Home Posts tagged "Sports Nutrition"

CSP Elite Baseball Development Podcast: 10 Nutritional Considerations for High School Athletes with Dan Rosen

For this week's podcast, we have a guest host: Cressey Sports Performance - Florida strength and conditioning coach Dan Rosen. Dan heads the nutrition coaching for our athletes at CSP-FL, and I asked if he'd be up for delivering important nutrition messages for the younger athletes (and their parents and coaches) that follow this podcast. He came through with an excellent summary of the basics - and more importantly, some actionable items relating to them.

Before we get to it, though, a special thanks to this show's sponsor, Athletic Greens. Head to http://www.athleticgreens.com/cressey and you'll receive a free 10-pack of Athletic Greens travel packets with your first order.

 

You can follow Dan on Twitter at @DanFromCSP and Instagram at @drhumanperformance.

Sponsor Reminder

This episode is brought to you by AG1 by Athletic Greens. AG1 is your daily foundational nutrition; it has 75 whole-food sourced ingredients designed to support your body’s foundational nutrition needs across five critical areas of health: 1) energy, 2) immunity, 3) gut health, 4) hormonal support, and 5) healthy aging. It is the new and future way of getting a multivitamin, and a whole lot more. Head to www.AthleticGreens.com/cressey and claim my special offer today – 10 FREE travel packs – with your first purchase. I use AG1 daily myself and highly recommend it to our athletes as well. I’d encourage you to give it a shot, too – especially with this great offer.

Podcast Feedback

If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.

And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive Instant Access to a 47-minute Presentation from Eric Cressey on Individualizing the Management of Overhead Athletes!

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The Best of 2019: Podcasts

In 2019, I finally took the plunge in starting a long overdue CSP Elite Baseball Development Podcast. It's been a ton of time and effort, but the awesome feedback has made it worth it. Here are our top five episodes from the year:

1. Sparing the Spine with Dr. Stuart McGill - This might be a baseball podcast, but the world's most prolific spine researcher won't disappoint on any medium! Stu was outstanding and this is one for the ages.

2. To Ice or Not to Ice with Gary Reinl - Icing is a hot (terrible pun) topic in the sports medicine world. Gary touched on where this common practice began, and how we need to rethink its use.

3. Corey Kluber - The two-time Cy Young winner was our first podcast guest and didn't disappoint.

4. Making Nutritional Changes Stick with Dr. John Berardi - JB is one of the brightest nutritional minds out there, but he's also one of the best at understanding how to get through to people to create behavioral changes and, in turn, long-term success.

5. Building a Better Throwing Program with Alan Jaeger - This was a really fun discussion with Alan Jaeger that covered not only how to construct individualized throwing programs, but also how athletes can be advocates for their careers.

We're back to the regular EricCressey.com content this week. Thanks for all your support in 2019! We've got some great stuff planned for 2020.

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CSP Elite Baseball Development Podcast: Making Sense of Supplements with Angie Asche

We're excited to welcome sports dietitian Angie Ashe to this week's podcast. Angie does an outstanding job with nutritional counseling for a variety of athletes, and has a lot of experience working with baseball players in particular. In this episode, we delve into the controversial topic of nutrition supplementation.

A special thanks to this show's sponsor, Marc Pro. Head to www.MarcPro.com and enter the coupon code CRESSEY at checkout to receive 10% off on your order.

Show Outline

  • How Angie goes about starting nutritional conversations with her athletes and teaching them what they can do before looking to dietary supplements
  • Why athletes should be maximizing what they are eating and drinking before worrying about what supplements they should be taking
  • What supplement story initially sparked Angie’s interest in the world of supplements as a dietician
  • Where athletes can be misguided by the hype around supplements
  • What supplements Angie sees as must-haves in all peoples’ diets
  • What boxes Angie looks to check before recommending dietary supplementation in youth athletes
  • Why individuals need to be aware of the post-market testing model exploited by the supplement industry in order to understand the importance of buying third party verified products
  • How being conscious of ingredients on supplement labels can make it easier for consumers to identify safe and ethical supplements
  • What supplements are a complete waste of money
  • What athletes need to know about popular supplements such as BCAAs, collagen powders, probiotics, and glutamine
  • What to look for and stray away from when investing in protein powders
  • What guidelines Angie recommends for consuming creatine and how it can be used to improve athletic performance
  • With the heightened popularity of preworkout and energy drinks, why athletes should be cognizant of the source of their caffeine consumption and what Angie recommends for caffeine intake in one’s diet
  • What research says about the benefits of drinking coffee and how obtaining caffeine from healthy sources is often overlooked for healthy living and improving human performance
  • How individuals should be concerned about consuming more processed protein sources as more people are moving away from animal consumption and towards alternative diets
  • Where Angie goes to learn more about nutrition and stay up to date on the research of the field
  • What Angie’s go-to smoothie is for skinny individuals looking to gain weight
  • Where Angie sees future research in the nutrition community heading

You can follow Angie on Twitter at @EleatNutrition and on Instagram at @EleatNutrition.

Sponsor Reminder

This episode is brought to you by Marc Pro, a cutting-edge EMS device that uses patented technology to create non-fatiguing muscle activation. Muscle activation with Marc Pro facilitates each stage of the body’s natural recovery process- similar to active recovery, but without the extra effort and muscle fatigue. Athletes can use it for as long as they need to ensure a more full and quick recovery in between training or games. With its portability and ease of use, players can use Marc Pro while traveling between games or while relaxing at home. Players and trainers from every MLB team - including over 200 pro pitchers - use Marc Pro. Put Marc Pro to the test for yourself with their new "Try Before you Buy" program, and use promo code CRESSEY at checkout at www.MarcPro.com for 10% off on your order.

Podcast Feedback

If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.

And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive Instant Access to a 47-minute Presentation from Eric Cressey on Individualizing the Management of Overhead Athletes!

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 8/26/19

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.

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So many people hate on big leg kicks because they think it makes things too high maintenance. I wish more people would realize that any potential drawbacks are usually outweighed by the fact that this unloading of the front leg increases back hip load and can actually make rotational force production more efficient because ideal direction is preserved. I don’t think the baseball or S&C field as a whole appreciates that a lot of athletes barely get into their back hips during hitting, pitching, med ball work, etc. Sometimes, a bigger leg lift in front is the quickest way to find the back hip. 💪 Congrats to @19boknows for a great start in the show. Lots of hard work rewarded, no doubt. Product of a great family - and a heck of a first hitting coach! #Repost @mlb @get_repost_easily #repost_easily ****** Start your day with some slow-mo Bo.

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Elite Baseball Development Podcast: Making Nutritional Changes Stick with Dr. John Berardi

We're excited to welcome the co-founder of Precision Nutrition, Dr. John Berardi to this week's podcast. In lieu of a sponsor this week, we've just got a reminder about this year's fall seminar and business building mentorship at CSP-MA. They'll take place September 21-23; you can learn more HERE.

Show Outline

  • How Berardi became the fitness influencer and successful businessman he is today
  • Where Precision Nutrition began, and how John has grown a massively successful company in the health industry
  • What the core values and mission of Precision Nutrition are
  • How John differentiates Precision Nutrition through the creation of digestible, interactive content and what John’s model is for mastering marketing and creating influential content consistently
  • How understanding the basics of nutrition and executing the simple things at the table are the common problems of all populations John works with
  • What John’s first step is when working with a new client looking to change their eating habits
  • How John works to define his client’s health goals and identify their dietary limiting factors in order to drive behavioral changes that will yield results
  • Why John strives to inspire autonomy in his clients by creating a simple nutritional plan built on small changes rather than creating a complicated, restrictive eating experience with rules and regulations
  • How parents can learn to speak more effectively with their children about food and what strategies they can implement to create an atmosphere of happy, healthy eating
  • How John approaches educating his athletic populations about nutrition
  • How John deals with athletes who want to make drastic changes to their eating habits and experiment with a new type of eating (i.e. keto, gluten-free, vegan, etc.)
  • How John would update his “7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutrition Programs” if he were to rewrite them today
  • How individuals can fine tune their eating environment and become more attuned with their hunger and appetite
  • How John’s new book, can help health and fitness industry professionals learn more about business, building a reputation, and orienting a career
     
  • Here's where you can find John and Precision Nutrition on the web:

    Precision Nutrition (Facebook)
    Precision Nutrition (Instagram)
    JohnBerardi.com
    PrecisionNutrition.com
    ChangeMakerAcademy.com

    And, to pre-order his new book, head to the following link: Change Maker: Turn Your Passion for Health and Fitness into a Powerful Purpose and Wildly Successful Career

Podcast Feedback

If you like what you hear, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving us an iTunes review. You can do so HERE.

And, we welcome your suggestions for future guests and questions. Just email elitebaseballpodcast@gmail.com.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive Instant Access to a 47-minute Presentation from Eric Cressey on Individualizing the Management of Overhead Athletes!

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 5/13/19

I hope you had a great weekend. After being a bit all over the place on when I published these features, we're back on a Monday schedule with these recommended readings.

Table for One: How Eating Alone is Radically Changing Our Diets - I came across this article on The Guardian the other day and found it really interesting socially and nutritionally.

Speed Training for Hockey - I don't have a big hockey following on this blog, but Kevin Neeld (Head Performance Coach for the Boston Bruins) is a good friend, former intern, and super bright mind in the hockey training field. He just released this resource, and it's available at an excellent discount. If you train hockey players (or are one), it's a no brainer to pick it up. I actually went through it and found some excellent ideas we can use with our baseball athletes as well.

5 Important Lessons on Balance Training - I wrote this article about a year ago, and a recent social media discussion brought it back to the forefront.

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Here’s a preliminary rendering of the new 10,000-square-foot @cresseysportsperformance FL facility in #palmbeachgardens. It’ll open up this winter. Some notes: 1️⃣ the grassy area in front of the building will actually be a turfed infield and double as a Miracle League field 2️⃣ the West (left, in this photo) end of the roof will extend out to cover hitting cages and pitching mounds 3️⃣ we aren’t renaming CSP as “The Sports Center;” we’re just working through signage logistics 4️⃣ the building will back up to the right field line of a showcase stadium field 5️⃣ this is the view from @lomogram’s parking spot 🤣 We’re excited for what will be a great one-stop shop for athletes and general fitness clients alike. In particular, Palm Beach Gardens is quickly evolving as a training and competitive destination for baseball players from around the country. We’re thrilled to be a part of that evolution. #cspfamily

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 6/21/18

I hope you're having a great week. I'm gearing up for a weekend of presenting in Colorado, but the good news is that having some flights opens up some time for distraction-free reading and writing on the plane. Here are some good reads from around the 'net from the past week:

New Rules for Being a Strength Coach - Todd Hamer wrote this great piece up for EliteFTS, and I love the concept of continuous improvement in strength and conditioning. Todd's a guy who is always seeking to get better, no matter how long he's been in the industry.

Having an Approach to Having an Approach - This was a guest blog I wrote for my business partner, Pete Dupuis, a few years ago. I cover some fitness business concepts, including networking and lifetime value of a customer.

5 No-Diet Ways to Get Lean - I really liked this article from Dani Shugart on behavior modifications for nutritional success.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 5/22/17

I hope you all had a great weekend. I turned 36 on Saturday, and it was a pretty mellow, unremarkable birthday - which is exactly what I wanted! Here's a little recommended reading/listening/viewing for you to kick off the week:

Lat Injuries in Major League Baseball - Here's an article from Lindsay Berra on an injury on the rise in MLB. I chipped in some info on the function of the lats in throwing.  

EC on The Fit Clique Podcast - I hopped on Chris Doherty's podcast last week, and you can check it out on YouTube:

Business Bench Pressing with Pete Dupuis - Speaking of podcast, my business partner, Pete, shared some great business tips for fitness professionals on The Fitcast a few weeks ago.

How Harmful Are Processed Foods? - The Examine.com crew has been on a roll with great content lately; here's another example.

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Is a Calorie Really Just a Calorie?

About six months ago, I posted the following Tweet, and the response got a bit "interesting."

While most folks shared my sentiment, there were also a small number of followers who decided to hop on a soapbox and remind me that very few food are, in fact, evil, and that total calories are really what matters in the energy balance equation. Months later, Brian St. Pierre (Director of Performance Nutrition for Precision Nutrition) made the following observation during his seminar at Cressey Sports Performance:

It got me to thinking about how it'd be a good idea to bring Brian in for a guest blog on the topic, so here it is. It's especially timely, as Brian wrote the nutrition guide for The High Performance Handbook, which is on sale for $30 off this week.

I'll let Brian take it from here; enjoy! -EC

Energy balance determines body weight, not necessarily body composition.

There has been a lot of debate about the energy balance equation in the fitness industry. Perhaps, after all, calories-in vs. calories-out is not the ultimate determinant of long-term body weight. Lets put some of it to rest right now.

It is a fundamental law that you need a positive or negative energy (i.e. calorie) balance over time to gain or lose bodily tissues (e.g. muscle, fat).

It is possible to manipulate bodyweight through changes in the amount of extracellular fluid (i.e. water) one is carrying. But this does not reflect changes in mass that matters to most people – muscle or fat.

And to be clear, the energy balance equation is actually more complicated and intertwined than it appears. Energy-in and energy-out are not mutually exclusive – a change to one affects the other. Neither side is static.

Your energy in and energy out are both generally regulated by your brain, so when you purposefully and significantly alter one of those, the brain and body often tries to compensate.

Like so:

This is why calorie math can seem so flawed. You expect your daily 500kcal deficit to lead to a weekly 3500kcal deficit, which should theoretically lead to one pound of fat loss per week.

But this isn’t how the body works. Once you start lowering intake, output gets lowered to account for that. And as you start losing weight, output gets lowered more (because you are moving a smaller body, and due to adaptive thermogenesis).

Plus, if linear math worked for weight loss, you would lose one pound per week indefinitely with that 500kcal deficit, which clearly doesn’t work.

Ok, so we’ve established that energy balance ultimately dictates long-term bodyweight.

But, that doesn’t mean that all calories-in, or even all calories-out, are equal.

So, what determines body composition?

Actually, many things. Body composition is ultimately determined by:

• energy balance
• macronutrient intake (especially protein)
• age and sex hormone levels
• exercise style/frequency/intensity/duration (e.g. resistance training vs marathon training vs walking)
• medication use (e.g. birth control)
• genetic predisposition (as well as epigenetics, or even just gene expression)
• sleep quality and quantity
• stress
• and more

Ultimately, this brings me back to the question of: is a calorie a calorie?

On one hand, the answer is yes. A calorie is a unit of measure, so of course a calorie is a calorie.

On the other hand, not all calories consumed have equal absorption or digestion kinetics, cause the same hormonal response, or have the same effects on bodily tissues.

If one ate 3000kcal per day of highly processed foods vs 3000kcal per day of lean protein, fibrous veggies, and minimally processed carbs and fats, the two intakes wouldn’t necessarily have the same long-term outcome on body weight.

Because the composition of the calories-in would have differing impacts on calories-out (e.g. thermic effect of feeding would be higher with the minimally processed foods intake and higher protein), as well there would be fewer calories absorbed from the minimally processed foods. Thus, the minimally processed intake would result in more calories-out, and less calories-in overall.

And it especially wouldn’t have the same long-term outcome on one’s body composition. Particularly due to the very low protein intake from the highly processed diet, which would likely lead to lean mass loss over time. Not too mention the differences in micronutrient intake, likely impacting hormone status, energy levels, etc.

(And of course, these differing intakes certainly would not have the same outcome on long-term health. Nor does this take into account the drastically different effects on satiation and satiety these diets would create. Nor many other factors that influence eating. Which are nicely outlined here.)

Too often, I see fitness pros arguing that food quality doesn’t matter. That the only thing that matters is meeting your calorie and macro goals.

This is likely mostly true for body weight and body composition management, at least for the short term.

However, there are other elements at play here for long-term health, body composition, performance, and quality of life.

Fiber intake, phytonutrients, effects of food on gene expression, effects on satiety and satiation, enjoyment of intake for sustainability. And so much more.

The fact is most people aren’t going to count macros. Some might, and that’s awesome. Use that approach with those folks. However, most won’t.

So, by getting folks to focus on eating mostly minimally processed foods, as well as adequate protein, it can make it easier for them to control their energy balance and get in an appropriate intake of macronutrients.

Minimally processed foods help to accomplish this in many ways:
• generally less calorie-dense
• higher in water content
• higher in fiber content
• generally not hyper-rewarding
• generally not hyper-palatable
• cause faster satiation (satisfaction to end a meal)
• increase satiety levels (levels of satisfaction between meals)

Ultimately, pretty much all foods can fit into a healthy and sustainable intake. The amount to which they fit in will depend on the person and their goals.

As usual, most things fall onto a spectrum. Instead of preaching that people shouldn’t eat any white carbs, or gluten, or sugar, or whatever the demon of the day is, or that all that matters is IIFYM, the best bet for most people is to end up somewhere in the middle.

Both food quality and quantity matter. For most people, who aren’t going to weigh or measure every bit of food they eat, food quality will actually impact food quantity for the reasons outlined above.

This doesn’t mean folks need to eat “clean” - whatever that might mean. It simply means most folks would do best eating mostly minimally processed foods. Processed foods are okay, too, in reasonable amounts. They should just be eaten less often, or in smaller quantities. It’s the context of someone’s entire intake that determines their body weight and body composition, not any one food.

In the end, remember that while energy balance does determine your body weight, there are other important factors in addition to energy balance that determines your body composition.

Note: all the references to this article will be posted as the first comment below.

Looking for more great nutrition lessons, practical recommendations, and sample meal plans? Check out Brian's Nutrition Guide as part of The High Performance Handbook Gold Package.

About the Author

A Certified Sports Nutritionist as well as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Brian St. Pierre also holds a Master’s degree in human nutrition and dietetics. As a student, Brian’'s passion led him to Cressey Sports Performance, where he worked as the facility's first intern, and subsequently as a strength coach and the center’'s head nutritionist. Now he serves as Precision Nutrition's Director of Performance Nutrition. 

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Quick Takeaways from a Day with Brian St. Pierre

Yesterday, Brian St. Pierre of Precision Nutrition delivered an excellent seminar at Cressey Sports Performance - Florida. I live Tweeted the event, so I thought I'd share some of the big takeaways with some reposts here:

C8-V-OEU0AAhDEz 

You can learn more about Brian and the great work the folks at Precision Nutrition are doing HERE.

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