As I mentioned last week, this past weekend was Ron Wolforth's Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp just outside of Houston, TX. To say that it was an awesome experience would be an understatement. I considered myself really lucky to be presenting alongside the likes of Brent Strom (St. Louis Cardinals), Phil Donley (Philadelphia Phillies consultant who has rehabbed loads of million-dollar arms), Perry Husband (Downright Filthy Pitching), and Ron himself. These guys are not only getting important information out there for coaches, but also getting their hands dirty in the trenches to take athletes and coaches to the next level with new information.
Just as great as the presenters were the 100+ attendees. In addition to many enthusiastic high school and private sector coaches and a few physical therapists, you had pitching coaches and/or baseball strength coaches from big-time colleges like Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Auburn, Kennesaw St., Savannah College of Art and Design, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Columbia, and Trinity. These guys immediately earned a ton of respect in my book for thinking outside the box, and it makes me want to encourage a lot of my stud athletes their way post-high school because I know that they're going to get coaches who are always looking for ways to help them succeed.
The title of my presentation was "Building the Complete and Superior Pitching Athlete." In my introduction to the coaches, I tried to make it very clear that my goal wasn't to try to teach them everything there was to know about S&C for baseball players, but rather to give them the knowledge (and resources, in the form of my handouts) to become informed consumers in dealing with the folks who carry out their players' programs. I wanted them to know that you CAN give a pitcher a tremendous training effect without injuries to the throwing arm or interfering with velocity by losing pitching-specific mobility.
I think that the secret to appreciating what it takes is understanding that baseball strength and conditioning is not just about lifting and running. Sure, these are components of the overall process, but if you only address these two components, you DO run the risk of impairing a pitcher's development. Sure, you've got to pay attention to these issues, but you also have to strategically address flexibility and mobility (yes, they are different), optimize soft tissue quality, and appreciate that you can use medicine ball work to maintain pitching-specific mobility during down-periods from throwing without all the stresses that come with throwing itself.
I also tried to get folks to think about what they already are doing with respect to distance running, "core" training, upper and lower body lifting, assessments, warm-ups (check out the Monster Mobility Pack for ideas), and post-throwing flexibility work. I discussed the difference between inefficiency and pathology and how your can have a terrible-looking MRI and/or x-ray and still be pain free.
You can still get all the information from the event by purchasing the DVDs of the entire weekend. I'd highly recommend them, as they include some great pitching analysis and recommendations from Brent Strom, awesome information on glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) by Phil Donley, intriguing thoughts on "effective velocity" from Perry Husband, and excellent ideas on "blending" by Ron Wolforth. Just head over to Pitching Central's UPCBC page and pick up a copy now.
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used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
By popular demand, some of the clients at CP who appreciate my cynical side requested that I pull together a list of things that annoy me. I turned to our intern, Chris, and asked him to pick a number between 1 and 20, and he chose 13. So, in lieu of Random Friday Thoughts, here are 13 things that drive me nuts...
1. It recently occurred to me that my Random Friday Thoughts are no longer very random - and not just because I do them every Friday. Truth be told, I am the Random Pioneer, and countless individuals have attempted to randomly follow in my random footsteps with their own random attempts at random brilliance in random blogs. I have a random message for these random copycats: you might as well give it up, as my randomness cannot be matched, so you might as well throw in your towel (and no, Steph, we aren't getting towels for you at CP).
I believe this cat reflects my random sentiments quite nicely:
2. I can't believe Joe Dirt didn't win an Oscar.
3. It's a written rule at CP that when you have one week remaining on your current program, it's your responsibility to notify a CP staff member that you'll need a new program printed out and ready to go within a week. It's an unwritten rule (as one 17-year-old athlete found out this week) that those who forget to tell us that they need a new program - and then show up to lift on the day the new program would have started - are rewarded with the following program for the day:
A1) Barbell Bulgarian Split Squats: 8x8/side
A2) Neutral Grip Pull-ups: 8x6
I don't think we'll be having this problem much more...
4. I always love it when a fitness professional sets up a new program or opens his/her own facility and writes his own press release. It usually comes out something like:
"World-Renowned Fitness Expert Announces Plans to Revolutionize the Fitness Industry
"In a move that has been called revolutionary, forward-thinking, bold, and daring, Ben Dover, CPT, QRS, ASAP, AEIOU is now personal training adults ages 18-65 in his mother's basement to help them loose [note from EC: this is intentionally spelled wrong, because people always spell lose incorrectly] weight. Dover graduated with honors from Moldy Gordita Community College in Burnt Scrotum, New Mexico.
"Says Dover, 'My Moldy Gordita and Burnt Scrotum experiences have made my outlook on fitness very unique.* Unlike other personal trainers, I encourage clients to eat right and exercise.'
*Note from EC: yes, I know you can't be very one-of-a-kind, but Ben doesn't.
"Dover has limited availability, but is now accepting new clients for 22 available hour-long time slots between the hours of 1AM and 11PM."
I see this at least once a week - seriously. As I think about it more, though, it's pretty amusing.
5. I need to see another story on TV about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie like I need to gouge out my eyes with a hot poker.
6. Sometimes, a video says it all.
(for the record, it isn't Tony that drives me nuts; it's the universal acceptance of the stability ball as training implement for everybody)
7. If you Google "medial deltoid," you get 7,710 results. You know what? There is no such thing as a medial deltoid! It's the middle deltoid - and yes, it is a pretty big difference anatomically (the medial deltoid would technically be the anterior deltoid, if you really think about it). You don't get Google search results for rhombazoids or upper trapezoids - and medial deltoid isn't much better.
8. In my article series on running programs for pitchers, I alluded to how I dislike it when pitchers run to get fit. Rather, I feel that they need to get fit to run. Truth be told, this doesn't just apply to pitchers; it applies to everyone, endurance athletes included. Taking up running to lose weight is a recipe for disaster for a lot of people. These people may include: dentists, professional wrestlers, eskimos, Starbucks employees, politicians, elves, laywers, and even superheroes. Yes, the only thing worse for Superman than kryptonite is distance-running-induced plantar fasciitis.
If you're a marathoner or triathlete, have at it - but be sure you're prepared to start it in the first place.
9. Can somebody tell me why we're just arresting this guy now? He should have been incarcerated for that hairstyle the seconds the 1980s were over!
10. The only thing worse than a close-talker is a close-coacher. This may include standing on top of an athlete, or shouting as many cues as possible during a set. Step off, dude.
11. Inside-Out doesn't get much love, but it is the single-best upper extremity injury prevention product out there. If you have shoulder or elbow issues, you should have bought this over a year ago!
Give Bill and Mike (and your rotator cuffs) some love.
12. I really could use about 28 hours in the day. I'd even settle for 27 - but 24 just doesn't seem to be cutting it.
13. It drives me nuts that I really couldn't come up with #13, but then I realized that I could just go back to my mainstay. Good Lord, this is atrocious. I don't even know where to begin...
Shawn Haviland is a Cressey Performance athlete who started up a blog a month or two back. The Oakland A's drafted Shawn out of Harvard in the 33rd round in 2008. He actually wrote up a piece about training at CP:
5 Things I have Learned (So Far) from the Guys at Cressey Performance
Shawn started out as a janitor at M.I.T. before he solved a complex math problem left on a chalkboard - and that led to instant baseball success. Or maybe that was Good Will Hunting...
I know, it's heresy! You can't lift weights on four consecutive days unless you're a juiced up professional bodybuilder - or just some teenager who doesn't know a thing about weight-training. I beg to differ.
You can also do it (not necessarily by choice) if you're Eric Cressey and are flying to Houston Thursday night and not getting back until Sunday afternoon - and you know you're not going to have a chance to train while there. Knowing that this was the case, I took this past Sunday off altogether, and planned to train MoTuWeTh. Here's how I set it up:
Monday was a speed bench day with some chain push-ups and loads of horizontal pulling and shoulder health stuff (especially considering I made over 500 throws that day while I helped eight separate pitchers through their throwing programs).
Tuesday (last night) was some easy sprint work, and then front squats vs. two chains per side. I kept it light (205) and fast for the first six sets. For my last two sets, I changed the bar weight to 265 (325 at the top) for two reps. I added in some mat flips (like a tire flip), forward sled pushing, and then some Pallof Press isometric holds. As you can tell, there wasn't much eccentric stress (aside from the front squats), so I intentionally avoided soreness (feel fine Wednesday morning as I type this).
Wednesday (tonight), I'll bench (floor press, actually) heavier, use dumbbells for my pressing assistance work, do more vertical pulling, and incorporate plenty of scapular stability and direct rotator cuff work. This session should be me up quite a bit more than Monday's.
Thursday (tomorrow) morning, I'll deadlift heavier, do weighted glute-hams, hit some heavier single-leg work, and drag the sled at the end. I should be pretty dead by the end of the session and potentially sore for a few days - until I get back to train again on Sunday night.
Basically, the point of this post is to show you that if you manipulate training stress within the sessions, you can have a lot of flexibility in your training schedule. All our pro baseball guys train Mo-Sa, for example, because we can incorporate mini-deloads within the week.
This is especially important when you've got lifting, medicine ball, movement training, mobility, flexibility, and throwing programs all competing for an athlete's time and energy.
I actually wrote about this in a fair amount of detail in 4 Ways to Stay on Track.
Suffice it to say that my JV team showed up to play on Sunday, and my remarkable run (yes, 8-5 can still be remarkable; you wouldn't have believed the comraderie in my fantasy football locker room) has come to an end. I'll be pulling for Brian St. Pierre from here on out so that we can keep the CP Fantasy Football Trophy in the family.
As for my performance, let's just say that those of you who told me to play Joseph Addai over LenDale White were all miserably incorrect - and it was the difference between winning and losing (well, that along with benching Matt Schaub, Steve Breaston, Dominic Rhodes, and the Bears defense). All that said, this just about sums up my thoughts:
And, for those of you who aren't interested in football, here is a photo of a dude getting attacked by a deer. It is sure to brighten anyone's day - unless, of course, you're the dude being violated by the buck.
On a semi-related note...
Q: What's the difference between beer nuts and deer nuts?
A: Beer nuts are a buck-fifty. Deer nuts are under a buck. Zing!
Last week, an online consulting client of my mentioned that he was getting some shoulder pain when doing scapular push-ups, so I asked him for a video in order to troubleshoot. Basically, I wanted to know if it was his form or a fundamental structural issue that was the problem. Here was the video he sent me:
After seeing this video, it was pretty clear why he was getting shoulder discomfort - especially as the set goes on. If you watch the video again, you'll notice that the hips/lower back sag a bit toward the floor, thus exaggerating the natural thoracic (upper back) curve. This forces the scapulae (shoulder blades) to "ride" up as a compensation for a less flexed humerus. This riding up corresponds to scapular anterior tilt, which increases impingement on the rotator cuff and long head of the biceps.
With scapular anterior tilt, we're really using pec minor and not serratus anterior. And, serratus anterior is really our target here, as this muscle really shuts down almost anytime that shoulder pain is present. Serratus anterior works with lower and upper trapezius to upwardly rotate the scapula, a movement pattern that must be done correctly to ensure safe overhead activity.
Obviously, fixing technique is the first option with this problem - but you can also get immediate symptomatic relief with this by elevating the feet on a box. So, either get the feet up a bit, or just focus really hard on getting the hips up and bracing the abs hard.
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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used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
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...
