Home Posts tagged "Lincoln-Sudbury Baseball"

How to Win 99% of High School Baseball Games

I've never coached a high school baseball game - or any game, for that matter. I have, however, worked alongside some tremendous high school coaches - from my time with Team USA, to our five staff members who've coached, to various close friends. And, I've watched more high school baseball games than I can possibly count (my fourth date with my wife was a high school state championship game in 2007). So, I feel reasonably qualified to comment on this topic - and I've run this theory by several accomplished coaches who have all agreed.

I'm of the belief that high school baseball games are rarely won; rather, they are lost. Usually, the mistakes far exceed the outstanding play, and the team who makes fewer mistakes invariably ends up on top. As Cressey Sports Performance - MA pitching coordinator Christian Wonders has said, "you have to win the free base war."

With that said, bear with me as I outline five things that virtually guarantee you wins in high school baseball.

1. Have a catcher who can receive/block.

There is nothing more painful to watch than a CATCHer who can't CATCH or block. It derails an entire game because you immediately take away a pitcher's confidence (impacting #5 from below) and have him worried about the running game all the time. The good news is that receiving and blocking is highly trainable - and in a relatively short amount of time - with good instruction as long as you have a player who isn't afraid to put in the work and roll around in the dirt. And, elite arm speed isn't necessary behind the plate at the high school level. This quality is highly trainable.

2. Make the throws and catches you're expected to make - and don't throw the ball around.

You don't need to have Andrelton Simmons' range or arm to be a good high school defender; you just need to be intelligent enough to not make big mistakes in overestimating your abilities. I'm a huge believer that paying strict attention to good, aggressive catchplay during the warm-up period pays big dividends in this regard. Most high school kids just shoot the breeze during inattentive catchplay, and most coaches rush the long toss period because they're anxious to get to other stuff during practice. This quality is highly trainable.

3. Have strong kids that can hit the ball hard.

This is where I'm going to nerd out a bit.  If you hit the baseball hard, you will get on base more often. It's follows logically, but with the increased focus on exit velocity in MLB in recent years, we can more easily quantify it. Take a look at the huge, linear relationship between exit velocity and batting average (not to mention the concurrent increase in HR percentage):

This shouldn't surprise you: a greater exit velocity will always enable balls to find more holes and gaps, and put more pressure on the defense to induce more errors (especially in high school baseball, where many young athletes are still legitimately afraid of the ball). I can guarantee you that the averages probably go up an additional 150-200 points in the high school game because defenders don't have as much range, parks are smaller, infields aren't as smooth, and a host of other factors. How realistic is it for high school hitters to attain these exit velocities? I asked my buddy Bobby Tewksbary, and he sent this along to me:

"High school exit velocities vary greatly depending on many factors like weight, strength, speed and skill. Using HitTrax, we see high school freshmen who are still prepubescent and struggle to break 70 mph. On the upper end, we recently had a high school junior hit a ball 108 mph. This is on par with - or higher than - our pro clients. Most varsity players are in the upper 80s to low 90s. Anything above 100 mph is usually reserved for D1 caliber players. As an example, we recently had a senior D1 commit (on HitTrax) hit a ball 106.4 mph and 481 feet."

Obviously, this doesn't take into account that you actually have to face live pitching, but if you're a high school hitter consistently hitting the ball 90mph+ in games, you can bet that you'll be hitting at a .400 clip.

As a frame of reference, the best Cressey Sports Performance "attendance" from a single team was the 2011 Lincoln-Sudbury (L-S) Regional High School baseball team that won the Massachusetts state championship. Of the 25 kids on the roster, 24 trained at CSP - and they hit .361 on the season. They scored 61 runs in six games in the playoffs. Strong players who prioritize strength and conditioning - especially in-season - hit balls hard and win a lot of games. This quality is highly trainable.

4. Run the bases aggressively/intelligently.

This is the single biggest window of adaptation and untapped competitive advantage in a high school population because a) very few coaches understand how to teach it, b) even fewer prioritize it, and c) 99% of players have easy adjustments they can make to set-up, sprint mechanics, and strategy that differentiate them quickly. With the number of walks, dropped third strikes, errors, passed balls, wild pitches, and balks we see in high school baseball, having a relatively fast, intelligent athlete on the bases is a game changer. The best athletes run wild on mediocre defenses. As a frame of reference, that same L-S team I highlighted above actually stole 81 bases in 28 games (seven innings each); that basically works out to a stolen base almost every other inning. This quality is highly trainable.

5. Have strike throwers on the mound.

Velocity is awesome and it's great to train it. The problem is that a lot of hard throwing high school arms have no idea how to harness it to command the baseball. I've seen a lot of 86-88mph arms get yanked in the second inning after seven walks while getting outpitched by a 70-poo mph arm that throws strikes. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying, though: velocity is really useful (especially at the next level), but in high school, it doesn't impact outcomes nearly as much because other teams rarely have hitters that accomplish #4 from above (hitting the ball hard). In other words, you see far more games lost by crappy teams than you do games won singlehandedly by elite arms. The L-S team from earlier took 127 walks in 196 innings while only striking out 110 times. Meanwhile, their pitching staff (which included two D1 arms, including future Vanderbilt closer and 4th round draft pick Adam Ravenelle) punched out 254 guys while walking 110. If you put up a 2.5: 1 K:BB ratio in high school baseball, you're going to win a lot more games than you lose. This quality is highly trainable, although not quite as much as some of the others from above.

Bringing It Together

Go to most high school practices, and you'll see a lot of time wasted. You'll see a lot of guys standing around in the outfield shagging BP. You'll watch the mind-numbing slow jog around the field during the warm-up, or some underwhelming static stretching in a circle. You'll want some pre-throwing drills - wrist flicks and half-kneeling work - that can probably be skipped. It may be excessive time spent on every obscure situational defense scenario with lots of guys standing around. In other words, there is a lot of time that can be "repurposed."

How do you use this time better?

1. Work with your catchers. Don't just beat them like rented mules; challenge them and teach them.

2. Teach baserunning and sprint mechanics, and run the bases hard.

3. Prioritize and coach the heck out of catch play. Don't rush long toss.

4. Emphasize strength and conditioning year-round, and don't let it fall off inseason.

5. Give pitchers consistent developmental challenges. Actually schedule bullpens and have an expectation for what is to be worked on and achieved in each one.

You win games focusing on big rocks, not majoring in the minutia where there aren't large windows of growth possible.

*A special thanks to Coach Kirk Fredericks for not only pulling all these statistics together for me, but for teaching me a lot of these things over the years. Kirk went 269-68 with three state titles in 14 years as a head coach at L-S and is one of the best coaches I've seen at any level. I'm lucky to have him as a resource.

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Four Years of Cressey Performance: Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

When I woke up this morning, it seemed just like any other Wednesday morning. I didn't even realize that it had been four years since July 13, 2007: the day we opened the doors at Cressey Performance.  I would have blown right through today if my business partner, Pete, hadn't reminded me of July 13's significance when I came in to the office today.

On our first anniversary in 2008, I was absolutely swamped, as we'd just moved into a larger facility.  I was 100% aware of the significance of the day, but literally didn't have time to enjoy it. On the second anniversary, things had settled down a bit, and I wrote up a blog to celebrate the day: The Two Year Mark. Last year, on the third anniversary, I went "all in" and wrote up this bad boy: Three Years of Cressey Performance: The Right Reasons and the Right Way. This year, I celebrating by simply forgetting. Is this my first "over 30" moment, or is there something to be said for the fact that I forgot? This has been, unarguably, our best year on a variety of fronts.  Some highlights: Tim Collins - one of our first pro guys and longest tenured clients - went to the big leagues this year.  The same goes for guys like Cory Gearrin, Steve Cishek, and Trystan Magnuson.  We also saw more professional athletes (and clients overall) than any other year before. Tyler Beede - also a long-time Cressey Performer - was drafted in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft...and we celebrated in my living room.

Tyler was one of 12 players with CP ties taken in this year's draft.

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School won the Division 1 State Championship, and they epitomize everything that effective strength and conditioning can do to help keep a high school team healthy and performing at high levels.

Over 30 CP athletes in the Class of 2011 signed letters of intent to play Division 1 baseball.

We expanded our staff to include some great people who complemented our existing skill sets and program offerings nicely.

We added about 1,000 square feet more office space and polished up our look with some new paint and more framed/autographed jerseys on the walls.  I even got my own office - which is shared with our new mascot, Tank, of course:

Most importantly, though, we continued to have an absolute blast each and every day we came to "work" - and that, to me, is what it's all about.  We made new friends and further developed already-existing friendships.  The CP family grew, and we offered a service to people that helped them get to where they wanted to be.

You'll notice I didn't mention financial gain - and the reason is pretty simple; I view it as secondary.  It's the destination, and I'm a lot more concerned about the process.  Cultivate relationships, deliver a quality service, and genuinely care, and the money will take care of itself.  Before the business gurus out there start crapping on me, I'll add that our business has grown by more than 30% over the past year in spite of the fact that I usually forget that I'm supposed to receive a paycheck at month's end.  Pete just surprises me with it.

Don't get me wrong; you need effective business systems to make things work.  If you're an organizational disaster and can't make your rent, it's going to be pretty hard to put on a happy face and make someone's day with your smile.  However, the overwhelming majority of "savvy business decisions" are actually a combination of common sense, courtesy, and a genuine desire to help someone.

Most of the people that ask us business questions want to know how much we charge, how much our rent is, how we schedule, what our hours are, who painted Tony's t-shirt on him, what our start-up costs were, and why we don't use electronic funds transfer (EFT).  What they should be asking us:

1. How do you remember so many people's names?

2. How can you possibly know everyone's health history who walks through your door?

3. How do you write individual strength and conditioning programs for everyone?

4. What do you do to build relationships?

5. How do you find time to get to so many baseball games?

6. How do you do to educate and retain staff?

7. How is it that all of your clients seem to be friends with each other? (As a little aside to this point, Tim Collins was at the facility the past two days while home for the all-star break, and he greeted every person who walked through the office door.  He even answered the phone for us twice.  That's big-league customer service.)

There are some brilliant business consultants out there.  Pat Rigsby and Alwyn Cosgrove, for instance, are super bright guys and great friends who have helped loads of fitness professionals increase their incomes and improve their quality of life.  They are also the first guys to tell you that if you don't know how to cultivate relationships and treat people right, then you're studying for the wrong test by looking for the perfect business plan.

Spend more time focusing on the process, and worry less about the destination.  Four years from now, you'll probably enjoy your "job" a lot more - both psychologically and monetarily - and have a lot more friends and experiences that make you smile each time you think of them.  You'll probably even forget it's your business' anniversary!

Thank you, as always, to everyone for all your support.

As a mini-celebration of this day, I'll do a little promo: if you purchase a CP hat HERE before Friday (July 15) at midnight, I'll send along a video of a 37-minute staff in-service I did on shoulder assessment that's uploaded to the 'web.

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Strength and Conditioning Program Success: The Little Things Matter

This past weekend was really special for me, as I got to watch about two dozen Cressey Performance athletes go out and win the Massachusetts Division 1 State Championship for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.

While we work with kids from dozens of high schools in the area, L-S baseball was the first program that “took a chance” on me when I was the new guy in town, and from that initial group of guys grew the Cressey Performance “baseball empire” that now includes loads of professional and college players.  I’ve become great friends with the entire coaching staff, and the players’ families have really adopted my wife and me as part of the L-S baseball community. This year’s senior class included kids who actually started training with us in eighth grade, and therefore marked the first class of guys who spent their entire high school careers with us at Cressey Performance.  In thinking back on the progress one athlete, Adam Ravenelle, made over those four years, I felt compelled to write this blog.

On Adam’s first day at CP, he looked pretty intimidated – just like any 14-year-old would when stepping into a weight room for the first time.  However, when I went to do his shoulder assessment, I quickly realized that he’d fit in just fine.  When I found that he had almost 140 degrees of external rotation in his throwing shoulder, I turned to my business partner and commented that he had “a big league shoulder” and that if he was willing to put in the work, he’d be a pretty good pitcher (even though he was a shortstop/third basemen at the time). Four years later, with a fastball in the low 90s, Adam is a 44th round draft pick of the Yankees and a State Champion with a baseball scholarship to Vanderbilt.  He’s pitched at Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and at all the major competitions – Area Codes, East Coast Pro, USA Baseball Tournament of Stars – that an accomplished player could attend. You know what, though?  These accomplishments didn't magically happen; rather, there were thousands of small, but extremely significant moments along the way that took Adam from a "kid with a good shoulder" to the athlete he is today.  There were all the days when he came in to get his arm stretched out the day after a start, and all the times that he came in to lift on a Sunday afternoon in-season when he could just have skipped lifting during the season, like many players ignorantly do.  There were all the meals he ate along the way to gaining over 50 pounds – even though he wasn’t hungry, most of the time.  In fact, sometimes we even made him attack loaves of bread in the office before he was allowed to leave.

Adam was really a microcosm of the entire state championship Lincoln-Sudbury team.  LS has now won 11 straight league titles and three of the last seven state championships, yet their head coach, Kirk Fredericks, called this “the best practice team” he’s ever had.  In other words, they did the little things well day-to-day in order to succeed.  They never skipped steps. They also didn’t have a single player miss a game due to injury over the course of the entire season.  Their consistency not only afforded them the best possible outcome, but kept them healthy in the process. It was a remarkably fresh breath of air for me.  I’ve seen a change in young athletes over the past few years where they all want something badly – whether it’s a state championship, college scholarship, or a trip to the big leagues – but very few kids really seem willing to put in the work to get it.  The fitness world isn’t much different; many folks want the fastest way to drop 30 pounds before a wedding or trip to the beach, but all the while ignore the valuable lessons to be learned and habits to be acquired along the way.  They want the destination, but don't care for the process. Tim Collins didn’t go to the big leagues because he was more gifted than anyone else.  He went to the big leagues because he was the first guy back to train at the end of every minor league season, and he lived at the gym and did absolutely everything each of his coaches told him to do.

Tyler Beede wasn’t born a first round draft pick.  He earned it by learning to command his fastball and develop his change-up when all the other kids thought it would be fun to screw around with curveballs when they were 11.  He made himself into a first round pick, in part, by driving 40 minutes to CP, training, and driving 40 minutes home 3-4 days per week for the past three years - also gaining almost 50 pounds in the process.

Jordan Cote didn’t just get called in the 3rd round by the Yankees or win the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year award this year because he was 6-6 and “projectable.”  He worked to get it by driving two hours every Saturday morning for the past two years to throw and train at CP at 9AM when everyone else his age was sleeping in.  And that’s why he went from 185 pounds to 218 pounds over the course of 18 months – almost half of which was during the in-season period.  He also drove a long way to play for the New England Ruffnecks program, which is 2.5 hours away in Massachusetts - but consistently produces some of the best talent in New England.

In no way am I saying that Cressey Performance alone was responsible for these guys’ success, nor are these the only guys who did what it took to succeed in recent months.  Rather, I’m showing you that in two aspects of their preparation – training and nutrition – they did the little things that it took to excel.  They certainly did the same with on-field practice, school work, and community service to get to where they are.  There were obviously end goals in mind, but they never interfered with accomplishing day-to-day, hour-to-hour, and moment-to-moment objectives. To that end, the next time you find yourself fantasizing about your athletic dreams or fitness goals, take a step back and consider whether you’re doing what you need to do in the present to get to where you need to be. Are you waking up ten minutes early so that you can have a good breakfast before you go to school, or are you the guy that simply complains that you “don’t have time” for a good breakfast?

Are you blocking off an hour in your day to go to the gym, or are you going to allow it to fill up with other obligations that can’t possibly be more important than your health? Are you dropping hundreds of dollars on showcases when you should be spending time developing your abilities by taking ground balls and batting practice, long tossing, strength training, and working on your mobility? There is no single way to get to where you want to be.  Likewise, there is no magic pill.  It takes time, consistency, attention to detail, and an appreciation of what must get done in the short term in order to attain long-term success. Now, shouldn’t you be doing something right now to get closer to your long-term goals? Congratulations, Lincoln-Sudbury baseball, and thank you – both for the lessons you’ve taught us and for having us along for the ride!

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Congratulations to Lincoln-Sudbury Baseball: 2011 D1 State Champions

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day at the office, as a bunch of "Cressey Performers" went out and won the Massachusetts Division 1 State Championship for Lincoln-Sudbury.  Here's a video of the final out and mayhem that ensued:

Many of the seniors on this team have been with us throughout their entire high school careers, so it was absolutely awesome to see them go out in style in their last high school game.  Congratulations, guys, and thanks for all the memories!

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Three Years of Cressey Performance: The Right Reasons and the Right Way

Though a somewhat "normal" day at the gym, yesterday marked Cressey Performance's three-year anniversary. While my business partner's blog post yesterday did an excellent job of doling out "thank yous" to a lot of the important people who have been so involved in our success - from clients to parents, coaches, interns, and significant others - I wanted to add my own two cents on the matter today.  More than anything, I really wanted to highlight a sentence that illustrates what makes me the most proud about where CP has been, where it is, and where it's going.

We've done this for the right reasons, and we've done it the right way.

newcp21 I read a business development blog post by Chris McCombs the other day where he wrote something that really hit home for me.  When he was talking about how he decides to accept or reject a new project/opportunity, here is one of his guidelines: "Only Take on Projects That Are In Line With My Current Values and Fulfill Me Beyond Just The Money - A project must fulfill me in some way BESIDE just money...too many people spend their life JUST chasing a buck; to me, that's no way to live.  For me, the money must be there, but it should fulfill me personally, be fun, help a lot of people, and build and be in line with my current brand and brand equity." Back in 2007, I had a tough decision to make.  My online consulting business had really taken off, and the Maximum Strength book deal was in the works.  My other products - Magnificent Mobility, The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual, and Building the Efficient Athlete - were selling well and getting great reviews, and I'd just had a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.  This website was growing exponentially in popularity, and I had just wrapped up my first year on the Perform Better tour - so lots of doors were opening for me on the seminar front to present all over the world - and I could have stayed home and just written all day, every day. I was getting really crunched for time, as I was already training clients 8-13 hours per day, seven days per week, as my in-person clientele had rapidly grown. My phone rang off the hook for about three weeks after Lincoln-Sudbury won a baseball state championship after I'd trained several of their guys, and one of my athletes was named state player of the year.  And, after being featured on the front page of the Boston Globe with a nipple so hard I could cut diamonds, I was in demand as a t-shirt model (okay, not really - but it made for an awesome blog post, The School of Hard Nipples).

picture-1

I was exhausted and stressed - but absolutely, positively, "living the dream" that I'd always wanted. To make matters a bit more interesting, I had just started dating a great girl (now my fiancee) who I really had a good feeling was "the one" after about three months.  The work days, however, were insanely long and I was worried that I'd screw up a good thing by not spending enough time with her. Every business development coach out there would have seen a "simple" answer to all my problems: stop training people in person.  Just write, consult, make DVDs, and give seminars.  It would have cut my hours by 80% and still allowed me to earn a pretty good living - and enjoy plenty of free time.  There was a huge problem with that, though; as Chris wrote, it wouldn't "fulfill me personally, be fun, help a lot of people, and build and be in line with my current brand and brand equity."  I like doing evaluations, writing programs, coaching, sweating, training with my guys, cranking up the music, helping people get to where they want to be, collaborating with and learning from other professionals, and watching my athletes compete - whether it's at some high school field or at Fenway Park.  Giving that up wasn't an option; I guess I'd have just been a crappy business coaching client, as I would have been stubborn as an ass on giving that up.

stubborn

Fortunately for me, Pete Dupuis, my roommate from my freshman year of college, had just finished his MBA and was in the midst of a job search.  And, during that MBA, he'd started to train with me and packed on a ton of strength and muscle mass - making him realize and truly appreciate the value in what I was doing (especially since he was and is a goalie in a very competitive soccer league).  Pete had also met and become friends with a ton of my clients - and taken a genuine interest in my baseball focus, as a lifelong Red Sox fan.  Almost daily, Pete would encourage me to do my own thing and let him handle all the business stuff for me. Simultaneously, Tony Gentilcore was ready for a change of scenery on the work front.  Having been Tony's roommate and training partner for almost two years at that point, I knew he was a genuinely great guy, that he'd read everything on my bookshelf, and that he could coach his butt off and "walk the walk."  He, too, had met a lot of my clients - so there was continuity from the get-go. So, on July 13, 2007, Cressey Performance was born.  Here is what we started with.

first-picture

Boatloads of renovations and equipment additions later, it wound up looking like this.

cressey-performance-1

Of course, we outgrew and demolished this space after about nine months and moved three miles east to a facility twice the size.  And, we've continued to grow right up to this day; June was our busiest month ever, and July should be busier.  We've got regular weekly clients who come from four states (MA, NH, CT, RI), and in the baseball off-season, I have college and pro guys who come from the likes of OH, AZ, CA, SC, NC, GA, FL, and VA.  And, we had 33 applicants for this summer's internships.

To be very candid, though, I don't consider myself a very good "businessman."  No offense to Pete or Tony, either, but I don't think they even come close to the textbook definition of the word, either.  We just try to be good dudes. "We've done this for the right reasons, and we've done it the right way."

We don't allocate a certain percentage of our monthly revenues to advertising.  In fact, we haven't spent a single penny on advertising - unless you count charitable donations to causes that are of significance to us.

We don't search high and low for new revenue streams to push on our clients.  In fact, if I get one more MonaVie sales pitch, I'm going to suplex whoever delivered it right off our loading dock.  Rather, we bust our butts to set clients up for success in any way possible - and trust that those efforts will lead to referrals and "allegiance" to Cressey Performance.  We ask what they want from us and modify our plans accordingly.  It's what led to us bringing in manual therapy, a pitching cage, and, of course, pitching coach/court jester Matt Blake's timeless antics.

Along those same lines, we don't measure our success based on revenue numbers; we measure it based on client results.  In three years of seeing LOADS of baseball players non-stop, we've only had three arm surgeries: one shoulder and two elbow.  All three were athletes who came to us with existing injuries, and in each case, we kept them afloat as long as we could and trained them through their entire rehabilitation.  I don't want to toot our own horn, but this is a remarkable statistic in a population where over 57% of pitchers suffer some form of shoulder injury during each competitive season - and that doesn't even include  elbows!  And, our statistics don't even count literally dozens of players who have come to us after a doctor has told them they needed surgery, but we've helped them avoid these procedures.  The college scholarships, draft picks, state titles, individual honors, and personal bests in the gym are all fantastic, but I'm most proud of saying that we've dedicated ourselves to keeping athletes healthy so that they can enjoy the sports they love.

The same goes for our non-competitive athlete clients.  The fat loss and strength gains they experience are awesome and quantifiable, but beyond that (and more qualitatively), I love knowing that they're training pain-free and are going to be able to enjoy exercise and reap the benefits of training for a long time.

We don't penny-pinch during our slowest times of the month (late March through mid-May - the high school baseball season).  We see it as an opportunity to do more staff continuing education, renovate the facilities, and get out to watch a lot of baseball and support our athletes.  And, we adjust our hours to open up on Sundays and stay later on weeknights during the baseball season to make it easier for athletes to get in-season training in whenever they can.  If a pitcher wants to come in and get his arm stretched out before or after an outing, he stops by and we do it for him - but don't charge him a penny for it.  It's about setting people up for success.

We don't try to just "factory line" as many clients through our facility as possible with everyone on the same program.  You might walk into CP and see 20 different clients on 20 different programs - because a 16-year old pitcher with crazy congenital laxity is going to have a markedly different set of needs than a 16-year-old linebacker with shoulder mobility so bad that he needs help putting a jacket on.  One program on one dry erase board for hundreds of athletes isn't training; it's babysitting.

Taking this a step further, we don't boot clients out after a certain amount of time.  Clients take as long as needed to complete the day's program. And, when they're done (or before they even begin), loads of our clients spend time hanging out in the office just shooting the breeze and enjoying the environment.  As an example, Toronto Blue Jays Organizational Pitcher of the Year Tim Collins spends a minimum of five hours a day at CP all off-season.

collins_stride

Tim has sold girl scout cookies for the daughter of one of our clients, and he's been our back-up front desk guy when Pete is out of town.  Yesterday, he was back to visit on his all-star break - and he said hello to every client he saw - and remembered them by name.  If you're a 15-year-old up-and-coming baseball pitcher, how cool is it to get that kind of greeting when you walk into the office?  Well, at CP, kids get that greeting from 10-15 pro guys all the time.  And, if they're lucky, they might even get to throw on a bobsled helmet and join these pro guys in a rave to Miley Cyrus, apparently.

At least once a week, I get an email from an up-and-coming coach asking for advice about starting a facility.  When I get these emails, I now think about how Rachel Cosgrove recently mentioned that more than 80% of fitness coaches leave the industry within the first year. In most cases, this happens because these people never should have entered the fitness industry in the first place - because their intentions (money) were all wrong.  They usually leave under the assumption that they could never make a living training people, but in reality, these folks are going to have a hard time making a living in any occupation that requires genuinely caring about what you do and the people with whom you work, and being willing to hang your hat on the results you produce.

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As such, the first advice, in a general sense, is obvious: do it for the right reasons, and do it the right way.  Sure, making a living is essential, but only open a facility because it would fulfill you "personally, be fun, help a lot of people, and build and be in line" with who you are and what your values are - which together constitute your "brand." Making the move to start up this business was one of the most daunting decisions I have ever had to make, and all the efforts toward actually getting the business started were equally challenging.  However, in the end, it has been more rewarding both personally and professionally than I could have ever possibly imagined.

Thank you very much to all of you - clients/customers, parents, EricCressey.com readers, seminar attendees, and professional colleagues - for all your support over the past three years.  We couldn't have done it without you - and look forward to many more years of doing things for the right reasons and in the right way.

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The Importance of Strength and Conditioning for High School Baseball Players

Yesterday, the Division 1 North Baseball Semi-final here in MA between Lincoln-Sudbury (20-2) and Lawrence (20-2) got rained out - and postponed to today.  As many of you know, we deal with over 30 players from the LS high school baseball program, plus several in middle school and multiple graduates who are now playing college baseball. With no game, local reports were left looking for something about which to write, so an interview with Coach Kirk Fredericks took place - and one of the topics that was brought up was the effect of strength and conditioning on the program.  Here's an excerpt from the article: Meanwhile, L-S has been on recent offensive tear, which includes putting up 10 and 16 runs in its first two tournament contests, respectively. As a team, the Warriors have 25 home runs this season and 62 (14, 11, 12, 25) in their last four seasons. In Fredericks' first five seasons with the team, L-S combined for 19 (5, 1, 5, 2, 6) home runs. "In the last four years, we've been working with Eric Cressey, our personal trainer, and he's really made a difference," said Fredericks. "We've also played at the same fields and the kids have been dedicated to getting stronger. The numbers don't lie."

anderson I moved to Boston in 2006, so this is the fourth season I've gone through with the L-S guys - and while I knew power numbers had increased, I didn't realize that they had virtually quadrupled.  I did, however, get my first hint of what was happening when we saw seven pitchers hit 80mph on the radar gun on the first day of tryouts this year.  This is a pretty big deal for any high school, and certainly one in Massachusetts that has to compete with nasty winter weather and the draw of lacrosse, track, tennis, golf, and volleyball during the spring season.  It's also significant because the competition in the area has improved quite a bit; L-S actually faces many of the players from other schools that we train - and they've gone 85-10 since the start of the 2007 season (when they won the state championship). Needless to say, it was pretty cool to be able to put some numbers with the trend we'd been observing.  And, it serves as a great reminder that - contrary to what a lot of "old school" coaches will try to tell you - a strength and conditioning program is absolutely essential for high school baseball players to not only perform at a higher level, but stay healthy in the process.  In this four-year period, LS baseball has had only one arm surgery, and it was in early 2008 on a player who had been misdiagnosed on ulnar nerve issues since middle school.  He's now playing Division 1 baseball.  The guys understand that arm care is about more than just some foo-foo rotator cuff exercises. This is what happens when the players in a program dedicate themselves to something and are consistent with it over the course of several years. Please enter your email below to sign up for our FREE newsletter.

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29 Reasons to Smile

I turn 29 today. And, while a lot of people look at birthdays as a reason to feel badly about getting old, I like to think of them as a reason to reflect on the cool stuff that's happened in the past year.  Or, at the very least, I look at a birthday as good blog content!  So, without further ado, here are 29 reasons I'm smiling on my 29th birthday. 1. I'm still not as old as Tony! (okay, that was wrong). 2.  Several of our high school athletes have gone off to college and been among the strongest (if not the strongest) in the weight room.  The really rewarding aspect of it, though, is that they have an appreciation for the fact that it isn't just about strength; it's about combining that strength with a host of other factors - flexibility, soft tissue quality, etc. - to stay healthy.  I just love that they are informed consumers and advocates for themselves. 3. Lincoln-Sudbury Baseball has been #1 in the state, according to the Boston Globe Rankings. We train over 30 players who are currently in the LS program, plus quite a few younger guys and LS alumni. 4. Along those lines, LS junior Carl Anderson was batting .500 with 6HR and 21 RBIs through the first 11 games.  He was also 4-0 with a 0.78 ERA and 25K in 18 innings pitched. 5.

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Enough said.

6. A reader sent me a great article in response to my Is Pitching Velocity Really that Important? Blog: Change-up has become Great Equalizer.  Awesome article! 7. CP athlete and Toronto Blue Jays prospect Tim Collins has 32 strikeouts in 18 innings pitched.  Opponents are hitting just .206 against him.  He also made a surprise cameo in the office at CP the other day on his only off-day of the month and hung out for the whole afternoon.  Tim, one of our college prospects, and I all went over to watch a high school game in which a lot of our guys were playing.  It's pretty cool to see pro and college ballplayers coming back to watch high school kids' games when it's usually the other way around!  It makes me really proud of the camaraderie we've built among all our clients at Cressey Performance. 8. A buddy of mine is involved with Humblecock clothing (www.humblecock.com), so he sent me some free goodies.  I like this stuff!  I passed out a few samples to my pro guys and they loved it. 9. Brian St. Pierre, our first employee at Cressey Performance, is unfortunately leaving us at the end of this week as he returns to school to do his master's degree.  While we're really bummed to be losing him, I can say that I'm really proud of how tremendous a job he's done for us since early 2008, when we first hired him.  He's improved tremendously as a coach and really turned himself into an industry leader (actually just had his first article published at T-Muscle HERE).  It's funny how good things happen for great people who work hard.  Check him out at BrianStPierreTraining.com. 10. Recently, a local scout informed me that the Massachusetts baseball class of 2011 was ranked as the 5th best in the country.  In other words, our juniors here in little ol' Massachusetts are competing with the likes of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina - where the populations are not only bigger, but they can also play baseball year-round.  Whoever said that early sports specialization was necessary to compete with these big dogs doesn't understand development at all.  While the Southern boys are having Tommy Johns and labral repairs in the winter, our guys are training their butts off and attacking things with a specific plan. The results?  At Cressey Performance alone, we have eight juniors verbally committed to play for Division 1 baseball programs - including Virginia, Vanderbilt, Boston College, and UCONN.  And, there should be at least a half-dozen more on that list by the time everyone signs national letters of intent this fall. 11. Head over to Amazon.com and check out the reviews on Maximum Strength HERE.  This sucker is getting more stars than an astronomy textbook!

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12. It gets even better than that.  In the next few months, I'll release a new product that'll blow the doors off of what I did with Maximum Strength.  If you liked Maximum Strength, you'll LOVE this one.  Subscribe to my newsletter at the right of this screen to be among the first notified. 13. Awesome!

By the way, when I was watching this video on YouTube, one of the recommended videos was Will Ferrell's 2003 Harvard Commencement speech.  It is absolutely hilarious; talk about a way to make a graduation actually interesting!

14. In the past few months, I've gotten invitations to present in both St. Thomas and South Africa.  For those of you who prefer visual representations of how sweet this is, please take note (respectively):

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We still have to plan our honeymoon soon as well, so it's going to be a very sunny year for a couple of Bostonians!

15. It's getting to be that time of year when pitchers come in and act all surprised that they are hitting homeruns now.  It just goes to show you that when you get more athletic, a lot of things fall into place - and not just in terms of pitching!  Rotational power is rotational power; the hitting just requires more hand-eye coordination. 16. I've got my own office now!  Unfortunately, it's still buried under boxes and clutter from the move, but it is nice to know that I have a little bit more organization coming to my life soon!

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17. I am pretty darn proud of the Cressey Performance website.  It's a huge improvement from our old one, and I'm psyched to have an online presence that reflects how much hard work we put into making CP a special place to train. 18. CP athlete and San Diego Padres prospect Will Inman has a 3.03 ERA through 38.2 innings pitched in AAA.  Opponents are hitting just .221 against him.  For those who aren't familiar with the Pacific Coast League, this is the single-hardest league in which one can pitch at any level of professional baseball.  There are small ballparks and insane winds that turn pop-ups into 450-foot HRs.  Will is doing awesome and we're all really happy for him; it's a lot of hard work rewarded. 19. This one really cracks me up.  We uploaded this video of CP athlete Sahil Bloom back in October of 2007, and it's become the second most popular of all-time.  The funniest part is all the 13-year-olds arguing in the comments section about how this is "just good for football players" and how they all throw 97mph at age 13.

The funniest part is that Sahil is now pitching consistently over 90mph - and doing so at Stanford.  He's 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA through six outings in his freshman year. It's amazing that he's had this success just "training for football!"

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20. The past year has brought some collaborative efforts for me that have been absolutely tremendous in not only enhancing my productivity, but also educating me (and my readers/customers).  Matt Blake has brought a great new dimension to Cressey Performance with his pitching instruction and video analysis, and to EricCressey.com with his blog contributions.  Nate Tiplady has been a huge addition to our programs with the Graston and ART services he provides to our clients.  It was also great to collaborate with both Mike Reinold and Bill Hartman on projects for the first time, with Optimal Shoulder Performance and Assess & Correct, respectively. At the end of the day, you are only as strong as your network, so I'd encourage you all to seek out collaborative efforts with other professionals who complement your skill set as well. 21. Slacker.com.  This thing is an awesome source for music; I listen to it all the time when I'm at the computer writing programs. 22. Just got this feedback from a very happy Optimal Shoulder Performance customer: "Awesome job on the Optimal Shoulder Performance DVDs with Reinold. I just finished watching them this past weekend (I need to get a life) and I found them extremely educational and helpful. I really thought the information you both provided complimented each other well. There were some variations to some movements that I will definitely be implementing into some of my programs." While the financial side of things with product sales is nice, the thing that I actually enjoy the most is knowing that the information we're putting out is helping people to improve their bodies and stay out of pain.  It's even better when I know it is helping a fellow fitness professional or some rehabilitation specialist, as it means that they're taking that knowledge to help more people beyond just themselves.  At the end of my career, I really want to be known most for the always putting my athletes first and always doing my best to contribute to the body of knowledge.

Click here for more information on Optimal Shoulder Performance.

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23. On Tuesday morning, I had an absolutely terrible training session.  I felt weak the entire time, and couldn't even stomach a shake post-training.  About an hour later, every joint in my body hurt and I had a raging headache.  That night, I was in bed early and was pouring sweat in my sleep. I almost never get sick.  We are taking once every 3-4 years.  My attendance is so good at work that my business partner, Pete, has to force me to take days off.  Surely, there is something to the idea that regular exercise and proper diet reduces one's likelihood of getting sick - and this is certainly demonstrated in the reduced absenteeism Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling a ton better.  It turned out to be a really productive day.  This little experience reminds me that taking care of your body doesn't just prevent you from getting sick; it also helps you to bounce back quickly when the unavoidable illness happens. 24. CP athlete Danny O'Connor looks to run his professional boxing record to 12-0 this weekend at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.  A huge CP contingent will be out to support him.  Danny works his butt off five days a week at CP in addition to all his boxing training, and deserves all the success that comes to him.

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25. Chris Howard is the newest addition to the Cressey Performance staff, and we're excited to have him on board.  A former CP intern, Chris went on to massage therapy school and is now a LMT - on top of his CSCS and master's degree in nutrition.  Needless to say, we're lucky to have a guy who brings so much versatility to our facility. I especially like Chris right now because he's motivated me to brush up on my anatomy knowledge since he just retook it all in school! 26. Bill Hartman is in town for a seminar at Northeastern this weekend, so it'll be a nice birthday present to catch up with him.  He's joining us at CP today for the day.  His blog is always full of good stuff, but chatting with him in person is even better! 27. Tony Gentilcore wrote a great two-part series called "It All Starts in the Kitchen."  There are some great tips in there for those of you who might struggle on the diet side of things.   Check out Part 1 and Part 2. 28. One of our pro baseball guys told me to check out the "Baseball Made Easy" series on YouTube, and it's absolutely hilarious.  Check a few of them out:

29. I already knew I had the greatest girl in the world, but when she took me to a Sox game last night for my birthday for the third year in a row, I was reminded once again!  Here we were last year - when I had more hair.

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A Dominant Decade on the Diamond

Great article here about Lincoln-Sudbury baseball, including their training at Cressey Performance: A Dominant Decade on the Diamond
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Random Friday Thoughts: 3/19/10

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.

6. Some feedback on Assess & Correct:

"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.

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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!

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Random Friday Thoughts: 2/5/10

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.

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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.

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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...

Have a great weekend!

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