I hope you've had a good week. Here's a little content from around the 'Net to kick off your weekend on the right foot.

EC on the Just Fly Performance Podcast - I joined Joel Smith for a discussion on skill development, shoulder training, how our philosophies at Cressey Sports Performance have evolved over the years, and how I view/manage asymmetries in athletes.

Coach to Coach - This new book from Martin Rooney is a quick read, but one that includes several profound messages for coaches. I'd highly recommend it not only for young coaches looking to "find their way," but also veteran coaches who need to rediscover why they became coaches in the first place.

Michael Lewis: Inside the Mind of an Iconic Writer - I really enjoyed Tim Ferriss' interview with Michael Lewis, best known in my world for authoring Moneyball. He provided some cool insights on the origins of his research into baseball, and also intrigued me at some of the practices he's employed to develop as a writer.

Top Tweet of the Week

A good first step in reopening commercial gyms would be to get rid of outdated machines. The only thing worse than blowing out your back on a torso rotation apparatus is standing in the torso rotation apparatus line next to someone who's contagious. Open gym space wins again.

— Eric Cressey (@EricCressey) May 9, 2020

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Here's a cool visual of the subscapularis, the largest of the rotator cuff muscles. In this video, you'll see its ability to internally rotate the humerus. More importantly, though, you have to appreciate what isn't seen here: the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi muscles. You see, these powerful internal rotators (and others) attach further down on the humerus, which means that they don't have any direct control over the head of the humerus as they create that internal rotation, whether it's in a throwing motion, dumbbell bench press, or some other IR movement. The subscapularis absolutely has to be the largest of the rotator cuff muscles because it has to "keep up with" the largest muscles of the upper body to maintain keep the humeral head (ball) centered on the glenoid fossa (socket) during internal rotation. If it doesn't do its job, the humeral head glides can glide forward and irritate the structures at the anterior aspect of the joint: long head of the biceps tendon, glenohumeral ligaments, nerve/vascular structures, etc. 👇 This is a perfect illustration of arthrokinematics (subtle motions at joint surfaces: rolling, rocking, gliding) vs. osteokinematics (larger movements between bones: flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, ER/IR). Every gross movement of the body relies heavily on a finely tuned interaction between these two kinds of movement - and you'd be hard pressed to find a better example than subscapularis. #Repost @dr.alvaromuratore @get_repost_easily #repost_easily ****** El músculo subescapular esta ubicado en la cara anterior del hombro, su función principal es la rotación interna. En este preparado anatómico se puede ver al subescapular realizando rotación interna , además se observa la apófisis coracoides con el ligamento coracoacromial y el tendon de la porción corta del biceps. En El húmero se observa la porción larga del biceps cubierta por el ligamento transverso.

A post shared by Eric Cressey (@ericcressey) on May 17, 2020 at 5:29am PDT

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And some favorite baseball-related DVDs:

The 2009 Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp DVD Set

Optimal Shoulder Performance (just released last week, and only around at the introductory price for a bit longer)

So, I guess you could say that our landlord paying this personal trainer to tell him to do this stretch is roughly on par with paying someone to bang your head against a wall when you have a headache.

Once again, it all comes down to assessment.  If you can't assess, you can't effectively prescribe exercises to prevent or correct imbalances.  For more information, check out Building the Efficient Athlete.

That's all I've got for this week, folks.  The shoulder rant above sapped the life from me, so I'll recharge this weekend and bounce back with some good stuff for you on Monday.  Enjoy the weekend!