Two weeks ago, I made it clear that a lot of folks were missing the boat with respect to baseball strength and conditioning by insisting that "plyos are all you need."
And, last week, I discussed how strength and reactive ability have interacted in some successful players in professional baseball, and how those qualities should dictate how an athlete trains.
This week, though, I'm going to throw you for a little loop and tell you that the static-spring continuum means absolutely NOTHING for a lot of athletes. Why?
You must first understand that each stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) activity involves three distinct phases:
1. eccentric (deceleration, preloading)
2. amortization (isometric, pause)
3. concentric (propulsion) phases.
As I discussed in great detail in The Truth About Unstable Surface Training, Komi (2003) outlined three fundamental conditions required for an effective SSC action (1):
1. "a well-timed preactivation of the muscles before the eccentric phase" [we need our muscles to be ready to go to decelerate]
2. "a short and fast eccentric phase" [deceleration has to occur quickly, as the faster the rate of stretch, the more energy the musculotendon complex stores]
3. "immediate transition (short delay) between stretch and shortening (concentric) phases." [if we spend too much time paused at the bottom, the stored energy is lost as heat instead of being used for subsequent force production]
So, what I'm really saying is that if you don't have a decent foundation of strength, training reactive ability - or even considering where you stand on the static-spring continuum - is a waste of time. Weak athletes need to have the strength (and rate of force development, for that matter) to decelerate with control in order to allow for fast eccentric and amoritization phases to occur.
I'd estimate that 60% of the young athletes who walk through my door on their first day to train are nowhere near strong enough to derive considerable benefit from "classic" plyos. Sure, they need to learn deceleration and landing mechanics and pick up some sprinting techniques, but the true progress comes from the resistance training they do.
Now, let's apply this to baseball, a sport where good strength and conditioning is still yet to be appreciated - and many athletes go directly from high school to the professional ranks without ever having touched a weight in their lives. As a result, many baseball athletes don't have the underlying strength to effectively make use of the reactive training that typifies the training presented to them.
And, in many cases, it will take a long time to get it during the season in the minor leagues, where they'll have competing demands (games, practice, travel) and limited equipment access. It's why I've seen several professional baseball players come my way with vertical jumps of less than 20". As a frame of reference, you need to be over 28.5" to be in the top 13 on my HIGH SCHOOL record board. Pro athletes? Really?
These guys can be conundrums from a training standpoint, as you have to realize that sprinting is possibly the single-most reactive/plyometric training drill there is; we are talking roughly four times body weight in ground reaction forces with each stride - and that's in single-leg stance. So, we have somewhat of an injury predisposition, but more important, it comes down to training economy. They aren't strong enough (relative to their body weight) to get much out of the sprinting, and would benefit more from strength training, bilateral jumping variations, and single-leg low hops. However, they need to jump and sprint as part of their profession, so we've got to prepare them for that as well.
All that in mind, the problem isn't traditional strength and conditioning, in my eyes. It builds a solid base of strength for many athletes and helps to increase body weight, which in itself is a predictive factor for velocity. However, the shortcomings of this S&C occur when coaches don't understand how to modify traditional strength and conditioning to suit the needs of the baseball athlete. And, problems kick in when folks don't appreciate that even just a little bit of strength goes a long way.
New Blog ContentRandom Friday Thoughts
Inverted Row IgnoranceMaximum Strength Feedback: 1/20/09Stuff You Should Read: 1/22/09
All the Best,
EC
References
1. Komi, PV. Stretch-shortening cycle. In: Strength and Power in Sport (2nd Ed.) P.V. Komi, ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003: 184-202.
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used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
1. I'm speaking at the Massachusetts High School Baseball Coaches Association's Annual Clinic this morning, so this week's random thoughts will be somewhat abbreviated. I didn't even have time to pick out this week's music selection, so you have to settle for this dude getting owned!
2. Speaking of baseball, one thing I'll be discussing in some detail is hip flexion range-of-motion asymmetries in pitchers. You'll almost always see far more hamstrings flexibility on the front leg for obvious reasons, but it's also important to consider how throwing styles contribute to this issue. Guys who throw on stiff front legs are ones who will most commonly present with big asymmetries. Justin Verlander would be a great example:
Guys like Verlander need to pay close attention to maintaining adequate length of the right hamstrings (the opposite would be true of a left-handed pitcher). Conversely, a guy like Greg Maddux who - at the same point in his throwing motion - is more flexed on the front knee, generally won't have big issues in this regard (although they should still be assessed and addressed).
Leaving these issues unaddressed can lead to a host of problems, most notably hamstrings strains on the back leg.
3. Manuel Buitrago has put some excellent Olympic lifting demonstrations online to help those of you at home who are trying to pick up these complex lifts on your own. Here's a little sample:
4. While I think it's awesome that a lot of folks are finally catching on that glute activation is important for both injury prevention and rehabilitation, a lot of folks have lost sight of the fact that you have to be careful about just training the glutes in hip extension. It's also very important to pay attention to theirs roles as external rotators and abductors. Once you've mastered bilateral movements in the sagittal plane (e.g., supine bridges), you need to get into single-leg and emphasis movements like bowler squats and lunges with reaches to various positions. These are great inclusions in the warm-up, and we highlight several options in our Magnificent Mobility DVD.
And, to take it a step further, you've got to load up those single-leg movements and challenge frontal plane stability to lay some strength down on top of those newly discovered movement strategies.
5. In light of the flexibility/mobility tone of this series of random thoughts, I thought it might be a good time to remind you that "creep" typically sets in at about 20 minutes. So, if you've been sitting at your desk reading for longer than that, it'd probably be a good idea to stand up for a few minutes, Quasimodo.
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used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
This is a random post, but it came about in light of our recent switch to a new hosting company, plus the reorganization of the site. In this drawn-out, mind-numbing, baldness-inducing process, I came to realize that a lot of my better writing has slipped into an internet black hole - or at the very least, the EricCressey.com archives. So, with that in mind, over the next few weeks, I'm going to reincarnate some of my old material.
Waiting to Reach ThresholdBack Squats and Overhead ThrowersThe Best Thing I've Seen All Year
And, if you're looking for sites that I visit nearly every day, I'll be posting some recommendations, too. Today, though, I want to give you a heads-up on a great audio series - Sports Rehab to Sports Performance - that Joe Heiler has pulled together. I'll be interviewed, as will Mike Boyle, Gray Cook, Kyle Kiesel, Stuart McGill, Phil Plisky, Brett Jones, and Charlie Weingroff. The entire interview series is COMPLETELY FREE, and you can get more information HERE.
I'll follow this up with future installments.
Q: I attended the baseball strength training clinic you gave in Long Island. I have a question for you about push-ups for pitchers. I am using push-ups with all player, and one of the parents has been concerned that push-ups are not good for pitchers. I was wondering if you could help me explain why push-ups are good for pitchers.
A: No problem. The two big "players" in scapular dysfunction are lower trapezius and serratus anterior. These muscles work in conjunction with the upper trapezius to upwardly rotate the scapula, which allows for safe overhead movements. Research has shown that baseball pitchers have less scapular upward rotation compared with position players and non-athletes - so it's definitely an adaptive change that we need to work to address.
Push-ups (when done correctly) can be useful for activating the serratus anterior, and as a closed-chain exercise, it has proprioceptive benefits at the shoulder girdle. Plus, you get a considerable effect in terms of core stability training, as you're resisting the effects of gravity in the "plank" position where the lumbar spine wants to slip into extension.
That said, if you're dealing with high school athletes, I'll warn you that over 90% of them (in my experience) need to be coached on how to do a push-up correctly. It isn't as simple as "just do this," as most of them will resort to incorrect technique. With a good pushup, the upper arms should be tucked to a 45-degree angle to the torso, and the athlete should actively "pull" himself down to the bottom position with the scapular retractors. The hips shouldn't sag, and there shouldn't be a forward head posture. Essentially, the chest - not the chin or hips - should get to the ground first.
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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used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
We actually got a snow day up here, so I'm using it to catch up on all sorts of stuff - from holiday shopping, to wrapping presents, to writing articles and programs. Admittedly, I did sleep until 9AM this morning, and that's pretty late for me.
1. It occurred to me that thanks to the miracle known as YouTube, I can embed a music video in my first random post each week, and you'll have musical entertainment in the background (if you want) as you read my stuff. And, since it's the season of miracles, I'll do just that. For the record, the experience will be all the more enjoyable if you hold your mouse in your right hand and raise a lighter in the air with the left arm. Of course, it won't really work out that well if you try to play the other videos below at the same time, but my intentions were good...
Here's Coming Undone by Korn, a classic song around Cressey Performance. It gets me all fired up to blog like a rock star.
2. While snow is a royal pain in the butt up here in New England, it does have one upside: accident-prone reporters who think they need to be outside to accurately relate just how much it is snowing.
Occasionally, you'll even get an in-studio goofball:
3. The only thing better than weathermen making tools of themselves? You guessed it: clumsy women stomping grapes with their feet on camera.
4. Apparently, we've got some pro pitchers - one in VA, and the other in NH - drawing inspiration from this blog as they prepare to get up here in early January to prepare for spring training. How you like these apples, fellas? Up five reps from the Thanksgiving day lift - simply because that's how we roll.
Come get some, fellas!
A huge thanks goes out to Jeremy Heffer and the University of Georgia Strength and Conditioning staff for the "Power G" beanie that made this all possible.
5. I've talked previously about the long-term detrimental effects of taping ankles, and I recently got a good inquiry about whether I thought this same issue would be present in MMA fighters who tape their wrists. My response was that it probably wasn't an issue as much at the wrist predominately because the wrist isn't a weight-bearing joint. By loading the ankle while it's taped, we solidify neural patterns a lot more quickly. Additionally, nobody tapes their wrists for the same duration and frequency as those athletes (basketball players, for instance) who tape their ankles daily for several hours - and combine those restrictions with wearing high-top sneakers. I remember seeing an interview with Bill Walton back in the mid-1980s when he joked about how the ankle taping got tighter and tighter as the season went on - probably because the guys got more and more unstable at their ankles!
That's all she wrote for today. Have a great weekend, everyone!
As a guy who trains a ton of baseball players - and is a competitive powerlifter (and weight-training author), I get a ton of questions from both baseball coaches/players and folks looking to get stronger (and healthier, for that matter). And, to take it a step further, since the release of Maximum Strength, I've gotten a lot of questions about whether or not Maximum Strength is appropriate for baseball players.
My response is "yes" - but only with some important modifications:
1. Substitution of dumbbell bench pressing in place of barbell bench pressing (rep count will have to come up a bit higher, as you aren't going to be doing heavy dumbbell bench pressing singles)
2. Substitution of clap push-ups in place of speed benching
3. Substitution of front squats in place of back squats
4. Substitution of alternating low incline dumbbell press in place of 1-arm dumbbell push press
5. Really emphasize the sleeper stretch, wall triceps stretch, and elbow flexors stretches - particularly after you throw.
As I mentioned last week, this past weekend was Ron Wolforth's Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp just outside of Houston, TX. To say that it was an awesome experience would be an understatement. I considered myself really lucky to be presenting alongside the likes of Brent Strom (St. Louis Cardinals), Phil Donley (Philadelphia Phillies consultant who has rehabbed loads of million-dollar arms), Perry Husband (Downright Filthy Pitching), and Ron himself. These guys are not only getting important information out there for coaches, but also getting their hands dirty in the trenches to take athletes and coaches to the next level with new information.
Just as great as the presenters were the 100+ attendees. In addition to many enthusiastic high school and private sector coaches and a few physical therapists, you had pitching coaches and/or baseball strength coaches from big-time colleges like Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Auburn, Kennesaw St., Savannah College of Art and Design, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Columbia, and Trinity. These guys immediately earned a ton of respect in my book for thinking outside the box, and it makes me want to encourage a lot of my stud athletes their way post-high school because I know that they're going to get coaches who are always looking for ways to help them succeed.
The title of my presentation was "Building the Complete and Superior Pitching Athlete." In my introduction to the coaches, I tried to make it very clear that my goal wasn't to try to teach them everything there was to know about S&C for baseball players, but rather to give them the knowledge (and resources, in the form of my handouts) to become informed consumers in dealing with the folks who carry out their players' programs. I wanted them to know that you CAN give a pitcher a tremendous training effect without injuries to the throwing arm or interfering with velocity by losing pitching-specific mobility.
I think that the secret to appreciating what it takes is understanding that baseball strength and conditioning is not just about lifting and running. Sure, these are components of the overall process, but if you only address these two components, you DO run the risk of impairing a pitcher's development. Sure, you've got to pay attention to these issues, but you also have to strategically address flexibility and mobility (yes, they are different), optimize soft tissue quality, and appreciate that you can use medicine ball work to maintain pitching-specific mobility during down-periods from throwing without all the stresses that come with throwing itself.
I also tried to get folks to think about what they already are doing with respect to distance running, "core" training, upper and lower body lifting, assessments, warm-ups (check out the Monster Mobility Pack for ideas), and post-throwing flexibility work. I discussed the difference between inefficiency and pathology and how your can have a terrible-looking MRI and/or x-ray and still be pain free.
You can still get all the information from the event by purchasing the DVDs of the entire weekend. I'd highly recommend them, as they include some great pitching analysis and recommendations from Brent Strom, awesome information on glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) by Phil Donley, intriguing thoughts on "effective velocity" from Perry Husband, and excellent ideas on "blending" by Ron Wolforth. Just head over to Pitching Central's UPCBC page and pick up a copy now.
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used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
By popular demand, some of the clients at CP who appreciate my cynical side requested that I pull together a list of things that annoy me. I turned to our intern, Chris, and asked him to pick a number between 1 and 20, and he chose 13. So, in lieu of Random Friday Thoughts, here are 13 things that drive me nuts...
1. It recently occurred to me that my Random Friday Thoughts are no longer very random - and not just because I do them every Friday. Truth be told, I am the Random Pioneer, and countless individuals have attempted to randomly follow in my random footsteps with their own random attempts at random brilliance in random blogs. I have a random message for these random copycats: you might as well give it up, as my randomness cannot be matched, so you might as well throw in your towel (and no, Steph, we aren't getting towels for you at CP).
I believe this cat reflects my random sentiments quite nicely:
2. I can't believe Joe Dirt didn't win an Oscar.
3. It's a written rule at CP that when you have one week remaining on your current program, it's your responsibility to notify a CP staff member that you'll need a new program printed out and ready to go within a week. It's an unwritten rule (as one 17-year-old athlete found out this week) that those who forget to tell us that they need a new program - and then show up to lift on the day the new program would have started - are rewarded with the following program for the day:
A1) Barbell Bulgarian Split Squats: 8x8/side
A2) Neutral Grip Pull-ups: 8x6
I don't think we'll be having this problem much more...
4. I always love it when a fitness professional sets up a new program or opens his/her own facility and writes his own press release. It usually comes out something like:
"World-Renowned Fitness Expert Announces Plans to Revolutionize the Fitness Industry
"In a move that has been called revolutionary, forward-thinking, bold, and daring, Ben Dover, CPT, QRS, ASAP, AEIOU is now personal training adults ages 18-65 in his mother's basement to help them loose [note from EC: this is intentionally spelled wrong, because people always spell lose incorrectly] weight. Dover graduated with honors from Moldy Gordita Community College in Burnt Scrotum, New Mexico.
"Says Dover, 'My Moldy Gordita and Burnt Scrotum experiences have made my outlook on fitness very unique.* Unlike other personal trainers, I encourage clients to eat right and exercise.'
*Note from EC: yes, I know you can't be very one-of-a-kind, but Ben doesn't.
"Dover has limited availability, but is now accepting new clients for 22 available hour-long time slots between the hours of 1AM and 11PM."
I see this at least once a week - seriously. As I think about it more, though, it's pretty amusing.
5. I need to see another story on TV about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie like I need to gouge out my eyes with a hot poker.
6. Sometimes, a video says it all.
(for the record, it isn't Tony that drives me nuts; it's the universal acceptance of the stability ball as training implement for everybody)
7. If you Google "medial deltoid," you get 7,710 results. You know what? There is no such thing as a medial deltoid! It's the middle deltoid - and yes, it is a pretty big difference anatomically (the medial deltoid would technically be the anterior deltoid, if you really think about it). You don't get Google search results for rhombazoids or upper trapezoids - and medial deltoid isn't much better.
8. In my article series on running programs for pitchers, I alluded to how I dislike it when pitchers run to get fit. Rather, I feel that they need to get fit to run. Truth be told, this doesn't just apply to pitchers; it applies to everyone, endurance athletes included. Taking up running to lose weight is a recipe for disaster for a lot of people. These people may include: dentists, professional wrestlers, eskimos, Starbucks employees, politicians, elves, laywers, and even superheroes. Yes, the only thing worse for Superman than kryptonite is distance-running-induced plantar fasciitis.
If you're a marathoner or triathlete, have at it - but be sure you're prepared to start it in the first place.
9. Can somebody tell me why we're just arresting this guy now? He should have been incarcerated for that hairstyle the seconds the 1980s were over!
10. The only thing worse than a close-talker is a close-coacher. This may include standing on top of an athlete, or shouting as many cues as possible during a set. Step off, dude.
11. Inside-Out doesn't get much love, but it is the single-best upper extremity injury prevention product out there. If you have shoulder or elbow issues, you should have bought this over a year ago!
Give Bill and Mike (and your rotator cuffs) some love.
12. I really could use about 28 hours in the day. I'd even settle for 27 - but 24 just doesn't seem to be cutting it.
13. It drives me nuts that I really couldn't come up with #13, but then I realized that I could just go back to my mainstay. Good Lord, this is atrocious. I don't even know where to begin...
Shawn Haviland is a Cressey Performance athlete who started up a blog a month or two back. The Oakland A's drafted Shawn out of Harvard in the 33rd round in 2008. He actually wrote up a piece about training at CP:
5 Things I have Learned (So Far) from the Guys at Cressey Performance
Shawn started out as a janitor at M.I.T. before he solved a complex math problem left on a chalkboard - and that led to instant baseball success. Or maybe that was Good Will Hunting...
