Home Posts tagged "Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual" (Page 2)

Strength and Conditioning Programs: Understanding the Absolute Strength to Absolute Speed Continuum

A few questions from one of our pro baseball guys inspired me to create this video "tutorial" on how to develop power.  It starts general, and progresses to specific.  Think about how it applies to YOUR sport and your training history.

For more detail, check out The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual. Please enter your email below to sign up for our FREE newsletter and receive a FREE deadlift technique tutorial.4
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Three Years of Cressey Performance: The Right Reasons and the Right Way

Though a somewhat "normal" day at the gym, yesterday marked Cressey Performance's three-year anniversary. While my business partner's blog post yesterday did an excellent job of doling out "thank yous" to a lot of the important people who have been so involved in our success - from clients to parents, coaches, interns, and significant others - I wanted to add my own two cents on the matter today.  More than anything, I really wanted to highlight a sentence that illustrates what makes me the most proud about where CP has been, where it is, and where it's going.

We've done this for the right reasons, and we've done it the right way.

newcp21 I read a business development blog post by Chris McCombs the other day where he wrote something that really hit home for me.  When he was talking about how he decides to accept or reject a new project/opportunity, here is one of his guidelines: "Only Take on Projects That Are In Line With My Current Values and Fulfill Me Beyond Just The Money - A project must fulfill me in some way BESIDE just money...too many people spend their life JUST chasing a buck; to me, that's no way to live.  For me, the money must be there, but it should fulfill me personally, be fun, help a lot of people, and build and be in line with my current brand and brand equity." Back in 2007, I had a tough decision to make.  My online consulting business had really taken off, and the Maximum Strength book deal was in the works.  My other products - Magnificent Mobility, The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual, and Building the Efficient Athlete - were selling well and getting great reviews, and I'd just had a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.  This website was growing exponentially in popularity, and I had just wrapped up my first year on the Perform Better tour - so lots of doors were opening for me on the seminar front to present all over the world - and I could have stayed home and just written all day, every day. I was getting really crunched for time, as I was already training clients 8-13 hours per day, seven days per week, as my in-person clientele had rapidly grown. My phone rang off the hook for about three weeks after Lincoln-Sudbury won a baseball state championship after I'd trained several of their guys, and one of my athletes was named state player of the year.  And, after being featured on the front page of the Boston Globe with a nipple so hard I could cut diamonds, I was in demand as a t-shirt model (okay, not really - but it made for an awesome blog post, The School of Hard Nipples).

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I was exhausted and stressed - but absolutely, positively, "living the dream" that I'd always wanted. To make matters a bit more interesting, I had just started dating a great girl (now my fiancee) who I really had a good feeling was "the one" after about three months.  The work days, however, were insanely long and I was worried that I'd screw up a good thing by not spending enough time with her. Every business development coach out there would have seen a "simple" answer to all my problems: stop training people in person.  Just write, consult, make DVDs, and give seminars.  It would have cut my hours by 80% and still allowed me to earn a pretty good living - and enjoy plenty of free time.  There was a huge problem with that, though; as Chris wrote, it wouldn't "fulfill me personally, be fun, help a lot of people, and build and be in line with my current brand and brand equity."  I like doing evaluations, writing programs, coaching, sweating, training with my guys, cranking up the music, helping people get to where they want to be, collaborating with and learning from other professionals, and watching my athletes compete - whether it's at some high school field or at Fenway Park.  Giving that up wasn't an option; I guess I'd have just been a crappy business coaching client, as I would have been stubborn as an ass on giving that up.

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Fortunately for me, Pete Dupuis, my roommate from my freshman year of college, had just finished his MBA and was in the midst of a job search.  And, during that MBA, he'd started to train with me and packed on a ton of strength and muscle mass - making him realize and truly appreciate the value in what I was doing (especially since he was and is a goalie in a very competitive soccer league).  Pete had also met and become friends with a ton of my clients - and taken a genuine interest in my baseball focus, as a lifelong Red Sox fan.  Almost daily, Pete would encourage me to do my own thing and let him handle all the business stuff for me. Simultaneously, Tony Gentilcore was ready for a change of scenery on the work front.  Having been Tony's roommate and training partner for almost two years at that point, I knew he was a genuinely great guy, that he'd read everything on my bookshelf, and that he could coach his butt off and "walk the walk."  He, too, had met a lot of my clients - so there was continuity from the get-go. So, on July 13, 2007, Cressey Performance was born.  Here is what we started with.

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Boatloads of renovations and equipment additions later, it wound up looking like this.

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Of course, we outgrew and demolished this space after about nine months and moved three miles east to a facility twice the size.  And, we've continued to grow right up to this day; June was our busiest month ever, and July should be busier.  We've got regular weekly clients who come from four states (MA, NH, CT, RI), and in the baseball off-season, I have college and pro guys who come from the likes of OH, AZ, CA, SC, NC, GA, FL, and VA.  And, we had 33 applicants for this summer's internships.

To be very candid, though, I don't consider myself a very good "businessman."  No offense to Pete or Tony, either, but I don't think they even come close to the textbook definition of the word, either.  We just try to be good dudes. "We've done this for the right reasons, and we've done it the right way."

We don't allocate a certain percentage of our monthly revenues to advertising.  In fact, we haven't spent a single penny on advertising - unless you count charitable donations to causes that are of significance to us.

We don't search high and low for new revenue streams to push on our clients.  In fact, if I get one more MonaVie sales pitch, I'm going to suplex whoever delivered it right off our loading dock.  Rather, we bust our butts to set clients up for success in any way possible - and trust that those efforts will lead to referrals and "allegiance" to Cressey Performance.  We ask what they want from us and modify our plans accordingly.  It's what led to us bringing in manual therapy, a pitching cage, and, of course, pitching coach/court jester Matt Blake's timeless antics.

Along those same lines, we don't measure our success based on revenue numbers; we measure it based on client results.  In three years of seeing LOADS of baseball players non-stop, we've only had three arm surgeries: one shoulder and two elbow.  All three were athletes who came to us with existing injuries, and in each case, we kept them afloat as long as we could and trained them through their entire rehabilitation.  I don't want to toot our own horn, but this is a remarkable statistic in a population where over 57% of pitchers suffer some form of shoulder injury during each competitive season - and that doesn't even include  elbows!  And, our statistics don't even count literally dozens of players who have come to us after a doctor has told them they needed surgery, but we've helped them avoid these procedures.  The college scholarships, draft picks, state titles, individual honors, and personal bests in the gym are all fantastic, but I'm most proud of saying that we've dedicated ourselves to keeping athletes healthy so that they can enjoy the sports they love.

The same goes for our non-competitive athlete clients.  The fat loss and strength gains they experience are awesome and quantifiable, but beyond that (and more qualitatively), I love knowing that they're training pain-free and are going to be able to enjoy exercise and reap the benefits of training for a long time.

We don't penny-pinch during our slowest times of the month (late March through mid-May - the high school baseball season).  We see it as an opportunity to do more staff continuing education, renovate the facilities, and get out to watch a lot of baseball and support our athletes.  And, we adjust our hours to open up on Sundays and stay later on weeknights during the baseball season to make it easier for athletes to get in-season training in whenever they can.  If a pitcher wants to come in and get his arm stretched out before or after an outing, he stops by and we do it for him - but don't charge him a penny for it.  It's about setting people up for success.

We don't try to just "factory line" as many clients through our facility as possible with everyone on the same program.  You might walk into CP and see 20 different clients on 20 different programs - because a 16-year old pitcher with crazy congenital laxity is going to have a markedly different set of needs than a 16-year-old linebacker with shoulder mobility so bad that he needs help putting a jacket on.  One program on one dry erase board for hundreds of athletes isn't training; it's babysitting.

Taking this a step further, we don't boot clients out after a certain amount of time.  Clients take as long as needed to complete the day's program. And, when they're done (or before they even begin), loads of our clients spend time hanging out in the office just shooting the breeze and enjoying the environment.  As an example, Toronto Blue Jays Organizational Pitcher of the Year Tim Collins spends a minimum of five hours a day at CP all off-season.

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Tim has sold girl scout cookies for the daughter of one of our clients, and he's been our back-up front desk guy when Pete is out of town.  Yesterday, he was back to visit on his all-star break - and he said hello to every client he saw - and remembered them by name.  If you're a 15-year-old up-and-coming baseball pitcher, how cool is it to get that kind of greeting when you walk into the office?  Well, at CP, kids get that greeting from 10-15 pro guys all the time.  And, if they're lucky, they might even get to throw on a bobsled helmet and join these pro guys in a rave to Miley Cyrus, apparently.

At least once a week, I get an email from an up-and-coming coach asking for advice about starting a facility.  When I get these emails, I now think about how Rachel Cosgrove recently mentioned that more than 80% of fitness coaches leave the industry within the first year. In most cases, this happens because these people never should have entered the fitness industry in the first place - because their intentions (money) were all wrong.  They usually leave under the assumption that they could never make a living training people, but in reality, these folks are going to have a hard time making a living in any occupation that requires genuinely caring about what you do and the people with whom you work, and being willing to hang your hat on the results you produce.

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As such, the first advice, in a general sense, is obvious: do it for the right reasons, and do it the right way.  Sure, making a living is essential, but only open a facility because it would fulfill you "personally, be fun, help a lot of people, and build and be in line" with who you are and what your values are - which together constitute your "brand." Making the move to start up this business was one of the most daunting decisions I have ever had to make, and all the efforts toward actually getting the business started were equally challenging.  However, in the end, it has been more rewarding both personally and professionally than I could have ever possibly imagined.

Thank you very much to all of you - clients/customers, parents, EricCressey.com readers, seminar attendees, and professional colleagues - for all your support over the past three years.  We couldn't have done it without you - and look forward to many more years of doing things for the right reasons and in the right way.

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Spring Training Sale!

If you read this blog with any sort of regularity, it should come as no surprise to you that I'm really pumped up for the upcoming Major League Baseball season, as we saw over 30 professional baseball players from 21 different major league organizations this off-season at Cressey Performance.  My excitement hit another level earlier this week when I spent some time down in Ft. Myers, FL in the thick of things prior to pitchers and catchers officially reporting yesterday. In honor of this big date in the baseball world, I thought it'd be as good a time as ever to announce a sale on a few of my products.  From today through midnight on Thursday, February 25, you can get 30% off on The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual, The Truth About Unstable Surface Training, and The Art of the Deload by entering the coupon code FEB2010 at checkout from the Products Page.

uotm This is actually the first time that The Truth About Unstable Surface Training has ever gone on sale since its release, so don't miss out on this opportunity to pick up some first-of-its-kind research and the practical applications associated with it.

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Again, just head HERE and enter the coupon code FEB2010 to get 30% off your order. Go Red Sox!
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Feedback on the Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual

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"

Click Here to Check Out The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual for Yourself!

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EC is Getting Hitched, so You’re Getting a Discount

It was a big weekend up in my neck of the woods.  The Red Sox swept the Orioles, and the Bruins went up 2-0 in their playoff series.  The Celtics are up tonight as they try to even their series with the Bulls at one game apiece.  CP clients Steph Holland-Brodney and Aimee McGuire both ran the Boston Marathon, as did our friend Sarah Neukom.  In the process, the three of them raised over $40,000 for charity!  Many of you helped out via the promotions we did on my site.  Great job, ladies! On Saturday, I was the keynote speaker at the NSCA Maine Symposium up at my old stomping grounds, the University of New England.  State Chairman Heath Pierce and his staff did a fantastic job with the event.  And, as it turned out, I also got honored with the first ever Dr. Richard J. LaRue Award for achievement in Exercise Science.  Dr. LaRue was my advisor at UNE and the man responsible for really getting their Exercise and Sports Performance Department off the ground.  It is a huge honor, and that alone would have absolutely made my weekend - especially since it was near my hometown, so I got to receive it and present in front of several of my family members. Sunday was my brother's birthday, and snotty little brother that I am, I had to steal his thunder by capping the weekend off by proposing to my girlfriend of two years, Anna.  She's been known as the "First Lady of Cressey Performance" for some time now, but it seemed like a good time to make it official. Feats of strength like these already guaranteed her the position, but it was nice to know that she still accepted it by saying "Yes!"

(she's got over 250 in her, no problem)

Needless to say, I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet right now, so we might as well celebrate - and help me pay off the ring!

Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, and I had planned on a "customer appreciation sale" this week anyway, so we decided to change the theme to one of "engagement."  So, from now through Thursday, April 23rd at midnight, all of the following products are going to be 15% off with the coupon code "HITCHED" (no quotation marks) at checkout:

Through RobertsonTrainingSystems.com:

Building the Efficient Athlete DVD Set Magnificent Mobility DVD Bulletproof Knees Manual Inside-Out DVD/Manual Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD Set

Through EricCressey.com:

The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual The Art of the Deload The Truth About Unstable Surface Training

Don't miss out on this opportunity to get quality products at reduced prices. Again, that coupon code is "HITCHED."

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What to do after Maximum Strength?

Q: Hi Eric, I just finished the Maximum Strength 16-week program, and was thrilled with my results, including a 40-pound increase on my bench press and 80-pound increase on my deadlift.  I'm wondering, though, what I should do next?  Should I start the program over? Or, do you reccomend something else? A: Repeating the program is certainly an option, although probably not your best option.  I'm actually planning on writing a more extensive follow-up to Maximum Strength at some point, but you could get away with it in the meantime. I just tend to think that variety is the spice of life, and that the same four months over and over again would get old over time. With that in mind, I think a better bet would be checking out my Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual.

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It's a bit more athletic oriented, but with some of the same principles included. It would be a good chance to integrate some movement training and new exercises and loading parameters to build on the athleticism that you built over the previous 16 weeks of training.  Click here for more information.
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Injury Prevention for Pitchers

In last week's newsletter, I observed that there are a lot of folks out there who think that weight training is unnecessary and plyometrics are sufficient for injury prevention and performance enhancement in pitchers. While a system like this might hold some merit in a population such as football where many athletes already have a large strength foundation, it doesn't work as well in a baseball population, which doesn't have that same foundation. To illustrate my point, I'm going to touch on a concept - static-spring proficiency - that I covered at length in my Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual.  Essentially, you have "static" athletes, "spring" athletes, and everything in between the two.  You can use a series of performance tests and evaluate an athlete's training history to get an appreciation for where each athlete falls on this continuum.

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"Static" athletes tend to have a good strength foundation - so much, in fact, that they tend to "muscle" everything.  In other words, there is less efficient use of the stretch-shortening cycle to produce force.  An example might be a powerlifter attempting to go out and play basketball.  In order to improve, a "static" athlete needs to focus on improving reactive ability. "Spring" athletes are great at using stored elastic energy in tendons to produce power.  An example would be a basketball or volleyball player who has been jumping for years and years to develop spring, but without much attention to building the underlying strength needed to best use it.  So, obviously, to improve, these athletes need to enhance muscular strength while maintaining their great elastic qualities. Here's an excerpt from my Off-Season Manual that personifies this in the world of baseball: "The modern era of baseball is a great example, as we've had several homerun hitters who have all been successful - albeit by very different means. "At the 'spring' end of the continuum, we have hitters like Gary Sheffield and Vladimir Guerrero demonstrating incredible bat speed. The ball absolutely rockets off their bats; they aren't 'muscling' their homeruns at all. Doing a lot of extra training for bat speed would be overkill for these guys; they'll improve their power numbers by increasing maximal strength alone.

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"At the other end of the spectrum, we have 'static' homerun hitters like Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell, both of whom were well known for taking weight training very seriously. These guys are the ones 'muscling' baseballs out of the ballpark; the ball almost seems to sit on the barrel of the bat for a split-second before they "flip it" 500 feet. Getting stronger might help these guys a bit, but getting more spring by focusing on bat speed with reactive training (e.g., plyometrics, sprinting, medicine ball throws, ballistic push-ups, etc.) would be a more sure-fire means to improvement. "Then, we have the 'middle-of-the-road' guys like Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez. They possess an excellent blend of static and spring, so they need to train some of both to continue improving physically. "Bonds is actually a good example of how an athlete's position on the static-spring continuum can change over the course of a career. When he started out, he was definitely a 'spring' guy, hitting most of his homeruns with pure bat speed. As Bonds' career progressed, his maximal strength improved due to neural adaptations and increased cross sectional area (more muscle mass).

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"In light of the media attention surrounding the use of performance-enhancing substances in baseball, I should mention how he increased his muscle mass isn't the issue in question in the discussion at hand. The point is that he did increase muscle mass, which increased maximal strength, which favorably affected performance. The performance enhancing substances question really isn't of concern to this discussion." Now, here's where it gets interesting - and where you get a bit more time to think about this. Obviously, even to the most casual observer, not all baseball players are like Manny Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell, Gary Sheffield, and Vladimir Guerrero.  This isn't rocket science; they are/were a heck of a lot more skilled and experienced than the overwhelming majority of the professional baseball world, and certainly all of the amateur ranks. How are they different?  And, why can't we just assume what might work for some of them will work for those aiming to reach the levels they've attained? Well, you'll just have to think about that until Newsletter 141... New Blog Content Random Friday Thoughts Sunday Thoughts Push-ups for Baseball Players Stuff You Should Read All the Best, EC Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive a Copy of the Exact Stretches used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
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Off-Season Training for Athletes

A few months ago when the PN team sat down to put together this library of training programs to integrate with the Precision Nutrition system, we really wanted to make sure that we had something spectacular for our athletes, many of whom compete at the elite level of their sport. So when it finally came time to put together the program to cover off-season training for athletes, we turned to the guy who does it best: Eric Cressey. Continue Reading... - Phil Caravaggio
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