Cressey Performance Pro Guys’ Locations

Written on April 11, 2011 at 5:47 am, by Eric Cressey

I just wanted to put out this quick note for my readers out there who may be baseball fans located near a professional baseball park. It’s a listing of where the participants in this season’s off-season program will begin the year.  Please comment if you’re located near one of these teams and plan on heading out to support our guys, as it’s awesome to know when our players have a good audience cheering them on.

This list progresses from East to West, American to National League (by organizational affiliation):

Chad Jenkins – Dunedin, FL (Blue Jays High A)

Matt Abraham – Dunedin, FL (GCL Blue Jays)

Kevin Youkilis – Boston, MA (Boston Red Sox)

Jeremy Hazelbaker – Salem, VA (Red Sox High A)

Jeremiah Bayer – Salem, VA (Red Sox High A)

Matt Kramer – Ft. Myers, FL (GCL Red Sox)

Craig Albernaz – Montgomery, AL (Rays AA)

Kevin Moran – Kannapolis, NC (White Sox Low A)

Phil Negus – Kannapolis, NC (White Sox Low A)

Corey Kluber – Columbus, OH (Indians AAA)

Tim Collins – Kansas City, MO (Kansas City Royals)

Anthony Seratelli – Northwest Arkansas (Royals AA)

Kevin Pucetas – Omaha, NE (Royals AAA)

Crawford Simmons – Kane County, IL (Royals Low A)

Matt Perry – Lakeland, FL (GCL Tigers)

Ryan O’Rourke – Beloit, WI (Twins Low A)

Tim Kiely – Little Rock, AK (Angels AA)

Trystan Magnuson – Sacramento, CA (A’s AAA)

Shawn Haviland – Midland, TX (A’s AA)

Jeff Bercume – Phoenix, AZ (AZL Athletics)

Nick McBride – Hickory, NC (Rangers Low A)

Ryan Rodebaugh – Hickory, NC (Rangers Low A)

Chad Rodgers – Lynchburg, VA (Braves High A)

Cory Gearrin – Gwinnett (Braves AAA)

Tim Gustafson – Pearl, MS (Braves AA)

Steve Cishek – New Orleans, LA (Marlins AAA)

Matt Bouchard – St. Lucie, FL (Mets High A)

Chris McKenzie – Hagerstown, MD (Nationals Low A)

Bryan LaHair – Des Moines, IA (Cubs AAA)

Steffan Wilson – Huntsville, AL (Brewers AA)

Cory Riordan – Tulsa, OK (Rockies AA)

Dan Houston – Modesto, CA (Rockies High A)

Will Inman – Tuscon, AZ (Padres AAA)

Kyle Vazquez – Scottsdale, AZ (AZL Giants)

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Off-Season Baseball Training at Cressey Performance

Written on March 10, 2011 at 5:47 pm, by Eric Cressey

It’s been a few months in the making, but we just finished up a promo video about how we attack off-season baseball training at Cressey Performance for our professional, collegiate, and high school baseball players.

We’d love to hear what you think – and hopefully you’ll like it enough to help spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks!

A big shoutout goes out to Jamie and Matt at Lasting Memories Videotaping; these guys do an awesome job, and we can’t recommend them highly enough!

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Lose Fat, Gain Muscle, Get Strong, and Laugh a Little – Installment 2

Written on March 2, 2011 at 7:48 am, by Eric Cressey

Time to learn and laugh – and hopefully lose fat and gain muscle in the process.

1. Here’s a great study that shows that scapular dyskinesis in swimmers is magnified as training duration increases.  I think that we all assume that you either have a scapular dyskinesis or you don’t – but the truth is that you may not have it at rest, but it can kick in with activity as you fatigue.  This is often why pitchers’ mechanics change (e.g., elbow drops) as they get tired later in an outing.

It’s a perfect example of how managing a pitcher – building up throwing volumes, charting pitch counts, and preparing the body – is much more important in terms of long term health than simply teaching pitching mechanics.  A pitcher might have great mechanics in a 15-30 pitch bullpen, but that can change dramatically if he is asked to extend his pitch count.

2. I woke up this morning to an email from two CP pro guys, Matt Kramer (Red Sox) and Chad Rodgers (Braves), and it included this video thank you/tribute from the off-season.  Not a bad supplemental skill set for a couple of guys who throw 95mph!

3. My wife and I have been doing more and more cooking from Dave Ruel’s Anabolic Cooking.  He’s got a ton of great (and healthy) recipes in this cookbook that have been a nice change of pace for us, as we seemed to have gotten in a rut when things got busy and we just kept preparing what was quick, easy, and familiar.  I’ll write up a thorough review of the product sometime soon, but for now, you can find out more information HERE.

4. On Monday, my wife and I returned from four days in Iceland.  It was an awesome trip; people there are so hospitable and we were treated fantastically.  I could go on and on about our experiences there, but a travel guide could tell you much more than I ever could – so I’ll just make an interesting observation…

On average, Icelandic folks live two years longer than those in the U.S.  This is in a country that a) gets far less vitamin D due to minimal sunlight and b) has very few resources when it comes to growing fruits and vegetables because almost the entire country is lava fields.  What do they have that we don’t? Portion control at meal time.

Speaking of meal time, I ate whale blubber, rotten shark, and ram’s testicle.  Not surprisingly, none of them were very good.

5. I saw this advertisement with Mick Jagger on it in a clothing store at a Reykjavik mall and just had to snap a picture.  Apparently, Jagger has 20-inch biceps in Iceland.

This was definitely one of the better Photoshop jobs that I’ve seen.  They really made it believable.  The only thing missing from the picture is the purple unicorn that Mick rode to the show.

6. My buddy John Romaniello was on Good Morning America the other day.  I was hoping he’d talk about the time that we ate moose meat sloppy joes together, but instead he talked about fat loss.  I think the sloppy joe story would have come out better, but his appearance still went pretty well.  Check him out.

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Throwing Programs: Not One-Size-Fits-All

Written on November 9, 2010 at 3:00 am, by Eric Cressey

I received a few separate emails this week from folks wondering how I plan our guys’ off-season throwing programs to include everything from long toss, to weighted baseballs, to mound work.

Most people expect to be handed a simple throwing program – as one might receive with an interval throwing program following rehabilitation.  The truth is that there isn’t a single throwing program that I give to all our guys; rather, each is designed with the athlete’s unique needs and circumstances taken into consideration.

With that in mind, I thought I’d outline some of the factors we consider when creating a throwing program for our professional baseball pitchers (many of these principles can also be applied to younger throwers):

1. Where they struggle on the mound (poor control, poor velocity, lack of athleticism, etc.)

2. Whether I want them using weighted balls in addition to long toss and bullpens or not

3. How many innings they threw the previous year (the more they throw, the later they start)

4. Whether they are going to big league or minor league spring training (we have minor league guys an additional 2-3 weeks)

5. How much “risk” we’re willing to take with their throwing program (we’d be more aggressive with a 40th rounder than a big leaguer or first rounder; here is a detailed write-up on that front)

6. Whether they are a starter or reliever (relievers can start earlier because they’ve had fewer innings in the previous year)

7. What organization they are in (certain teams expect a LOT when guys show up, whereas others assume guys did very little throwing in the off-season and then hold them back when they arrive in spring training)

8. Whether guys play winter ball, Arizona Fall League, Team USA/Pan-American games, or go to instructionals

9. Whether they are big leaguers (season ends the last week in September, at the earliest) or minor leaguers (ends the first week in September)

10. What each guy tells you about his throwing history and how his arm feels.  Any pitcher can always tell you more than you can ever accurately assume – so you just have to be willing to listen to him.

Here are a few general rules of thumb:

1. Most throwing programs from professional organizations don’t have their pitchers playing catch until January 1 – and I think this is WAY too late to give pitchers adequate time to develop arm speed and durability in the off-season.

2. Relievers start earlier than starters (we are starting our relief pitchers three weeks ahead of our starters this year, on average).

3. Medicine ball volume comes down and throwing volume goes up.

4. Most of our guys who don’t go to instructionals, winter ball, the fall league, or Team USA start in November.  Starters are generally right around Thanksgiving among minor leaguers, with some relievers a bit earlier.  Big league guys don’t start throwing until mid- to late-December or even January 1.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but hopefully it gives you some insight into some of what goes through my mind as we work to increase throwing velocity and arm health.

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An Interview with Eric Cressey (by John Romaniello)

Written on September 22, 2010 at 10:33 pm, by Eric Cressey

Earlier this week, I did an interview with John Romaniello for his website, and it came out so well (and long) that I thought it’d make for a great post here today.  Check it out below (with John speaking in the first person).

Okay, below is a transcript of the interview I did with Eric Cressey, beast of all beasts.  He’s seriously the man.  I’ve told you in another blog post how Eric and I met, and after 8 years and never less than 300 miles of distance between us, we’re still close and still learn a lot from each other.

Eric is seriously regarded as one of the Top 5 coaches in the world by just about any authority that has any authority (if you’ll pardon the redundancy) and in my view is probably the best from a standpoint of bringing things to a practical level.

His hew program, “Show and Go” has just been released, and is basically blowing the doors off of the industry.

Now, I’ll warn you that Eric works with professional athletes most of the time, so we talk about that A LOT in the interview; however, as he notes, he started in fitness-based training. The program brings it all together, and the interview very clearly explains why you should pick it up.

Check it out!

1.  Okay, right of of the gate, I want this interive to focus on your new program.  So, let’s get to it: how is Show and Go different from the other training products out there now?

Most products are written with a specific market – trainers, females, fat loss, or something else – in mind.  In the marketing world, they tell you to not try to be everything to everyone.  Well, I’m not a good marketer – so I decided to make this resource extremely versatile and a good fit for a LOT of people.

The reason is that there are a lot of things in a comprehensive strength and conditioning program that everybody needs to utilize.  From the minutia to the big picture, I could go on all day: foam rolling, mobility warm-ups, single-leg training, more horizontal pulling, fluctuation of training stress, sufficient deloading periods, extra posterior chain work, a balance of open- and closed-chain upper body pressing, glute activation, rotator cuff strength – the list goes on and on.

So, I guess you can say that the #1 thing that is different about this product is that there are easy-to-apply modifications in it that make it a versatile resource that offers something for everyone.  From the 2x/3x/4x per week training options to the supplement conditioning options, there are ways to make it the right fit for YOU.

And, the guy who created it is also extremely good looking, charming, witty, and charismatic!

2. And modest.  Or not.  But I hate modesty anyway.  Now, like me, you’re still “in the trenches” right?  I mean, you still work clients hands on, every day in your gym?

Yes, that’s for sure – and, in fact, you could say that it’s one more thing that separates this program for a lot of the other ones that are out there in the fitness landscape right now.  In this digital retail era, there are a lot of people publishing fitness information products on the net that are largely based on theory, not trends that have proven significant over and over again in the real world.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as a lot of the most sound training practices we know today were originally just theories.  However, speculative training isn’t for me.

I think it’s one reason why I thought so highly of the Final Phase Fat Loss program you created; I know you as a guy who has put in years of efforts “in the trenches” with clients and with your own training.  If you recommend something, it’s because you know it’s legitimate and you’d stake your reputation on it.

I’m in the same boat.  We generally do over 300 client sessions per week at Cressey Performance.  Taking it a step further, I’ll have over 40 professional baseball players who come from all over the country to live in snowy Hudson, MA all winter to give themselves the best possible chance to make it to the big leagues – and have a long and healthy career along the way.

Every single person that walks through the door is on an individualized program that was written by one of our staff members in accordance with the results of a one-on-one evaluation that took place.  When you write that many programs and supervise so many training sessions, you get a feel for the stuff that should be constant in just about everyone’s programs – and it makes you appreciate that there are many important principles that can be applied to make a program like Show and Go safe and effective for “the masses.”

You’ll see that in the detail that has gone into the Show and Go program.  It features the exact printable training templates we use with our clients so that people can record their progress.  The exercises and set/rep protocols have all been test-driven with our clients, too.  And, the 175+ videos in the online database that accompanies this guide were all filmed in my facility – not my mom’s basement or the park, as you often see from folks who write books, but don’t actually train anyone.

In short, I’ve got a unique frame of reference to share with people.  And, I’ve got a lot more to lose professionally if I was to put out an inferior product – so I put my heart and soul into this one.

3. Wow, that’s pretty intense.  Lets just touch on that for a sec.  You have over 40 pro baseball players from a number of different teams move into Red Sox territory to train with you.  That’s pretty telling.  Can you talk a bit more about your experiences with pro athletes?  I know this program is for “everyone” but how has working with some of the most elite athletes in the world shaped you as a coach.

Sure thing.  One of my biggest questions as we got Cressey Performance off the ground was whether or not professional baseball players would be willing to travel to the cold, snowy Northeast during all or parts of their off-season (roughly September-March) when they could be going to warmer weather climates.  To be honest, I never really waited to find the answer; we just focused on the few guys we had when we started out, and really hammered on getting great results and making people believers in our system.  The rest, I guess, is history – and I realize now that if you have a good product, it doesn’t matter where you are: people will find you.

Business stuff aside, with respect to training needs, most people are surprised when they discover just how similar the Average Joe or Jane is to a professional athlete – both socially and physically.

The lay population often sits in front of a computer for 8-10 hours a day, but many pro athletes have 4-8 hour flights or 10+ hour bus rides where they’re sitting – and because they’re taller, sitting is even more uncomfortable and problematic.  Like everyone else, they’re on the computer or in front of video games a lot.  It’s actually quite interesting to note that technology advances haven’t just brought the “Pros and the Joes” closer together via fantasy football, but also in terms of the training they need to stay healthy.

Pro athletes are also very similar to the lay population in that they want very efficient training.  There are always competing demands for their attention – whether it’s their families, charity work, marketing stuff, playing golf, or a number of other things.  These guys live at the ballpark for 12+ hours per day for over half the year, so when the off-season rolls around, they aren’t particularly interested in long, drawn-out training sessions unless it’s absolutely necessary for their success.  Most of our pro guys train six days a week for about 90 minutes in each session; four of these days are lifting, and there is movement training, medicine ball work, foam rolling, and mobility work included as well.  Once the time comes to start throwing and hitting, this 1.5 hours might become three hours a day.

4.  That’s pretty great stuff.  And as much as you love training athletes, they love training with you, too.  Every time I pick up a publication from your area, everyone from high school athletes up to Kevin Youkilis are singing your praises, and that includes other trainers.  But let’s go back to the “regular” people.

Let’s talk about my readers for a bit: they’ve done a lot of programs, but most written by trainers who don’t train pros or (in the case of myself) only a few.

So can we assume that this is a good “next step” coming from the average fitness program?  How can we take what you do with pros, what you do with absolute beginners, and apply the “middle ground” in this program?  I guess the question is: why is it that Show and Go is going be THE program for performance?

It’s absolutely a great next step.

First and foremost, I should mention that while we’re probably best known for training baseball players, we’ve actually got a very diverse clientele.  Sure, there are athletes from everything from boxing to bobsled, but we also have an awesome group of adult clients who just want to just want to be leaner, more muscular, healthier, and more functional for the challenges that life throws their way.

In fact, this was actually the fitness clientele I was dealing with the most before the “baseball thing” blew up for me – so I’m certainly not shooting from the hip on this.

To that end, there are a lot of things in a comprehensive strength and conditioning program that everybody – from the pro athlete to the soccer mom – needs to utilize.  I could go on all day: foam rolling, mobility warm-ups, single-leg training, more horizontal pulling, fluctuation of training stress, sufficient deloading periods, extra posterior chain work, glute activation, rotator cuff strength – the list goes on and on.  All that just speaks to staying healthy and moving more efficiently – but let’s be honest: most people want to get lean, muscular, and strong.

But let me ask you this: how many of the “regulars” in the typical commercial gym are actually lean, muscular, or strong?  I haven’t lifted in a commercial gym in years, but my memory definitely serves me correct when it tells me that it couldn’t be more than 10-15% of those in attendance.  The other 85-90% are rubbing their arses raw on the recumbent bike and scratching their heads about why they aren’t getting leaner when the elliptical machine told them that they were burning 28,000 calories per hour.  After all, they made great progress in the first 8-12 weeks of their exercise program doing this – and it took them from the untrained stage to the beginner stage.  What they don’t realize is progress halts unless they change things up and kick their programs up a notch by adding strength training and interval work.

Meanwhile, you have a lot of intermediate trainees who have “been there, done that” who poke fun at beginners because they haven’t discovered the same Holy Grail of strength training and interval training that enabled them to advance from beginner to intermediate.  What’s actually quite ironic (and it is irony, because it’s tragic how badly this sabotages people’s program) is that, all the while, most of these intermediate trainees are missing out on valuable training secrets that could take them to the “advanced” stage.

You talked about a lot of those secrets with respect to fat loss when you wrote Final Phase Fat Loss.  I’ve had many of the same “epiphanies” when it comes to improving strength and performance.  You had trouble losing those last few pounds of body fat to get photo-shoot-ready, and I literally spent 14 months trying to figure out how to get from a 225 bench press to a 230 bench press.  Sad, but true.

Well, I’m happy to report that I’ve now got a 365 raw bench press at ~190 pounds, and by this point, I’ve actually kissed a girl (even convinced her to marry me!).  I learned a lot of lessons along the way – almost too many to share, in fact – which is one reason why I created Show and Go.

Here’s an example…

Beginners can make strength gains on as little as 40% of their one-rep max.  Past that initial period, the number moves to 70% – which is roughly a 12-rep max for most folks.  Later, I’d say that the number creeps up to about 85% – which would be about a 5-rep max for an intermediate lifter.  This last range is where you’ll find most people who head to the internet for strength training information.

What they don’t realize is that 85% isn’t going to get the job done for very long, either.  My experience is that in advanced lifters, the fastest way to build strength is to perform singles (sets of one rep) at or above 90% of one-rep max with regularity.  As long as exercises are rotated and deloading periods are included, this is a strategy that can be employed for an extended period of time.  In fact, it was probably the single (no pun intended) most valuable discovery I made in my quest to get stronger.

I’m not saying that you should be attempting one-rep maxes each time you enter the gym, but I do think they’ll “just happen” if you employ this technique.

Like I said, there are a lot more – but the program takes all the guesswork out and includes them.

5. Most people know you for the more “mundane ” aspects of performance…the boring stuff that we should be doing by most people don’t: soft tissue work, mobility work, all that.

On the other hand, you and I have known each other for about 10 years now, and I have a “different” perspective on you than the industry at large.  I’ve seen you in your aesthetic-focused period where you wanted to get bigger, I’ve seen you get into powerlifting and pull HUGE weights.

I know that having done these gives you insight into aspects of fitness many people don’t realize you have.  That said, for the time being you’re not known as one of the go-to guys if your main goal is to look better (which I personally know is bullshit).

Do you think Show and Go will help show the world that you can get people lean and muscular? I think—actually, let me put it this way.  I’ve looked closely at the program, and WOW have you just knocked it the hell out of the park.  I guess I’m asking, have you put your heart and soul into this because you want to show the world a new side of yourself?  What are your thoughts on that?

The thing people really need to realize is that enhancing one’s performance – particularly with respect to strength gains – really sets the stage for long-term muscle mass gains.  You’re a big dude – but what people might not know is that you’re also a very metrosexual strong dude.  That strength and size are not mutually exclusive – and some of the best bodybuilders on the planet would tell you the same thing.  What I can tell you is that I have gained more muscle mass “accidentally” in years as a powerlifter than I gained “intentionally” in years as a wannabe bodybuilder.  For me, the biggest window of adaptation was in getting stronger – and that’s what I did.  My upper back, hamstrings, and glutes just weren’t going to stay small if I did what it took to get to a 660-pound deadlift.

How does this work?  Well, the stronger you are, the most “work” you’re going to be doing in classic “hypertrophy” zones.  If Lifter A can bench press 300 pounds, and he’s doing sets of 6 (call it 83% of 1RM), he’s moving about 250 pounds in that set.  If Lifter B bench presses 260 pounds, he’s working at about 215 pounds.  If both do four sets of six reps, you’ll see that Lifter A is doing a lot more total work (force times distance). Lifter B needs to get his maximal strength up – and then return to these classic hypertrophy training zones to reap the benefits anew.

As an aside, staying healthy is a nice aside to training for performance, as you’re teaching your body to move efficiently.  I always tell people that the best program is one that is sustainable – meaning that it doesn’t leave you injured or exhausted (too badly, at least) to the point that you’re missing valuable training time.  Teach your body to move efficiently, and you’ll see that the threshold at which you get “banged up” is markedly more difficult to reach.  The high volume lifting and metabolic resistance training fat loss protocols just won’t be you up as easily if you come in prepared and take care of the “boring” ancillary stuff like foam rolling and mobility work that I advocate.

6.  Random – I’ll ask you this because I know people are interested in pro athletes: what is the one thing that makes athletes different from regular people?  Like, how do they really just differ in the way they respond to training?  What can we learn from that?

I’d say that, for the most part, the most immediate difference is in how quickly the pros pick things up.  Most of them compete at high levels in their sport because they acquire new skills so well and can immediately integrate them in their “motor program.”  In that regard, learning how to deadlift or throw the medicine ball isn’t much different than mastering a change-up.

This is also very significant when it comes to relearning movements and getting one’s body back once the off-season rolls around.  They just seem to rebound faster after periods of moderate detraining.  As perhaps the most extreme example I’ve seen, I work with Chad Rodgers, a left-handed pitcher in the Atlanta Braves minor league system.  From November 2008 to March 2009, Chad went from 200 to 217 pounds while training at our facility.  Then, he went into in-season mode – and was 206 when he arrived back at our facility the following October after a long season.  Get this, though: he was 222 within two weeks – and he finished up the off-season at 235 – and hit 95mph on the radar gun for the first time in his life.  Pro athletes de-adapt like everyone else – but they seem to readapt faster than the lay population – and that sets the stage for long-term gains in spite of periods of sometimes crazy detraining during the season.

That said, there are some high level athletes who are one-trick ponies.  I’ve met some pitchers who showed up with 17-inch vertical jumps, but just so happened to have a good curve ball.  And, I’ve seen some swimmers who seem really athletic – until you get them out of their realm and learn the true meaning of “a fish out of water.”

7. When you first opened your facility, you and I spoke and you were dead-set on making Cressey Performance stand out by having the most innovative people on staff and always trying new stuff.  At the same time, you didn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  In looking at Show and Go, I feel you did the same:  New science-based techniques housed comfortably alongside some of the most “common” exercises that people are familiar with; whereas a lot of programs include 80 varietals of exercises people have never heard of.  Give me your thoughts that?

I couldn’t have said it better myself.  Let’s be honest: there isn’t much in this industry that’s new.  Most of the “innovations” are really just “reincarnations” of something from the past (e.g., kettlebells, strongman training) or “modifications” (e.g., accommodating resistance, modified tempo schemes, different loading parameters) of something that we already knew worked.  I wish I could say that getting people jacked was an area where earth-shattering discoveries are being made every day, but that’s just not the case; we’re repacking things and looking for the right synergy among them.

In the real world, people still squat, deadlift, lunge, push, pull, rotate, roll over, get up, get down, jump, run, frolic, prance, whatever.  My feeling is that if you stick to the basics – but at the same time expose people to a wind variety of movement patterns – you get the best of both worlds: neuromuscular efficiency for important fundamental tasks as well as a rich proprioceptive environment that keeps people healthy and “adaptable” to their surroundings.  And, when you expose them to these new exercise variations, you prevent them from getting efficient – which is exactly what we don’t want if our goal is to get bigger or leaner.

8.  Your videos on the squat were posted and re-posted all over the internet.  EVERYONE got something out of them.   Show and Go could well do the same thing for programming in general—whether you’re a trainee or a coach, you’ll learn…and in a small but real way, this could perhaps chance the way people write programs. With that in mind, if you could get people to STOP doing one thing (trainees OR coaches) and START doing one other, what would it be?

I’d tell both trainees and coaches to simply be more open-minded to learning from everyone and applying new techniques.  There are Crossfit guys, HIT guys, powerlifters, bodybuilders, kettlebell guys, speed guys, machine guys, you name it.  Lots of people have been doing lots of different stuff to get lots of different results.  If you adhere steadfastly to just one discipline, you miss out on what the others have to offer – even if it is just a few seemingly trivial things that you borrow here and there to incorporate into your philosophy.

Admittedly, I really struggled with this earlier in my career.  I hated not knowing everything – and while it was something that definitely drove me to do a ton of research, I could have saved myself a lot of frustration and energy if I’d just been open-minded enough to ask someone else about their approach – or just observe them in action.  Nowadays, I see these as opportunities to either learn something new, test my knowledge by refuting something that doesn’t fits with my philosophy, or confirm what I’m already doing.

Awesome.  Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Eric, thank you so much for taking the time for do this, and thank you so much for putting together an incredible program.

Oh, and hey…so sorry about the Jets dominating the Patriots last week.  That had to hurt.

Click here for more information on Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.

Looking Back: The Biggest Mistake Pro Baseball Players Make

Written on August 15, 2010 at 12:23 pm, by Eric Cressey

I know a lot of professional (and college/high school) baseball players read this website on a daily basis, so I figured that with just about one month left in this year’s minor league season, I’d report this article from last October.  I think it is a must-read for any professional baseball player, based on my years of experience training guys in this population.  Check it out: The Biggest Mistake Pro Baseball Players Make.

“In a day and age when you read, daily, about players taking ‘shortcuts’ and trying to find the quickest way to ‘get good,’ if you understand anything about the human body and professional sports you know neither of those applies. Eric Cressey is as cutting edge as anyone out there when it comes to throwing a baseball. His insight into not only the bio-mechanics of the action, but in understanding that the kinetic chain is about engaging the entire body and his position specific workouts are far ahead of their time. He also has great insight into the lives we live as professionals and knows that while nutrition is the foundation of any good athlete, there are ways to be healthy, and stay healthy. No matter if you’re traveling from Motel 6 to Motel 6 in the NY Penn League, or on charter flights around the AL East, this guy is as good as they come.”

“In addition to being one of the smartest minds on the planet he’s as good a person as he is a trainer, if not better. I couldn’t recommend anyone more highly than Eric if you are truly serious about tapping into potential you never knew you had, or pushing yourself to places you never knew you could go.”

Curt Schilling
Member of the 2001, 2004 and 2007 World Champion Diamondbacks and Red Sox

For more information, check out the Cressey Performance Elite Baseball Development Program.

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Cressey Performance Elite Baseball Development Program in The Boston Globe

Written on April 9, 2010 at 7:56 am, by Eric Cressey

Just a quick heads-up about a great article in The Boston Globe about Cressey Performance’s Elite Baseball Development Program.  It features interviews with Kevin Youkilis, Curt Schilling, Chad Rodgers, Joe Bick, and Adam Ravenelle.

Custom Body Shop: Hudson Personal Trainer Gains a Following Among Elite Athletes

Click here for more information on the Cressey Performance Elite Baseball Development Program.

Have a great weekend!

Cressey Performance Pro Guys Across the Nation

Written on April 8, 2010 at 5:39 pm, by Eric Cressey

Just a quick heads-up on where some of the Cressey Performance minor league guys are winding up to start the season.  If you’re in their neck of the woods, get out and show ‘em some love at your local ballpark.

Tim Kiely – (Little Rock) Arkansas (Angels AA) – Opening Day Starter Tonight

Jim Fuller – Savannah (Mets Low A)

Chad Rodgers – Myrtle Beach (Braves High A)

Will Inman – Portland (Oregon – Padres AAA)

Tim Collins – (Manchester) New Hampshire (Blue Jays AA)

Steffan Wilson – Huntsville (Alabama – Brewers AA)

Steve Cishek – Jupiter (Florida – Marlins High A)

Cory Riordan – Tulsa (Rockies AA)

Anthony Seratelli – Northwest Arkansas (Royals AA)

Kevin Pucetas – Fresno (Giants AAA) – Opening Day Starter Tonight

Shawn Haviland – Stockton (California – A’s High A) – Opening Day Starter Tonight

Benji Johnson – Mississippi Braves (AA)

Craig Albernaz – Durham Bulls (Rays AAA)

Chad Jenkins – Lansing Lugnuts (Blue Jays Low A)

Kevin Nolan – Lansing Lugnuts (Blue Jays Low A)

We also have quite a few younger guys in extended spring training who will be assigned to short-season teams in a few months – or (hopefully) play their way up to A-ball teams.

Good luck, guys!

Wrapping Up a Great Pro Baseball Off-Season

Written on March 5, 2010 at 10:37 am, by Eric Cressey

Today marks the end of one of the funnest “eras” of my life.

Back on September 9, we officially kicked off the pro baseball off-season with Tim Collins’ arrival at Cressey Performance for his first training session of the off-season.  Coming off a great season that included a promotion to Double-A at age 20 and a Blue Jays organizational pitcher of the year award, Tim was ready to get after it – and that’s exactly what he did.  From that day in September through February 6 (when he was called to Florida for mini-camp), Tim added 21 pounds to his frame while getting leaner – and increased his vertical jump by four inches (to 37.9 inches).

Tim was one of over 30 pro guys we had this winter.  Results were typical.

Chad Rodgers (Atlanta Braves organization) went from 206 to 233 while adding just under three inches to his vertical jump.  And he dominated “No Shave November.”

Jeremiah Bayer (Red Sox organization) packed on muscle mass faster than just about any athlete I’ve ever seen – to the tune of 13 pounds in only two months – while adding an inch to his vertical.  That’s a 5.6% improvement in predicted peak power in a short amount of time – and one that is carrying over to the mound already.

Heck, Pat Bresnehan packed on 14 pounds and jumped 37.5 inches (a 6.3 inch) improvement – and got himself signed by the Mariners – after coming to us in the latter phases of his rehab period!

Craig Albernaz (Rays organization) increased his vertical jump by over five inches while adding seven pounds before heading to big league camp – and this is a guy who has always struggled to put on any weight, let alone good weight!

Cory Riordan (Rockies) and Steve Cishek (Marlins) win the awards for the longest commutes to train.  Cory drove two hours to CP, and two hours home to Connecticut to get in his work with us – and he’s got a new body and a lot more athleticism to show for it.  Cishek wasn’t far behind with his 1 hour, 45 minute commute from Cape Cod four times a week all the way up through January.  I can say without wavering that both of them would tell you that the ride was 100% worth it.

Two other Braves guys – Derick Himpsl and Matt Kramer – also put in some great work that is already carrying over to the field.

Zach Piccola’s headed to White Sox camp with a great few months of training under his belt alongside free agent Nick Asselin.  Jim Fuller (Mets) committed himself to train like he never had before, and looks fantastic now.  Another Mets guy, Tim Stronach, has busted his hump to get better alongside his rehabilitation from shoulder surgery.

Steffan Wilson leaned out and dramatically changed the way he looks and moves – and it helped get him a much-deserved call-up to big-league camp last week.

Kevin Youkilis had a great off-season as well – due in part to his love of pushing the sled.  So far this spring, Youk’s looked good (much better than his strength coach, as is shown below), and we’re excited about the Red Sox season ahead.

Will Inman (Padres), Phil Negus (White Sox), and Kevin Nolan (Blue Jays) put in a great few months in the fall, and Steve Hammond (Giants), Kevin Pucetas (Giants), Nick McBride (Rangers), Benji Johnson (Braves), Matt Morizio (Royals), Justin Edwards (Cardinals), and Howie Clark (Blue Jays) made the most of all their visits to Boston this winter.

And, some “distance-based” guys of mine – Chad Jenkins (Blue Jays) and Anthony “A-Tan” Seraterelli (Royals) – made some excellent progress by following everything to a “T.”  A-Tan, Howie, and Morizio even made a hilarious video about their experiences (a joke, FYI):

One athlete, though, stepped it up big time on Thursday to set himself apart from all the rest. Tim Kiely (Angels) added 11 pounds and seven inches to his vertical jump, but his biggest claim to fame is that he took home the Gold in the first ever Cressey Performance Elite Baseball Olympics on the last day.  Granted, the “Olympics” were limited to five participants who collectively agreed to not tell the most athletic guys of the bunch about the event ahead of time – but that doesn’t mean that the boys didn’t bring their A games!  The Silver (5-lb) went to CP pitching coach Matt Blake, and the Bronze (2.5-lb) went to free agent Alex Szymanski.  Shawn Haviland (A’s) finished fourth, but he has a Harvard degree, and probably would have won if Sabermetrics trivia and word searches had been part of the contest.  Here’s the much-anticipated medal ceremony:

I am not sure where the championship belt fit in, but the entire day didn’t make much sense, so it seemed right.  Congratulations, Tim.

From these videos, a lot of people might think that we’re all about goofing around – but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Our guys have a good time, for sure, but it always comes after they’ve busted their butts in the gym.  And, frankly, if we didn’t have such great camaraderie and the guys weren’t such good friends, the motivation to train would never approach the level it has.  A good culture and outstanding results absolutely, positively go hand-in-hand.

Most of my writing on this blog is obviously geared toward educating folks on the training, research, nutrition, and other geeky science stuff.  However, I should make it absolutely clear that all the knowledge in the world in these regards won’t matter if you don’t have a good culture established for your athletes and clients.  They need to enjoy training and look forward to each and every session because they enjoy the process as much as the destination.

They need to be willing to come to you to critique the best man’s toast they’ve written (happened this winter).  They need to feel comfortable staying at your place if they’re in town for a few days (happened multiple times this winter).  They need to feel welcome spending Thanksgiving with your family (two of my athletes came home with me this past November).  And, they need to respect you enough as a person to value your opinion as a professional.  As the saying goes, they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

That’s why most of our pro guys train six days a week from September/October all the way up until now, whereas many other places pro guys frequent consist of 3x/week “workouts” for the 4-6 weeks before spring training starts.  And, I feel like it is one of many things that differentiates us from our competition (whatever that may be).  We are about making athletes better, not just “working them out.”

I’m proud of all our guys not only for their hard work this off-season, but for taking an ownership stake in Cressey Performance to make it something special now and in the future.

Thanks for an awesome 5+ months, guys.  We can’t wait to do it again.

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The Figure 8 Drill for Pitchers

Written on January 14, 2010 at 10:31 am, by Eric Cressey

Another great guest post from Matt Blake today.  A quick thanks go out to Chad Rodgers, Shawn Haviland, and Tim Collins for their help in demonstrating the drill for this blog.

I hope you all have been able to get through the holiday madness and kick off your 2010 with all sorts of new resolutions that will be forgotten by the third week in January (kidding, but not really).  Seriously, though, there’s no time better than the present to start making yourself a better human and if tying it to 1/14/10 helps the cause, then I’m all for it. With that being said, here’s my attempt at contributing to a healthier 2010 for the amateur pitching community.

Here is one drill in particular that I like to use in our lead-up drill progression. It is called the “Figure 8″ and it is based off the staple of everyone’s flat-ground work, the stride drill.  Typically, I place this as the 2^nd or 3^rd drill in a progression depending on how many pieces we want to isolate before incorporating some rhythm into what is normally a static drill.

As you can see, this drill is looking to iron out multiple pieces of a player’s delivery, while we still have them in a rather stationary position.  When this drill is introduced to the player, I like to channel their focus toward the importance of having a consistent rhythm and tempo while developing hand speed during their throw. There should be coordination between the upper and lower body as they make horizontal figure 8′s with their hands, and this should coincide with them shifting their weight from the front leg to the back leg. Typically, I have them make three figure 8s before they throw, and eventually manipulate the amount of time spent developing rhythm as deemed fit over the course of their progression.

As they finish their third figure 8 with their lower half weight shift going to the back leg, they should begin to break their hands and load up to throw. Typically, at this point in the lead-up drill progression, they are finishing their throw and allowing their back leg to come through, whereas we might cue them to focus on the timing and completion of their back hip rotation by keeping their feet on the ground in preceding drills.

Some players can be a little rigid through this drill the first few times. I think this is mostly because they can’t believe I’m actually asking them to make silly figure 8s with their hands and display their lack of rhythm in front of their friends. Once they get over this anxiety, they tend to gravitate towards using variations of this drill on their own, because it provides a lot of feedback for them while getting loose.

In the early going, I think it’s important to avoid too much cueing of the player into certain positions and more about allowing the pitcher to find a rhythm that he is comfortable with. I also typically allow the player to interpret how the actual figure 8 is made with the hands, because the drill is really more about understanding how the upper and lower body work in coordination than it is about us arguing over the shape of an hourglass. This is apparent in the videos themselves, where you can plainly see that each player interprets the drill slightly different and uses his signature style in creating the 8s.

As a coach, this allows me to get a better feel for a player’s ability to shift his weight, his sense of posture and balance, and his understanding of extension at release, among other things. Several of these features will usually be covered up front by the stride drill, which I skipped over discussing today, but I could certainly address at a later time if people are interested.

By adding in the extra movement to the otherwise static stride drill, we are able to flush out a player’s natural movement patterns a lot better and I can begin to see which pieces of their overall delivery may be easier to address. This information will continue to build into the next drill, which we call “balance and break,” and is really a blend of the traditional balance drills with a little more movement and repetition tied in with the timing of the hand break and arm action.

For the most part, all of the lead-up drills I choose to put in before I get a player on the mound are designed to incorporate certain principles of throwing that have been demonstrated in the research of elite level throwers over the years. This may include anything from hip/shoulder separation, degrees of external/internal shoulder rotation, degrees of trunk extension, etc. With that being said, I don’t necessarily have one mechanical model in my head, but more of a host of models that fit each particular body type and level of coordination.  This is especially true concerning their current mobility and flexibility limitations.

This idea that each player has a mechanical model that is unique to them is the key component, and in order to flush this model out, the player has to be able to breathe while working through his drills. If you suffocate a player with too much technical talk, it takes away from what they want to do naturally and forces them into something that you think they should do, rather than what is right for the player.

The other challenge in all of this is that you may have the ultimate mechanical model in your head of how every pitcher should pitch, but until that player understands what mechanical model best fits his genetic traits, your model is irrelevant. The only way to get a player to understand this information is for him to feel it for himself.

Yes, we have a lot of science out now that describes what positions elite throwers are in at certain points in their delivery. The problem rests with the fact that there is a lot of gray area for how these players are getting to each of these positions in coordination with the end result of throwing to a target. I’ve seen some of the ASMI motion analysis reports of players, which are very comprehensive in nature, but even so, these leave room for interpretation.  As has been seen over the years (and is currently being demonstrated, and will continue to be displayed down the road), there is more than one way to throw a ball 90+ mph hour. If I were to tell a 5’7″ 165lb pitcher and 6’4″ 245 lb pitcher to throw the baseball the same way, I wouldn’t be doing either of them justice.

We obviously advise players away from certain motor patterns that have demonstrated more stress than others, but ultimately this is the challenge in training baseball players. There is so much going on inside the body of a baseball player – not just creating velocity, but also command and deception (and with multiple pitches) – that I’m going to trust the player when he tells me what feels right and what doesn’t. To create unnecessary tension in a player because my eyes think they interpret a better position would be absurd. Don’t get me wrong, we address a lot of mechanical issues with the use of slow-motion video analysis, but I always listen to the player over what a playback device tells me.

At the end of the day, we know there are inherent risks with throwing a baseball 95 mph. Do we say you can’t throw that hard anymore because it is not a healthy behavior for your body? Do we limit a player to one particular model that someone thinks is the be-all end-all cure for arm injuries? Well, some do – but Eric and I disagree with that pigeonholing wholeheartedly. Why would we narrow our pitching thoughts down to one exact voice that indicates there is only one way to pitch to stay healthy? This just doesn’t seem logical to me. I am not going to dismiss their voice, but I want to see proof that what they’re talking about works. I want to see positive results on a big stage. If there are no results that suggest it has the most consistent performance tied to it, then I can’t say I’m done looking for more information.

I think you have to acknowledge the notion that effective pitching may not be healthy at all, and by doing so, embrace this idea in the way you prepare a player’s arm to handle the stress. This ultimately starts with giving the player room to breathe so they can foster a rhythm and tempo that allows them the best chance to create and disperse energy in the coordinated act of throwing a baseball.

Matt Blake can be reached at mablak07@gmail.com.

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