Imagine, for a second, that I was to tell you that there's a muscle that:
a) has serious growth potential
b) can dramatically increase your squat and deadlift poundages
c) can drive your bench press through the roof
d) can keep your shoulders, upper back, lower back, and hips healthy
e) can help you run faster
f) affects the way you breath
You'd probably think I was nuts. Surely the strength training community would've caught on by now, right? Well, I wouldn't say that they haven't caught on; I'd just say that they haven't learned how to utilize this muscle — and it does exist — in the right ways. Perhaps the worst part is that this muscle has a big cross sectional area already, so it's staring people right in the face.
I'm talking about the latissimus dorsi, lats for short. Let's get to it...
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Like everyone else, I've had my role models and mentors who've looked out for me. My mother has taught high school English for over 20 years, so I owe a lot of my writing success to her. My father taught me to tie a tie and to remember to check the oil in my car. My brother, the accountant, is always a phone call away if I need financial advice.
Guys like Alwyn Cosgrove, John Berardi, Dave Tate, and Jason Ferruggia have all been extremely gracious in giving me advice as an up-and-comer in this business. In short, I'm just the sum of many constituent parts: individuals to whom I owe a debt I'll never be able to repay.
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"I wish I could have my first year of training back."
How many times have you heard an experienced trainee say that? Likewise, how many times has a newbie come up to you and asked you to help him get started in the iron game? It happens to me on a daily basis.
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1. I have seen a lot of guys who have hamstrings pulls in their health histories, but I don't recall ever coming across any studies that show that shooting yourself in the leg expedites recovery time.
The sad truth is that you'll probably have dozens of kids around the country with hamstrings strains shoot themselves in the leg in hopes of returning to play sooner because "Burress does it." I'll stick with soft tissue work, glute activation, and sprint mechanics training...
2. I got a question the other day about how we approach rest periods for our medicine ball work, and while it could be somewhat of a long, detailed response, I can probably respond even better with a simple, "We are always trying to slow guys down because they rush through them." Usually, our rest intervals are in the ballpark of one minute between sets. So, here's a little sample of what one of our professional pitchers did yesterday:
A) Side High Box Step-ups w/Leg Kick: 2x4/side
B1) Overhead Med Ball Stomp to Floor: 4x8 (5kg)
B2) Side-Lying Extension-Rotation: 3x8/side
C1) Recoiled Shotput: 3x3/side (4kg)
C2) Wall Hip Flexor Mobilizations: 2x8/side
D1) Recoiled Shotput: 3x3/side (2kg)
D2) Lying Knee-to-Knee Stretch: 2x30s
E1) Crow Hop to Overhead Med Ball Throw: 5x2 (2kg)
E2) Multiplanar Hamstrings Mobilizations: 2x5/5/5/side
So, as you can see, we use mobility work between sets to slow the guys down and address range-of-motion deficits they might have at the same time. A lot of these drills can be found on Magnificent Mobility (lower body) and Inside-Out (upper body).
4. For some good reading - particularly with respect to nutrition - check out Brian St. Pierre's blog.
5. I'm going with Joseph Addai over LenDale White this weekend. Thanks to everyone for the feedback from Tuesday. Fingers crossed...
6. Happy Birthday to Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic! Cass and I go way back, and she's been a great friend and resource for me all along the way. If you're looking for top-notch female-specific nutrition and fitness resources, you definitely ought to check out The New Rules of Lifting for Women and the Women's Health Perfect Body Diet, both of which Cass or co-authored.
That'll do it for this week. I've got some sweet content in line for next week, so stay tuned. Have a great weekend!
I received this email earlier this week:
Eric,
I am a longtime follower of T-Nation and picked up your book, Maximum Strength, this past summer. I just finished with Moving Day and want to thank you for my great results in 16 weeks.
I am 6'3", 180 lbs and my weight stayed the same the whole time because I have low body fat to begin.
My Results:
Broad Jump: 91" to 122"
Squat: 225 to 295
Bench: 215 to 235
Deadlift: 365 to 455
Chinup 3RM: 45 to 60
This book worked great when I had a goal to strive for.
Thanks again, Eric.
Q: I'm a personal trainer who just started training a couple of baseball catchers. I understand that your facility specializes in training baseball players. I just want to know if you guys have any tips, or recommend any resources to find out common structural issues that occur with this position. Perhaps what you guys have found through training catchers? What lifts they should avoid, more specifically?I have begun doing a ton of research and just wanted some ideas from you guys to help me out. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
A: Well, first, there are certain things that none of my baseball guys do:
-Overhead lifting (excluding pull-up/chin-up variations)
-Straight-bar benching
-Upright rows
-Front/Side Raises
-Olympic Lifts (aside from the occasional high pull)
-Back Squats (we use safety squat and giant cambered bars instead, plus front squats)
I could go on and on with respect to the reasons for these exclusions, but for the sake of this blog, suffice it to say that it's for shoulder and elbow protection reasons. Fortunately, I wrote about my rationale in an old newsletter.
Catchers are obviously different than pitchers and position players in that they spend a lot of time squatting, so we have particular concerns at the knees and hips.
Whether or not I squat my catchers is dependent on age, training experience, time of year, and - most importantly - injury history. If a guy is older and more banged up, we aren't going to be squatting much, if at all. However, if we're talking about a younger athlete who has a lot more to gain from squatting (particularly if he isn't specialized in baseball yet), I definitely think there is a role for it.
That said, regardless of age and injury history, I don't squat my catchers deep in-season. We'll do some hip-dominant squatting (paused or light tap and go) to a box set at right about parallel, but for the most part, it's deadlift variations. We get our range-of-motion in the lower body with these guys with single-leg work.
As for structural issues, always check everything at the hip and ankle, as you should with any baseball player; it isn't just about shoulders and elbows (although you will want to screen those, too, obviously). Believe it or not, a lot of the pitching flexibility deficits about which I've written also hold true in catchers.
Additionally, I've found that a lot of catchers tend to lean to one side (adduct one femur), and over time, it can lead to some noteworthy imbalances in hip rotation range-of-motion. You'll also see a lot of catchers who lack thoracic spine range-of-motion because they spend so much time slumped over (not necessarily ideal catching posture, but it does happen when you're stuck down there for nine innings).
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I won 105-50 this week to move to 8-5 and second my spot as the third seed in the playoffs. For the record, I was the high scorer in the league, too. How you like them apples? Poor Tony was the second highest scorer and didn't even make the playoffs!
Just for the heck of it, I'll make this week's fantasy football post a bit more interactive. I've got a roster decision where you can have some input; feel free to post your comments below.
Would you play Joseph Addai (Colts home vs. Cincinnati) or LenDale White (Titans home vs. Cleveland)? For the record, I kicked myself for benching White (22 points) on Thanksgiving in favor of Addai (3 points on Sunday).
Just think: you can have just a little piece of this fantasy football glory if you make the right call...
Mike Robertson just brought to my attention that the Monday after Thanksgiving is known as Cyber Monday because it's the biggest day of the year for online sales. So, particularly with the economy the way it is, we decided to put most of our products up for sale for today ONLY.
For the fitness professionals in the crowd, keep in mind you can also purchase NSCA CEUs for the majority of these products, and those CEUs will come in handy at this time of year as you're up for renewal of your certification. The products with the asterisk after their names below are eligible.
Simply head on over to the Robertson Training Systems Products Page, add a product (or a bunch of products) to your shopping cart, and enter the coupon code CYBER at checkout to receive 15% off on your purchase. Eligible products include the Building the Efficient Athlete DVD Set*, Magnificent Mobility DVD*, Inside-Out DVD*, 2008 Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD Set*, and Bulletproof Knees Manual*.
Also, through my shopping cart, this same offer (same CYBER coupon code) is available for The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual and The Art of the Deload E-Book. You can purchase those on my Products Page.
Don't miss out on this great chance to purchase our stuff at an excellent discount just in time for the holidays!
In Part I, I went into some detail on why I really didn’t like the catch-all term “shoulder impingement.” This week, I’m going to talk about the different kinds of shoulder impingement: external and internal.
External impingement, also known as outlet impingement, is the one we hear about the most. Here, we’re dealing with compression of the rotator cuff – usually the supraspinatus, and over time, the infraspinatus (and biceps tendon) – by the undersurface of the acromion. This impingement can lead to bursal-sided rotator cuff tears - and happens a lot more with ordinary weekend warriors and very common in lifters (not to mention much more prevalent in older populations.
External impingement can be further subdivided into primary and secondary classifications. In primary impingement, the cause is related to the acromion – either due to bone spurring or congenital shape. As you can see in the photo below, hook (II) and beak (III) are worst than flat (I), as there are marked difference in “clearance” under the acromion.
Secondary impingement, on the other hand, is usually related to poor scapular stability (related to both tightness and weakness, as described in last week’s newsletter), which alters the position of the scapula. In both cases, pain is at the front and/or side of the shoulder and is irritated with overhead activity, scapular protraction, and several other activities (depending on the severity of the tissue problems). You’ll also generally see a lack of external rotation range-of-motion, as these are folks who do too much bench pressing and computer work (both of which shorten the internal rotators).
Conversely, internal impingement, also known as posterosuperior impingement, really wasn’t proposed until the early 1990s. This form of impingement is more common in younger individuals who are involved in overhead sports, making it more of an “athletic impingement.” Adaptive shortening and scarring of the posterior rotator cuff in these athletes causes a loss of internal rotation and an upward translation of the humeral head during the late cocking phase of throwing (or swimming): external rotation and abduction. These issues are magnified by poor scapular control, insufficient thoracic rotation, and weakness of the rotator cuff.
When the humeral head translates superiorly excessively in this position, it impinges on the posterior labrum and glenoid (socket), irritating the rotator cuff and biceps tendon along the way. So, pain usually starts in the back of the shoulder, as you are seeing irritation of the posterior fibers of the supraspinatus and anterior fibers of the infraspinatus tendons. Gradually, this pain may “shift” toward the front as the biceps tendon, and that implies labral involvement. At least initially, the pain is purely mechanical in nature; it won't bother an athlete unless the "apprehension" position (full external rotation at 90 degrees of abduction) is created.
We often hear about SLAP lesions in the news. This refers to a superior labrum, anterior-posterior injury. In reality, when we are talking about labral injuries in overhead athletes as they relate to internal impingement, it’s mostly just posterior (although serious cases can eventually affect the anterior labrum, too). There are different kinds of SLAP lesions (1-4). Every baseball pitcher you’ll meet has a SLAP 1, which is just fraying. SLAP 2 lesions are far more serious and often require surgical intervention. SLAP 1 issues become SLAP 2 lesions when poor mobility and dynamic stability aren't established.
So, just to bring you up to speed, we’ve got two different kinds of impingement, one of which (external) has two subcategories that mandate different treatment strategies (primary = surgery, secondary = corrective exercise). We also have two separate areas where pain presents (external = front/side, internal = back). That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though, as we have two more considerations…
First, symptomatic internal impingement tends to be "mechanical pain." Unless you’re dealing with a more advanced case, athletes with symptomatic internal impingement only have pain when they get into the late cocking phase (and sometimes follow-through). It usually isn’t present when they’re just sitting around – and for this reason, they can usually be more aggressive in the weight room with upper body training. Keep in mind that I use the term “symptomatic” because I think that internal impingement is a physiological norm, just like I observed last week with external impingement. You're essentially just going to go out of your way to avoid this "apprehension" position in the weight room by omitting exercises like back squats. An apprehension test - illustrated in the most enthusiastic video in internet history - is a quick and easy assessment many doctors and rehabilitation specialists use to check for symptomatic internal impingement, as it reproduces the injury mechanism.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, you are dealing with two rotator cuff tears that are fundamentally different. It’s these differences that make me think doctors need to get rid of the term “impingement.” Here’s the scoop:
Let’s say that we have two guys with partial thickness tears of the supraspinatus – one from external impingement and one from internal impingement.
With external impingement, we’re usually dealing with a bursal-sided tear, as the rubbing comes from the top (acromion). These issues will generally heal more quickly because the bursa actually has a decent blood supply.
With internal impingement, on the other hand, we’ve got an articular-sided tear, meaning that the wear on the tendon comes from underneath (glenoid). The tear is more interstitial in nature. Blood supply isn’t quite as good in this area, so healing is slower (or non-existent).
Traditionally, articular has been an athletic injury, and bursal has been a general population issue. This is not always the case, though.
Factor in the activity demands of overhead throwers, and they have more challenging tears and greater functional demands. Fortunately, they also typically have age and tissue quality on their sides, so things tend to even out.
With all these factors in mind, if a doctor ever tells you that you have "shoulder impingement," ask:
1. Internal or external?
2. If external, is it primary or secondary? (It’ll probably be both)
3. If internal, is there labral involvement? Biceps tendon?
4. If internal, what is the internal rotation deficit? (They should measure it, as this will begin to dictate the rehabilitation plan)
5. Given my age, activity level, and the nature of the tear, do you feel that surgical or conservative treatment is best?
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