX on January 27. You can learn more HERE.
How Rib Cage Positioning Impacts the Pitching Delivery - CSP-MA pitching coordinator Christian Wonders wrote this up last year, and in light of a recent conversation on pitching mechanics, I wanted to bring it back to the forefront.
The 7 Keys to Longevity with Dr. Jonny Bowden - Jason Ferruggia interviewed Dr. Bowden on his up-to-date thoughts on a variety of topics: nutrition, sleep, stress, and several other factors.
Top Tweet of the Week
Ulnar deviation w/the steel club. If you’re looking for forearm drills for pitchers, here’s a good complement to the pronation/supination exercises I’ve posted in the past. Flexor carpi ulnaris protects the ulnar collateral ligament against valgus stress; this targets it. pic.twitter.com/7Ru1mfDA2C
We use yoga push-ups a lot in our training programs, but one challenge with incorporating them over the long-term with more advanced athletes is that they're hard to load up. You can't use bands or chains as external resistance because they slide over the course of the set. And, weight vests really can't provide enough external resistance without getting too bulky and cumbersome. Luckily, there are a few other ways to progress the drill:
1. Slideboard Yoga Push-ups
2. 1-leg Feet-Elevated Yoga Push-ups
3. Feet-Elevated Spiderman Yoga Push-ups
4. Yoga Push-up with Opposite Arm Reach
5. Controlled Tempo
Last, but not least, you can simply slow down the tempo at which the yoga push-up variations are performed. I like adding a full exhale at the top position, too.
Speaking of upper extremity progressions, if you're looking for some more information on how we assess, coach, and program for the shoulder girdle, be sure to check out my resource, Sturdy Shoulder Solutions.
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