As featured in:
Individualizing the Management of Overhead Athletes
In this free 47-minute presentation, you'll learn:
- Why different athletes need different approaches to power development
- Why it’s essential that you learn to train outside the sagittal plane
- Which medicine ball and plyometric variations I use with baseball players
- Why not all throwers have identical deceleration patterns or training needs
- How your arm care programs can be improved to reduce the risk of injury and improve throwing velocity
February 6th, 2013 at 8:44 am
Eric,
Are the crossover symmetry exercises good for baseball players if they are performed correctly? Thanks for the information on warmups.
Tim
February 6th, 2013 at 8:54 am
Tim,
Absolutely!
February 6th, 2013 at 9:14 am
Eric, this is really going to help, thank you. Quick question, what do you recommend then if anything for internal rotation? What do you feel about band pull aparts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBsia-o9N4) and band arm circles like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ2n2wvj6mA) for pitcher warm ups and not general shoulder warm up?
Thank you,
Scott
February 6th, 2013 at 9:23 am
Hey Eric,
I picked up arm circles from “Thrive on Throwing” dvd and use them usu. with 2-3# dbs or 3 baseballs as one of my primary warm-ups. What’s your take? Hand position?
Thanks,
Steven
February 6th, 2013 at 9:28 am
Do you have specific band exercises that you recommend or a set that is good for them? I have a few but just interested to see if there are any new ones out there. Completely agree with the behind the back stretches
February 6th, 2013 at 9:37 am
Eric,
Is this why elbows are up during delivery – to keep ball in center of socket?
February 6th, 2013 at 11:28 am
Good stuff Eric!! Thanks for doing this little piece. I have a couple guys who really struggle to get that elbow up when not only doing arm care work, but also when they throw. They leave that elbow well below the shoulder as the shoulder rotate and they lay back. Tough to change that arm action but need to learn more about how to help them reprogram to get the elbow up closer to shoulder height I believe. Needless to say, they both came to me with previous surgeries so not sure if this is how they compensate for discomfort when throwing?
February 6th, 2013 at 11:42 am
Eric
What would you recommend to someone who is tight externally?
February 6th, 2013 at 12:48 pm
Aren’t crossover symmetry movements essentially band pull aparts? Am I way off base here?
February 6th, 2013 at 4:39 pm
Bob,
You mean someone who lacks external rotation?
February 6th, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Don,
There’s definitely more to it than that. Have to get the arm up to help create downward plane, too.
February 6th, 2013 at 4:41 pm
Steven,
I don’t think it’s a problem as long as the congruency b/t the ball and socket is maintained.
February 6th, 2013 at 4:45 pm
Scott,
For IR, we work on positional breathing, t-spine mobility, and soft tissue work – and then consider stretching at the shoulder. Might be side-lying cross-body stretch or sleeper stretch (or, preferably, manual stretching with someone who is qualified).
I like the snow angels but not the pullaparts for pitchers.
February 6th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Drew,
We keep things very simple. I like ER at 90 degrees and Ys. We do a lot more wall slide and back to wall shoulder flexion drills, then rhythmic stabilizations.
February 6th, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Eric, I recommend you highly as you know, but it occurred to me after watching this a couple more times – you hold the cuffs in your fists. Maybe for expediency to focus on the shoulder concerns, but I know Alan opposes the fist grip and designed the J-Bands with cuffs so that the hand and fingers could remain loose and relaxed while the parts of the arm/shoulders provide the effort.
February 6th, 2013 at 5:06 pm
Richard,
Thanks for your support. I actually disagree with Alan on this one. Gripping actually reflexively activates the rotator cuff (process known as irradiation). Great stuff out there from Charlie Weingroff and Gray Cook on this front. I don’t think specificity to throwing is so important in this case.
February 7th, 2013 at 8:54 am
Eric
Reccommnedations for posterior shoulder tightness
February 7th, 2013 at 7:01 pm
Bob,
If they lack internal rotation, there are several things we do – in the following order:
1. Positional breathing drills (correcting a left rib flare can create more right glenohumeral internal rotation)
2. Thoracic spine mobility work
3. Soft tissue work
4. Scapular control exercises
5. Manual stretching for shoulder or side-lying cross-body or sleeper stretch (only if IR deficit persists and total motion isn’t symmetrical after #1-4)
You don’t want to go right to aggressively cranking the shoulder into IR unless you absolutely have to.
February 7th, 2013 at 11:22 pm
Great video! Thanks for sharing! Awesome!
February 8th, 2013 at 9:43 am
Eric, what about former baseball players that still have some nagging shoulder pain and possible joint laxity, but coupled with tight pecs from years of strength training. How would that population stretch the pecs without further loosening the shoulder joint?
February 8th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
Chris,
I’d incorporate a lot of soft tissue work and then a lot of this stuff:
http://ecressey.wpengine.com/shoulder-mobility-drills-how-to-improve-external-rotation
March 12th, 2013 at 11:15 am
I have my 13 year old son working with a PVC pipe (overhead stretches – wide grip moving the bar from the front of the body, overhead to touching the low back, as well as, “around the worlds”) for pre throwing warm ups. Would you not recommend this for the same reasons as the stretch bands? Thanks.
March 14th, 2013 at 5:39 am
Jeff,
I’d stay away from it if he is a thrower.
March 22nd, 2013 at 1:49 pm
I have a lot questions on why you don’t agree with external strengthening and stretching.
March 22nd, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Chris,
I agree 100% that we need to strengthen the external rotators of the shoulder. I do not, however, believe that we need to stretch individuals into external rotation.
March 23rd, 2013 at 6:49 pm
I’m not trying to disagree…. but I thought bands were used to strengthen the rotator muscles in the shoulder? Are we talking about two different things here?
March 24th, 2013 at 2:27 pm
Chris,
I’d encourage you to watch the video over again. I’m not against the idea of using the bands to strengthen the shoulder girdle. I’m against using them to stretch individuals into a bad position. And, I highlight the importance of correct core positioning if you are going to use them for rotator cuff strengthening.