Here are a few recommended reads to kick off the week:
The Truth About Gluten - Here's an excellent piece from Dr. Mike Roussell on how gluten intolerance can sabotage your nutritional efforts.
Waterhorse: The Legend of Tim Collins' Nickname - This was a funny write-up in the Kansas City Star on how Cressey Performance Athlete and KC Royals pitcher Tim Collins got his nickname while training at CP.
Why I Do Not Like YTWL Shoulder Exercises - Here's a great post from Mike Reinold - and I agree with him 100%.
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Q: I have followed Tim Collins' story on your website and was very impressed with his quick path to the big leagues. Obviously, preparation has been a huge part of success and that’s where my question lies. Like Tim, I am a relief pitcher and often wonder what pro guys and in Tim's case knowledgeable pro guys, do for a warm-up prior to throwing in the pen to get in the game. I was wondering if maybe you can shed some light on what guys at your facility do as far as a warm-up to throwing. It seems like every time I see a pro guy throw, they get up after not moving for seven innings and just throw and come in the game blowing 96mph without their arm tearing in three different spots. Is there a warm-up routine your guys do before they might come in? I appreciate any info.
A: This is actually one of the more common questions that I receive, and I'm kind of surprised at myself for never covering it in a blog post. There are a few important prerequisite considerations to take into account before I tell you what I encourage our guys to do:
1. Sadly, most guys don't do anything. That doesn't make this right; it just means that they are setting the stage for getting hurt further down the line. Just because you throw with sloppy mechanics or muscular weakness doesn't mean that you'll get hurt the second you pick up a ball; you get hurt from the cumulative effect over time. So, just because a guy can go in and throw hard with a short, insufficient warm-up doesn't mean that he'll be doing that a few years from now.
2. You can't compare professional guys to lower level guys for a lot of reasons. First, professional bullpens usually have powerful heaters in place to keep guys' body temperatures up - which makes it easier to warm up when the time is right. Additionally, most professional pitchers (whether they make use of them or not) have plenty of access to massage therapy and manual stretching from team personnel, so their "resting state" is probably more prepared than most college pitchers I see. High school kids tend to be the most "indestructible" of the bunch, as they haven't accumulated as much wear and tear on their bodies.
That said, regardless of experience and what you have at your fingertips for massage and other amenities, warming up to come out of the bullpen can be pretty stressful for guys. On one hand, you kick out some serious stress hormones, which can get you fired up and ready to go, but on the other hand, it's not good to be excited and ready to roll hormonally and psychologically if you aren't there physically just yet.
With that in mind, I encourage guys to do their normal pre-game warm-ups like everyone else and try to sustain that body temperature and transient mobility increase by dressing warmly and trying to move around in the bullpen as much as possible. Then, as it gets closer and closer to the time that they may need to enter the game (I usually just tell guys to start at the end of the fourth), I have guys start doing 2-3 multi-joint dynamic flexibility drills every half-inning. An example would be a walking spiderman with overhead reach, which is going to take you into hip abduction and extension, thoracic spine extension and rotation, glenohumeral horizontal abduction and external rotation, and elbow extension (among other movements).
By doing a few of these each half-inning, you ensure that your body temperature and mobility never drop off transiently. Plus, you ensure that you don't lose mobility over the course of a long season, as you're working on it even if you don't wind up pitching.
As an interesting little aside to all of this, is a reliever that much different than, say, a center fielder when it comes to needing to stay warm throughout the entire game just in case? He might do his pre-game warm-ups and then spend the next few hours alternating standing around and sitting with bursts of 100% effort with swinging, throwing, and sprinting. Have you ever heard of a center fielder complaining that he can't get loose enough to track down a fly ball, crow hop and throw a laser to the plate, or leg out an infield single? Of course not! And, it's simply because he is more active than relievers even when he isn't actively participating in the game. Every inning, he's playing catch and jogging to and from the outfield on top of making a contribution defensively or at the plate every 20-30 minutes.
So, in summary, do a thorough pre-game warm-up, do more "fidgeting" in the bullpen, and then hit 2-3 multi-joint dynamic flexibility drills (check out The High Performance Handbook for dozens of examples) every half-inning starting in the 4th. Then, go to your specific throwing warm-up and head out to start blowing 96mph...safely.
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I just wanted to put out this quick note for my readers out there who may be baseball fans located near a professional baseball park. It's a listing of where the participants in this season's off-season program will begin the year. Please comment if you're located near one of these teams and plan on heading out to support our guys, as it's awesome to know when our players have a good audience cheering them on.
This list progresses from East to West, American to National League (by organizational affiliation):
Chad Jenkins – Dunedin, FL (Blue Jays High A)
Matt Abraham – Dunedin, FL (GCL Blue Jays)
Kevin Youkilis – Boston, MA (Boston Red Sox)
Jeremy Hazelbaker – Salem, VA (Red Sox High A)
Jeremiah Bayer – Salem, VA (Red Sox High A)
Matt Kramer – Ft. Myers, FL (GCL Red Sox)
Craig Albernaz – Montgomery, AL (Rays AA)
Kevin Moran – Kannapolis, NC (White Sox Low A)
Phil Negus – Kannapolis, NC (White Sox Low A)
Corey Kluber – Columbus, OH (Indians AAA)
Tim Collins – Kansas City, MO (Kansas City Royals)
Anthony Seratelli – Northwest Arkansas (Royals AA)
Kevin Pucetas – Omaha, NE (Royals AAA)
Crawford Simmons – Kane County, IL (Royals Low A)
Matt Perry – Lakeland, FL (GCL Tigers)
Ryan O’Rourke – Beloit, WI (Twins Low A)
Tim Kiely – Little Rock, AK (Angels AA)
Trystan Magnuson – Sacramento, CA (A’s AAA)
Shawn Haviland – Midland, TX (A’s AA)
Jeff Bercume – Phoenix, AZ (AZL Athletics)
Nick McBride – Hickory, NC (Rangers Low A)
Ryan Rodebaugh – Hickory, NC (Rangers Low A)
Chad Rodgers – Lynchburg, VA (Braves High A)
Cory Gearrin – Gwinnett (Braves AAA)
Tim Gustafson – Pearl, MS (Braves AA)
Steve Cishek – New Orleans, LA (Marlins AAA)
Matt Bouchard – St. Lucie, FL (Mets High A)
Chris McKenzie – Hagerstown, MD (Nationals Low A)
Bryan LaHair – Des Moines, IA (Cubs AAA)
Steffan Wilson – Huntsville, AL (Brewers AA)
Cory Riordan – Tulsa, OK (Rockies AA)
Dan Houston – Modesto, CA (Rockies High A)
Will Inman – Tuscon, AZ (Padres AAA)
Kyle Vazquez – Scottsdale, AZ (AZL Giants)
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Today's blog post should kick off your week with some good reading recommendations:
1. Collins Brings New Meaning to Short Relief - This article from Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports has been one of the best features on Tim Collins that I've seen thus far - and he gets bonus points for the shout-out to Cressey Performance in there (even links to some videos of Tim training on my YouTube page).
2. Something to Watch: CP athlete Danny O'Connor will be fighting on Showtime tonight (Friday), so be sure to check it out if you're surfing channels and you've got it in your programming lineup.
3.Metabolic Cooking - Just a friendly reminder that the 52% off introductory price on this great healthy recipe resource ends tonight (Friday) at midnight. Several people have purchased it after my review earlier this week and have actually emailed me to say thank you for the recommendation.
4. The Truth about Real Butter - While on the topic of nutrition, here's a solid blog post from Brian St. Pierre on why butter isn't as bad as you probably thought in the past.
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After I published my feature on Tim Collins' rise to the big leagues the other day, I had quite a few requests from readers to update them on how Tim did - so I thought I'd post a quick blog about it today.
Tim actually made his MLB debut on opening day, entering the game for the ninth inning with the Royals down 4-2. He pitched one inning, and gave up one hit and one walk, but no runs. He had one strikeout...of Torii Hunter (who'd hit a mammoth 461-foot HR earlier in the game).
It was a pretty special day for all of us. Sorry for the grainy photo (taken from my Blackberry), but here's Tim with my business partner, Pete, and me prior to the game.
As an interesting little aside to all of this, the phrase "Tim Collins" was actually trending on Twitter at the time that he entered the game on Thursday. My original piece was retweeted 75 times and recommended 270 times on Facebook, making it the busiest traffic day in EricCressey.com history - so that had to get the ball rolling in some regard. More importantly, I think a lot of people had really just been waiting for the debut, as it's an awesome story.
On a funny aside, we were joking that although he was trending on Twitter, no Kansas City fans would recognize him out of his jersey when we went out to dinner after the opener. That was true; we had a quiet dinner with Tim and his parents. The only recognition came when an arm reached back to grab Tim as we left the restaurant at 10:15PM.
It was Torii Hunter, the 13-year MLB veteran who is making $18 million this year and surely meets hundreds of new people every day. However, he recognized Tim - and took the time to congratulate him on his debut, tell him he was impressed with his stuff, and wish him well this season and beyond. Class act. Maybe we ought to all be Angels fans for a day in his honor?
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support.
UPDATE: Tim wound up picking up his first MLB win on Sunday afternoon, pitching the 11th, 12th, and 13th innings for the Royals in their win over the Angels. His final line was 3IP, 2H, 0BB, 0ER, 5K. Check out the video highlight of his appearance.
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Professional baseball really is an enigma.
On one hand, some professional players are bad-bodied one-trick ponies who aren’t athletic enough to train their way out of a wet paper bag. And, many of them are okay with it.
On the other hand, you’ve got players getting arrested for crimes so stupid that you wonder if they even appreciate the fact that they get to play a game for millions of dollars each year. They’re just so anxious to take it for granted that they let waste it away.
It would be a really depressing picture if it wasn’t for optimism and enthusiasm of the millions of up-and-coming baseball players around the globe who dream of one day playing in the big leagues. And, we DO have some diamonds in the rough in professional baseball who stand out as fantastic role models for these aspiring players with their efforts both on and off the field.
I’m thrilled to say that the major leagues gained another Ambassador of Awesomeness today when the Kansas City Royals announced that Cressey Performance Athlete Tim Collins would be on their opening day roster - and that's why I'm probably on a plane to Kansas City as you read this. While hundreds of young athletes (and our staff and adult clients) in the Cressey Performance circle alone already appreciate Tim as a tremendously positive influence in our community, with this promotion, a lot more people are going to appreciate just how special Tim’s story is.
If you’ve read this blog at all in the past, you’ve probably come across Tim’s story as the ultimate longshot. In case you missed it, check out this article.
The long story short is that Tim was overlooked by every single Division 1 school in the country in spite of being the ace of a high school team that compiled a record of 91-5 over Tim’s four years of school. His high school numbers were absolutely video-game-like, but he was overlooked because he was only 5-5, 130 pounds. Former Toronto Blue Jays general manager JP Ricciardi came across Tim by accident in the summer of 2007 when scouting an American Legion game – where Tim struck out all 12 batters he faced with a low 80s fastball, but an absolute “Kaboom” curveball. Two days later, JP and the Blue Jays took a leap of faith, and in the single greatest baseball scouting story I’ve come across, signed Tim – who, at age 17, had never left the Northeast – and sent him to rookie ball…the next day!
This is where Cressey Performance entered the equation. Tim had been committed to play at the Community College of Rhode Island on a baseball scholarship – and he was going to be roommates with another one of my athletes. The two had played against one another in high school extensively and stayed in touch – and when Tim got back from his first few months in minor league baseball, this “roommate that never was” encouraged me to reach out to Tim because he thought I could really help Tim. I made the call, and the next day, here’s what walked in to CP on October 12, 2007:
That, folks, is what 5-5, 131 pounds looks like. And, that’s a body that was lucky to touch 82-83 on the radar gun. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, though.
That first week, my business partner, Tony, and I took Tim to the track with us to do some movement training. I figured, “Hey, this is a professional athlete; he’ll be able to move pretty well.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. Tony and I whipped him all over the track. He got beaten by a good 8-10 yards on every single sprint, and spent more time wheezing than he did training. He had the fuzzy dice (curveball), but no horse power in the engine. His vertical jump was 25.0 inches (a peak power of 4497 watts, considering the body weight of 131).
It would have been very easy for Tim to tap out that morning at the track. He could have just resigned himself to being a slug in the off-season like so many professional baseball players. Pitchers aren’t athletes, right? Well, this one committed himself to becoming one.
Over the next three off-seasons, the entire Cressey Performance community watched Tim transform. Each year, his weight and athleticism shot up – and he’s now about 172 pounds with a vertical jump of 38.7 inches (7453 watts - or a 66% improvement in 3.5 years).
More importantly, this athleticism directly carried over to increased throwing velocity and pitching performance. In 2008, he jumped up to 87-89mph. In 2009, it was 90-92, and 2010, he was 92-94 – while reportedly touching a 97 on the stadium gun. Oh, and entering the 2011 season, Tim had a career ERA of 2.26 in 223 professional innings, - with 329 strikeouts (13.3 per 9 innings). And, he just turned 21 in September.
That’s the tip of the iceberg, though. We’ve had lots of guys get more athletic and perform better in their chosen sports. There are a few things that make Tim’s story even more special.
First, of course, is the simple fact that he defied the odds and has made it to the big leagues as a long-shot – when only 3% of players ever drafted ever make it this far in their career. And, he did it as an undrafted free agent signing. Nobody ever crunches the numbers on these guys because, frankly, it almost never happens; they are scouting “afterthoughts.”
So, it’s an awesome story because it meant that every time Tim went out and “shoved” against opposing hitters on his way through the minor leaguers, he also “shoved” against baseball traditionalism. He showed that pitchers need to be athletes, that strength and conditioning really can change a career significantly, and that there are some situations where scouts really don’t know a stud from a dud. And, he has shown – and will continue to show – loads of impressionable young athletes that working hard really does pay off, even while other professional athletes are being lazy and destroying their bodies and careers, or being unethical and taking the easy way out.
Second, and more interestingly to me, I’ve watched Tim mature exponentially as a person – far moreso than anyone else his age who went to college. He was thrown into the real world quickly, and he matured and thrived, coming out of his shell and becoming a wildly popular part of Cressey Performance. The kid who used to barely talk when he came in to train now spends about eight hours a day at CP – between training and just hanging out in the office chatting with other clients and our staff. In perhaps my favorite story, last spring, we watched Tim sell over 90 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for one of our adult client’s daughter. He literally set up a makeshift desk in our office and met everyone at the door. And, even against the objections of CP nutrition expert, Brian St. Pierre, just about everyone obliged because, well, it was Tim – and he makes people smile.
Simply, changing his body and surrounding himself with the right people in the right environment played a big part in shaping Tim as a person. While quantifiable results are certainly very important, these more subjective changes are ones that every fitness professional and strength and conditioning coach hopes for with their clients and athletes. As I see Tim signing autographs, doing charity work, and taking younger players under his wing, I’m thrilled that he’s “paying it forward.”
The Kansas City Royals might not be a favorite to win the American League Central, but there’s still something to be excited about in Kansas City right now: a great guy getting to live a dream to which he has dedicated himself relentlessly to achieve.
Congratulations, Tim. I know I can speak for all the Cressey Performance staff and clients when I say that we couldn’t be more proud of you and happy for you. Thanks for having us all along for the ride!
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Just over three years ago, during a period where oblique strains were on the rise in professional baseball and the USA Today profiled this "new" injury, I wrote an article on what I perceived to be the causes of the issue. Check it out: Oblique Strains and Rotational Power.
This year, the topic has come back to the forefront, as players like Joba Chamberlain, Sergio Mitre, Curtis Granderson, and Brian Wilson have experienced the injury this spring training alone.
While my thoughts from the initial article are still very much applicable, I do have some additional thoughts on the matter for 2011:
1.Is anyone surprised that the rise in oblique injuries in baseball is paralleled by the exponential rise in hip injuries and lower back pain? I don't care whether you work in a factory or play a professional sport; violent, repetitive, and persistently unilateral-dominant rotation (especially if it is uncontrolled) will eventually chew up a hip, low back, or oblique; it's just a matter of where people break down.
In other words, pro athletes are generating a tremendous amount of power from the hips - moreso, in fact, than they ever have before thanks to the advances in strength training, nutrition, supplementation, and, unfortunately, in some cases, illegal "pharmaceutical interventions." Assuming mechanics are relative good (as they should be in a professional athlete), rotate a hip faster and you'll improve bat speed and throwing velocity; it's that simple. This force production alone is enough to chew up a labrum, irritate a hip capsule, and deliver enough localized eccentric stress to cause a loss in range of motion. The Cliff's Notes version is that we've increased hip strength and power (more on this in a bit), but most folks have overlooked tissue quality (foam rolling, massage, and more focal approaches like Active Release and Graston) and mobility training.
If the hips stiffen up, the lumbar spine will move excessively in all planes of motion - and, in turn, affect the positioning of the thoracic spine. Throw off the thoracic spine, and you'll negatively impact scapular (and shoulder), respiratory (via the rib cage), and cervical spine. Hips that are strong - but have short or stiff musculature can throw off the whole shebang.
2. "Strong" isn't a detailed enough description. I think that it goes beyond that, as you have to consider that a big part of this is a discrepancy between concentric and eccentric strength. Concentrically, you have the trailing leg hip generating tremendous rotational power, and eccentrically, you have the lead leg musculature decelerating that rotation.
Moreover, because the front hip can't be expected to dissipate all that rotational velocity - and because the thoracic spine is rotating from the drive of the upper extremities - you put the muscles acting at the lumbar spine in a situation where they must provide incredible stiffness to resist rotation. It is essentially the opposite of being between a rock and a hard place; they are the rock between two moving parts. Structurally, though, they're well equipped to handle this responsibility; just look at how the line of pull of each of these muscles (as well as the tendinous inscriptions of the rectus abdominus) runs horizontally to resist rotation. That's eccentric control.
How do we train it? Definitely not with sit-ups, crunches, or sidebends. The former are too sagittal plane oriented and not particularly functional at all. The latter really doesn't reflect the stability-oriented nature of our "core." The bulk of our oblique strain prevention core training program should be movements that resist rotation:
While on the topic, it's also important to resist lumbar hypextension, as poor anterior core strength can allow the rib cage to flare up (increases the stretch on the most commonly injured area of the obliques: at the attachment to the 11th rib on the non-throwing side) and even interfere with ideal respiratory function (the diaphragm can't take on its optimal dome shape, so we overuse accessory breathing muscles like pec minor, sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, etc).
So, to recap: I don't think oblique strains are a new injury epidemic or the result of team doctors just getting better with diagnostics. Rather, I think that we're talking about a movement dysfunction that has been prevalent for quite some time - but we just happen to have had several of them in a short amount of time that has made the media more alert to the issue. The truth is that if we worried more about "inefficiency" and not pathology," journalists could have "broken" this story a long time ago.
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This is the fourth installment of a series on in-season strength and conditioning for baseball. In case you missed them, here are links to check out the first three parts of this series:
Today, I'll be talking about what I believe to be the optimal set-up for professional baseball players. This might be a minority in the big picture of all the baseball players on the planet, but pro guys' responses to in-season strength and conditioning programs can really tell us a lot.
Professional baseball players are the ones with the most accumulated wear and tear on their bodies, so effective programming is essential. Likewise, they play daily games - often upwards of 200 per year when you combine spring training, the regular season, and post-season play - so you really need to be able to manage competing demands and fatigue if you want to keep pro guys healthy and performing at a high level.
We'll break things down by position.
Position Players
Position players tend to represent the widest range of preferences. On one hand, you have guys who are completely dragging from having to stand on their feet for hours upon end day-after-day.
On the other hand, I've known guys who literally want to do something every single day - whether it's lifting, med ball, sprinting, or a combination of one or more. Don't believe me? Here's an awesome email I got from a big league middle infielder who trained 5x/week (3-4 lifting sessions and 1-2 movement training sessions):
I want to thank you for all that you've done for me, EC. In this my 18th professional season, I can say, without a doubt, this is the best I've felt during any season. By following your program, I was able to stay strong and explosive the whole season. This is the best I've felt after the season too. I don't have any nagging injuries or soreness and I know this is because I followed your programs. I can't express in words how much you contributed to my success this season.
We're talking about a guy in his late 30s with a lot of years of service time under his belt - and he felt better by doing more. Don't be afraid to make guys work in-season; if you don't, they'll eventually break down.
This, of course, is the rarity; most guys will be best off finding the balance between doing nothing and doing what we did in the above example. I tend to give position players the most wiggle room in terms of time and day of their lifts. They can either do it earlier in the day, or after games. We usually shoot for three full-body lifts per week on non-consecutive days - and never with more than 15 sets in a given day. One of those three lifts is almost exclusively upper body and core work. They get in, do their work, and get out.
Some guys, however, prefer to split things up into two upper-body and two lower-body sessions per week. They are shorter sessions, but are good for ensuring that athletes are going through their foam rolling and mobility drills more frequently.
Catchers
In my high school and college examples, I included catchers with position players' programming needs. However, when you catch 4-5 games a week, things change - and we take that into account with our programming.
First off, we don't squat our catchers in-season. Trust me, they squat enough. We use more deadlift variations and single-leg exercises during the season.
Second, I encourage catchers to lift post-game, if they have the opportunity and energy to do so. Training before a game might be okay for a pitcher or position player, but crushing a lower body lift right before getting in the bottom of a squat for three hours isn't particularly appealing. If you can get in the work the night before, you've got a better chance of being fresh.
Third, I think that 2-3 strength training sessions per week is sufficient - and only two of those days have lower body work in them. It takes far less volume than you can possibly imagine to maintain strength, so a couple sets each of a bilateral and unilateral exercise usually does the trick for catchers in-season.
Also of note, I don't like the idea of guys lifting much on their off-days from catching. If you're only getting 1-2 days off from catching per week, you might as well use them for full recovery. In other words, try to consolidate training stress and earn 24-hour "recovery windows" where you can.
Starting Pitchers
Professional baseball starting pitchers might have the coolest job and schedule in professional sports. It's very predictable - and they should be able to get in a good 12 lifts per month on the following schedule:
Day 0: pitch
Day 1: challenging lower body lift, light upper body work
Day 2: movement training only
Day 3: challenging upper body lift, easier lower body work
Day 4: low-intensity dynamic flexibility circuits only, or off altogether
Day 5: next pitching outing
If they wind up with five days between starts, they can split the day 3 training session up into upper body (Day 3) and lower body (Day 4), then take a day off on Day 5.
Life is tough, huh?
Relief Pitchers
Describing what I do with my relief pitchers is a mouthful, but I'll give it a shot.
Every reliever has three strength training "options" and one movement training day in each program that I send them:
Long Option (Full-Body Strength Training: 15-17 sets)
Movement Training
Short Option 1 (Full-Body, but Lower Emphasis: 8-12 sets)
Short Option 2 (Full-Body, but Upper Emphasis: 8-12 sets)
Here's exactly how I describe it to them:
"If you go over 20 pitches in an outing, perform the regular Day 1 and then Day 2 in the subsequent two days, as you can assume you won't throw for 48 hours. Then, progress to Short Option 1, day off, Short Option 2.
"If you make less than 20 pitches, go right to Short Option 1, then Day 2, then Short Option 2, then day off. This is good for when you think you may be going on back to back days. You can do the Short option lifts earlier in the day even if you think you may be throwing a bit that night; the volume will be so low that you'll still be fresh.
"If you are going to be a long/middle reliever, most of your work will be the Day 1, Day 2, Short Option 1, Day off, Short Option 2, etc. option. Listen to your body and take days off when you need to, but at the very least, make sure you're getting in the gym 2-3 times a week.
"If you're going to be a 'face-one-guy' reliever or a closer, you'll be doing more of the short option work."
Hopefully, that makes sense - because our guys have loved it and I know of a few smart pitching coaches "in the know" who have implemented it in their programs with excellent success.
That wraps up this series on in-season strength and conditioning. It's taken a long time to test-drive these programs and tinker with them to make sure that they work. At the same time, though, no two athletes are the same, so be sure to individualize your recommendations whenever possible.
Please help me spread these articles around via Facebook, Twitter, and emailed links, as we need to get the word out that in-season training is a must for baseball players at all levels!
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Written on January 1, 2009 at 2:34 pm, by Eric Cressey
A New Model for Training Between Starts: Part 2
By: Eric Cressey
In Part 1 of this article series, I discussed everything that was wrong with distance running for pitchers. In Part 2, I’ll outline my thoughts on how to best integrate conditioning for pitchers between throwing sessions. This article will focus on managing starters, but I suspect you’ll find that managing relievers isn’t entirely different aside from the fact that you’ll need to “roll with the punches” a bit more.
I think the best way to introduce this article is to describe a coincidence from the beginning of the year. On January 5, I received an email from one of my pro pitchers asking me if I could outline some thoughts on my between-start strength and conditioning mentality, as his old college pitching coach had asked for his input from him, as he was a student of the game and had tried some non-traditional ideas. In response to that email, I replied with essentially everything I’ll describe in this article – plus everything I outlined in Part 1 with respect to how bad a choice distance running is.
The coincidence didn’t become apparent until a week or two later when I got my hands on the January installment of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, which featured a study entitled “Noncompatibility of power and endurance training among college baseball players.”
These researchers divided a collegiate pitching staff into two groups of eight over the course of a season, and each group did everything identically – except the running portion of their training programs. Three days per week, the “sprint” group did 10-30 sprints of 15-60m with 10-60s rest between bouts. The endurance group performed moderate-to-high intensity jogging or cycling 3-4 days per week for anywhere from 20-60 minutes.
Over the course of the season, the endurance group’s peak power output dropped by an average of 39.5 watts while the sprinting group increased by an average of 210.6 watts (1). So, basically what I’m saying is that I was right all along – and I’m totally going to brag about it. Part 1 of this series simply justified all of my thoughts; now it’s time to put them into a framework.
Some Prerequisite Q&A
As a response to Part 1, I got an email from a college pitching coach looking for some further details, and here were his questions (bold) and my answers:
Q: Is running 1-2 miles once a week considered distance running?
A: I’d call anything over 150m “distance running” in a pitching population, believe it or not. I haven’t had a baseball player run over 60 yards in two years – and even when they go 60, they’re build-ups, so only about 50% of that distance is at or near top speed.
Q: Is running 10 poles in 30s with one minute of rest considered distance?
A: Let’s say it takes 30s to run a pole, and then you rest a minute (1:2 work: rest ratio). Then, you go out and pitch, where you exert effort for one second and rest 20s (1:20 work:rest ratio). This is the equivalent of a 100m sprinter training like a 1500m runner.
Q: Don’t you need some endurance to pitch a complete 9-inning game?
A: If all endurance was created equal, why didn’t Lance Armstrong win the New York or Boston Marathon? Endurance is very skill specific. Additionally, there is a huge difference between exerting maximal power over 20-25 individual efforts with near complete rest (a sample inning) and exerting submaximal efforts repeatedly with no or minimal rest.
Q: What about guys who are overweight? What should they do?
A: Fat guys should be paperweights, bouncers, sumo wrestlers, or eating contest champions. If they want to be successful players at the D1 level or beyond, they’ll sack up and stop eating crap. Several years ago, I promised myself that I would never, ever try to use extra conditioning to make up for poor diet.
Q: What are your thoughts on interval training?
A: We know that interval training is superior to steady state cardio for fat loss, but the important consideration is that it must be specific to the sport in question.
These responses should set the stage for the following points:
1. The secret is to keep any longer duration stuff low-intensity (under 70% HRR) and everything else at or above 90% of max effort (this includes starts, agilities, and sprints up to 60yds). For more background on this, check out the McCarthy et al. study I outlined in Part 1.
2. Ideally, the low-intensity work would involve significant joint ranges-of-motion (more to come on this below).
3. Don’t forget that pitchers rarely run more than 15 yards in a game situation.
4. Strength training and mobility training far outweigh running on the importance scale.
5. If you need to develop pitching specific stamina, the best way to achieve that end is to simply pitch and build pitch counts progressively. If that needs to be supplemented with something to expedite the process a bit, you can add in some medicine ball medleys – which can also be useful for ironing out side-to-side imbalances, if implemented appropriately. However, a good off-season throwing program and appropriate management of a pitcher early in the season should develop all the pitching specific endurance that is required.
The 5-Day Rotation
In a case of a five-day rotation, here is how we typically structure things. Keep in mind that dynamic flexibility and static stretching are performed every day.
Day 0: pitch
Day 1 (or right after pitching, if possible): challenging lower body lift, push-up variation (light), horizontal pulling (light), cuff work
Day 2: movement training only, focused on 10-15yd starts, agility work, and some top speed work (50-60 yds)
Day 3: bullpen (usually), single-leg work, challenging upper body lift (less vertical pulling in-season), cuff work
Day 4: low-intensity dynamic flexibility circuits only
Day 5: next pitching outing
Notes:
1. When a guy happens to get five days between starts, we’ll typically split the Day 3 lifting session into two sessions and do some movement training on Day 4 as well.
2. I know a lot of guys (myself included) are advocates of throwing more than once between starts. For simplicity’s sake, I haven’t included those sessions.
3. There are definitely exceptions to this rule. For instance, if a guy is having a hard time recovering, we’ll take Day 2 off altogether and just do our sprint work after the bullpen and before lifting on Day 3. That adds a full day of rest to the rotation in addition to the really light Day 4.
The 7-Day Rotation
With a 7-day rotation, we’ve got a lot more wiggle room to get aggressive with things. This is why in-season can still be a time of tremendous improvements in the college game, especially since you can work in a good 2-3 throwing sessions between starts. Again, dynamic flexibility and static stretching are performed every day. To keep this simple, I’m going to assume we’ve got a Saturday starter.
Saturday: pitch
Sunday: challenging lower body lift, light cuff work
Monday: movement training only, focused on 10-15yd starts, agility work, and some top speed work (50-60 yds); upper body lift
Tuesday: low-Intensity resistance training (<30% of 1RM) circuits, extended dynamic flexibility circuits
Wednesday: full-body lift
Thursday: movement training only, focused on 10-15yd starts, agility work, and some top speed work (50-60 yds);
Friday: low-intensity dynamic flexibility circuits only
Saturday: pitch again
Of course, traveling logistics can throw a wrench in the plans on this front sometimes, but the good news is that collegiate pitchers have six days to roll with the punches to get back on schedule.
Closing Thoughts
As you can see, I am a big fan of quality over quantity. Our guys only sprint twice in most weeks – and certainly not more than three times. This certainly isn’t the only way to approach training between starts, but I’ve found it to be the most effective of what our guys have tried.
References
1. Rhea MR, Oliverson JR, Marshall G, Peterson MD, Kenn JG, Ayllón FN. Noncompatibility of power and endurance training among college baseball players. J Strength Cond Res 2008 Jan;22(1):230-4.
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One Response to “A New Model for Training Between Starts: Part 2”
eugene sedita Says: December 27th, 2010 at 12:49 ameditWow, I’ve got nothing to do with pitching and throwing and still read these articles like a mystery novel, (just couldn’t stop ) Thanks, Eric, very interesting.
This is the second half of an interview I did for Dean Somerset's website. In case you missed part 1, you can check it out HERE.
DS: What are the best supplements for the money, in your opinion?
EC: For most folks, fish oil, vitamin D, a decent low-carb protein powder, creatine, and a greens supplement (I prefer Athletic Greens) will get the job done. I’d add in probiotics for many people as well. The longer I’m in this field, the more of a minimalist I become.
DS: There are a lot of misconceptions and misinterpretations on core strength and core training out there. Some say you have to lay perfectly still and think happy thoughts while flexing your belly button, while other say you need to use stability balls to get anything, and other say heavy stuff on your shoulders does the trick. Also, the definition of where the core is and what it does seems to be either incomplete, or somewhat lacking in common sense, as most of the anatomical diagrams will show the core as a hollow vessel, and eliminate the internal organs from the picture. What do you consider to be important in the anatomy of the core, and what would be your go-to core training exercises?
EC: I tend to fall in the camp that it encompasses just about the entire body. We can all agree that the hamstrings probably deserve a place in the role of the core, since they attach to the pelvis via the ischial tuberosity and sacrotuberous ligament, right?
Well, those same hamstrings attach below the knee on both the tibia and fibula. They share a function (knee flexion) with the gastrocnemius, clearly are in close “fascial proximity,” and have neural innervations from the same origin at the lumbar spine (sciatic nerve). The gastrocnemious attaches on the calcaneus – so we’ve established “hip to foot” relationships of the “core.”
Add latissimus dorsi to the picture. It attaches to the iliac crest, thoracolumbar fascia, thoracic spine, ribs, scapula, and humerus. That would be a “hip to arm” connection, right?
Add in the trapezius, which runs from as far down as T12 to the base of the skull, and you can argue that you’ve got a “hip to head” relationship, too.
We’ll just train it with crunches, though, right???
I don’t think it’s as simple as just memorizing the anatomy of the muscles surrounding the lumbar spine; it’s about understanding the complex, functional relationship among all the muscles and their tendons, the ligaments, the fascia, the nerves, and the bony structures to which they attach. Things are more complex than we try to make them – which is probably why a lot of people have chronic back pain that goes misdiagnosed and mistreated.
While much of the industry has gone to the “don’t move the lumbar spine” end of the continuum, it’s really not that black and white. It – like any other body segment – should have some movement. The problem just becomes when we add load to that movement. And, more specifically, things get dangerous when we add load to the end range of that movement. Going into full lumbar flexion with an 800-pound deadlift isn’t going to make your intervertebral discs very happy, and not controlling violent extension and rotation during an athletic movement like swinging or throwing could very well leave you with a stress fracture, oblique strain, or spondylolisthesis at some point.
That said, there should be movement during daily activities; otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to tie our shoes, and my puppy wouldn’t be able to lick his unmentionables for twenty minutes every night before he falls asleep. When we start adding resistance, crazy velocity, and high volumes to the equation, though, we change the game.
To that end, I’ll continue to train anti-rotation and anti-extension exercises in the gym because the favorable outcomes we’ve seen with this approach have been tremendous. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
DS: Chewing tobacco: help or hindrance??
EC: I’m probably not the best one to ask. I dipped once when I was about 18 and booted a few minutes later – and then felt miserably for about four hours afterward. It wasn’t one of my finer moments.
DS: I had a client who I was training for hockey a few years ago, and he forgot to go to the washroom for what I like to call a "pre-game." During the middle of his heavy squats, while I was spotting him, he, well for a lack of better term, he "released," and had to go change his shorts. Any training blooper highlight moments from CP?
EC: Honestly, there are too many to list! Most of them take place when our pro baseball guys are just shooting the breeze in the office. Throw in a British golfer, pro boxer, or Ironman competitor, and you get enough people from different walks of life to make any conversation memorable and absolutely hilarious. To that end, we actually have a quote book in the office; it’s got dozens of pages of stupid things that have been said over the past three years or so.
DS: Who is the bigger prankster, you or Tony?
EC: I’m not sure that I’d say that either of us are huge pranksters, but Tony is definitely the brunt of a lot more jokes at CP. We always joke that every 2-3 months, we have a “Tony Moment” where he learns about something and is absolutely blown away to find out that we had already known about it for months.
That said, the CP jester is definitely our pitching coordinator, Matt Blake, as some of these videos show:
DS: You have a lot of people looking up to you and aspiring to hit the level of professional success that you've been able to attain in a relatively short period of time. Who do you look up to so that you're continuously motivated to push and achieve more?
EC: That is a tough question to answer because my goal has never been to “be” someone else. If I was to blindly follow someone else’s steps, it wouldn’t be the career I had in mind. So, I feel like if you are going to be successful in what you do, there has to be some degree of innate motivation in you.
That said, I look to a lot of people for inspiration.
My father owns his own business and that had a more profound impact on me than you could possibly imagine as I opened my own facility. Without even knowing it, he taught me that your business problems are your own and that you never make them anyone else’s problems. And, give your employees autonomy, and as long as you’ve picked the right people, they won’t let you down.
My mother is a high school teacher and administrator – and is pretty much the Mother Teresa of my hometown. Over the years, I’ve watched on numerous occasions as she has fed some of her students who couldn’t afford to eat. I’ve gone to the grocery store with her countless times – and it always takes an extra hour or so because she runs into so many grateful parents and students she’s dealt with over the years. She established the first International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum in the state of Maine at her school. She didn’t have to do any of this; it wasn’t mandated by her salary, and it certainly isn’t something a lot of other teachers do. She taught me that your job has to fulfill you in some way far more significant than money, and that good will never runs out.
My grandparents were married for over 60 years before my grandfather passed away this fall. They taught me that family comes first – and my wife and I have had many talks about how they educated us on how a marriage should work.
In the industry, there are quite a few people I look to for advice. Alwyn Cosgrove has taught me a ton about how to run a business. Mike Robertson has been a guy with whom I’ve collaborated a lot – and we’ve both gotten better in the process. I look to guys like Bill Hartman and Charlie Weingroff as very bright individuals who simply enjoy learning for the sake of learning – and that’s something I enjoy. Pat Rigsby is a guy who has shown me more about how to balance all of life’s demands – from family time to various business endeavors.
I could go on and on, but the point is that I draw inspiration from a lot of sources – both intrinsic and extrinsic.
DS: You've stated that for baseball player, olympic lifting and vertical jumping aren't really necessary as the sport doesn't require it. Most trainers gave you hell, but you stood your ground and proved them all wrong. What other concepts have you brought to the table that have helped re-form many common misconceptions about training and sports development?
EC: It’s funny; right after I published that piece at T-nation about how power is “plane-specific,” I got an email from a researcher who was studying the exact same thing – and finding preliminary data that completely verified what I’d said. Sometimes, research is out there to validate what we’re already doing.
Whether I’ve made people changed their thought processes or not, a few things I’ve tried to bring to the forefront are:
1. The Difference Between Inefficiency and Pathology – We’ve always been taught that if an x-ray or MRI tells us that we’re structurally out of whack, then we’re screwed. The truth is that all of us – even when we’re asymptomatic – have structural issues on diagnostic imaging. The people who are in pain are the ones who don’t move efficiently on top of these structural flaws. I see this every day with the pitching shoulders that come through my door; I assume that they’re all “broken” and that we are just managing them to avoid them hitting a painful threshold.
2. The Concept of Long-Term Athletic Development Beginning with Strength – This is an area where I’ve tried to lead by example with our training model at Cressey Performance. I’m not interested in running a group of 20 14-year-olds through a bunch of agility ladders. If we want the best long term results and safety, our #1 job in a youth population is to improve strength. Sure, they run faster, jump higher, and throw harder – but they also decelerate better and change directions more efficiently. You can run all the "quickness drills" that you want with a young population, but the truth is that you’ll never improve speed or agility unless you teach them to put more force in to the ground. It’s like polishing the hub cabs on a car with no horsepower; you’re studying for the wrong test.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of facilities out there that are just about finding a training model that allows one to run a ton of kids through the same program without much concern for the actual benefits to be gained (or lack thereof). I’m not interested in babysitting.
3. The Differences Between Flexibility and Mobility – This was a key portion of my contribution to the recently releasedIYCA High School Strength Coach Certification. Mobility refers to the ability to reach certain positions, whereas flexibility refers to just one factor (joint range of motion) that affects that ability. Mobility is also dependent on stability, the foundation for which is neuromuscular recruitment. When we test flexibility, we’re talking about isolated testing of relaxed muscles/tendons. To be blunt, we’re ignoring the nervous system.
Mobility encompasses multiple joints and therefore likely involves fascial contributions to movement, whereas flexibility may only involve 1-2 joints and may therefore minimize the impact of fascia on an assessment.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we can easily assess mobility in a general sense – but determining the cause of limitations is more challenging. Flexibility, too, is a quick assessment – but correcting the limitation discovered doesn’t guarantee that movement quality will improve.
4. The belief that there is always something you can do to get better, regardless of injury – I’ve never been a fan of doctors and physical therapists telling injured patients to “just rest.” First off, rest alone is rarely the answer. Just as importantly, though, this recommendation ignores the fact that there are endocrine, immune, functional, psychological, and social benefits that are still to be derived from exercising. When I’m working with clients who are injured, I feel that it’s my job to show them what they can do and not just what they can’t do. And, there is always something you can do to maintain a training effect.
5. Weighted baseballs might actually be safer than traditional 5oz baseballs – and at the very least, they can be a beneficial training addition.This articlesums it up quite well, so I won’t reinvent the wheel. A lot of people can’t believe it when I saw that we used weighted balls, but the results have been nothing short of fantastic.
These are just the few things that came to mind right off the top of my head. I’d like to think that there are more!
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December 27th, 2010 at 12:49 am editWow, I’ve got nothing to do with pitching and throwing and still read these articles like a mystery novel, (just couldn’t stop ) Thanks, Eric, very interesting.