1. I thought I'd kick this post off with a little technique troubleshooting. Yesterday, one of the "guinea pigs" for my new project emailed this video to me and asked for some suggestions on bench press technique:
BP from Caleb Chiu on Vimeo.
My suggestions to him were as follows:
a. Your feet are antsy and jumping all over the place. Get them pulled up a bit more under you so that they can't move around. Then, focus on pushing them into the floor the entire set.
b. Get more air in your belly. Notice how the stomach sinks in? That's because you don't have any air in it!
c. Get a handoff. The #1 reason guys flair the elbows out is that they lose scapular stability - and you lose that the second you hand off to yourself.
2. I'm headed to a Postural Restoration Institute Myokinematic Restoration Seminar this weekend up in Portland, ME - while my fiancee and my mother work on stuff for the wedding. It is amazing what lengths guys will go to in order to escape wedding planning, huh?
Just kidding; I'm actually really excited about it. Neil Rampe of the Arizona Diamondbacks turned me on to the PRI stuff and it's really intrigued me from the get-go.
3. It's been a fun week around here with the start of the high school baseball season. I got over to help out with some warm-ups and movement training with the Lincoln-Sudbury guys during tryouts on Mon-Tue. In all, we saw 33 Lincoln-Sudbury high school baseball players - from freshman to seniors - this off-season, so it was pretty easy to pick up where we left off with them in the weight room. There was great energy, and lots of excitement about the new season.
4. Here's a great feature on Blue Jays prospect Tim Collins and his training at Cressey Performance.
5. I was interviewed last week for an article about pitch counts. It's now featured HERE.
"I was pretty excited when I received an e-mail from Eric and Mike saying that I was getting an advanced copy of their new Assess and Correct product. Mike and Eric have had a history of putting out top notch information and products and when I saw that Bill Hartman was also involved in this new product I knew that this was going to be even more special.
"Since I own a fitness facility, I'm always looking for cutting edge information that I can recommend to my trainers. After viewing the DVDs and reading through the manuals, my first thought was, 'Wow, a home run!'
"Finally, a product that I could wholeheartedly recommend to all of my trainers as an excellent go-to reference tool to enhance their abilities in assessing their clients needs; pinpointing their weakness &/or imbalances and then effectively addressing these findings to make sure their clients can achieve their goals safely."
Joe Dowdell, CSCS - Founder & Co-owner of Peak Performance, NYC
www.peakperformancenyc.com
Click here to pick up a copy of Assess and Correct.
7. Last, but certainly not least, CP athlete Danny O'Connor aims to run his professional boxing record to 11-o tonight with a bout at Twin River Casino in Rhode Island. Good luck, Danny!
Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, and I recently participated on a roundtable with Pat Rigsby at his blog. The discussion is all about assessment and its role in the training process.
You definitely ought to check it out - not only for the content itself, but also the special offer in place for Assess & Correct. Here it is:
We just got this feedback the other day from Adam Campbell of Men's Health:
"Assess and Correct is the most useful physical evaluation tool I've ever seen. It's like having instant access to the knowledge that Hartman, Robertson, and Cressey have gained through years of experience studying anatomy and human movement, and working with real people.
"But most important, it's presented in a way that you can put it to use immediately. In fact, the design of the manual is genius because you're given a series of simple tests to identify postural and movement problems, followed by smart exercise progressions-which you can tailor to a client's ability-to correct any issues. So it's a powerful tool that will help any coach create more effective training plans, customized to an individual's true NEEDS. The upshot: Assess and Correct will make any fitness professional better at what he or she does.
"One other note: Because I'm a fitness journalist, the authors offered me a free manual for review (common in the industry), but I had already purchased it. When they tried to refund my money, I requested that they not. The reason: I found the material to be so valuable that I felt like I SHOULD paid for it. I'm not sure there's any testimonial I could give that's better than that."
Adam Campbell
Fitness Director, Men's Health
It's been a while since I've published a Random Friday Thoughts blog. So, I guess you could say that this is some random randomness. Enjoy.
1. Anyone who tells you that being a strength and conditioning coach is just about training doesn't realize that it goes far beyond that. This off-season, we've helped our pro guys out everything from composing a best man's toast to tying a tie. We've even come full-service to offer haircuts in the office.
2. Jacob Hiler recently interviewed me about vertical jump training; check it out HERE.
3. I got some great feedback on Assess and Correct via email the other day from Jon Hochberg:
Just wanted to commend you on your latest product, Assess and Correct (kudos to Mike and Bill as well, of course). As a purchaser of most all of your products, I found this to be your most mature - not necessarily in terms of content, but in terms of presentation and delivery. Assess and Correct does not merely list corrective exercises, but outlines an integrated process that each athlete, regardless of level, can navigate through. From the body photos at the beginning of the manual, to the exercise listings and the demonstrations on the video, the user has a complete road map in front of him that he can use for the rest of his career, especially since you grouped the progressions into sensible categories. I think the manual in conjunction with the videos is the real key here. I can read about what I need to do, and if I need a more clear demonstration, I can look it up in the video chapters and watch it for more clarification. It's nice when someone else puts in the hard work and does the research for the rest of us, so that we have a clear picture of where to go next.
Thanks to Jon for the feedback. You can pick up your copy of Assess and Correct HERE.
4. My buddy Jim "Smitty" Smith at DieselCrew.com is doing a great fundraiser for Haiti relief efforts. Check it out here. It's a great idea for a great cause.
5. Another easy way to keep track of me is on Facebook, for those of you who have it. Just consider yourself forewarned that if you post questions on my wall about why your shoulder hurts or ask "what's your biceps workout, bro?," I'll delete you as a friend faster than Tony Gentilcore can say "I love techno." Life's not fair sometimes; sorry.
6. I don't know what this picture has to do with anything, but I thought that it was great.
7. Quote of the week: "The higher up you get, the more hot air you encounter." It rang true when one of my athletes this week informed me that - according to some local trainer (who I've never met, but apparently is a competitor of ours) - I was responsible for a nearby pitcher's elbow injury. This was remarkable, considering I've never even met or talked with this pitcher, let alone assessed him, programmed for him, or trained him!
I know we get a lot of industry up-and-comers reading this site, and perhaps the best career advice I can give you is to ignore what other people say. Listen to your customers/clients/athletes, your staff, and your family; those are the opinions that matter. If I spent hours each day arguing on internet forums with my critics, I'd be wasting time that could otherwise be spent with the former three groups: the ones that matter.
8. I'm keeping a diet log this week for the first time in about three years. I've gotten so accustomed to just maintaining my weight without really thinking about it that I figured I actually ought to check and see just how many calories I'm taking in on a daily basis. It definitely makes you think about what you eat a lot more!
9. Here's a great little piece about two Cressey Performance athletes - Billy Bereszniewicz and Adam Ravenelle (both of Lincoln-Sudbury) - who have committed to play Division 1 baseball.
10. Short one today, as I've got a bunch to do before the weekend. We've got a full schedule here at CP on Saturday, and then I'm back to my old stomping grounds at Gampel Pavilion at UCONN to watch the basketball team play Depaul.
Then, it's house/condo "shopping" on Sunday. I'm getting all grown up before your very eyes...
Consistently applying the information on this DVD for a few minutes each day should help anyone remain limber and injury free for a long time. Not only does it show you what to do in terms of fixing your problems, but it also shows you how to assess where you're at in terms of muscle balance and flexibility, so you can see how you're improving or regressing in those areas over time and in what areas you might need more work.It definitely makes a great addition to anyone's training library.-Kelly Baggett
I'm not back from Florida until Tuesday, but in the meantime, I just wanted to give you a quick heads-up on a thorough review Laree Draper just did on Assess and Correct: Breaking Barriers to Unlock Performance. If you're on the fence about picking up a copy, you won't want to miss this, as it'll answer a lot of your potential questions. You can check it out HERE.
1. I'm headed to Florida later today to speak at a seminar and then get in a mini-vacation with my wife-to-be. So, I have lots of packing and programming to do before I take off, but thought I'd throw a little content and some videos up here to get you all through the weekend.
2. Check out this great post by Bill Hartman on thoracic mobility.
3. Speaking of Bill Hartman, our product, Assess and Correct, has been getting some great feedback from folks "in the know." Check out this latest testimonial:
"Assess and Correct may be the most comprehensive corrective exercise product on the market. I feel this DVD is a must have for anyone looking to make positive changes in their athletes' bodies - or their own.
The assessment section provides simple and detailed information for tests that can help anyone become more aware of their body's limitations while the correction progressions offer forward thinking solutions that guarantee optimal performance.
Eric, Bill and Mike have done it again!"
-Mike Irr - Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, Charlotte Bobcats
Check it out for yourself: Assess and Correct.
4. Random videos of pro baseball players training because I don't have time to give you more content:
Have a great weekend!
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used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
Happy New Year, everyone!
I thought I'd use this first post of 2010 as a way of looking forward to what's on tap at EricCressey.com for the year. In true "Random Thoughts" fashion, here we go:
1. Nate Green just interviewed me for what I think will be a great feature at T-Muscle in the next week or two. It will be similar in structure to this piece Nate did with Dave Tate, which definitely turned out to be an entertaining read. Keep an eye out for it!
2. Speaking of interviews, I'll be doing one with Brian Grasso for the IYCA on Tuesday. Brian's a very forward-thinking guy and I'm excited to catch up with him.
3. Speaking of T-Muscle, I'm finishing up my "What I Learned in 2009" article this weekend. It follows the articles I wrote for 2006, 2007, and 2008.
4. Also coming up in the next month or so will be the release of the DVDs of Mike Reinold and my seminar from November: Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder: From Rehabilitation to High Performance. It's being edited as I type this.
5. This January 24, Cressey Performance will be hosting Neil Rampe of the Arizona Diamondbacks for his seminar, . You can register HERE, or for more information on Neil's background, click HERE. If you'd like to see a seminar agenda, please just email me at ec@ericcressey.com.
6. I'll be presenting in Tampa, FL (Jan); Winchester, MA (Jan); Las Vegas, NV (March); and Vancouver, BC (March); and Boston, MA (May) in this first part of 2010. Check out my schedule page for more information on these events.
7. I'm very anxious to hear more of the feedback on Assess and Correct, which has already sold in more than two dozen countries. This is a product I truly believe will help a lot of people, and the short-term feedback we've received since its release in October has been tremendous.
8. At Cressey Performance, our staff has started up what (for lack of a more masculine term) we're calling the Staff Book Club. Each staff member will present on what he learns in a different book each week. I think it'll be a great way to cover more material and keep us all accountable to each other on getting our continuing education done.
9.I'm pumped for more content from Matt Blake in 2010. He's been a fantastic resource for all our athletes and I'm excited to share with you all how Matt and I collaborate to make our pitchers better. I think it'll make for some great content.
10. I'd really like to continue to grow both the newsletter and blog. You can sign up for notifications on both fronts to the right of the screen, if you haven't already.
11. I'm really pumped for all our guys who have found great college choices; it's an exciting time for both the 2010 and 2011 guys. Most recently, CP athlete Adam Ravenelle committed to Vanderbilt on a baseball scholarship. Adam's been with us since before his freshman year, and we're all really proud of him. He actually joins another CP pitcher, Tyler Beede, who committed to Vanderbilt just a few weeks ago. Both guys are in the class of 2011, and join Barrett O'Neill (University of Virginia) and Joe Napolitano (Boston College) as our early committees from that class.
There should be plenty more guys with exciting news along these lines in the months to come as well.
12. I'm really excited to watch Cressey Performance grow in the months ahead. While I was certainly thrilled at the growth we saw (15%) in 2009 and I hope it continues, I am most thrilled at how many clients we've seen change their bodies and their lives since they started up, and how many friendships we've seen cultivated inside CP. If you'd have told me a few years ago that we'd have over 25 people in on Thanksgiving morning, for instance, I would have told you that you were crazy!
In addition to our clients' accomplishments, I'm so proud of our staff. I could never do what I do without such great guys working alongside me, and the best part is that they are insatiable in their desire to get better. We're constantly getting better and it makes every new day fun. The best part is that I feel like it's something that's carried over to our interns, too; there are some really talented people with bright futures coming through here.
13. I'm very excited for the new CP website, which should be done in a matter of a few days. Along those same lines, there is a pretty sweet training and testimonial montage being pulled together about our Elite Baseball Development program. I was actually getting pretty fired up just watching some of the footage that had been gathered thus far.
14. I can't wait to attack all the books and journal articles that are in my stack of "Things to Read" right now. There's too much material to cover, but never enough time!
15. Last, but certainly not least, it'll also be a very busy (but exciting) year for me personally in 2010, as my fiancee Anna and I will be getting married this October. And, even before we get to that, we're planning to buy our first home in the next 4-6 months. Obviously, we're already doing a lot of planning!
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to all of this - and probably a few surprises along the way. Best wishes for 2010, and stay tuned!
The year 2009 was a tremendous one for this website, and I owe all of you readers a huge thanks for your contribution.
Right now, this site is ranked in the top 135,000 on the web, according to Alexa.com, one measure of a website's popularity. Each month, unique visitors (~25,000/month right now) and total hits (~100,000/month right now) exceed the previous month.
The one product I released this year - Assess and Correct - has already sold in dozens of countries since October. Meanwhile, some older products are still very popular. Maximum Strength, for instance, has a 5-star rating at Amazon.com and is holding steady just outside the top 5,000 books on the site.
This site has become a channel through which Cressey Performance has grown as well. Not a week passes that a new client doesn't come through our doors thanks to something they've read from me on the internet.
I say this not to blow sunshine up my own rear end, but rather to frame my sincere thank you to all of you for your continued support in making EricCressey.com the success it is today. Writing has never been (and hopefully never will be) a "job" for me because I genuinely enjoy getting to look at things in detail, interact with some bright, enthusiastic readers, and (hopefully) add to the body of knowledge in the process. So, thanks for making my "job" (if you can call it that) fun.
That said, since you, the readers, are the ones that are ultimately responsible for making this site bigger and better, I want to put the ball in your court today. What do YOU want to read in 2010?
Would you like to see me address certain issues? Would you rather have more guest interviews (like this)? Product reviews (like this)? Debunking of fitness myths (like this)? Geeky science stuff (like this)?
How about content formatting? Do you like the video (like this) or written features - or a combination of the two?
I respect and value your opinions and suggestions, so feel free to voice them in the comments section below. Again, thanks for a great 2009!
