We welcome strength and conditioning coach, author, and speaker Mike Robertson to this week’s podcast. Mike's a long-time friend from whom I've learned a ton, and in this chat, we discuss commonalities across all sports in terms of assessment, programming, and coaching. We talk about training young athletes, developing coaches, and the never-ending pursuit of "better" in a dynamic industry.
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Digital Minimalism - I've enjoyed each of Cal Newport's books, and while this one wasn't as big of a hit for me, it does provide some important discussion points about how technology excessively shapes our existence - and what to do about it.
Play, Practice, or Train? - This was an awesome article from Gray Cook that provides some insights on how to improve organization of our training among these three key classifications. They all have their place, but we have to know how to best fit each one into our planning.
Top Tweet of the Week
The “just lift heavy and play your sport” approach to development gets more antiquated each day. As early sport specialization becomes more commonplace, we need strength and conditioning to provide the rich proprioceptive environment a multi-sport athlete would normally get.
Physical Preparation Podcast with Radley Haddad - Radley Haddad is the Major League Coaching Assistant and Bullpen Catcher for the New York Yankees, and a retired CSP athlete who also trained with Mike at IFAST. I especially liked his insights on the transition from playing to coaching, and the importance of using data not just to help athletes learn how they can better, but verify why they performed successfully.
Top Tweet of the Week
There are huge differences among what athletes need to do, want to do, and are willing to do. Good luck finding a coaching textbook that can walk you through these important differentiations. Time in the trenches to establish relationships and read personalities is imperative.
We skipped a week of recommended reading/listening, but the good news is that it gave me some time to stockpile some good stuff for you!
Trusting the New Coach: A Challenging Conversation with Clients - This might be my favorite article my business partner, Pete Dupuis, has ever written. That's because it's one of the biggest challenges our business has faced over the past 12 years, and he's navigated it masterfully. If you own or manage a training facility, this is a must-read.
Adam Grant: The Man Who Does Everything - This was an outstanding podcast from Tim Ferriss with Adam Grant on the topic of time management. Regardless of your industry, you'll take away some great nuggets.
Top Tweet of the Week
In coaching, simplicity and efficiency win. If you come up with a drill that requires two bands, a connection ball, three weighted balls, seven blue M&Ms, a tire iron, and a half gallon of snake oil, your drill isn’t any good for anything other than social media entertainment.
The New Frontier in Baseball Rehab: Part 1 - This was a good podcast that serves as an excellent follow-up to my chat with Alan Jaeger a few weeks ago. Alan and Josh Heenan delve in further on the topic of rehab throwing programs on the Robby Row Show.
Top Tweet of the Week
Amen. It's easy for a parent or coach to say this, but hard to stick to it when you have a son/player who's advanced for his age. The goal shouldn't be to showcase your already talented kid; it should be to prioritize process over outcome to set him up for long-term success. https://t.co/xy41n4PwjP
I hope you had a great weekend. We were super busy with the fall seminar at our MA location, and yesterday (Monday) was our business mentorship. While I didn't have time to pull together new content, I did curate some content from around the 'net for you.
Even More Complete Shoulder and Hip Blueprint - Dean Somerset and Tony Gentilcore's new product is on sale at a great price. The first installment had some really good nuggets, and I'm working my wife through the second one now; it's definitely living up to the hype as well. It's on sale for $70 off this week and comes with CEUs.
Tackling the Cranky Local Football Coach Conundrum - I spent all day yesterday hearing Pete Dupuis talk during our business mentorship, so you'd think that I'd be tired of him by now. Nope! This content is that important to coaches in the private sector.
Top Tweet of the Week
Recent quote from a pro guy:
"Our training in college was excessive and absurd. Our training in pro ball has been insufficient and absurd."
Development doesn't happen at extremes. It happens at the sweet spot in the middle where work capacity is challenged, but not overwhelmed.
I hope you're hadving a great week. Here's a little recommended reading and listening to keep it rolling.
Complete Coach Certification - Mike Robertson launched this excellent continuing education resource for trainers last week. I just finished working my way through it and it was outstanding.
Shoulder Assessment and Treatment with Eric Cressey - Speaking of podcasts, I was a guest on the Squat University Podcast recently. I talked a lot of shoulders with the host, physical therapist Aaron Horschig.
An Alternate Approach to Summer Ball: The Rise of Private Facility Training - This article from Aaron Fitt at D1Baseball.com highlights how many athletes are taking non-traditional approaches to summer development for baseball. Aaron shadowed a training session with Duke pitcher Bryce Jarvis at Cressey Sports Performance.
Recently, I box squatted for the first time in a few months - and the posterior chain soreness I felt got me thinking about the functional anatomy in play, particularly with respect to the glutes. Here's what's rattling around my brain on that front (warning: functional anatomy heavy nerd post ahead).
1. People think of the gluteus maximus too much as a hip extensor and not enough as a posterior glider of the femoral head.
The gluteus maximus is an important prime mover of the hip - especially into hip extension. However, it's also a crucial stabilizer. The other hip extensors - hamstrings and adductor magnus - have inferior attachment points lower down on the femur.
Meanwhile, the gluteus maximus actually inserts higher up - right near the femoral head.
The result is that when you extend your hips with the hamstrings and adductor magnus, the head of the femur can glide forward in the socket and irritate the front of the hip. When you get adequate gluteus maximus contribution, it helps to reduce this anterior stress. In many ways, the glutes work as a rotator cuff of the hip (while the hamstrings and adductor magnus act like the lats and pecs, respectively).
2. Glute activation can be a game changer with respect to chronic quadratus lumborum (QL) tightness - but only if you perform exercises correctly.
Shirley Sahrmann and her disciples have frequently observed that whenever you see an overworked muscle, you should always look for a dysfunctional synergist. A common example at the shoulder is a cranky biceps tendon picking up the slack for an ineffective rotator cuff.
Quadratus lumborum fits the bill in the core/lower extremity because its attachment points unify the pelvis, lumbar spine, and ribs.
When it shortens, it pulls the spine into lateral flexion and the lumbar spine into extension. In other words, it can give you "fake" hip abduction and hip extension - both of which come from the glutes. Whether you're doing mini-band sidesteps, side-lying clams, or loading your hips in a pitching delivery, you need to make sure the movement is happening at the ball-socket (femoral head - acetabulum) rather than at the spine. And, when you're doing your prone hip extension, supine bridges, hip thrusts, and deadlifts, you want to make sure you're getting true hip extension and not just extra low back arching.
3. The eccentric role of the glutes in the lower extremity might be their most key contribution.
When heel strike happens, it kicks off the process of pronation in the lower extremity. This pronation drives internal rotation of the tibia and, in turn, the femur. There is a lot of ground reaction force and range of motion that must be controlled, so much of it is passed up the chain because we simply don't have that much cross-sectional area in the muscles below the knee. Because it functions in three planes of motion, the gluteus maximus is in an awesome position to help by slowing down femoral internal rotation, adduction, and flexion.
If you're looking to learn more about how functional anatomy impacts how you assess, coach, and program, I'd strongly encourage you to check out Mike Robertson's new Complete Coach Certification. I've had the opportunity to review it, and it's absolutely fantastic. You can learn more - and get a nice introductory discount - HERE.
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I hope you had a good weekend. Here's a list of recommended reading and listening for the week ahead:
EC on the Physical Preparation Podcast - This is my third time on Mike Robertson's podcast, and it's always a great time. Speaking of Mike, he's launching an awesome training certification in the next few weeks. I've had a chance to preview it, and it's outstanding stuff. You can learn more and get on the announcement list HERE.
EC on the Leave Your Mark Podcast -This was a fun podcast with Scott Livingston. We talked a lot more about my upbringing and how Cressey Sports Performance came to be than we did actual training stuff, so it's a good listen for anyone interested in career development.
I Got My Hip Replaced at 39. Here's Why That Might Get More Common - It's not often that you get an insightful article on a sports medicine topic, but this one was really good. Spoiler alert: hip replacements are getting much more durable - and it should continue in the decades ahead.
Top Tweet of the Week
If teenage athletes want to take a big step forward in development, it would be wise to make an effort to “out-sleep” and “out-eat” their peers. These two things are powerful magnifiers of everything they do in skill development and strength and conditioning. @FlatgroundApp
I hope you had a great weekend. Before I get to the good stuff, just a friendly reminder that this Friday is the last day to get the early-bird discount on our fall seminar (9/21-9/22) at Cressey Sports Performance - MA. This 1.5 day event offers 10 CEU hours through the NSCA and features some awesome presentations. You can learn more HERE. Additionally, CSP co-founder Pete Dupuis and I have our business mentorship on Monday the 23rd, and we only have three spots remaining. Business mentorship attendees attend the fall seminar at no additional charge; you can grab one of the remaining spots HERE.
Now, on to the recommended reading and listening for the week:
Chris Chase on the Evolution of Basketball Strength and Conditioning - This is the second time Mike Robertson has had Chris Chase (Memphis Grizzlies) on his podcast, and given how excellent the first interview was, listening this time around was a no-brainer. It didn't disappoint.
Recency Bias and Long-Term Training Success - Given the volatility of the stock market in recent weeks, it seemed like a good time to reincarnate this article I wrote a few years ago. The concept of recency bias can be applied to your training programs just like it can be to investing.
Top Tweet of the Week
Some young players (& parents/coaches) are looking for magical mechanical fixes. Meanwhile, the problem is that they're lacking in physical competencies that enable them to get into positions they see MLB players achieve effortlessly. Training facilitates mechanical adjustments.