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!
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!
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!
This past weekend, I attended a great seminar here in Boston with Dr. William Brady. In fact, it was among the best I've seen. I was the only non-chiropractor/manual therapist in attendance, but walked away from the seminar with some tremendously valuable insights that'll help me with each and every one of my clients moving forward.
The first lesson of the day is that those of you who have an opportunity to see Dr. Brady speak should absolutely, positively check him out: Integrated Diagnosis. Diagnostically, he's among the best I've ever seen - and that includes his ability to teach others.
The second lesson of the day revolves around an important concept Dr. Brady extended - and my take on how you can modify this message to accommodate your role as a coach, trainer, or fitness enthusiast/athlete. There is a reason that almost any doctor or physical therapist gets results - and it resolves around understanding where symptom threshold occurs. To illustrate this, let's examine a shoulder problem purely from a soft tissue perspective.
Dr. Brady talked about how you have building blocks to threshold. Let's say that after an accurate physical examination, this particular shoulder problem (supraspinatus tendinosis, for example) presents with soft tissue restrictions at the infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis, inferior capsule, and pec minor. So, symptom threshold (the dotted line) might look like this relative to baseline (straight line):
Pec Minor
- - - - - - - - - - -
Inferior Capsule
Subscapularis
Teres Minor
Infraspinatus
BASELINE - NO SYMPTOMS
So, imagine a therapist who just addresses pec minor. He gets that patient below threshold, but doesn't necessarily "fix" him; he might be back in with the same problem weeks later. This is confounded by the fact that "overuse" is actually one of the building blocks, too. So, even if you leave all the soft tissue restrictions alone, simply resting will get someone below threshold - even if the therapist has done ZERO to address the underlying problems.
This is one reason why a MRI might not tell you much at all about someone's problem. With this problem, the MRI would probably just say "supraspinatus tendinopathy" and recommend physical therapy and rest from painful activities. So, in the "full picture" - where soft tissue work is one of several components (assume they are equal contributors, for the sake of our argument) - the building blocks to threshold might look something like this:
Overuse
Rotator Cuff Weakness
Scapular Stability
Poor Glenohumeral (Ball-and-Socket) Range of Motion
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Soft Tissue Restrictions
Poor Thoracic Spine Mobility
Type 3 Acromion (non-modifiable, without surgery)
Poor Exercise Technique
Poor Cervical Spine Function
Opposite Hip/Ankle Restrictions (baseball pitchers are great examples)
Inappropriate Structural Balance in Programming (e.g., pressing more than pulling)
Faulty Breathing Patterns
BASELINE - NO SYMPTOMS
So, we've got 12 factors, and it's been my experience that conventional physical therapy only treats the first four - which would, in fact, bring a patient below symptom threshold. Put that patient back in the real-world with the other eight factors still present (seven of which are modifiable), and as soon as he gets back to bench pressing with terrible technique Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, he's going to be back in for more physical therapy sooner than later.
So, what do we do in an ideal scenario (not always possible with today's insurance plans)?
1. More time with patient education (exercise technique, programming strategies - or just outsource it to a qualified professional or good book/article or DVD).
2. Address Thoracic Mobility (Assess and Correct is a great resource for this)
3. When present, address Hip and Ankle Mobility
4. Retrain some breathing patterns with initial instructions home exercises
5. Provide some take-home neck drills and get people out of chronic forward head posture
All told, I think this could be as simple as 4-5 extra drills in each shoulder rehab program plus a brief sit-down conversation with each patient on exercise program modifications; it really is that simple. Unfortunately, it rarely happens - and that's when things become chronic.
So, fitness professionals and coaches need to step up as advocates for their clients and athletes, respectively, and fitness enthusiasts need to be relatively informed "consumers" to look out for themselves.
I've gotten several emails over the past week from folks who read the following article in the New York Times:
Stretching: The Truth
You know what the questions were? I'll tell you (paraphrased):
"Didn't you already talk about this in your Magnificent Mobility DVD?"
Yes, as a matter of fact; we did. And, the MM DVD was filmed in November of 2005.
You know what else? With just a cursory glance at our references from peer-reviewed journals for MM, I found two separate studies supporting these facts from - believe it or not - 1999.
Sorry, folks; the New York Times is far from revolutionary. This news is at least nine years old - and even older when you consider that there were guys in the trenches experimenting with dynamic flexibility for decades before the research even came to fruition.
This same "delay" kicked in about a year ago when everyone went crazy when we finally "discovered" in the mainstream media that lactic acid was not the cause of muscular fatigue. I actually first heard this in 2004 back in a Muscle Physiology class in graduate school at the University of Connecticut. This review by Robergs et al. at the University of New Mexico was what opened a lot of people's eyes.
1. This has been quite possibly the busiest week of my career, and it won't be slowing down over the next two weeks, as I'm heading to Baltimore, Miami, and Atlanta in three separate trips. We will persevere with this blog, though...
Factor in that I was up until the wee hours of the morning last night watching the Sox pull off without a doubt the greatest comeback I've ever seen in a single game in any sport, and sleep deprivation is becoming part of the equation...
2. Quite possibly the most awesome forum post directed to me ever:
I own your Magnificent Mobility DVD and Maximum Strength book. The content is revolutionary, at least to somebody like me, who's never had professional strength and conditioning training.
Each is presented in an easy to understand format, but dive into science enough to capture the technical audience as well. The pictures and demonstrations are very valuable to illustrate the key points in each exercise.
There is one thing missing, though. The guy modeling all the exercises could look a little tougher. He absolutely needs a fu manchu moustache.
That would perfect your programs. I know it's too late to revise the current products, but please promise me that in future products the model will be sporting some Goose Gossage handlebars.
He makes a good point. Once you're magnificently mobile and maximally strong, you might as well be dead-sexy...
3. A lot of people mistake a big butt for anterior pelvic tilt. When the butt sticks out (known as a "badonkadonk," if you ask Tony Gentilcore), it can give the illusion of anterior pelvic tilt when, in reality, these folks might be fine posture-wise. So, you have to look closely (but not too closely; they might slap you, pervert).
So, to recap: Big Butt = Good. Anterior Pelvic Tilt = Bad.
4. The Anti-Cressey Performance. Soooooo Lame.
5. In the upset of the week, in the "Stupidest Thing Ever Invented Bowl," the Smith Machine Deadlift narrowly defeated the Meat-Cleaver Colonoscopy.
6. In the past week, I've had three different people tell me that Cressey Performance needs to get with the program and offer mentorships with me. To be honest, it's something I've been pondering for the past month or so, and we're really thinking about putting something special together. If we did it, it would be tight-knit: no more than six attendees at a time. If you'd be interested in something like this, drop us an email at cresseyperformance@gmail.com and let us know.
7. Interesting little fact for the week: 85% of ACL reconstructive surgeries are performed by surgeons who do fewer than ten ACL surgeries per year. So, ask around before you let someone stick an arthroscope in your knee! Or, better yet, pick up a copy of Bulletproof Knees and avoid the ACL injury in the first place!
8. Speaking of healthy knees, check out last week's newsletter. I had some great knee-related content courtesy of Mike Robertson.
Lots to do. See you next week.
This ran in my newsletter yesterday, and for those who didn't see it,
a) What's wrong with you? Why not subscribe to my FREE NEWSLETTER?!?!?!
b) Read on. It's a great product.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to get a free copy of Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman’s 2008 Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD Set. To be honest, the word “fortunate” doesn’t even begin to do the product justice; it was the best industry product I’ve watched all year.
The DVD set is broken up into six separate presentations:
1. Introduction and 21st Century Core Training
2. Creating a More Effective Assessment
3. Optimizing Upper Extremity Biomechanics
4. Building Bulletproof Knees
5. Selecting the Optimal Method for Effective Flexibility Training
6. Program Design and Conclusion
To be honest, I’ve already seen Mike Robertson deliver the presentations on DVDs 1 and 4 a few times during seminars at which we’ve both presented, so more of my focus in this review will be on Bill’s presentations because they were more “new” to me. That said, I can tell you that each time I’ve seen Mike deliver there presentations, he’s really impressed the audience and put them in a position to view training from a new (and better) paradigm, debunking old myths along the way. A lot of the principles in his core training presentation mirror what we do with our clients – and particularly with those involved in rotational sports.
Bill’s presentation on assessments is excellent. I think I liked it the most because it really demonstrated Bill’s versatility in that he knows how to assess both on the clinical (physical therapy) and asymptomatic (ordinary client/athlete) sides of the things. A few quick notes from Bill’s presentation that I really liked:
a. Roughly 40% of athletes have a leg length discrepancy – but that’s not to say that 40% of athletes are injured or even symptomatic. As such, we need to understand that some asymmetry is normal in many cases – and determining what is an acceptable amount of asymmetry is an important task. As an example, in my daily work, a throwing shoulder internal rotation deficit (relative to the non-throwing shoulder) of 15 degrees or less is acceptable – but if a guy goes over 15°, he really needs to buckle down on his flexibility work and cut back on throwing temporarily. If he is 17-18° or more, he shouldn’t be throwing – period.
b. It’s important to consider not only a client/patient/athlete looks like on a “regular” test, but also under conditions of fatigue. There’s a reason athletes get hurt more later in games: fatigue changes movement efficiency and safety! This is why many tests should include several reps – and we should always be looking to evaluate players “on the fly” under conditions of fatigue.
c. Bill made a great point on “functional training” during this presentation as well – and outlined the importance difference between kinetics (incorporates forces) and kinematics (movement independent of forces). Most functional training zealots only look at kinematics, and in the process, ignore the amount of forces in a dynamic activity. For example, being able to execute a body weight lateral lunge with good technique doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be “equipped” to handle change-of-direction challenges at game speed. In reality, this force consideration is one reason why there are times that bilateral exercise is actually more function than unilateral movements!
d. Bill also outlined a multi-faceted scoring system he uses to evaluate athletes in the context of their sports. It’s definitely a useful system for those who want a quantifiable scheme through which to score athletes on overall strength, speed, and flexibility qualities to determine areas that warrant prioritization.
DVD #3 is an excellent look at preventing and correcting shoulder problems – and in terms of quality, this presentation with Mike is right on par with their excellent Inside-Out DVD. Mike goes into depth on what causes most shoulder problems and how we can work backward from pathology to see what movement deficiency – particularly scapular downward rotation syndrome – caused the problem. There is a great focus on lower trapezius and serratus anterior strengthening exercises and appropriate flexibility drills for the pec minor, levator scapulae, and thoracic spine – as well as a focus on the effects of hip immobility and rectus abdominus length on upper body function.
To be honest, I think that DVD #4 alone is worth far more than the price of the entire set. It actually came at an ideal time for me, as I’m preparing our off-season training templates for our pro baseball guys – and flexibility training is a huge component of this. Whenever I see something and it really gets me thinking about what I’m doing, I know it’s great. Bill’s short vs. stiff discussion really did that for me.
Bill does far more justice to the discussion than I can, but the basic gist of the topic is that the word “tight” doesn’t tell us much at all. A short muscle actually has lost sarcomeres because it’s been in a shortened state for an extended period of time; this would be consistent with someone who had been immobilized post-surgery or a guy who has just spent way too long at a computer. These situations mandate some longer duration static stretching to really get after the plastic portion of connective tissue – and this can be uncomfortable, but highly effective.
Conversely, a stiff muscle is one that can be relatively easily lengthened acutely as long as you stabilize the less stiff segment. An example would be to stabilize the scapula when stretching someone into humeral internal or external rotation. If the scapular stabilizers are weak (i.e., not stiff), manually fixing the scapula allows us to effectively stretch the muscles acting at the humeral head. If we don’t stabilize the less-stiff joint, folks will just substitute range of motion there instead of where we actually want to create it. In situations like this, in addition to good soft tissue work, Bill recommends 30s static stretches for up to four rounds (this is not to be performed pre-exercise, though; that’s the ideal time for dynamic flexibility drills.
DVD #5 is where Mike is at his best: talking knees. This is a great presentation not only because of the quality of his information, but also because of his frame of reference; Mike has overcome some pretty significant knee issues, including a surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Mike details the role of ankle and hip restrictions in knee issues, covers the VMO isolation mindset, and outlines some of the research surrounding resistance training and rehabilitation of knee injuries in light of some of the myths that are abundant in the weight-training world.
DVD #6 brings all these ideas together with respect to program design.
I should also mention that each DVD also includes the audience Q&A, which is a nice bonus to the presentations themselves. The production quality is excellent, with “back-and-forths” between the slideshow and presenters themselves. Bill and Mike include several video demonstrations in their presentations to break up the talking and help out th
e visual learners in the crowd, too.
All in all, this is a fantastic DVD set that encompasses much more than I could ever review here. In fact, if it’s any indicator of how great I think it is, I’m actually going to have all our staff members watch it. If you train athletes or clients, definitely get it. Or, if you’re just someone who wants to know how to keep knees, shoulders, and lower backs healthy while optimizing flexibility, it’s worth every penny. You can find out more at the Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar website.
Hey Gang,
With the 4th of July falling on a Friday, we won't have any Random Friday Thoughts this weekend. However, that's not to say that we can't bump up my senseless digressions to Thursday just this once...
1. I made my ESPN.com debut this week – but it’s not for the reason you might think! Check out DJ Gallo's column. I'm actually pretty honored that he even gave me the mention, as I've been reading Page 2 for quite some time now.
2. I am headed to Maine (my old stomping grounds) with Tony Gentilcore and our girlfriends for the 4th of July. Geek that I am, I am taking about 15 journal articles on shoulder dysfunction with me to read on the beach. I'll be at Cressey Performance on Sunday night, and then it's off to Delaware for four days for some more continuing education with respect to the overhead throwing athlete. Dr. Craig Morgan and his colleagues at the Morgan-Kalman Clinic have been gracious enough to extend an invitation to see them in action. To say that I am excited would be an understatement, as these guys have worked with a lot of messed-up arms - many of them worth millions of dollars. I'll also spend some time in the clinic with Shon Grosse, a great PT in Philadelphia. So, it'll be seven days of shoulders.
3. Congratulations to Dave Robertson on his Major League Debut. Dave spent some time with us at Cressey Performance this past-offseason, and he made an appearance at Shea Stadium on Sunday for the Yankees. Dave is a great guy and a really hard worker; he deserves all the success that comes his way.
4. Worst. Sign. Ever.
5. Here is a simple, yet effective stretch for those of you who are locked in hip external rotation. This is really common in soccer, hockey, and powerlifting athletes. When performed correctly, you should feel it in your glutes. It's also a common problem spot for people who over-pronate, as subtalar pronation leads to more tibial and femoral internal rotation - which causes the lateral rotators to work overtime with respect to deceleration. Soft tissue work on these areas works best, but some basic stretching can help as well.
5. DId a 545x3 deadlift and hit a 32.5-inch vertical jump today. Not a bad day at the office...
Have a great holiday!
I've had a few questions about specifically what we do with the foam roller with our athletes, so figured I'd just video it for you with a voice-over.
You can pick up a Foam Roller Plus like this at Perform Better.
Sign up for our FREE Newsletter today and and receive this deadlift technique video!
In preparing my presentation for yesterday's seminar (the focus was female training), I used Google images to dig up a picture of a high-heeled shoe for my powerpoint. In doing so, I came across a 20-step guide to learn how to walk in high heels.
Does anyone find it a bit scary that you can beat alcoholism in 12 steps, but it takes 20 to learn how to do something that will grossly warp your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and lower back?
