In honor of the end of the minor league baseball season yesterday, I thought I'd go with a baseball-only theme today for our "Stuff You Should Read." First, though, I thought I'd give you the heads-up that I finally broke down and got a Twitter account, on the recommendation of a few people. If you're interested in following me, you can do so HERE.
With that out of the way, some baseball articles that may interest you:
Athlete Profile: Shawn Haviland - This is a great feature at Precision Nutrition on one of our athletes, Shawn Haviland, who was recently named a California League All-Star after striking out 169 batters in 153.2 innings, with a 3.65 ERA. Shawn has worked really hard to get where he is, and this article shows just how tough getting in proper nutrition can be during the professional baseball season.
Medicine Ball Madness - This piece touches on our unique medicine ball training program. At some point, I'm going to get around to writing up a detailed resource on this, but for now, this will do. Suffice it to say that our guys will get a little bit of a break over the next few weeks, and then we'll be destroying a lot of med balls up through the first of the year.
Should Pitchers Overhead Press? - The following video is an excerpt from Mike Reinold and my Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set. It's a great resource for fitness professionals and rehabilitation specialists alike - especially if you are working with baseball players.
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I hope everyone had a good week. I'm writing this blog in a bit of a hurry, as I need to pack this morning before heading to Cressey Performance and then directly to the airport to fly out to Chicago.
1. Why Chicago? Well, in case you've been living under a rock and haven't heard, this weekend is the second Perform Better Summit of the year. I'll be giving two talks on Saturday. If you're up in the air on which one to attend, I'd recommend my second one (lecture, not hands on). With the room design (no concrete walls), we won't be able to do much true medicine ball training so that the hands-on can parallel my lecture topic. I'll be talking about shoulder assessment and corrective exercise with a little medicine ball flavor in my hands-on instead. There are a ton of videos in the presentation, though, so you'll be able to get the next best thing.
While I enjoy presenting at seminars, I don't like to travel at all; sitting in airports and on planes is just not my thing. However, when it's Perform Better, the hassle of traveling just doesn't seem to be present - because I know how awesome the "light at the end of the tunnel" is. As a presenter, I don't always get to check out as many of the other talks as I'd like because I'm tied up with speaking and answering questions, but I do get to experience a lot of interaction with audience members and other speakers between lectures, at breakfast/lunch/dinner, and on the town. These, for me, are really as valuable as the presentations themselves. Audience members ask some excellent questions that can drive blog content, and I've also added some valuable people from around the country to my network this way. Chatting with presenters is great as well, because they always have some new project or business strategy that they're working on that can get my mind working. Chicago is also great because I can catch up with my buddy, Josh Bonhotal, who is a strength and conditioning coach for the Chicago Bulls.
All that said, I have to say that it is kind of nice to see my schedule as empty for the rest of the summer. With the new house, wedding planning, and our busiest month at Cressey Performance at-hand, it'll be nice to focus my efforts here both personally and professionally. I try to keep the summers reasonably free so that we can take weekend trips up to Maine to visit my parents a few times a month. Additionally, with a few of our minor league guys on the cusp of call-ups to the big leagues, I want to make sure that I can hop on a plane at a moment's notice to be there to support them and share in the excitement wherever they wind up making those MLB debuts.
Anyway, if you're in attendance in Chicago, please be sure to introduce yourself.
2.Those of you who can't make it would probably like this article as the next best thing: Medicine Ball Madness.
3. Oh, I should say that it looks like my second presentation coincides with the U.S. vs. Ghana World Cup game. Skip me, if you have to; I'd probably skip me, if I was in your shoes.
Check out this great article from Ryan Andrews at Precision Nutrition: Cattle Feedlot: Behind the Scenes.
4. Many of you might recall how much I abhor Comcast. Well, I'm happy to report that we officially kicked them to the curb about two weeks ago by making the switch to Verizon for our internet and cable - and I have to say that it was an awesome decision. The price, service, speed, and product offering don't just beat Comcast; they beat it like a red-headed rented mule. If you're thinking about making the switch, I highly recommend it.
Incidentally, I had to chuckle when I saw that MSN Money had released its list of the 2010 Customer Service Hall of Shame, and Comcast was in third place. Meanwhile, Sprint - which I had dropped for my cell phone service after seven years (also to go with Verizon) was listed as #4. I guess you could say that I was getting rid of the dead wood around here last month!
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This week, I've already featured our top articles, product reviews, and videos of 2009. I was also really lucky to have some bright minds as guest contributors this year, and today I'll feature a few of their submissions.
The Rocker Inferior Capsule Stretch - This excellent submission from physical therapist Tim DiFrancesco shows a shoulder mobility exercises we've used with some of our guys with excellent results. It includes some great videos like this:
So What Does a Pitching Coach Do, Anyway? - I love this guest blog from Matt Blake, a great pitching guy with whom I get to work daily. It just goes to show you that there is a lot more to understand than mechanics when it comes to developing elite pitchers.
Real Activation: Modifying a Classic Core Movement - Jim Smith is perhaps best known for being a true innovator when it comes to exercise selection, and this post was an excellent one for that very reason.
1. First off, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Before I get to the video footage from yesterday morning, I wanted to give you a couple of quick heads-ups on some seminars at which I'll be speaking in 2010 (just confirmed):
January 30, 2010: Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning 4th Annual Winter Seminar - Winchester, MA
March 7-8, 2010: NSCA Personal Trainers Conference - Las Vegas, NV
May 8-10, 2010: Sports Medicine 2010: Advances in MRI and Orthopaedic Management - Boston, MA
Hope to see some of you at one or more of these events!
2. A big congratulations goes out to CP athlete CJ Retherford, who hit the game-winning HR in the championship of the Arizona Fall League (Video HERE). CJ will be out to Boston to train when January rolls around.
3. And, just when we thought the post-baseball-season celebration was over, we learned that CP athlete Tim Collins was named Toronto Blue Jays Organizational Pitcher of the Year. Congratulations, Tim!
4. John Berardi is running a great sale on Precision Nutrition through December 1. They're offering them the Precision Nutrition System - including Gourmet Nutrition Version 1 and an all-access membership to their private Member Zone - plus a one-year subscription to their Results Tracker program, and free shipping to the US and Canada for just $99.00. If you haven't checked it out - or you have a family member or friend who could use some help on the nutrition side of things - I'd strongly encourage you to check this out. It's the single-best nutrition resource available on the web today: Precision Nutrition
5. We'll have the pictures and videos from the CP Thanksgiving lift posted as soon as possible. A camera was lost and we're in the process of finding it!
6. In the meantime, here are some recommended readings from the past here at EricCressey.com that might interest you:
Hip Injuries in Baseball: My take on the huge increase in hip issues in MLB players.
Stagnancy vs. Stability: Even in a dynamic field like strength and conditioning, the status quo is sometimes still just fine.
7. Just got this little bit of feedback on Assess and Correct from Mark Young of markyoungtrainingsystems.com:
"As a strength coach myself, I have literally read thousands of studies, textbooks, and articles relating to assessment and correction. But when I heard that Mike, Eric, and Bill were going to be putting together a product on this very subject I wanted to be first in line to put my hard earned money on the table. I think this product is going to change how people prepare for performance and that owning it is a must for anyone who is absolutely serious about results."
Check it out for yourself: Assess and Correct.
I'm headed to a Sox game tonight and have plenty to do around the facility before I go, so I thought I'd just use today to throw out a few quick reading recommendations:
Re-Building the Reverse Hyper - This great newsletter from Mike Robertson goes into some excellent detail on the biomechanics of a very controversial exercise - and how we can make it safer and more effective.
Wiggling Their Toes at the Show Giants - This is a piece in the NY Times that is actually surprisingly good. It goes hand-in-hand with my recommendation of Born to Run from a few weeks ago. Definitely check both the article and the book out.
Super Bowl Super Shakes - Dr. John Berardi just published this collection of shake recipes this week. It's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for some new ideas to add variety to your diet.
I received this email earlier this week from a very satisfied customer of The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual:
"Hi Eric,
I just thought I'd let you know of my progress after completing the first two months training from your offseason manual. At the same time I started, I also purchased Precision Nutrition and implemented a much improved eating plan to see me add strength and lose bodyfat whilst maintaining lean mass ready for the onset of the soccer pre-season at the start of July. So, after two months of Precision Nutrition eating and off-season training, in terms of measurements I have:
- lost 14lbs in weight
- lost 2 inches off my waist
- lost 3 1/4 inches off my hips
- lost 1 inch off my neck
- gained 1/2 inch on my shoulders
- maintained the same arm measurement with no direct arm training
and in the gym I have:
- added roughly 45lbs to my bench and squat
- 3RM chin of BW+45lbs
- 'straightened out' my previous anterior pelvic tilt
- improved my hamstring and adductor flexibility
In the eight weeks this took, I have eaten seven meals a day without fail that have with no exceptions adhered to the 10 habits of PN (allowing a slice of cake for desert once a week!). I have been in the gym everyday at 6am (bar Saturdays, my off-day), with Mondays and Wednesdays being my regeneration days, which I view as just as important as my four resistance days.
I can't wait for soccer preseason to start in July and see hopefully my hard work payoff (literally ££!!).
Thanks for providing the great resources to put me on the track to progression,
Andy Powell
United Kingdom"
Normally, my newsletters are "hidden" pages available only to our subscribers, but with the content today, I thought I'd open it up to the rest of the world. After all, it's not like you can just get a rock star like Dr. John Berardi to do an interview for your site. JB has been a friend and incredible resource to me for almost ten years now, and he's always got great information to share. So, without further ado, here is EricCressey.com's exclusive interview with Dr. John Berardi:
EC: First off, it's hard to believe that over the course of almost 150 newsletters, I never got around to interviewing you. Thanks for taking the time to jump in on this.
JB: Yea, tell me about it. I've been waiting by the phone for, like, three years now.
EC: Well, now that you've gone through all that therapy to get over me neglecting you, we might as well right to it. To start, fill us in on what you're up to these days. I know you moved back from Texas to the North Pole a while back, but I'm guessing that you aren't building toys and stuffing stockings all year. What's new with John Berardi and Precision Nutrition?
JB: Well, although working with high-level athletes is cool and all, when Santa calls for nutrition advice, you drop what you're doing and you head north.
In all seriousness, though, I'm actually splitting my time between Austin, Texas and a town called St. Catharines in Ontario. St Catharines is about 50 min outside Toronto and is basically the Napa Valley of Canada. The area is a tremendous agricultural gem and because of this, I have a never-ending supply of locally grown produce and wines as well as local, hormone-free, and often grass fed meat. So now, I've got two great towns to call my home.
EC: I hear you. When I was considering the move to Boston, the lack of grass-fed beef and local wines was a bit of a turnoff, but it was a sacrifice that I was willing to make because I just couldn't wait to sink my life savings into the Big Dig and the most inefficient state government in the United States - but I digress...How about the professional side of things?
JB: On the professional side, I just did a tally. As of last week, the Precision Nutrition community has grown to over 46,000 members in over 97 countries. I can't tell you how proud I am that we've been able to help out that many people.
And beyond this, we've also launched a couple of new programs for members of the community - our Lean Eating Coaching Program and our Clinical Services Program.
EC: 97 countries? Don't you want to just give out a few freebies in a few lesser known African nations to bring it to a cool 100? I would.Anyway, tell us about these two new things.
JB: First, our Lean Eating coaching program. Over the last few years, we've become coaching experts, working with everyone from recreational exercisers, to folks suffering from cardiovascular disease and diabetes, to multiple Olympic medalists.
And as a result of this experience, we've developed intensive group coaching programs for men and for women. Each coaching participant gets to work with us for 6 months. And the feedback we've gotten is tremendous - and so are the numbers. The average fat loss is 2-3lbs per month while following the program!
In addition, we're in the process of launching a clinical services suite where we're taking individualization to a whole new level. Using things like psychometric profiles, wellness-based blood analysis, and nutrigenomics profiling, we're now able to take a peek inside people's psychologies and physiologies to determine the absolute best way to coach them to success. This is like nothing our industry has seen before and I promise it's going to shake things up quite a bit.
EC: Very cutting-edge - but I think that's an adjective we've all come to associate with your name over time. To that end, I was chatting with a colleague recently and your name came up in the conversation. I told him that what amazed me was that you have not only taken a seemingly "boring" subject - nutrition - and made it "sexy" and "fun," but have actually done that for close to a decade now. What's the secret to your success?
JB: Well, thanks for saying that, although I don't know if it's actually true. However, if it is, it might be because of a few reasons.
First, I can't tell you how many "nutrition experts" I've met that wouldn't know a healthy diet if it came up and bit them on the ear. They may study nutrition. And they may teach nutrition. But they don't practice it. And that's why they all seem to possess the same ability to make nutrition super-boring. It's not real to them. They don't live it day in and day out.
On the other hand, I actually live the Precision Nutrition lifestyle. 365 days a year, I practice what I preach. And, I've been doing exactly that for about 20 years now. Plus, I've worked with a helluva lot of clients, at all levels. So I pretty much practice nutrition and think about nutrition all the time. Trust me, it makes a huge difference.
EC: I can definitely attest to that. Like you, I own my own business and have a lot of competing demands in my professional life, so it often seems that there aren't enough hours in the day. In other words, working efficiently and having energy all the time is of paramount importance. I've been following your work since the late 1990s and it's not only shaped my own personal nutrition practices, but also those of all of Cressey Performance's clients.
JB: And, you know, the funny thing is this. When you do what I do, and you've done it for this long, you realize that there are a lot of nuances to eating well. Sure, there's the what to eat, the when to eat, and the how much to eat. And these are all very interesting. But that's only scratching the surface.
There's also the psychology of eating, which is quite fascinating. There are genetic and individual differences associated with how each of us processes and tolerates foods. And we haven't even mentioned supplements yet. Nor have we talked about all the great new research that's coming out on food and nutrition every single day! By exploring each of these very interesting areas, it's pretty easy to keep things fresh, new, and, hopefully exciting.
EC: That's a good point.
JB: Also, I always try to keep in mind that nutrition in the present deals in generalities. There are recommended dietary intakes. There are food pyramids. There are general calculations for energy intake.
However, nutrition is evolving in exciting ways. It's becoming more individual. And with blood analysis, genomic profiling, and more in the very near future, we'll be able to prescribe highly individualized nutrition plans for folks based on just a few simple tests.
Indeed, the future is really exciting when it comes to nutrition. And I'm happy that I'm in the prime of my career so I can ride the wave of this new nutrition information and technology.
EC: Speaking of "evoluation," you've recently introduced Precision Nutrition: Version 3.0, which piggybacks on the first two installments. What's new in this version?
JB: As our 46,000 members can attest to, I'm relentless about keeping the Precision Nutrition System, the cornerstone of all of our nutrition recommendations, up to date.
So, every year or two, we release a new version. This time, it's our 3rd edition and this edition has improved upon V2 by an order of magnitude. Now, don't get me wrong, V2 was great. However, we've completely revised the content, we've added three new manuals/sections, and we've even given the whole project a facelift.
As of V3, here's what folks can find:
The PN Success Guide
The PN Diet Guide
The Quick Start Guide
The Super Shake Guide
5 Minute Meals
The Individualization Guide
The Measurement Guide
The Plant-Based Diet Guide (Brand New)
The Maintenance Guide (Brand New)
The Support Guide (Brand New)
In addition, we're now including Gourmet Nutrition V1, the Precision Nutrition Audio Collection, the Precision Nutrition Video Collection, and The Precision Nutrition Online Library. It's a ton of great stuff. Indeed, it's everything folks need to know to get the body they want.
EC: Absolutely. Thanks for helping out with the interview; sorry it took so long for us to make it happen!
JB: My pleasure. Thanks, Eric.
To find out more about Dr. John Berardi and his renowned Precision Nutrition System, head on over to PrecisionNutrition.com.Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a detailed deadlift technique tutorial!
1. I'm feeling good. It was our quietest week of the year at CP, so I've actually had a few days to get myself a bit organized. If this pace keeps up, I might even actually get my voice back by the time 2010 rolls around. I'm sure I'll be sick of the quiet by next week, but the good news is that there is a lot of baseball to watch, and UCONN is still looking good in March Madness.
2. Another reason to smile is that we had two high school sophomores (ages 16) hit 89mph readings on the radar gun outside in cold Massachusetts this week. The best part is that they weren't "everyone throws 90mph on the internet" readings; they were actually legitimate. It's going to be a fun spring around it; it's always nice to see guys rewarded for their hard work in the off-season.
3. Morgan Alexander - a member of the 2006 Canadian 4-man Bobsleigh team that finished fourth in the Olympics - is in town to train with me this week. Yesterday, he and I visited CP client Steph Holland-Brodney's third-grade class at a local elementary school.
On one hand, it fascinated me how brilliant these kids are with respect to working computers; each of them has a laptop at each desk, and they are incredibly proficient. Then, just as I'm about convinced that the future of America is bright with these kids, autograph time comes. Obviously, they wanted Morgan's autograph (and he signed a ton), but it never ceases to amaze me that they asked for mine, too. I signed sneakers, balloons, and note cards - and I'm pretty sure that I devalued them completely (if that's even possible) just with my signature.
4. Anyone who thinks that throwing submarine-style is easier on the arm needs to check out this picture (thanks to Paul Connolly for sending it along). This is some serious external rotation.
As you can tell, the real change in his throwing posture comes from the hips and trunk, not so much from the arm. As such, he'll encounter all the same flexibility deficits that regular pitchers experienceif they don't take care of their bodies.
5. The folks at Precision Nutrition published a great article about artificial sweeteners, particularly Splenda. Check it out: Splenda: Is it Safe?
That's all for today. Have a great weekend, folks!
Hey Gang,
A few months ago, Precision Nutrition contributor Erin Weiss-Trainor tracked me down for an interview of sorts where she inquired about what goes on in a day in the life of Eric Cressey. It includes training, nutrition, and what goes on at Cressey Performance. You can check it out at the link below:
Precision Nutrition Expert Profile: Eric Cressey
One of the pro baseball guys I work with from afar is in town this week for a check-in, and he bought ten protein bars for $10 in anticipation of eating out of airports. He was munching on one of them at the facility yesterday, and it was labeled as a "Triple Threat" for a) great taste, b) energy, and c) nutrition.
Now, you're talking to a guy who spent two years at business school before deciding to go the exercise science route, so I've got a little marketing analyst in me. We all know that lots of stuff can have double meanings - so I check out the first three ingredients:
1. Corn Syrup
2. Soy Crisps
3. "Chocolatey" Coating
Yes, it really had a "Y" on the end of the word. So, you not get a candy bar with crap ingredients, but also are treated like a child with words like "chocolatey."
Joking aside, the best protein bars available are the ones you make yourself. John Berardi has some awesome recipes in Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook (also available as part of the Precision Nutrition package).
