Birthday Blogging: 28 Years, 28 Favorites

Written on May 20, 2009 at 6:13 am, by Eric Cressey

I turn 28 today, so in hopes of distracting myself from the painful realization that I’m starting to go bald, I thought I’d focus on the positives of my existence in contexts that would appeal to you.  Below, you’ll find 28 of my favorite things – most of which are at least loosely related to fitness, nutrition, strength and conditioning, and sports.

1. Favorite Nickname: Power Alleys.  This seemed like a good starting point, as power alleys are bald spots.  Credit for this one goes to Mets pitching prospect Tim Stronach.

2. Favorite Thing About Cressey Performance: The camaraderie among the athletes/clients. I think the hard thing to appreciate about our facility without experiencing it first-hand and being there on a regular basis is that it’s as much about the environment and attitude as it is about the expertise and programming.  I’m psyched that we’ve not only created an environment where clients can improve physically, but one in which they can thrive socially, too.

3. Favorite Book I’ve Read Related to Fitness: Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, by Shirley Sahrmann.  This book got me thinking more about dysfunction and less about pathology.  Quality of movement is often far more important than anything a MRI or x-ray can ever tell you.

4. Favorite Book I’ve Read Unrelated to Fitness: This is a top-up between The Tipping Point and A Prayer for Owen Meany.  They might be taken over, however, by one of the gifts I just got for my birthday from CP Client Steph Holland-Brodney.

5. Favorite DVD I’ve Watched: The Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD Set.  Bill Hartman’s presentation on “Stiff vs. Short” alone makes this a fantastic resource, and the rest is just gravy.  I reviewed it HERE.

6. Favorite DVD I’ve Co-Created: The Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set.  I think I’m most proud of this resource because it’s something that provided something I so desperately wanted – but couldn’t get – during my college education.  Effectively, it’s a resource that blends book memorization with real-world practice with a focus on functional anatomy, assessments, and troubleshooting common exercises.

7. Favorite Seminar I’ve Attended: The Perform Better 3-Day Functional Training Summit.  Each year, they get better and better.  Check out Chicago or Long Beach this year if you missed Providence.

8. Favorite Athlete of All Time: Barry Sanders.  I can’t imagine an guy with better kinesthetic awareness, body control, or ability to turn a complete disaster of a play into a 90-yard touchdown run – while carrying two defensive linemen on his back.

9. Favorite Athlete of All-Time that you’ve probably never heard of: Jerry Sichting.  He played for the Celtics from 1985 to 1988, and I’ll always remember the night Sichting – at a heigh of 6-1 – got in a fight with 7-4 Ralph Sampson during the 1986 NBA Finals.  At the time, I was a five-year old shadow boxing in my living room yelling at the top of my lungs.

10. Favorite Place to Visit: Fenway Park

11. Second Favorite Place to Visit: Gampel Pavilion at the University of Connecticut.  It’s an incredible environment in which to watch college basketball, and it’s also where I spent just about all my time from 2003 to 2005.

12. Favorite Exercise: was this ever in question?

13. Favorite Sites I Visit Just About Every Day: T-Nation.com, MinorLeagueBaseball.com, ESPN.com, Sports.Yahoo.com, WilliamInman.com, 38Pitches.com, ShawnHaviland.Blogspot.com, MetrowestDailyNews.com, StrengthCoach.com, MikeReinold.com, RobertsonTrainingSystems.com, BillHartman.net, AlwynCosgrove.Blogspot.com, DieselCrew.com, PrecisionNutrition.com, BrianStPierreTraining.com, Tony Gentilcore’s Blog, Boston.com, BarstoolSports.com, Facebook.com, EricCressey.com.

14. Favorite Kind of Injury to See (weird category, I know): Labral Tears (SLAP lesions), or really any kind of shoulder or elbow pain in pitchers.  You’ve got so many potential causes that it’s kind of fun (for me, not the athlete) to go through a process of elimination to see what combination of factors caused it.  There are all the classic flexibility deficits in pitchers, plus scapular instability, poor thoracic spine mobility, plus faulty mechanics, plus inappropriate training volumes, plus weak lower bodies.  It’s kind of like peeling back the layers on an onion to see what shakes free.  It’s also a great scenario to illustrate what I talked about with respect to diagnostic imaging in #3 from above.  All of these guys will have labral fraying and rotator cuff partial thickness tears at the very least; it’s our job to fix them up and make them work efficiently in spite of these structural deficits in situations where surgery isn’t warranted.

15. Favorite Class I Took in School: Gross Anatomy.  Yes, I cherished the semester I spent with a bunch of cadavers.

16. Favorite Healthy Food: Apple-Cinnamon Protein Bars from John Berardi’s Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook. Admittedly, I often just eat the batter before it ever gets cooked.  Not good, I know.

17. Favorite Piece of Equipment We Have at CP: Giant Cambered Bar.  Along with the safety squat bar and front squat set-up, this bad boy has allowed me to keep squatting even though my right shoulder decided a long time ago that traditional back squats weren’t a good idea.  It’s also a great asset for working with overhead throwing athletes who should avoid the externally rotated, abducted position under load.

18. Favorite Thing About Having a Blog: I can write a lot more casually than in my newsletter, which tends to be more geeky.  And, I can post videos of this kid rocking out:

19. Favorite Mobility Drill: Walking Spiderman w/Overhead Reach.  I love this drill because you’re covering so many things at once.  You’ll get thoracic spine extension and rotation from the reach, and hip flexor and adductor length in the lower body from the lunge angle.  Keep an eye out for more new movements along these lines in the months to come as we film the sequel to the Magnificent Mobility DVD.

20. Favorite Pastime I Had to Give Up: Fantasy Baseball/Basketball.  During my sophomore year of undergrad, I finished fourth in the world in NBA.com’s Virtual GM contest.  Long story short, if you want to be really good at fantasy sports with that kind of set-up, you’ve got to put a lot of time into it – and realize that it won’t make girls like you.  You’ll also find yourself watching games in which you’d otherwise have absolutely no interest. I couldn’t do it half-ass (aside from the CP Fantasy Football League), so I gave it up.

21. Favorite Inedible Toy: Rubber Steak.

Suffice it to say that Fire & Ice wouldn’t allow us to eat a birthday cake inside their restaurant on Saturday night in celebration of my awesomeness.  So, in celebration of their suckiness, none of us (16 in all) will ever eat again – and I was reduced to gnawing on dog toys.

22. Favorite Birthday Excitement: Apparently, it’s going to be taking my car in to get work done, buying a new laptop, and then coaching ‘em upat CP.  There will also be a dominant upper body lift at CP that will undoubtedly feature Kevin Larrabee missing 300…again…and again).

23. Favorite Bench Press Celebration Spectacle: Antwan Harris, post 340 bench press.

24. Favorite Strength and Conditioning Coach Who is Having Surgery on my Birthday: Josh Bonhotal, Chicago Bulls.  I talked with Josh yesterday and he informed me that he was finally having his ACL fixed today in celebration of my birthday.  Nothing says “Happy Birthday, Buddy” like taking a chunk out of your patellar tendon and turning it into an anterior cruciate ligament.  It’s kind of like planting a tree on Earth Day.  What a nice gesture.

25. Favorite Article Series I’ve Written: A New Model for Training Between Starts (Part 1 and Part 2).  These articles were actually picked up by Collegiate Baseball Magazine as front-page features, and I received a lot of great feedback about them.  If there is one thing I do before I retire, it’s convincing the world of the evils of distance running for pitchers.  I’d put the Shoulder Savers series in a close second

26. Favorite Supplement: Fish Oil.  It’s followed closely by Vitamin D.  You need both – and probably a lot more than you think. I’m a simple guy when it comes to this stuff.

27. Favorite Random Website a Buddy Texted to Me Last Week: www.EasyCurves.com.  This thing is hilarious. A special thanks goes out to Jesse Burdick for making me just a little bit dumber with that.

28. Favorite Sign of Athlete Dedication for the Month: We have two college pitchers up here from Pennsylvania for the month to work on getting bigger, stronger, faster, and more flexible in hopes of a nice velocity jump on the mound, and the obvious injury prevention benefits of such training.  That’s all well and good – until you hear that they got an unfurnished apartment in Hudson, MA.  These guys are sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and all they brought were a few lamps, a TV, some books, and a whole lot of enthusiasm and motivation.  That’s committment to training – and just the kind of guys we like to have around Cressey Performance.

What kind of sacrifices are you making to get better and move closer to your goals?  I’m not sure that sleeping on a mattress on the floor is necessary, but it says a lot.

With that in mind, I’m not taking today off.  There is work to be done and I love to do it, birthday or not.

Random Friday Thoughts: 5/1/09

Written on May 1, 2009 at 5:24 am, by Eric Cressey

1. First off, a little recognition for the Lincoln-Sudbury baseball team and coaching staff; LS baseball was was ranked #1 in Massachusetts by the Boston Herald this week.  The guys ran their record to 10-0 with a 12-3 win yesterday.  Just about every varsity player on the LS squad trains at Cressey Performance, and when you watch them get after it – whether it’s the off-season or in-season – it’s no surprise why these guys are doing special things.  Here’s are the starting RF, LF/RHP, 2B, and SS getting after it back in early March. You won’t find a high school team in the country who trains harder or smarter than these guys.

Keep up the good work, fellas!

2. One of the first things I learned as a writer in the fitness industry was that it was best to avoid writing about religion and politics. Still, I’m going to just come right out and ask: why the hell do we need a photo of a presidential plane with two F-16 fighter jets over New York City, anyway?  Are they trying to sell this sucker on EBay?

This one came at a price-tag of $328,835 to taxpayers – and that doesn’t even include the wasted wages on the thousands of citizens who fled their places of employment.  Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, this has got to make you want to go elwell on someone (inside joke, but I’m sure the rest of you catch my drift).

2. I’ve written previously on the tremendous benefits of increasing one’s dosage of Vitamin D through supplementation.  In particular, it seems to have a great effect on chronic musculoskeletal issues, particularly in darker skinned individuals in Northern climates.  Well, add one more benefit to the list.

According to British researchers, daily supplementation with Vitamin D cut prostate specific antigen levels by more than 50% in some patients with prostate cancer.  This marker is used as an indicator of the severity of prostate cancer.

3. I just got an email with some awesome feedback:

“I just finished your Maximum Strength program and had great success! Here are the stats:

Pre Max Strength
Bench Press = 300
Squat = 350
Deadlift = 425
3 Rep Pullup = Bodyweight + 15 lbs

Post Max Strength
Bench Press = 335
Squat = 385
Deadlift = 440
3 Rep Pullup = Bodyweight + 55 lbs

My weight stayed the same at 195 lbs at 5’10″.  Thanks for a great program!!!

-James Wigington”

Click here to pick up a copy of Maximum Strength!

4. Someone asked me the other day, “when a person presents with little or no level of asymmetry, is it safe to say that no pain = no problem in this case?”

My answer would be that it is definitely not safe to say that. While asymmetry is often a good predictor of injury, it doesn’t tell us everything about an individual’s current state.  A lot of folks have bilateral strength/stability/flexibility deficits, and it’s just a matter of where they wind up breaking down first.

5. Movement of the Week: The Spin Kick (pants optional)…

Make it a TURBO weekend, everyone!

Random Friday Thoughts: 11/7/08

Written on November 7, 2008 at 7:00 am, by Eric Cressey

1. I’m driving down to Connecticut today, and then going the rest of the way to Long Island for the Major League Strength Coaches Clinic this weekend. I’m excited to present, talk shop, see some old friends, and make excessive use of the phrases:

a. “You have to train ass to throw gas.”
b. “You can’t steal second with your foot on first.”
c. “Is this thing on? Oops! Did I say that out loud?”

If you couldn’t make the event, you’re still in luck; you can pre-order the DVD of the seminar HERE.

2. Last weekend, my girlfriend and I moved all our tupperware to a new cabinet. I have to say: it’s changed my life. There’s no more cramming containers and lids into a small drawer – and there’s no more searching for the long-lost-lid for the weird shaped container that doesn’t seem to match.

I haven’t felt this free, yet organized, since I switched from boxers to boxer-briefs. And, for the record, yes, I just became the first person in history to liken tupperware to male reproductive anatomy. If you ever need a reminder that this blog is all about trendsetting, just bookmark this post.

3. I had a pleasant experience voting on Tuesday – right up until the point at which I went to leave, and I was accosted by a 70-something-year-old women at the door insisting that I take an “I Voted” sticker. It got me to thinking on my walk home from the polls…

If 122.3 million people voted in 2004, and they expected 2008 to be even better, we’ll assume 130 million people voted. I’m writing this three days early, so the final numbers will surely be slightly different – but being exact isn’t important for my point.

Let’s assume that each one of those stickers costs American taxpayers a penny. That’s $1.3 million in stickers! Assuming a salary of $35,000 per teacher, you could hire over 37 teachers nationwide with that money. And, I’m guessing that those 37 teachers would do more good than 130 million stickers that likely went directly to the trash.

That said, by the time the 2012 election rolls around, I may very well be on the presidential ticket with the campaign slogan, “Stickers are SO 2008.”

4. Twitter seems to be the new rage these days. I’ll be honest: I don’t know what it is, and the word “Twitter” really evokes the same kind of emotions from me as the “anal leakage” warnings on the old Olestra packages. Plus, I have to say that the minute-by-minute Twitter updates some people give are flat-out stupid:

Fred is twittering. He’s going to get a drink of water.
Fred is twittering. The water wasn’t cold, so he got some ice from the freezer.
Fred is twittering. The freezer made his nipples hard, and he’s strangly aroused.
Fred is twittering. Is thirst a more important sensation than his nipple arousal?
Fred is twittering. Maybe if he spent less time on the internet, he might kiss a girl sometime before he dies.

Seriously, Fred; nobody cares. If you can twitter that much, you really aren’t important enough for any of us to give a s**t.

5. I got so busy this week that I literally forgot what day it was – and got a parking ticket (street sweeping) at 12:30AM on Wednesday morning. And, just when you thought I couldn’t get any more confused, Bill Gates decided to reformat the Hotmail set-up to make me feel hopelessly inadequate once again. Seriously, Bill – was it really that important?

For those of you who are visual learners, the following two photos should sum up my Wednesday. Please note that in both photos, I would be considered the “kickee” and not the “kicker.”

6. It’s nice to see that researchers and pediatricians have finally upped their recommended daily Vitamin D intake to 1,000IU+, particularly for those in northern climates during the winter months.

7. Speaking of Vitamin D and sunlight, want to know the easiest way to recognize a pro baseball player in New England in November? The tan line!

8. As I’m sure you noticed, there was very little to do with fitness in this week’s blog. Fortunately, I can assure you that you burned at least two calories while reading it. Nice job, skinny.

Have a good weekend.

Random Friday Thoughts: 7/18/08

Written on July 18, 2008 at 8:01 am, by Eric Cressey

1. Here’s a great article on the potential drawbacks of yoga. I’ve written about this before, but it’s nice to see someone else providing a “user’s perspective.”

2. My girlfriend deadlifted 250 and benched 135 this week. She’s awesome and I’m the luckiest guy in the world.

3. I’ve written about it before, and I’m going to reiterate it again: Vitamin D supplementation is going to be the next big thing. The typical 400IU dosage doesn’t appear to be enough; there’s a solid benefit for most to up that to 1,000IU/day or slightly more. In some serious clinical deficiencies, they’ll go on some insane dosages.

4. The All-Star Break has just finished up, but I’m already as excited as a little kid on Christmas when I think about our crew of pro baseball guys for the upcoming off-season. We’re going to be kicking out studs for years to come. If you’re a ballplayer (or other athlete, for that matter) with interest, drop us an email at cresseyperformance@gmail.com.

5. Brian St. Pierre attempted to become the first person to ever get me to puke with training program with an insane pseudo-Strongman medley at the facility on Tuesday. It was to no avail, though; I only dry-heaved, so the perfect record is intact. Thanks for playing, Brian.

6. I really can’t stand the phrase “It is what it is.” What the heck does that mean? “I’m too lazy to finish this sentence or come up with another useful thought.”

7. Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman are offering a SWEET discount on their Inside-Out Product Line. As you probably know, as a “shoulder guy,” I’m a huge fan of the drills in this DVD. Through 7/21, if you go HERE, add it to your cart, and enter the code IFAST in the discount code box at the right, you’ll get 40% off the DVD and/or manual.