7 Weeks to 7 Pounds of Lean Mass and 7 Miles Per Hour

Written on October 27, 2011 at 7:43 am, by Eric Cressey

I’ve received a lot of inquiries on whether or not Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better is an appropriate strength and conditioning program for baseball players.  In fact, I even devoted an entire blog post to it a while back: Show and Go for Baseball Strength and Conditioning.

That said, if you were on the fence, check out this feedback I received from the father of a college pitcher who took a shot on Show and Go this past summer:

“Eric,

“Just wanted to shoot you a breakdown on how my college son took to your Show and Go program with some modifications for baseball specificity. He followed your strength and conditioning program to the “T” and this is where he is after the first seven weeks:

May 16 – Start
Bodyweight: 163lbs
Body fat: 10.0%
Lean mass: 146.68 lbs

July 7 (52 days later)
Bodyweight: 169lbs
Body fat: 9.25%
Lean mass: 153.3 lbs

-Front squat for reps went from 155 lbs to 235 lbs for reps
-Deadlift went from about 205 for reps to 335 for a single
-Dumbbell bench presses for reps went from 55lb dumbbells to 80lb dumbbells

“To me, an untrained eye, it looks like this is great progress and he measurably benefited from it! He looks pretty damn good, too.

“He is about to return for his senior year as a starting left-handed pitcher and plans to continue this workout routine for the entirety of the 16 weeks. We used the Alan Jaeger long toss throwing program and mechanical training from Paul Reddick and Brent Strom and his velocity improved from 78mph to 84-85mph and his breaking stuff are now plus pitches. In my opinion, none of this would have happened your strength training program and mobility drills that allowed him to physically carry his momentum down the bump longer. All-in-all, it was a very productive summer; thanks!”

-Darrell Drake

Don’t miss out on this chance to take your game to the next level. Click here to pick up a copy of Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better!

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Baseball Strength and Conditioning: Early Off-Season Priorities 6-10

Written on September 21, 2011 at 8:15 am, by Eric Cressey

In Part 1 of this off-season baseball strength and conditioning series, I outlined the first five of my top 10 priorities when dealing with baseball players at the start of their off-season.  Today, I round out the top 10 “general” things always seem to be addressing with players coming in after a season.

1. Regaining lost mobility – This is an incredibly loaded topic that goes far beyond the scope of any blog or article, as it’s an entire two-day seminar or book! You see, losses in mobility – the ability to reach a desired position or posture – can be caused by a number of issues – and usually a combination of several of them.  Tissues can actually lose sarcomeres and become short after immobilization or significant eccentric stress (as with the deceleration component of throwing).  They can become stiff because of inadequate stability at adjacent joints (learn more HERE), protective tension (e.g., “tight” hamstrings in someone with crazy anterior pelvic tilt), or neural tension from an injury (e.g., disc herniation causing “tight” hamstrings).

The “Short vs. Stiff” issue is why you need to have a variety of tools in your “mobility toolbox.”  You need focal modalities like Active Release, Graston, and ASTYM techniques to assist with dealing with short tissues, whereas you need more diffuse modalities like traditional massage and foam rolling for dealing with stiffness (although both modalities can certainly help in the other regards, this is how I prefer to use them).

You need to understand retraining breathing appropriately and how posture affects respiratory function.  If you live in extension, you’ll have a poor zone of apposition in which the diaphragm can function.  The average human takes over 20,000 breaths per day.  If you don’t use your diaphragm properly, more of the stress is placed on the supplemental respiratory muscles: sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, pec major and minor, upper trapezius, and latissimus dorsi (to only name a few).  What are some insanely common sites of trigger points in just about everyone – especially thrower? Sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, pec major and minor, upper trapezius, and latissimus dorsi.  Improving respiratory function can be a complete game changer when it comes to enhancing mobility.  If you see a baseball player with a low right shoulder, prominent anterior left ribs, adducted right hip, huge anterior pelvic tilt, and limited right shoulder internal rotation, it’s almost always a slam dunk.

(Check out www.PosturalRestoration.com for more details on this front)

You may need low-load, long-duration static stretches to improve length in tissues that have lost sarcomeres.  This research has been around in the post-surgery community for decades (1984 research example here), but it’s actually not used all that much in strength and conditioning programs – presumably because of time constraints or the fact that most coaches simply don’t know how well it can work in the right people.

Finally, as we noted in our Assess and Correct DVD set, you also need dynamic flexibility drills in your warm-ups to reduce tissue and joint stiffness, and subsequent strength exercises in your strength and conditioning program to create adequate stability at adjacent joints to “hold” that new range of motion in place.

Many physical therapist employ heat early in a session to decrease stiffness prior to strengthening exercises, too.  The point is that there may be many different ways to skin a cat – but there are also a lot different types and sizes of cat.  And, for the record, I don’t condone skinning cats; it’s just a really gruesome analogy that has somehow “stuck” in our normally very politically correct society. Weird…but let’s move on.

2.Improving dynamic stabilization of the scapula – I say “dynamic stabilization” because you don’t just want scapular stability; you want a scapula with appropriate tissue length, stiffness, and density to allow for the desired movement.  A scapula that doesn’t move might be “stable,” but that’s not actually a good thing!

Truth be told, the scapular stabilizers generally fatigue before the rotator cuff does.  And, when the scapula isn’t positioned appropriately, the rotator cuff is at a mechanical disadvantage, anyway.  Additionally, poor scapular control can present as an internal rotation deficit at the shoulder, as you’ll just protract the shoulder excessively in place of internally rotating.  In other words, you can do all the rotator cuff exercises you want, but you don’t increase strength of the periscapular muscles, you’ll be spinning your wheels.  There are loads of drills that we use, but forearm wall slide variations are among our favorites:

3. Enhancing global strength while minimizing reactive training – As I’ve already noted in this series, we’re certainly spending a lot of time addressing specific areas of weakness like the rotator cuff, scapular stabilizers, and anterior core. However, I should be very clear that we’re still using “money” strength exercises like variations of the deadlift, single-leg exercises, squatting (in some of our guys), pull-ups, rows, push-ups, and dumbbell bench presses to get strong.  That said, the volume and intensity come down a ton on the reactive training side of things.  We’ll give our guys a few weeks off altogether from sprinting, as they’ve usually done a lot of that all season.  Plus, nixing all the sprinting and jumping for a few weeks ensures that they won’t tweak anything, given the soreness they’ll be working with from the strength training program – and it allows us to increase strength faster.

4. Putting guys in the right footwear – One thing that many folks don’t appreciate about playing baseball every day from February to October is the sheer amount of time one spends standing around in cleats, which will never be as comfortable as sneakers or going barefoot.  As such, one of the first things we do with most of our guys is get them into a good pair of minimalist shoes for training, as it gets them away from the rigidity, separation from the ground, and ankle mobility deficits that come with wearing cleats.  As I wrote previously, I’m a big fan of the New Balance Minimus.

Keep in mind that we ease guys into these minimalist shoe options, rather than throwing them in the footwear 24/7 right away.  They’ll start out just wearing them during training, and increase from there, assuming all goes well.

5. Normalizing sleep schedules - Professional baseball players (and really all professional athletes) have terrible sleep schedules.  Because most games are night games, they generally go to bed around 1-2AM and wake up anywhere from 7AM to 11AM.  The early risers I know will usually take a nap before going to the park, whereas the guys who sleep in roll out of bed and go straight to the park.  Additionally, much of this sleeping comes on planes and buses, which aren’t exactly comfortable places to get quality sleep.  I’m a firm believer that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight – but this simply isn’t an option for professional baseball players.

That said, we try to normalize things as much as possible in the off-season.  All our athletes are encouraged to try to go to bed and wake up at the same time – and to hit the hay before 11pm every night.  Any naps they can get during the day are a bonus, too!

Wrap-up

While I’ve outlined ten things we address in the early off-season, these are really just the tip of the iceberg, as every player is unique and needs an individual approach.  That said, the one general theme that applies to all of them is that we’re shifting paradigms – meaning that some things about our philosophy may differ from what they’ve experienced.  Some guys may be accustomed to just “football workouts.”  Others may have been coddled with foo-foo training programs where they didn’t work hard.  Some guys ran distances. Some guys crushed the rotator cuffs every day while ignoring the rest of the body.

The point is that it’s not just our job to find what we feel is the best fit for these athletes, but also to educate them on why the unique program we’ve designed for them is a better approach than they can get anywhere else.

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A Real Deal Baseball Training Review

Written on September 14, 2011 at 11:35 am, by Eric Cressey

With our professional baseball off-season training crew at Cressey Performance starting to pick up steam, I’m taking today off for a last chance to enjoy summer.  I’m taking my grandmother and great aunt to Fenway Park this afternoon.  Let’s just say that the love of baseball is in my gene pool – so it should be a fun game!

Speaking of off-season training, I wanted to quickly give you a heads-up that Dan Huff and Joe Meglio just released Real Deal Baseball Training, an off-season strength and conditioning program specifically for baseball players, and it’s on sale for a very affordable $17.95 through this Friday night.

I’ll be honest: I get emails literally every day from people asking me to create a baseball product.  While I intend to do so, I want it to be perfect – so I’m constantly tinkering with how I plan to approach it as we make subtle modifications to how we train baseball players of a wide variety of ages and ability levels.  Unfortunately, while I’ve been contemplating things, a lot of baseball players and coaches out there have been using horrendous strength and conditioning programs and techniques.  These approaches aren’t making them durable and high-performing; rather, they’re breaking them down and killing off the athleticism they need.

Dan and Joe can really help in this regard. While this program is considerably different than our approaches at Cressey Performance, that’s one reason why I liked it.  There is more than one way to skin a cat, and I, for example, actually picked up some new movement training drills that I’ll implement with our guys.

The product is completely online, so you can access it immediately.  It gives you four months of comprehensive strength and conditioning programs – and includes a handy video database that shows you technique for all the drills in the program. The program also includes a 30-day money back guarantee, in case it’s not a good fit for you.

For more information, check out the Real Deal Baseball Training page, where Dan Huff has a video describing it in more detail for you.

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Shoulder Mobility Drills: How to Improve External Rotation (if you even need it)

Written on May 31, 2011 at 8:12 am, by Eric Cressey

Last summer, a college pitcher came up to Cressey Performance from the South to train for a month before his summer league got underway. He was seven months post-op on a shoulder surgery (Type 2 SLAP) and had been working his way back. Unfortunately, his arm was still bothering him a bit when he got up to see us.

After the first few days at CP, though, he told me that his arm felt as good as it’s felt in as long as he could remember. He’d been doing a comprehensive strength and conditioning program, but the “impact” stuff for him had been soft tissue work, some Postural Restoration Institute drills, an emphasis on thoracic mobility, and manual stretching into internal rotation, horizontal adduction, and shoulder flexion. From all the rehab, his cuff was strong and scapular stabilizers were functioning reasonably well – which led me to believe that his issues were largely due to tissue shortness and/or stiffness.

This realization made me immediately wonder what he’d been doing in the previous months for mobility work for his arm – so I asked. He then demonstrated the manual stretching series that every pitcher on his team went through every day on the table with their athletic trainer. Each stretch was done for 2x20s – and two of those stretches took him into extreme external rotation and horizontal abduction. I was pretty shocked.

Me: “You’re probably not the only guy on your team rehabbing right now, huh?”

Him: “No; there are actually too many to count.”

Me: “Elbows, too, I’m sure.”

Him: “Yep.”

Want to irritate a labrum, biceps tendon, or the undersurface of the rotator cuff? Stretch a thrower into extreme external rotation and simulate the peel-back mechanism. This also increases anterior capsular laxity and likely exacerbates the internal impingement mechanism over the long-term. To reiterate, this is a bad stretch!

Want to make an acromioclavicular joint unhappy? Stretch a thrower into horizontal abduction like this (again, this is a BAD stretch that is pictured):

Want to irritate an ulnar nerve or contribute to the rupture of an ulnar collateral ligament? Make sure to apply direct pressure to the forearm during these dangerous stretches to create some valgus stress. This is a sure-fire way to make a bad stretch even worse:

These stretches are very rarely indicated in a healthy population – especially pitchers who already have a tendency toward increased external rotation. The shoulder is a delicate joint that can’t just be manhandled – and when you’re dealing with shoulders that are usually also pretty loose (both from congenital and acquired factors), you’re waiting for a problem when you include such stretches. In fact, I devoted an entire article to this: The Right Way to Stretch the Pecs.

Everyone thinks that shoulder external rotation and horizontal abduction alone account for the lay-back in the extreme cocking position.

In reality, though, this position is derived from a bunch of factors:

1. Shoulder External Rotation Range-of-Motion – and this is the kind of freaky external rotation you’ll commonly see thanks to retroversion and anterior laxity:

2. Scapular Retraction/Posterior Tilt

3. Thoracic Spine Extension/Rotation

4. Valgus Carrying Angle

So, how do you improve lay-back without risking damage to the shoulder and elbow?

1. Soft tissue work on Pec minor/major and subscapularis – Ideally, this would be performed by a qualified manual therapist – especially since you’re not going to be able to get to subscapularis yourself. However, you can use this technique to attack the pecs:

2. Exercises to improve scapular retraction/depression/posterior tilt – This could include any of a number of horizontal pulling exercises or specific lower trap/serratus anterior exercises like the forearm wall slide with band.

3. Incorporate specific thoracic spine mobility drills – In most pitchers, you want to be careful about including thoracic spine mobility drills that also encourage a lot of glenohumeral external rotation. However, when we assess a pitcher and find that he’s really lacking in this regard, there are two drills that we use with them. The first is the side-lying extension-rotation, which is a good entry level progression because the floor actually limits external rotation range-of-motion, and it’s easy to coach. I tell athletes that they should think of thoracic spine extension/rotation driving scapular retraction/depression, which in turn drives humeral external rotation (and flexion/horizontal abduction). Usually, simply putting your hands on the shoulder girdle and guiding them through the motion is the best teaching tool.

A progression on the side-lying extension-rotation is the side-lying windmill, which requires a bit more attention to detail to ensure that the range-of-motion comes from the right place. The goal is to think of moving exclusively from the thoracic spine with an appropriate scapular retraction/posterior tilt. In other words, the arm just comes along for the ride. The eyes (and head) should follow the hand wherever it goes.

Again, these are only exercises we use with certain players who we’ve deemed deficient in external rotation. If you’re a thrower, don’t simply add these to your routine without a valid assessment from someone who is qualified to make that estimation. You could actually make the argument that this would apply to some folks in the general population who have congenital laxity as well (especially females).

4. Throw!!!!! – Pitchers gain a considerable amount of glenohumeral external rotation over the course of a competitive season simply from throwing. Sometimes, the best solution is to simply be patient. I really like long toss above all else for these folks.

In closing, there are three important things I should note:

1. You don’t want to do anything to increase valgus laxity.

2. You’re much more likely to get hurt from being “too loose” than you are from being “too tight.” When it comes to stretching the throwing shoulder, “gentle” is the name of the game – and all mobility programs should be as individualized as possible.

3. Maintaining internal rotation is a lot more important than whatever is going on with external rotation. In fact, this piece could have just as easily been named “The Two Stretches Pitchers Shouldn’t Do, Plus a Few That Only Some of Them Need.”

To learn more about testing, training, and treating throwing shoulders, check out Optimal Shoulder Performance: From Rehab to High Performance.

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Long Toss Debate Heating Up!

Written on May 23, 2011 at 5:31 am, by Eric Cressey

The question of whether or not teams will allow pitchers to long toss as part of their throwing programs between/before outings has become a hot topic that could really impact the MLB draft on June 6-8.  Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports did an excellent job of outlining the entire situation in this article:

Long Toss Debate Shakes up MLB Draft

Additionally, I gave a quote for this article on the subject at PineTarPress.com.  Needless to say, I’m a big long toss advocate and have seen its efficacy over and over again when it comes to increasing throwing velocity. I’m glad that these issues are being brought to the forefront.  If you’d like to read more about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of long toss, check out these three articles:

Making the Case for Long Toss in a Throwing Program

Throwing Programs: The Top 4 Long Toss Mistakes

Long Toss: Don’t Skip Steps in Your Throwing Programs

Just some food for thought to kick off the week!

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“The Physics of Pitching” Review

Written on May 17, 2011 at 6:07 am, by Eric Cressey

I just wanted to quickly mention that a book to which I contributed will be out shortly. The Physics of Pitching will be released on June 6 and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

Len Solesky, a local pitching instructor who works with quite a few of our athletes, co-wrote the book with James Cain. The Physics of Pitching also features contributions from orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Silverberg, physical therapist Rob Ackerly, former MLB pitcher Rusty Meacham, and some schmuck named “Cressey.” My chapter is, of course, focused on strength and conditioning for baseball.

This is an excellent read for parents and kids alike. It won’t appeal quite as much to higher level players and coaches, but if you’re looking to learn the basics of pitching and become a better teacher (or student), it’ll help you to do so. I especially like the fact that the guys went to great lengths to focus on the mental side of pitching.  In all, it’s 192 pages with loads of photographs and an accompanying instructional DVD…not too shabby for a resource that only costs $16.49.  Check it out HERE.

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Stuff You Should Read: 3/28/11

Written on March 28, 2011 at 5:45 am, by Eric Cressey

I am getting back late tonight from my trip, so here’s a list of recommended reading to hold you over in my absence.

The #1 Cause of Inconsistent Pitching Velocity – With the high school baseball season about to get underway, this seemed like a good time to “re-up” this article.

Movement System Impairment Syndromes of the Extremities, Cervical and Thoracic Spines, by Shirley Sahrmann – This is what I’ve been reading on the beach the past week.  Lengthy title, but super high quality book, if you’re a geek like me.

Packing in the Neck – This is an old one, but a good one from Charlie Weingroff.  Charlie talks about proper neck positioning while lifting – a topic that I think gets really overlooked in discussions of appropriate lifting technique.  In case you can’t tell from this deadlift technique, I’m in full agreement with Charlie.

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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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Lose Fat, Gain Muscle, Get Strong: Eric Cressey’s Best Articles of 2010

Written on December 31, 2010 at 4:46 am, by Eric Cressey

Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better – This was obviously my biggest project of 2010.  I actually began writing the strength and conditioning programs and filming the exercise demonstration videos in 2009, and put all the “guinea pigs” through the four-month program beginning in February.  When they completed it as the start of the summer rolled around, I made some modifications based on their feedback and then got cracking on writing up all the tag along resources.  Finally, in September, Show and Go was ready to roll.  So, in effect, it took 10-11 months to take this product from start to finish – a lot of hard work, to say the least.  My reward has been well worth it, though, as the feedback has been awesome.  Thanks so much to everyone who has picked up a copy.

Optimal Shoulder Performance – This was a seminar that Mike Reinold and I filmed in November of 2009, and our goal was to create a resource that brought together concepts from both the shoulder rehabilitation and shoulder performance training fields to effectively bridge the gap for those looking to prevent and/or treat shoulder pain.  In the process, I learned a lot from Mike, and I think that together, we brought rehabilitation specialists and fitness professionals closer to being on the same page.

Why President Obama Throws Like a Girl – A lot of people took this as a political commentary, but to be honest, it was really just me talking about the concept of retroversion as it applies to a throwing shoulder – with a little humor thrown in, of course!

Overbearing Dads and Kids Who Throw Cheddar – This one was remarkably easy to write because I’ve received a lot of emails from overbearing Dads asking about increasing throwing velocity in their kids.

What I Learned in 2009 – I wrote this article for T-Nation back at the beginning of the year, and always enjoy these yearly pieces.  In fact, I’m working on my 2010 one for them now!

What a Stressed Out Bride Can Teach You About Training Success – I wrote this less than a month out from my wedding, so you could say that I had a good frame of reference.

Baseball Showcases: A Great Way to Waste Money and Get Injured – In case the title didn’t tip you off, I’m not much of a fan of baseball showcases.

Cueing: Just One Piece of Semi-Private Training Success – Part 1 and Part 2 - These articles were featured at fitbusinessinsider.com.  I enjoy writing about not only the training side of things, but some of the things we’ve done well to build up our business.

Three Years of Cressey Performance: The Right Reasons and the Right Way – This might have been the top post of the year, in my eyes. My job is very cool.

How to Attack Continuing Education in the Fitness Industry – Here’s another fitness business post.

Want to Be a Personal Trainer or Strength Coach?  Start Here. – And another!

The Skinny on Strasburg’s Injury – I hate to make blog content out of someone else’s misfortune, but it was a good opportunity to make some points that I think are very valid to the discussion of not only Stephen Strasburg’s elbow injury, but a lot of the pitching injuries we see in youth baseball.

Surely, there are many more to list, but I don’t want this to run too long!  Have a safe and happy new year, and keep an eye out for the first content of 2011, which is coming very soon!

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Weight Training For Baseball: Best Videos of 2010

Written on December 30, 2010 at 4:55 am, by Eric Cressey

I made an effort to get more videos up on the site this year, as I know a lot of folks are visual learners and/or just enjoy being able to listen to a blog, as opposed to reading it.  Here are some highlights from the past year:

The Absolute Speed to Absolute Strength Continuum – Regardless of your sport, there are valuable take-home messages.  I just used throwing velocity in baseball pitchers as an example, as it’s my frame of reference.

Should Pitchers Overhead Press? - This was an excerpt from Mike Reinold and my Optimal Shoulder Performance seminar (which became a popular DVD set for the year).

Shoulder Impingement vs. Rotator Cuff Tears – Speaking of Mike, here’s a bit from the man himself from that seminar DVD set.

Thoracic and Glenohumeral Joint Mobility Drills – The folks at Men’s Health tracked me down in the lobby at Perform Better in Providence and asked if I could take them through a few shoulder mobility drills we commonly use – and this was the result.

Cressey West – This kicks off the funny videos from the past year. A few pro baseball players that I program for in a distance-based format created this spoof video as a way of saying thank you.

Tank Nap – My puppy taking a nap in a provocative position.  What’s more cute?

Matt Blake Draft Tracker – CP’s resident court jester and pitching instructor airs his frustrations on draft day.

1RM Cable Horizontal Abduction – More from the man, the myth, the legend.

You can find a lot more videos on my YouTube page HERE and the Cressey Performance YouTube page HERE.

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