We’re excited to welcome renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Altchek of the Hospital for Special Surgery to this week’s podcast. Dr. Altchek shares some outstanding clinical insights on the diagnosis and treatment of anterior shoulder pain in overhead throwing athletes.
A special thanks to this show's sponsor, Marc Pro. Head towww.MarcPro.comand enter the coupon code CRESSEY at checkout to receive 10% off on your order.
Sponsor Reminder
This episode is brought to you by Marc Pro, a cutting-edge EMS device that uses patented technology to create non-fatiguing muscle activation. Muscle activation with Marc Pro facilitates each stage of the body’s natural recovery process- similar to active recovery, but without the extra effort and muscle fatigue. Athletes can use it for as long as they need to ensure a more full and quick recovery in between training or games. With its portability and ease of use, players can use Marc Pro while traveling between games or while relaxing at home. Players and trainers from every MLB team - including over 200 pro pitchers - use Marc Pro. Put Marc Pro to the test for yourself and use promo code CRESSEY at checkout at www.MarcPro.com for 10% off on your order.
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If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.
And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued support!
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We’re excited to welcome Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Strength and Conditioning Coach and Director of Performance Scouting Eric Yavarone to this week’s podcast. Eric shares some great insights on the key competencies that helped him to contribute to a world champion organization across multiple disciplines, and discusses his work across both scouting and player development. CSP-MA Director of Performance John O'Neil takes the lead as a guest host.
A special thanks to this show's sponsor, Marc Pro. Head towww.MarcPro.comand enter the coupon code CRESSEY at checkout to receive 10% off on your order.
Sponsor Reminder
This episode is brought to you by Marc Pro, a cutting-edge EMS device that uses patented technology to create non-fatiguing muscle activation. Muscle activation with Marc Pro facilitates each stage of the body’s natural recovery process- similar to active recovery, but without the extra effort and muscle fatigue. Athletes can use it for as long as they need to ensure a more full and quick recovery in between training or games. With its portability and ease of use, players can use Marc Pro while traveling between games or while relaxing at home. Players and trainers from every MLB team - including over 200 pro pitchers - use Marc Pro. Put Marc Pro to the test for yourself and use promo code CRESSEY at checkout at www.MarcPro.com for 10% off on your order.
Podcast Feedback
If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.
And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued support!
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!
We’re excited to welcome Cressey Sports Performance - Florida pitching coordinator Matt Hinkley to this week’s podcast for a discussion on a range of pitching topics, including:
How to connect the dots between pitching mechanics and strength and conditioning
How to employ high-speed cameras for pitch design
Why it's so important to plan the yearly competitive calendar
When to use subtle adjustments vs. broad overhauls
Why he's more of a "pitching manager" than a "pitching coach"
Why the mental side of pitching can never be overlooked
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. It’s a NSF-certified all-in-one superfood supplement with 75 whole-food sourced ingredients designed to support your body’s nutrition needs across 5 critical areas of health: 1) energy, 2) immunity, 3) gut health, 4) hormonal support, and 5) healthy aging. Head to www.AthleticGreens.com/cressey and claim my special offer today - 10 FREE travel packs - with your first purchase. I use this product daily myself and highly recommend it to our athletes as well. I'd encourage you to give it a shot, too - especially with this great offer.
Podcast Feedback
If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.
And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued support!
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!
I'm flying solo for this week's podcast, as I take on a whopper of a topic: power development. My goal here is to take a large, seemingly complex topic and break it down into digestible constituent parts.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. It’s a NSF-certified, all-in-one superfood supplement with 75 whole-food sourced ingredients designed to support your body’s nutrition needs across 5 critical areas of health: 1) energy, 2) immunity, 3) gut health, 4) hormonal support, and 5) healthy aging. Head to www.AthleticGreens.com/cressey and claim my special offer today - 10 FREE travel packs (valued at $79) - with your first purchase. I use this product daily myself and highly recommend it to our athletes as well. I'd encourage you to give it a shot, too - especially with this great offer.
Podcast Feedback
If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.
And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued support!
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!
Today's guest post comes from current Cressey Sports Performance - Florida intern, Chris Larrauri.
Athletes often ask coaches, “How does this relate to my sport?” And, my internship at Cressey Sport Performance – Florida was no exception; athletes want to know how the work they’re doing is going to transfer to baseball performance. Some athletes are adamant that everything they do should be specific to their sport, and although I wouldn’t stick to SPP (Specific Physical Preparation) year round, I believe that it is necessary to get as specific as we can in the weight room when the time calls for it. This is where a method like French Contrast comes into play.
French Contrast training has been a hot topic in the S&C field for quite some time. Invented by a former French track and field coach, Gilles Cometti, but widely popularized by one of my mentors, Cal Dietz, the French Contrast method has shown to increase explosive strength and speed endurance. Strength may be king, but sometimes it’s necessary to stimulate the organism to create a different training effect. It’s great to produce high amounts of force, but as we know the rate at which an athlete develops that force also matters. In baseball, this impulse could be the defining factor between a 89mph and 95mph pitch, or a weak ground ball and 400-foot homerun.
Figure 1.1 – Graphic showing the difference in rate of force development and overall power output. Ben’s impulse is higher causing more total power output. Graphic is from “Triphasic Training: A Systemic Approach to Elite Speed and Explosive Strength Performance”
If an athlete already has a great strength foundation, then methods such as the French Contrast can take them to the next level. Now, I know what you are thinking: “How are some jumps going to increase velocity on the mound?” My response is, “Does it have to be jumps?” I love jumping for various reasons, but when it’s time to transfer skill acquisition to the field of play, jumps aren’t all that specific to the rotational proficiencies baseball requires. There is a time and place for jumps with rotational athletes, but more during the GPP (General Physical Preparation) phase. For the SPP phase, let’s break down what French Contrast training is.
The French Contrast method is simple. It’s a combination of complex and contrast training. Complex training is a heavy compound lift (around 85% 1RM) followed by a plyometric that’s close to the same motor pattern. Contrast training is a maximal or near maximal compound lift paired with a “back-off” lift around 50-60% of the initial lift or something that mimics the initial lift’s motor pattern. In both situations, the heavy lift is causing a PAP (Post Activation Potentiation) effect for the subsequent movement. French Contrast put its own spin on these two methods to create its own stimulus. The sequence of French Contrast training is as follows:
When people think of French Contrast, they typically think of the basic exercise selection in the table above, but what if we apply the principles to focus more on the transverse and frontal planes instead of sagittal? I believe this can be a game changer for the rotational athlete.
Let’s take a look at what a plyometric is so we can better understand the principles behind French Contrast training and how we can apply them in different ways. Yuri Verkhoshansky created what’s known as the “Shock Method,” and later, an American named Fred Wilt pioneered the term “plyometric,” (plyo, for short) from Verkhoshansky’s research on the method. Fred’s interpretation of a plyo is “an overload of isometric-type muscle action which invokes the stretch reflex in muscle.” This is crucial because you can get this muscle action in other ways besides just jumping. Medicine balls are a great way to replicate this action. We can replace the jumps with, say, rotational medicine ball shotputs and scoop tosses to get an adaption that is more specific to the rotational athlete.
With this premise in place we can now put our attention toward exercise selection. Below are a few examples that can be used (you'll rest 30 seconds between each exercise, but I've edited the videos to cut out the rest time) :
1. Split Squat Overcoming Iso (Maximal Effort): 7s/side
2. Rotational Med Ball Shotput (6lb): 3/side
3. Proteus Shotput (30% or 3-4RPE): 3/side
4. Accelerated Rotational Med Ball Shotput (6lb + band): 3/side
1. 1-arm DB Bench Press w/Bridge (85% 1RM w/330 Tempo): 2/side
2. Med Ball Drop Chest Pass (6lb): x4
3. Rotational Landmine Press (30% or 3-4 RPE): 3/side
4. Accelerated Rotational Med Ball Shotput (6lb + band): 3/side
In conclusion, the principles of French Contrast can be manipulated to optimize transfer for almost any sport. That said, although this article may be covering how to adapt French Contrast training for different sports, I now understand that it may not be for every individual. So, you’ll need to assess the person in front of you to determine if it is appropriate or not. I will say that a nice discovery with using this method is that it’s not only effective, but also a lot of fun. And, if you come across an approach that safely delivers results while keeping athletes engaged, chances are that it deserves a place in your overall programming strategy.
References
Dietz, C. & Peterson, B. (2012) Triphasic Training: A Systematic Approach to Elite Speed and Explosive Strength Performance. By Dietz Sports Enterprise.
Verkhoshansky, Y. & Siff, M. (2009) Supertraining. Sixth Edition. Ultimate Athlete Concepts.
Verkhoshansky, Y. & Verkhoshansky, N. (2011) Special Strength Training Manual for Coaches. Verkhoshansky SSTM.
About the Author
Chris is a current intern at Cressey Sports Performance-Florida, where he works with baseball players at all levels ranging from professional to middle school. He assists in initial evaluations and exercise supervision. Prior experience to CSP includes time spent at the University of Minnesota under Cal Dietz; Jenks High School; Oklahoma Christian University; and as Owner of Synergy Performance. Chris graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology from The University of Central Oklahoma. He is certified through the NSCA, PN-1, RPR & FRC. For more information, follow Chris on Instagram at @chris_larrauri.
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Much more attention has been paid in recent years to the concept of the front hip pull-back/lead leg blocking in pitchers.
However, what gets overlooked is that there are a lot of athletes who do it well, but still struggle to consistently impart adequate force to the baseball and with the right direction. This can happen because of limitations further up the chain that interfere with transferring force to allow for clean ball release.
Foremost among these issues are adequate thoracic flexion and scapular upward rotation. These two attributes allow you to stay on the baseball longer. Imagine a car that has an extra runway to accelerate. As violent as it appears in still-frame photos, Max Scherzer is one of the best illustrations in the game for this - and it's remarkably well "synced up:
Notice how the distance between his uniform number and belt increases early in the delivery, then decreases just prior to ball release. It isn’t this extreme for most pitchers, but it speaks to the interaction between the anterior core, thoracic spine, and scapular upward rotation. Is it any surprise that most anterior core exercises - rollouts, fallouts, flutters, inchworms, bear crawls, and stir-the-pot - are also great serratus anterior drills?
You can also challenge it in various ways with the chops aspect of your core stability program.
I also like this adjustment to a half-kneeling cable lift...which actually make it into a chop, but whatever!
It also opens up a great discussion on the role of infrasternal angle for another day (although we did delve in on it a bit with this podcast with Bill Hartman:
Have a great week!
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We're coming out of a podcast hiatus to kick off a new season of the podcast, and the first episode back will be a collaborative effort among three Cressey Sports Performance -MA staff members: Pete Dupuis (Vice-President), John O'Neil (Director of Performance), and Jordan Kraus (Pitching Coordinator). They discuss the various options available to college pitchers in the summer, and highlight how we've attacked development in this population with our College Summer Development Program at CSP-MA.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. It’s an all-in-one superfood supplement with 75 whole-food sourced ingredients designed to support your body’s nutrition needs across 5 critical areas of health: 1) energy, 2) immunity, 3) gut health, 4) hormonal support, and 5) healthy aging. Head to www.AthleticGreens.com/cressey and claim my special offer today – 10 FREE travel packs – with your first purchase. I use this product daily myself and highly recommend it to our athletes as well. I’d encourage you to give it a shot, too – especially with this great offer.
Podcast Feedback
If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.
And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued support!
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!
The benefits of controlled articular rotations (CARs) are now well known in the strength and conditioning and rehabilitation realms, thanks to Functional Range Conditioning teachings. One way in which we've evolved this approach is by taking a closer look at the position at which we perform our elbow CARs. Historically, they've been performed with the arms at the sides, like this:
However, I think there's a lot more benefit to be gained by performing them with the upper arms supported at 90 degrees of flexion, particularly in an overhead athlete population.
Here's why:
1. With more shoulder flexion, we are able to lengthen the long head of the triceps over both joints it crosses (elbow and shoulder). In the seated position, the long head of the triceps is actually shortened as a shoulder extensor.
2. In throwing athletes, you'll commonly observe Bennett's lesions, areas of increased calcification along the posterior glenoid rim. For most athletes, they're incidental findings in asymptomatic shoulders, but in some cases, they can get too big and cause rotator cuff pathology (I relate it to a speed bump that the cuff has to go over). While the true cause of Bennett's lesions has been debated in the sports medicine world, many are of the belief that it results from traction stress from the long head of the triceps (LHOT) tendon. The tendon attaches on the supraglenoid tubercle (which is on the inferior aspect of the glenoid) and extends up to the labrum and joint capsule. LHOT also eccentrically prevents excessive elbow flexion during the cocking phase of throwing (think of it being heavily lengthened in a shorter catcher-like arm action).
So, whether you believe it's related to Bennett's lesions or not, there's a strong anatomical basis for us to say that the long head of the triceps is an extremely important - but heavily underappreciated - muscle for overhead athletes. I've seen a lot of throwers over the years who've benefited tremendously from manual therapy on the triceps - and this mobility drill is a useful proactive initiative that'll help the cause as well.
3. At positions of 90 degrees of shoulder flexion or more, we get greater serratus anterior recruitment to drive the rotational component of scapular upward rotation - but also a reduction in latissimus dorsi tone that can restrict it. This is particularly important in athletic populations that tend to carry a lot of extensor tone and live in scapular depression and/or downward rotation. It also gives these folks a break from competing against gravity, so it can actually reduce protective tension of the upper traps.
4. Building on this last point, serratus anterior also works to preserve the convex-concave relationship between the scapula and rib cage, which is particularly important to address in the aforementioned athletes who may have acquired flat (extended) thoracic spines over years of extension/rotation. These athletes crave reaching, rounding, and rotating.
You can add this to a warm-up, use it as a filler, or plug it into a cooldown. Take your time with each rep, and be sure to drive not only full elbow flexion/extension, but also pronation/supination of the forearm.
If you're looking to learn a bit more about long head of the triceps, I'd encourage you to check out my Sturdy Shoulder Solutions course, as I delve into it quite a bit as part of my upper extremity functional anatomy module.
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2021 marked year 3 of the Elite Baseball Development Podcast. In all, we released 26 episodes in 2021 - and I learned a ton from some great guests. That said, here are our top five episodes from the year:
1. Current Concepts in Performance Training with Dan Pfaff - Dan discussed the key principles that enable coaches to have success regardless of the sport in question. He also reflected on his beginnings as a teacher, and spoke to the areas that are the “next frontiers” for us to learn about as an industry. We pondered the question, “How strong is strong enough?” and also examined how training loads and time of year impact muscle vs. tendon injuries.
2.Understanding Asymmetry with Ron Hruska - Ron shared some excellent insights on the origins of the Postural Restoration Institute; how polyarticular chains impact human movement; and what to do when we observe some of the common postural adaptations we see in athletes – particularly baseball players.
3. High Performance Nutrition Principles with Brian St. Pierre - In a closer look at the essentials of high performance nutrition programs. Brian discussed the perks and drawbacks of several current nutrition trends, and highlighted strategies one can employ to “tune out the noise” and get down to key foundational principles.
4. Developing Pre- and Post-Throwing Routines with Tanner Allen - Tanner and I discussed the common mistakes we see baseball players make during both the pre- and post-throwing periods. And, we provided some strategies for optimizing your preparation for throwing sessions, and well as improving recovery after they’re done.
5. Should Pitchers Take Time Off From Throwing? - I flew solo to tackle this commonly debated question in the world of developing pitchers. This is something I’ve pondered a lot over the years, and my position on it has evolved considerably.
Finally, while I've got your attention, be sure to check out our foremost sponsor from the past year, Athletic Greens. It’s an all-in-one superfood supplement with 75 whole-food sourced ingredients designed to support your body’s nutrition needs across 5 critical areas of health: 1) energy, 2) immunity, 3) gut health, 4) hormonal support, and 5) healthy aging. Head to www.AthleticGreens.com/cressey and claim my special offer today – 10 FREE travel packs – with your first purchase. I use this product daily myself and highly recommend it to our athletes as well. I’d encourage you to give it a shot, too – especially with this great offer.
We're back to the regular EricCressey.com content this upcoming week. Thanks for all your support in 2021! We've got some great stuff planned for 2022.
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I haven't updated this strength and conditioning programming series since March, so I figured it'd be a good time to squeeze something in before the end of the year. Here are a few guidelines I hope you'll find useful as you write up programs:
1. Power detrains the fastest.
Maximal strength and aerobic capacity "endure" pretty easily. You don't have to train them really frequently in order to preserve what you've built. Improving these qualities is a different story; unless you're an inexperienced trainee, you're going to have to make a much more dedicated effort to build them up.
Power might be the most stubborn quality to develop and maintain, though. It takes time to develop it the right way, as it's as much a function of elastic components (e.g., tendons, fascia) as it is about the muscular component of force (Bill Parisi was a great podcast guest on this front, if you're interested in digging deeper). Additionally, power detrains the fastest; athletes need exposures to it on a more regular basis to preserve it. What programming implications does this have?
First, I like to preserve power training work at full volume in most cases during deload weeks. We can drop volume, intensity, and/or frequency from maximal strength and assistance work, but I typically want athletes continuing with their sprinting, jumping, and change of direction (assuming there are no injury concerns that would preclude them from doing so).
Second, I've gotten away from a true month-long deload from sprinting/jumping/aggressive med ball work at the start of the offseason for our athletes. We now get back to tempo runs, pogo jumps, foundational deceleration progressions, and medicine ball work right away.
This tendency of power to fall off quickly is also one reason why I think so many athletes take a big step back when they take too much time completely off at the end of a competitive season. They're confusing rested with ready - and preparing the more elastic components of athleticism the right way requires time, patience, and consistency over several months. As an example, if you're a MLB player whose season ends in early October, but you don't start doing anything until January, you simply don't have time to establish these qualities to sustain you for a season that stretches from mid-February until the following October.
3. It's easier to make a fast guy strong than it is to make a strong guy fast.
Speaking of power, here’s a quick example of how we are using the Cressey power test on Proteus to drive training decisions.
On initial off-season evaluation (top row), this pro pitcher proved to be more fast than strong. Players will typically shift in this direction over the course of a season, but this would be one of the more extreme examples of acceleration being considerably higher than power. The correct approach in this scenario is to chase strength to impact the force aspect of the power equation (power = work/time, and work is derived from force x distance).
As you can see from the retest about eight weeks later on the bottom row, by training strength hard to bring up the power number, we closed the gap and actually continued to drive his acceleration proficiency higher. Effectively, we made the glass (strength) bigger while continuing to add fluid (other strength qualities) to the glass. You can make the argument that this strength foundation also created a safer environment in which to demonstrate elastic qualities to accelerate faster.
It’s always easier to make a fast guy strong than it is to make a strong guy fast, so don’t miss this low hanging fruit that’s easily identified with this innovative technology. Here's a webinar I filmed on a few different scenarios you can see with this power test:
3. Combination medicine ball drills can be your best friend when you have a lot of qualities that need to be trained.
As the offseason progresses and baseball activity ramps up, there are a lot of competing demands for our athletes: increased intensity of throwing, hitting, and defensive work. To that end, we pare back on the frequency and volume of lifting, and try to get more efficient with our medicine ball work. One strategy I like to employ is the use of "combination" drills that combine overhead and rotational variations. Here's an example:
You'll see more of these integrated in January and February with our pro baseball crowd, and the medicine ball is typically 6-10pounds, as you have to choose a load that's suitable for both overhead and rotational work.
If you're looking to learn more about how I incorporate medicine ball training in our programs, be sure to check out my Medicine Ball Master Class at www.CresseyMedBall.com.
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