Compliments of Cressey Performance coach Greg Robins, here is this week's list of quick and easy ways to feel and move better.

1. Get on the same page with other coaches in your facility.

In the past six years, I have split the vast majority of my coaching among three different facilities. Therefore, I can speak with certainty on the how important it is to have universal coaching cues. Every coach has a unique coaching style that gives clients and athletes a new perspective; this style should be nurtured and not destroyed. However, putting universal coaching cues in place doesn't have to come at the expense of their "style." If you are the owner of a facility, make sure to outline some general cues for the staff to use. It will also help to get coaches working together on "tougher" cases where the first set of cues may not elicit the desired response. This extra collaboration will help you teach more efficiently, and you'll have fewer confused athletes and clients: both good things!

2. Stop blaming the program.

I see it all the time, and apparently it's human nature? Instead of looking at the reasons one might be letting oneself down, it's easier to instantly look to find errors in their "program." The truth is that nobody has any business scrutinizing anything but themselves until they are doing these things CONSISTENTLY: showing up, sleeping enough, eating appropriately, and putting in sufficient effort. If you do all four of those day in and day out, then we're off to a good start. However, it's still not the program's fault. As examples, here are two other common reasons you aren't allowing your strength and conditioning program to work for you. One, you miss reps and get too impatient choosing weights. If you continue to miss lifts, you'll continue to make no progress. Two, you take too long to train. Don't blame the workouts for not helping you lose body fat. They hardly become workouts when you take two hours to mosey through them.

Make the little things a habit, check your ego, train with a purpose, and good things will happen. It's not the program's fault!

3. Consider skipping breakfast...seriously!

Breakfast has been revered for years as the most important meal of the day. After all, in order to get the day started off right, you need to get breakfast, right?  However, what if getting breakfast "right" meant not eating breakfast at all?

If we look to some of today's most popular nutrition schemes, we can find a few similarities. For example, intermittent fasting (IF) and carb back loading disciples both pass on the morning chow. Furthermore, the idea of consuming carbohydrates in the morning is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The research is pretty interesting, and so are the results and conclusions of these nutritional gurus.

The basic premise is that upon waking our hormone levels are raised in such a manner that we are in a near ideal state to use fat for energy. Consuming food, and especially the typical morning carbohydrate varieties, will actually alter the hormone levels and put us in a far less ideal scenario to promote fat loss, and muscle building throughout the day.

After reviewing the work of John Kiefer and the various sources on IF, I began waiting on breakfast until a few hours after waking. Even then, I limit my calories substantially until mid afternoon, with the bulk of them coming in the evening. It may seem backwards from the typical beliefs, but I have seen great improvements in energy, body composition, and strength gains. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them!

4. Match your set-up to your body for bigger lifts.

Here is one you can apply right away. In the past I would choose my stance and hand-widths based on what I saw other successful people doing. A lot of the big squatters were wide, so I would put my feet nice and wide.

Then, I started to video more of my training. I looked at how my body reacted to the loads, especially lifts up over 90%. What I realized was that certain reactions from my body weren't so much a result of the weight being too heavy, or a lack of cueing, but the way I set up.

I decided to work with how I was built. My back was wide, so I moved my hands out on the bench press, and my feet to match; the bench numbers took off. My hips are pretty narrow, so I moved my squat stance in; it helped me to stay in better control, and I began to handle heavier weights much more confidently. Luckily for me, my deadlift stance was already narrow, but that would explain why for years it was the only respectable lift I had.

When you set up, take how you're built into account, rather than relying on just what you have seen work for others. As a coach, do the same with your athletes and clients. Look at how they are put together and choose stances, and even exercise choices, that make sense for their body.  Several years ago, Eric and Mike Robertson had a multi-part series that touched on this: Overcoming Lousy Leverages Part 1 and Part 2.  I'd encourage you to check them out.

5. Stop using weighted bats and donuts to warm up.

To touch upon something more baseball specific, a recent study performed in Kanoya, Japan at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports, found that performing a warm up with a weighted bat had adverse effects acutely on timing for hitters. This is something that has shown to be true a few times, and it makes perfect sense.

In a similar fashion to other sport specific overloaded exercises, it can be detrimental to add weight to a movement too specific to the actual sport movement. For example, overloading sprint mechanics too heavily (via sleds, or resistance bands) has been shown to negatively affect the sprint mechanics of athletes.

Instead, consider using your time in the on deck circle more intelligently. Study the pitcher's mechanics to help time your approach. Additionally, try and locate his release point so that you can get eyes on the ball earlier come your at bat. For strength coaches, let this be another example of how overloading the mechanics of an actual sport skill can ruin the mechanics at game speed.

All this said, there may be merit to adjusting bat load in terms of chronic adaptations; just don't do it right before you step up to the plate.

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Here are some strength and conditioning and nutrition tips to help you lose fat, gain muscle, get strong, and scare obnoxious kids off your lawn, compliments of Cressey Performance coach, Greg Robins.

1. A friendly reminder: you're not that special.

After recently perusing the internet, I felt the need to give you this friendly reminder. I came across (as I am sure many of you have) the commencement speech delivered by David McCullough, Jr. to the 2012 Wellesley High School graduating class. I enjoyed his speech greatly, and found that much of it can be applied to training, nutrition, and athletics.

You're not that special. The reason you're not getting stronger likely has nothing to with your program. The reason you're not losing body fat is probably not a major fault in the nutrition plan you were given. The athletes who impress me the most are the ones who pick up their teammates. They're the ones who celebrate wins and mourn losses as a team, not the ones who advocate their own success and dwell upon their individual shortcomings.

You aren't making progress because you aren't consistent. You aren't losing fat because you're not following that nutrition plan. You aren't impressing coaches because you are not willing to be a team player. Stop worrying about what strength and conditioning program you're on, seek out those who know what they're doing, and devote yourself to that approach. Stop dissecting your nutritional approach and truly embody the basics of better eating. Stop keeping your athletic talents on a pedestal, show up to practice every day, and work hard to make yourself and your teammates better. Stay humble, stay hungry.

As an interesting little aside to this, check out this recent report that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichek removed all jersey numbers from practice uniforms this week as a means of building team unity. Nobody gets special treatment, even if they're a well-known name.

2. Focus on bar speed as much as you focus on bar load.

One of the biggest mistake I see - particularly with intermediate to advanced lifters - is thinking that they need to be setting personal records in every single training session. While you'll certainly hit a few PRs employing this strategy (and there are certainly times to get after them), this expectation is a quick way to not only get discouraged, but burned out on training.

Let's say that Tank's best trap bar deadlift is 415.

Do you really think that - at the end of the day - his body will appreciate a huge difference adaptation-wise between grinding out a rep at 435 and absolutely smoking a single at 400? The time-under-tension difference on one rep is trivial, the injury risk is dramatically higher with the PR attempt, and you run the risk of developing poor technique habits under significant load.

Don't get me wrong; you should still seek to constantly get stronger in your strength training programs. However, you should appreciate that you can still get stronger by leaving a rep or two "in the hole" in some of your sessions, particularly as you get older and more experienced. And, as Anthony Michal pointed out in a recent guest blog for Bret Contreras, you can still get strong at 75-85% of one-rep max - even if a large percentage of your training is performed there.

3. The pullover is a forgotten gem, and we can make it better!

The DB pullover can serve as an outstanding exercise for those who can safely perform it. The benefits of the exercise are three-fold.  First, it build tremendous strength in the anterior "core" as one resists excessive lumbar hyperextension.  Second, the exercise provides a nice "active stretch" for the lats.  Third, it can be a great strength exercise for the lats when someone has medial elbow issues that prevent them from doing the intensive grip work that chin-up and pull-up variations mandate.

Athletes should be cued to keep the rib cage down as the shoulders move further into flexion. Also, make sure that athletes contract the glutes while in the bridge position, and don't allow a forward head posture to occur.

4. Fitness professionals should be supportive of injured athletes and clients.

At Cressey Performance, we receive a lot of referrals of athletes who have recently undergone surgery and/or physical therapy. It is no surprise that many of these athletes are not in the greatest place mentally about their injuries. Can you blame them? As an athlete, your world largely revolves around playing sports and an injury can lead to a bit of an identity crisis; sports are a huge part of your life that can be taken away overnight. With that in mind, how important is it as a strength coach to keep these athlete's positive about their return to the game? Furthermore, what impact to do we have on their outlook?

A recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looked at the perceived social support from strength coaches among these injured athletes. The results found that:

"...the strength coach (SC) had a significant psychosocial impact on student-athletes' overall psychological well-being during reconditioning. This study provides evidence of the vital psychosocial role that SCs can play during an injured student-athlete's reconditioning program."

Make sure that you do not ignore an athlete because he or she may be unable to fully participate (or participate at full intensity) in your strength and conditioning program. Give positive feedback, attention, and show them that you care. It can make the difference in their recovery and there is no greater feeling than helping an athlete beat the odds and return to top shape post-injury.

5. Find ways to make fitness social.

We often hear about how you need to "shut up and squat" when you're in the weight room, but the truth is that the overwhelming majority of lifters who are successful long-term are great friends with their training partners.  Nobody can be "on" all the time, and while it's important to get serious when you get under the bar, you'll usually find a lot of joking around between sets in even the most accomplished powerlifting and Olympic lifting gyms on the planet.  Training is supposed to be fun, and if it isn't, you need to find a way to make it more enjoyable.

At Cressey Performance, the Thanksgiving morning lift is always very popular, and we notice that many clients really get extra motivated when they see our staff training hard, too.  

We have athletes who schedule their training sessions so that they can lift with friends for extra motivation, and even kids who book sessions when certain professional athletes are in so that they can draw inspiration from those who are living their dreams.  I also love it when we get coaches from other facilities, colleges, and pro teams training with our staff when they visit CP, as you get to see what they're doing and chat a bit between sets.  

Whether it's recruiting your spouse for a walk in the park, calling a buddy to spot you on the bench, or rounding up a team of college roommates to do an adventure race, it's valuable to find ways to get friends in on the fitness fun. 

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Here are some random tips to help you lose fat, get strong, gain muscle, feel better, and take over the world - compliments of Cressey Performance coach Greg Robins.

1. Swing it!

As a strength coach, you will be confronted by two big issues. One, you will most likely have a budget. Secondly, you will struggle to keep all your athletes consistently in the gym, or on track while in season. A recent study published in the NSCA's Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research provides us with a solution: kettlebell swings. "The results of this study clearly demonstrate that six weeks of bi-weekly kettlebell swings provides a stimulus that is sufficient to increase both maximum and explosive strength offering a useful alternative to strength and conditioning professionals seeking variety for their athletes."

Purchasing kettlebells for your program, or advocating the purchase of kettlebells by your athletes for at home use, is a low cost option to deliver a great training effect. The swing is a relatively easy movement to teach and safely prescribe to your athletes to keep up with, and improve their strength. The kettlebell swing has largely been touted as an incredibly efficient movement, most recently by the king of efficiency himself, Tim Ferriss, in his book, The 4-Hour Body. In this article he talks about his own incredible results, as well as links to a profile of another swinger, who garnered impressive results with as little as 10 - 20min of swinging a week. Not bad!

2. Make food taste better by adding...more food.

Chicken, turkey, and pork all taste great when you eat them right out of the oven or off the grill. However, everyone knows that "so dry that I'm coughing up dust" taste that you can get when you eat them as leftovers. To that end, try chopping the meat up and adding it to an omelet; it tastes great.

This is just one example of how you can "disguise" something that might not taste good. Don't like spinach? Blend it into your shakes. Don't like tomatoes? Grind them up and add some spices and fruit to make a salsa. Your imagination is the only limit.

3. Some small stuff is worth sweating.

More times than not, I am telling people not to sweat the small stuff. However, I would advocate locating small things, that are easily done, that can have a large effect on the bigger picture. When it comes to the gym I can think of a few examples:

• Learn to, and teach your athletes / clients, to set up, un-rack, and re-rack weights properly. I like to see things done right, from the moment someone gets under the bar, to the moment they put it back. This isn't just the purist in me, these so called "little" things will have a big effect on the quality of the set, and the safety as well. Make sure that you, and those you teach, learn to do it right from the start. I don't usually make videos, but when I do, they are awesome:

• Ask for spotters and hand-offs. It's always best to perform a lift safely and with a clear mind. If you have someone available to spot you, why wouldn't you ask? Furthermore, if you set up correctly in a bench press (uncomfortably tight, shoulder blades retracted, etc.) You will benefit greatly from receiving a good hand off that keeps you in position. Lastly, if you happen to train around people who know what they are doing, asking for an appropriate spot, or hand-off when they are not busy is a good way to grab a little sage wisdom

4. Always take the bar.

In sticking with the theme of the little things that make a big difference, here's a lesson I learned early in my training history: "Always take the bar." It means exactly what it says. Whether you are squatting, benching, lunging, or pressing always do a set with the empty bar. You don't pick up a baseball and throw it 200ft before you have thrown it 50ft do you? It is always best to ramp up to your working sets and get a gauge on how you feel. Furthermore, repetition is the principal of learning. Even as someone whose working sets are a good distance from 45lbs, I will take anywhere from 5 - 8 sets to get where I am going for that day's big exercise. In this time, don't just go through the motions, it is the perfect time to smooth out any form issues and build a habitual approach to each set.

5. Avoid paralysis by analysis.

There is a time for thinking, and a time for doing. Be careful not to let your thoughts interfere with your ability to execute. Additionally, remember that in many cases, "perfect" will be the enemy of "good." In order to achieve more from your training and sport practice, follow these two guidelines:

• Separate planning and doing. I recently read a fantastic article from Dan John that speaks about managing options in your training. The article closes with a saying: "Plan the hunt, hunt the hunt, discuss the hunt." In other words take the time to formulate an intelligent plan, execute that plan with a full effort, and then review and revise based on the outcome. There are many different ways to achieve the same outcome, the difference maker will often be the effort put forward into whatever that approach may be. With that in mind, do not limit yourself by over thinking what you are doing while you are doing it. Just do it!
• In the moment, redirect your thought process. In a recent discussion with one of our athletes at CP, I was reminded of something somebody had shared with me a while back. If you are in the "hunt," it is not a time to dwell on mechanical reasons for something not working right. Instead, technical changes and observations should be made during practice, or after the fact during review. While in the moment simplify your adjustment process. If you are throwing up, aim down. If you are coming forward in a squat, stay back. Easy enough, right?

Co-Author Greg Robins is strength and conditioning coach at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA. Check out his website, www.GregTrainer.com, for more great content.

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Unfortunately, these cues don't work for everyone - particularly those who are super lordotic (huge arch in their lower back).  A great "substitute cue" for these folks is to simply go into a split stance, putting one foot out in front of the other (even if it's just slightly).  As you have probably observed in performing single-leg exercises like lunges and split-squats, it is much harder to substitute lumbar extension for hip extension than it is with bilateral exercises like squats and deadlifts.  Fortunately, the same is true of substituting lumbar extension for scapular movement on the rib cage.  So, if you're struggling with the exercise above, simply move one foot out in front of the other and you should be golden.

Show and Go was released last September - just prior to us getting a new puppy, Tank, who is now the official facility mascot of Cressey Performance (he even has a Twitter account).

He weighed in at a scrawny 5.6 pounds when we got him, but we put him to work right away using the principles of Show and Go.  Here he is learning how to foam roll with one of our pro guys in his first week at Cressey Performance.

He was great about getting proper rest between workouts:

And making sure that he was fully hydrated:

The end result?  He's tipping the scales at a lean, mean 31 pounds now - with some outstanding mobility.

Anyone else find it very interesting that Tank's weight has increased six-fold in the time that he's been around the Show and Go program - even without doing it?  This program works even by simple association!

Get it now!

When it comes to intermediate to advanced lifters and their weight training programs, they don't just want to get strong; they want to get strong fast.

With that in mind, I'm devoting today's post to some of my favorite strategies to increase strength quickly.  I talk a lot about longer-term strength and conditioning strategies, but figured it'd be a good idea to highlight some "quick fixes" today.

1. Warm-up - This seems like a no-brainer, but you'd be amazed at how many people jump right into their weight training program of the day without even getting their body temperature up. It's well documented that performance improves as core body temperature rises.  However, as this study demonstrated, even a lowered skin temperature can decrease force output - independent of core body temperature.  So, it may be advantageous to start your day's strength training program in long sleeves and remove layers as you go.  I prefer to see folks sweating by the time the warm-up ends; set aside at least ten minutes for it so that you can get some foam rolling and mobility drills in.

This is why every training session in Show and Go begins with foam rolling and a dynamic warm-up.

2. Hydrate - You'd be amazed at how many people - both athletes and non-athletes - are chronically dehydrated.  Research at my alma mater, The University of Connecticut, demonstrated that dehydration negatively impacted performance - especially on subsequent sets.  In other words, dehydrated lifters don't bounce back as quickly between sets.  As an interesting aside, everyone on this study was either a classmate or professor of mine; cool (no pun intended) stuff!

Regardless, drink as much as you think you need to drink - and then drink some more.

3. Have Some Caffeine - I don't love the idea of guys crushing energy drinks like the world is about to end and they don't need their adrenal glands anymore, but a little boost here and there can do the trick for a lot of lifters.  On the whole, research supports the idea that caffeine improves performance in most scenarios with minimal risk, provided the dose isn't excessive and the individual isn't prone to certain issues (migraines being the one that comes to mind the quickest).

Think of it as a "here and there" boost, but don't assume that you need to crush it to be successful.  Many people get enough of it in from drinking coffee in the morning that they're desensitized, anyway.  I'd prefer folks drink coffee, anyway, as it's loaded with antioxidants and actually confers more health benefits than folks realize.

4. Firm up your Grip - It drives me bonkers when I see a lifter get all fired up to take a big lift, and then grab the bar with a limp hand. There are times to be gentle - handling puppies, performing surgery, and knitting scarves, for instance - but lifting heavy stuff is not one of those times. A firm grip do so much more than connect you to the bar; it turns on more proximal muscles and gets the nervous system going, as we have loads of mechanoceptors in our hands (disproportionately more than other areas on the body). As an example, physical therapist Gray Cook often cites a phenomenon called "irradiation," where the brain signals the rotator cuff to fire as protection to the shoulder when it's faced with a significant load in the hand, as with a deadlift. Just grabbing onto something get more muscles involved in the process.

5. Tinker with Technique -  It goes without saying that just a few subtle strength exercise technique adjustments can make a big difference quickly.  Using the deadlift as an example, the few I know that can make a dramatic difference quickly are:

a) bringing the hands in closer (shortens the distance the bar must travel)
b) taking off the shoes, or getting into a pair of minimalist training shoes (also shortens the distance the bar must travel, and puts the weight on the heels, where you want it)
c) spending less time in the bottom position before one pulls (notice in the video below that I get my thoughts together, then dip, grip, and rip; it allows me to get a bit more out of the stretch-shortening cycle at the bottom):

These are just a few coaching cues for a single strength exercise, but there are countless more unique to each individual to help people increase strength quickly.

6. Change the Music - I don't need to cite a study to prove to you that lifting with good music will help your cause, but I will anyway: Music (or the expectation of music) makes cyclist work harder.  Cycling isn't lifting heavy stuff, but it goes without saying that my experience has been that folks get strong faster when they've got music playing and lots of energy in the gym.

7. Utilize Post-Activation Potentiation - This is a fancy way of saying that if you lift (or even just hold) a heavier weight, when you subsequently (shortly thereafter) perform a comparable exercise with a lighter weight, it will feel easier.  In the research, it works in some scenarios, but not in others (seems to be more effective in the lower body than the upper body).  Chad Waterbury covered this concept in some detail HERE, if you're interested in reading more.

These are just seven strategies you can employ in your weight training programs to increase strength transiently, and there are surely many more.  By all means, share your top short-term "get strong fast" strategies in the comments section.

Looking for a weight training program where you can best put these strategies in action?  Check out The High Performance Handbook.

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In Part 1 of this off-season baseball strength and conditioning series, I outlined the first five of my top 10 priorities when dealing with baseball players at the start of their off-season.  Today, I round out the top 10 “general” things always seem to be addressing with players coming in after a season.

1. Regaining lost mobility - This is an incredibly loaded topic that goes far beyond the scope of any blog or article, as it's an entire two-day seminar or book! You see, losses in mobility - the ability to reach a desired position or posture - can be caused by a number of issues - and usually a combination of several of them.  Tissues can actually lose sarcomeres and become short after immobilization or significant eccentric stress (as with the deceleration component of throwing).  They can become stiff because of inadequate stability at adjacent joints (learn more HERE), protective tension (e.g., "tight" hamstrings in someone with crazy anterior pelvic tilt), or neural tension from an injury (e.g., disc herniation causing "tight" hamstrings).

The "Short vs. Stiff" issue is why you need to have a variety of tools in your "mobility toolbox."  You need focal modalities like Active Release, Graston, and ASTYM techniques to assist with dealing with short tissues, whereas you need more diffuse modalities like traditional massage and foam rolling for dealing with stiffness (although both modalities can certainly help in the other regards, this is how I prefer to use them).

You need to understand retraining breathing appropriately and how posture affects respiratory function.  If you live in extension, you'll have a poor zone of apposition in which the diaphragm can function.  The average human takes over 20,000 breaths per day.  If you don't use your diaphragm properly, more of the stress is placed on the supplemental respiratory muscles: sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, pec major and minor, upper trapezius, and latissimus dorsi (to only name a few).  What are some insanely common sites of trigger points in just about everyone - especially thrower? Sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, pec major and minor, upper trapezius, and latissimus dorsi.  Improving respiratory function can be a complete game changer when it comes to enhancing mobility.  If you see a baseball player with a low right shoulder, prominent anterior left ribs, adducted right hip, huge anterior pelvic tilt, and limited right shoulder internal rotation, it's almost always a slam dunk.

(Check out www.PosturalRestoration.com for more details on this front)

You may need low-load, long-duration static stretches to improve length in tissues that have lost sarcomeres.  This research has been around in the post-surgery community for decades (1984 research example here), but it's actually not used all that much in strength and conditioning programs - presumably because of time constraints or the fact that most coaches simply don't know how well it can work in the right people.

Finally, as we noted in our Assess and Correct DVD set, you also need dynamic flexibility drills in your warm-ups to reduce tissue and joint stiffness, and subsequent strength exercises in your strength and conditioning program to create adequate stability at adjacent joints to "hold" that new range of motion in place.

Many physical therapist employ heat early in a session to decrease stiffness prior to strengthening exercises, too.  The point is that there may be many different ways to skin a cat - but there are also a lot different types and sizes of cat.  And, for the record, I don't condone skinning cats; it's just a really gruesome analogy that has somehow "stuck" in our normally very politically correct society. Weird...but let's move on.

2.Improving dynamic stabilization of the scapula - I say "dynamic stabilization" because you don't just want scapular stability; you want a scapula with appropriate tissue length, stiffness, and density to allow for the desired movement.  A scapula that doesn't move might be "stable," but that's not actually a good thing!

Truth be told, the scapular stabilizers generally fatigue before the rotator cuff does.  And, when the scapula isn't positioned appropriately, the rotator cuff is at a mechanical disadvantage, anyway.  Additionally, poor scapular control can present as an internal rotation deficit at the shoulder, as you'll just protract the shoulder excessively in place of internally rotating.  In other words, you can do all the rotator cuff exercises you want, but you don't increase strength of the periscapular muscles, you'll be spinning your wheels.  There are loads of drills that we use, but forearm wall slide variations are among our favorites:

3. Enhancing global strength while minimizing reactive training - As I've already noted in this series, we're certainly spending a lot of time addressing specific areas of weakness like the rotator cuff, scapular stabilizers, and anterior core. However, I should be very clear that we're still using "money" strength exercises like variations of the deadlift, single-leg exercises, squatting (in some of our guys), pull-ups, rows, push-ups, and dumbbell bench presses to get strong.  That said, the volume and intensity come down a ton on the reactive training side of things.  We'll give our guys a few weeks off altogether from sprinting, as they've usually done a lot of that all season.  Plus, nixing all the sprinting and jumping for a few weeks ensures that they won't tweak anything, given the soreness they'll be working with from the strength training program - and it allows us to increase strength faster.

4. Putting guys in the right footwear - One thing that many folks don't appreciate about playing baseball every day from February to October is the sheer amount of time one spends standing around in cleats, which will never be as comfortable as sneakers or going barefoot.  As such, one of the first things we do with most of our guys is get them into a good pair of minimalist shoes for training, as it gets them away from the rigidity, separation from the ground, and ankle mobility deficits that come with wearing cleats.  As I wrote previously, I'm a big fan of the New Balance Minimus.

Keep in mind that we ease guys into these minimalist shoe options, rather than throwing them in the footwear 24/7 right away.  They'll start out just wearing them during training, and increase from there, assuming all goes well.

5. Normalizing sleep schedules - Professional baseball players (and really all professional athletes) have terrible sleep schedules.  Because most games are night games, they generally go to bed around 1-2AM and wake up anywhere from 7AM to 11AM.  The early risers I know will usually take a nap before going to the park, whereas the guys who sleep in roll out of bed and go straight to the park.  Additionally, much of this sleeping comes on planes and buses, which aren't exactly comfortable places to get quality sleep.  I'm a firm believer that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight - but this simply isn't an option for professional baseball players.

That said, we try to normalize things as much as possible in the off-season.  All our athletes are encouraged to try to go to bed and wake up at the same time - and to hit the hay before 11pm every night.  Any naps they can get during the day are a bonus, too!

Wrap-up

While I've outlined ten things we address in the early off-season, these are really just the tip of the iceberg, as every player is unique and needs an individual approach.  That said, the one general theme that applies to all of them is that we're shifting paradigms - meaning that some things about our philosophy may differ from what they've experienced.  Some guys may be accustomed to just "football workouts."  Others may have been coddled with foo-foo training programs where they didn't work hard.  Some guys ran distances. Some guys crushed the rotator cuffs every day while ignoring the rest of the body.

The point is that it's not just our job to find what we feel is the best fit for these athletes, but also to educate them on why the unique program we've designed for them is a better approach than they can get anywhere else.

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As most of you are probably aware, Hurricane Irene worked its way up the East coast of the U.S. this past weekend and really threw people for a loop with flooding, power outages, fallen trees, and all sorts of damages.  My wife and I got off pretty easily; we just had to go eight hours on Sunday without power - a far cry from what a lot of other folks encountered.  And, our dog, Tank, was entertained all day as he played weatherdog and stared the window to watch the rain.

Oddly enough, those eight hours proved to be wildly productive for me.  Thanks to a fully charged laptop battery, I was able to write a half dozen programs for clients, a blog, and the introduction of a new article for T-Nation.  I read over 100 pages in a book, took a nap, and even went over to Cressey Performance to get a day ahead on my strength training program...in the dark and without music (for the record, this is one more reason free weights are better than machines: no electricity needed).

In short, it was an extremely productive day for me in comparison to typical Sundays in spite of the fact that the weather outside was miserable and it would have been very easy to get antsy from "cabin fever."  What made this day so much more productive than many others for me?

There were zero distractions.

No Facebook and no twitter.  No emails or text messages.  No television or phone calls. No absurdly painful "I feel like I'm shopping at Old Navy" techno playing on Tony's iPod.  It was absolute bliss.

Now, don't get me wrong; human interaction is a huge part of my daily life as a coach, writer, consultant, and barrel-chested freedom fighter.  I don't just sit inside and think of ways to avoid human interaction so that I can be more productive.  However, some peace and quiet sure is nice - and that's why, in fact, that this blog is being written at 6:40AM.  It's an empty house with complete silence.  In a few minutes, I'll head over to the facility - an empty facility with complete silence.  A good hour or so in there before anyone else arrives gives me the leg-up on the day that I need to be productive.

It's taken me 360 words to get to my point, but the take home message is very simple:

If you want to be successful in your
strength and conditioning programs,
get rid of the distractions around you.

I talk to athletes about how everything they do takes them one step closer to their goals - or one step further away.  Each decision they make should be a calculated choice that weighs pros and cons in the context of their goal.

For instance, a training partner can be a great addition to a strength and conditioning program - but it can be an unbelievable failure if that individual is always late for training, gets too chatty between sets, or is an inattentive spotter.   That's a distraction that you have complete control over keeping or removing from your life.  A bad one can destroy you - but a great one can be a huge advantage.

However, most distractions aren't so easy to eliminate.  Family life, work, injuries, car troubles, inclement weather, busy gyms, and a host of other factors can all create stressful distractions that interfere with progress.  The most successful clients I've encountered are the ones who understand how to balance all these competing demands and keep distraction out of the task at hand - whether it's lifting or working on a big project.

Here are my top five suggestions on how to get rid of or manage some of the most common distractions and inconveniences that can sabotage your strength training program.

1. Leave your cell phone in the car - I can say without wavering that this is the single-biggest distraction I see nowadays, as mine rings off the hook on most days.  However, back in March, I went nine days without mine while I was in Costa Rica and the world didn't end.  I'm happy to report that shutting yours off for 90 minutes won't lead to any catastrophes - and you'll get strong in the process.  This sign over the gym entrance at CP says it all.

2. Always have a plan B - If you train in a busy commercial gym at peak hours, you know it can be pretty tough to get access to the exact equipment you need.  Rather than stand around and wait 15-20 minutes for it, your best bet is to go into the session knowing what would be a suitable replacement for each strength exercise.  The chest-supported row is taken? No worries; here's a blog with a few good substitutes: No Chest-Supported Row? No Problem.

Here are a few other posts along these lines that might interest you:

High Performance Training without the Equipment - Part 1 (No Access to Dumbbells)
High Performance Training without the Equipment - Part 2 (External Rotations without Cables)
High Performance Training without the Equipment - Part 3 (Pushup Variations)
High Performance Training without the Equipment - Part 4 (More Pushup Variations)

The point is that no matter how busy your gym gets, there is always a plan B.  In fact, post a comment with the most common "shortcoming" you have in terms of equipment access, and I'll devote a future blog to the topic, outlining several potential substitutes for you.  I like a good challenge.

3. When injured, there is always something you can do to get better - To be blunt, there is nothing that bothers me more in this world than people who constantly piss and moan about their circumstances.  I've read that Walt Disney was once so broke that he ate dog food.  Years back, Donald Trump went billions of dollars into combined business and personal debt - and he's certainly turned out okay.  Thomas Edison was yanked out of school at a young age because his teachers thought he was stupid - and he went on to teenage years in the workforce that consisted of being fired multiple times.  Tiger Woods missed a big chunk of time - and an absurd amount of money - when he had his ACL reconstruction.

You, on the other hand, are going to turn into Johnny Raincloud because you have tennis elbow and can't do your curls for a week?  Cry me a river...somewhere else, please.

Put on a happy face and magical things happen.  Figure out what you can do - and then do it.

Quit your complaining; whining is just your way of distracting yourself.

For more on this topic, check out Strength Training Programs: When Did "Just Rest" Become a Viable Option?

4. Have home training options - There are going to be times when life simply gets in the way of what you had planned.  Maybe it's a sick kid at home or inclement weather that prevents you from getting to the gym.  At these times, it's incredibly advantageous to have some equipment (or body weight training templates in mind) that you can use to ensure that your strength and conditioning program doesn't miss a beat.  Some kettlebells can be great, and I'm a big fan of the TRX.  In fact, I liked it so much that I brought mine to Costa Rica, and when combined with sprinting on the beach, we had great training sessions all week.

 5. Communicate with those around you - I think that one of the reason that some folks have issues with distractions with respect to exercise is that they don't clearly relate to those around them that it's important to them.  Most people find time for training instead of making time for it.  If it's important to you, block it off in your schedule and let those around you know that this is the case; they'll be more respectful of your "important time" and let you do your thing unless an emergency comes up.

These five tips are, of course, just a few of the many ways that you can eliminate distractions from your strength and conditioning programs.  What strategies have you found to be useful when it comes to keeping your focus?

Related Posts
Workout Routines: Exercising on Vacation - Part 1
Workout Routines: Exercising on Vacation - Part 2

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