5. I was interviewed last week for an article about pitch counts.  It's now featured HERE.

6. Some feedback on Assess & Correct:

"I was pretty excited when I received an e-mail from Eric and Mike saying that I was getting an advanced copy of their new Assess and Correct product.  Mike and Eric have had a history of putting out top notch information and products and when I saw that Bill Hartman was also involved in this new product I knew that this was going to be even more special.

To check out videos of Bree's four runs, head over to nbcolympics.com.

2. My fiancee and I had an offer accepted on a house this week as well, so between negotiations/offers and making arrangements for mortgage stuff, a home inspection, appraisal, and dates for the P&S and closing, it's been a hectic week.  It'll all be worth it, though, as the move will substantially reduce my commute time (by at least 80 minutes per day!) and, obviously, improve my productivity and our quality of life.  Needless to say, we are really excited about how things are developing and love what will be our new house.

3. I'm experimenting with some Underarmour Performance mouthwear right now in my training, thanks to a generous gift from CP client Dr. Jeff Tocci, who fits dozens of these each week for athletes and non-athletes alike.

There is actually quite a bit of research supporting these initiatives, so thanks to Jeff, I get to put it to the test while I'm lifting heavy stuff this week to see how I respond.  So far, so good.

4. Mike Reinold and I are working hard to put the finishing touches on our new DVD set, Optimal Shoulder Performance.  We definitely plan to have it up and running sometime in March.

5. No surprise here, but pitchers who throw harder are more likely to develop elbow issues.  You can look at this transiently in the context of the faster arm speed placing more stress on both the active and passive restraints.  However, more chronically, if you consider that the arm is moving faster, you'll realize that the deceleration-imposed adaptations (more specifically, the muscle shortening that comes from repeated eccentric exercise exposures) can lead to chronic adaptations (loss of elbow extension and shoulder internal rotation) that can place more stress on the elbow.  Likewise, stud pitchers who throw the crap out of the ball are more likely to get overused - so it's really a triple whammy working against you if you throw hard.

That said, I'd rather throw 100mph with a higher risk of injury than throw 76mph and get shelled in some beer league.

Last, but not least, don't forget that our spring training sale ends TONIGHT at midnight.  Don't miss out on your chance to get 30% off!  Click here for more information.

At CP, I find myself in a one-on-one situation a lot more and guess what I found? The concept of simplistic explanations and coaching cues is STILL true! Who would'a thunk it?!?! I realized that just because I can spend more time with an individual doesn't mean I need to talk his/her ear off with long lists of directions. The one client standing there in front of you still responds to the same simple explanations and demonstrations that a group of people do. The biggest difference I can find in this regard is that I might increase my initial number of coaching points to three things when explaining an exercise.

(I apologize, but you'll have to turn your volume up because the audio quality is not that good)

So, I hope you the reader can appreciate my thoughts on the issue. For some, like my mentors Eric Cressey and Mike Boyle, this concept came into fruition many years ago. I'm glad I was able to realize the same thing while under their tutelage and not out on my own. An intern's time here Cressey Performance is very fulfilling and the whole staff has so much to offer that there's never a dull moment in the day.

Related Posts

Clearing up the Rotator Cuff Controversy A Recap: Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder

Q: One of my favorite (insert generic sarcastic look here) things to watch in the weightroom is my pitchers getting under the rack for bench presses.  It's not the fact that they're benching that upsets me, but the "Beach Body" mindset that is behind it.  What's the most efficient way for a pitcher to work on his bench, and more importantly, what should he be trying to gain by performing the bench press correctly?

A: Okay, let's get right to opening this can of worms.

With any exercise, we look for carryover to the functional demands of our sport.  However, we accept that general strength gains transfer in most cases.  As an example, we know that we can improve throwing velocity with a variety of training initiatives, but training specificity like this is stupid:

Now that we've all gotten a bit dumber, let's continue...

As it relates to pitching, the fundamental problem with the conventional barbell bench press (as performed correctly, which it normally isn't) is that it doesn't really train scapular movement effectively.  When we do push-up variations, the scapulae are free to glide - just as they do when we pitch.  When we bench, though, we cue athletes to lock the shoulder blades down and back to create a great foundation from which to press.  It's considerably different, as we essentially take away most (if not all) of scapular protraction.

Additionally, the closed-chain nature of push-ups is much more shoulder friendly, even if pitching is an open-chain exercise.  In fact, most rehabilitation progressions - regardless of the shoulder issue in question - will begin with push-up variations before any open-chain pressing exercises.

With dumbbell benching, we recognize that we get better range-of-motion, freer movement of the humerus (instead of being locked into internal rotation), and increased core activation - particularly if we're doing alternating DB presses or 1-arm db presses.  There is even a bit more scapular movement in these variations (even if we don't actually coach it).

With a barbell bench press, you don't really get any of these benefits - and it's somewhat inferior from a range-of-motion standpoint.  While it may allow you to jack up the weight and potentially put on muscle mass a bit more easily, the truth is that muscle mass here - particularly if it leads to restrictions in shoulder and scapular movement - won't carry over to throwing the way the muscle mass in the lower half and upper back will.  I've seen a ton of guys with loads of external rotation and horizontal abduction range-of-motion throw the crap out of the baseball, but can't say that I've ever seen any correlation - in the research or my anecdotal experience - between a good bench press and throwing velocity.

That said, I recognize that there are still a lot of "wannabe meatheads" in the pitching world, so we do our best to meet our athletes halfway and please the bench press gods. Most of the time, dumbbell bench pressing and push-up variations will be sufficient, but we will sometimes us the multipurpose bar with our pitchers because it puts them in a more shoulder-friendly neutral grip.

Add some chains to the bar, and you have a great stabilization challenge that works the true function of the rotator cuff.

That said, if you absolutely feel like you need to do traditional benching, keep the volume down, keep the elbows tucked, and keep the shoulder blades stable underneath you.  And, be sure to recognize that your ego probably isn't doing much for your success on the mound - as there are training initiatives with better returns on investment.  Remember that pitchers have loads of competing demands - from throwing, to mobility training, to soft tissue work, to fielding practice, to movement training - so what you do in the weight room has to highly effective to justify its inclusion.  I just struggle to consider bench pressing "highly effective" for pitchers.

For more information on managing throwing shoulders, be sure to check out the Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set.

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