Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 1/24/12

Written on January 24, 2012 at 8:35 pm, by Eric Cressey

Here’s this week’s list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:

How Much Strength Do Our Athletes Need? – I thought this was an outstanding piece from Rob Panariello at Bret Contreras’ blog.  It’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot over the past few years, and Rob does an excellent job of discussing how the answer is likely different for every athlete.

Paula Deen’s an Idiot – On the surface, this blog post from Dean Somerset seems to be a rant on this outrageous example of hypocrisy with respect to Deen’s announcement that she had Type 2 Diabetes.  While that would have been spot-on, Dean kicked it up a notch when he busted out some great statistics to show that her “it was my genetics” argument was bogus.  Wildly entertaining; well done, Dean.

What a Puppy Can Teach You About Resistance Training Progress – I came across this article while I was searching for another one in my archives. I wrote it shortly after we got our dog (who is now about 1.5 years old), but the message still resounds.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 12/7/11

Written on December 7, 2011 at 8:28 pm, by Eric Cressey

Here’s this week’s list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:

The Effects of Stable versus Unstable Surface Training on Performance of Division II Female Soccer Players – I was psyched to see this presented in the most recent Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, as these researchers verified the findings of my master’s thesis.  Essentially, we found that even a small dosage of unstable surface training interferes with the development of strength, power, and aerobic capacity.  For more information, I’d encourage you to check out The Truth About Unstable Surface Training, which summarizes our findings, rationale, and practical applications.

The President’s Cancer Panel Report – I thought Brian St. Pierre did a great job of presenting this valuable information very succinctly; it’s all stuff that we should know.

The Contreras Files: Volume 1 – I love reading Bret Contreras’ stuff because he is constantly working to add to the body of knowledge, whether it’s in doing research of his own, or translating research into usable formats for coaches, trainers, and lifters.  This is a great example.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 8/12/11 (Fitness Business Blueprint Edition)

Written on August 12, 2011 at 8:06 am, by Eric Cressey

With today being the last day of the early-bird $100 off discount on The Fitness Business Blueprint, I wanted to take a quick second to direct you to a few reads that might be of interest along these lines:

Bret Contreras Interviews Cressey, Robertson, and Rigsby – Here, Bret asks not just about our new resource, but a lot of how our businesses came to be.

Your Fitness Business Blueprint Questions Answered – Have a question about The Fitness Business Blueprint?  Chances are that it’s answered here.

EC on The Fitcast – I went on the Fitcast with Kevin Larrabee the other day to discuss the new product as well as the overall concept of running a fitness business.  If you’d rather listen than read, here’s the one for you!

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 7/25/11

Written on July 25, 2011 at 6:57 am, by Eric Cressey

Here are some recommended reads from the strength and conditioning world to kick off your week:

Supine Sagittal Stability and the T-L Junction – This is an outstanding blog post from Charlie Weingroff on the important role that the thoracolumbar junction plays not only in early childhood development, but also the acquisition of pathology later on in life.

The New Rules of Strength Training – I got a kick out of this article from Bret Contreras.  There’s quite a bit of humor,  but with a bunch of valuable lessons at the end of the piece.

Is Saturated Fat Really the Dietary Boogeyman? – Brian St. Pierre presents a great case for why saturated fat isn’t as evil as it’s always been made out to be.

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Stuff You Should Read: 5/29/11

Written on May 29, 2011 at 4:14 am, by Eric Cressey

It’s been a while since I sent out a few recommended reading ideas, so here goes…

Cracking the Code on Muscle Imbalances – Muscle Imbalances Revealed has become a continuing education mainstay for our interns when they start with us, and with a new class about to get underway, it made me realize that this recap of the product I wrote a while back has slipped into the archives of my site.  There is a lot of good information here; check it out.

Why Bodybuilders are More Jacked than Powerlifters – Trust me when I say that the writing and research in this T-Nation article is far superior to what the title implies.  Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfield did an excellent job with it.

Coaching Neutral Neck, Spine, and Wrist – This three-part series by Mike Robertson was very well done, as it includes a lot of valuable coaching cues for your strength training programs.  It includes several videos for those of you who are visual learners.

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Stuff You Should Read: 3/17/11

Written on March 17, 2011 at 6:17 am, by Eric Cressey

Here are some links I’d encourage you to check out this week:

Understanding Elbow Pain – Part 3: Pitching Injuries – With recent (medial) elbow injuries to Adam Wainwright and Andrew Bailey – and the fact that the high school baseball season starts next week here in Massachusetts – this article is a timely read because it talks about the causes of elbow injuries in throwing, and how those injuries may be different for a young pitcher than an adult pitcher.  The follow-up article (Part 4), Protecting Pitchers, is an important subsequent read, too.

Case Study: Anterior Knee Pain in a High School Runner – My buddy Shon Grosse, a physical therapist in Colmar, PA, just got his blog off the ground and will be doing some case study presentations.  What I love about Shon is that he’s not just a skilled physical therapist, but also an informed consumer when it comes to everything from strength and conditioning, to track and field, to martial arts.  You’ll see this reflected in his treatment strategies.  This will make for a great regular read for up-and-coming physical therapists.

An Interview with Bret Contreras – Dean Somerset interviewed Bret on his blog, and as it typically the case, Bret really overdelivered on content.  That man can write!

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Wednesday Randomness: Back in Action!

Written on October 6, 2010 at 9:02 am, by Eric Cressey

1. I’m happy to report that I not only survived our wedding festivities, but that Anna actually said “I do” (actually, “I will”).  Kidding aside, it was – without a doubt – the single best weekend of my life; we had an absolute blast.

2. For those who are wondering, I did, in fact, eat the cake (actually, I ate a lot more than just cake; we had a sweet buffet):

3. Speaking of cakes, my fiancee wife had an extra one made in the shape of a dumbbell with our initials on it.  We’re both bummed that we never had a chance to try a piece, but at least it looked great – and hopefully some people enjoyed their slices.

Enough with the wedding stuff, as these aren’t even the wedding photographers pictures – and you are probably more interested in me talking about lifting heavy stuff and the like!

4. Brian St. Pierre – who happened to be in attendance at the wedding (like that transitional material?) – just had a great article published at T-Nation that I think you’ll really like: 10 Forgotten Muscle Building Foods.

5. A while back, I contributed on an article by Bret Contreras – and it was just published yesterday.  Check it out: The Best Assistance Exercises for the Three Big Powerlifts.  It’s a good one if you are wondering which strength exercises will have the most carryover to squat, bench press, and deadlift.

6. I have an AWESOME interview lined up with Kelly Baggett for later this week.  Kelly and I go back quite a few years, and he’s one of those guys that I always learn something from when we connect.  If you are interested in athletic performance improvements, he is a great guy from whom to learn.  He actually did a interview at this site a while back, if you want to check them out:

Baggett of Tricks: An Interview with Kelly Baggett: Part 1
Baggett of Tricks: An Interview with Kelly Baggett: Part 2

Kelly recently collaborated with Alex Maroko on a product called The Truth About Quickness, and it came out really well.

7. Last, but not least, if you are a Red Sox fan (or any sports fan, for that matter) and didn’t see this on ESPN last night, you missed an awesome hour of television.  I had goosebumps the entire time.

You can find TV listings for its replay HERE.

Sorry for not having any unique “EC content” for you today, but we’re doing all sorts of post-wedding stuff – from unpacking, to writing thank you notes, to

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Friday the 13th: Muscle Imbalances, Stiffness, & Increasing Throwing Velocity

Written on August 13, 2010 at 6:34 am, by Eric Cressey

1.  I just realized that it’s Friday the 13th.  Hopefully that epiphany doesn’t jinx this blog and make it suck.  Prepare yourself either way.

2. In case you missed it earlier this week, today is the last day you can save $50 off of Muscle Imbalances Revealed, a discount that is only in place for my readers through THIS LINK. As I noted in my Muscle Imbalances Revealed product review earlier this week, it’s an excellent product and worth every penny. The sale lasts through tonight at midnight only.

3. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably know that I’m a huge advocate of soft tissue work based on anecdotal evidence.  This week, however, I want to direct you to a great “case study” guest blog by physical therapist Trevor Winnegge over at Mike Reinold’s blog.  Trevor writes about the importance of soft tissue release following SLAP 2 repairs.  This is great information for both clinicians and those looking to be advocates for themselves following shoulder injuries, so definitely check it out.

4. Check out this excellent blog post from Bret Contreras on stiffness.  A lot of folks think that being stiff is always a bad thing, but as Bret shows, there is a time and a place for everything – and it’s crucial for successful athletic performance.

5. Cressey Performance athlete Andrew Chin had a nice interview published at ESPN Boston the other day, and talks about his training at CP in some detail. Check it out: Player Perspective: Andrew Chin.

5. Tony’s out of town for a lovely romantic weekend with his significant other.  He’s planning to serenade her, so we did a little trial run at Cressey Performance the other night.  I think he did pretty well:

Hey, it beats techno, right?

6. One of my goals for the rest of 2010 is to really kick up the video content here at EricCressey.com.  To that end, I am tentatively planning a video series for the blog that is all about exercise technique and how we teach certain lifts.  I’m looking for ideas: what drills/exercises/lifts have been a struggle for you to learn?  Please post some suggestions as comments below and you might see it in this blog in the next few months with a ton of detail.  Thanks in advance for your ideas!

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