I find myself saying while explaining different training ideas quite a bit "it depends". And using things such as Swiss balls and Bosu balls are no different. It depends on the situation but in many situations that unstable surface training is used, it shouldn't be. Here are four reasons why:
1. You'll burn fewer calories. You won't be able to use nearly as much weight on an unstable surface as you would on a stable surface performing the same exercise. Burning calories (and hence, fat) is all about progressive overload (stressing the body). BOSU balls and the like are inferior in this regard.
2. You will actually make yourself weaker. Gaining strength is all about force production (being able to transfer force from the ground up). By training on an unstable surface, you're promoting "leaks" and really limiting the amount of force you can generate in any given exercise. For athletes, this is crucial.
Additionally, unstable surface training undermines all three phases of the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), especially the amortization phase. Using devices such as BOSU balls actually delays the amortization phase. From an athletic standpoint, one seeks to minimize this phase as much as possible to prevent loss of a significant amount of the energy accumulated and stored as a result of the preloading (eccentric) phase.
3. Core Strength? Please don't be that person who claims that unstable surface training is great for training the core. I can have someone do the same movement on a stable surface and activate the "core" just as much.
4. Safety. On more than one occasion I've seen people fall and injure themselves while performing exercises on an unstable surface. For example, squatting on a SWISS ball. Every time I see someone attempt this, I cringe. Free-weight exercises have been proven safe when performed on stable surfaces, but there isn't much data out there which showcases the efficacy of unstable surface training in regards to safety.
In the end, I just don't think training on unstable surfaces is worth it. Again, if you're training for the circus they're great! However, I feel that people would be much better served steering clear of them in the long run.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Terrific Tuesday
1. Email from a new client:
Next week is my last week and I would like to know if I can continue working with you. My progress has been more than I ever could have expected and I am thrilled. You provide encouragement and the “mental push” (ok, sometimes a big ole’ mental shove) I need in a way that allows me to learn. My goal is to be able to walk away with good knowledge (and confidence) of each exercise so I can continue on........
2. I was asked to write a bit about choosing whole grains:
Most people (overweight and obese) don't handle a carbohydrates all that well because of the simple fact of what they do to your blood sugar levels. (Most bodybuilders actually increase their carbohydrate intake while trying to put on weight) A rise in your blood sugar levels leads to a spike followed by a drop, leading to your metabolism not only slowing down but you itching you get some more food into your mouth! There are even donut and cereal products claiming to be whole grain!
Next week is my last week and I would like to know if I can continue working with you. My progress has been more than I ever could have expected and I am thrilled. You provide encouragement and the “mental push” (ok, sometimes a big ole’ mental shove) I need in a way that allows me to learn. My goal is to be able to walk away with good knowledge (and confidence) of each exercise so I can continue on........
2. I was asked to write a bit about choosing whole grains:
Most people (overweight and obese) don't handle a carbohydrates all that well because of the simple fact of what they do to your blood sugar levels. (Most bodybuilders actually increase their carbohydrate intake while trying to put on weight) A rise in your blood sugar levels leads to a spike followed by a drop, leading to your metabolism not only slowing down but you itching you get some more food into your mouth! There are even donut and cereal products claiming to be whole grain!
Good one, show me the ingredients please
A better choice is to eat carbs (along with other simple sugars) after a workout. Your body actually needs and wants these carbohydrates post workout to start the recovery process. (A even better choice is Cytofuse which contains the quickest form of carbs immediately starting the recovery process) There are a few choices of carbs that are actually "whole grain"; old-fashioned or steel-cut oats, amaranth, quinoa, wild rice and sprouted organic whole grain products (like Ezekiel).
A great article was wrote about The Safe Carbs - Whole Grains
3. There a many reasons to eat your vegetables. An interesting perspective: Covering Your Nutrition Acids (And Bases)
4. I think eating before bedtime (1-2 hours) has got a bad rep. Your body benefits greatly from having muscle mass. Our goal should be a stay away from a muscles wasting (catabolic) state. To prevent this we need some protein before bedtime. A great choice being:
Cottage Cheese and/or blend of proteins like that in Ultra Peptide.
5. Thanks for the birthday wishes! I was told I don't need to worry getting old till I turn 25. Guess I have another year till I have to worry.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Distance Running
It's track season and I've been seeing a lot of kids running around town. Kind of brought the following article to mind, not only for baseball players but any athlete who is looking for long distance running as a recovery aid:
By: Eric Cressey
The management of pitchers between starts is one of the most debated topics in the world of baseball training. Some pitching coaches want multiple throwing sessions between starts, while others insist that a single bullpen is sufficient. Athletic trainers debate on whether or not a pitcher should ice after a throwing session. And, specific to my realm of expertise, there are differing opinions on what kind of running programs are appropriate for pitchers between bouts of throwing.
Not to toot my own horn, but I’m a pretty well-read guy – and I can honestly say that I’ve never read anything along the lines of a truly logical argument for or against a specific running program for pitchers. So, I guess that’s where I come in with this piece.
With that in mind, I’ll be very blunt with you: I despise distance running for pitchers (and the overwhelming majority of other athletes, for that matter). While many pitching coaches are probably reading this and cursing my name already for going against the norm, I’d encourage you all to hear me out on this. Below, I’ll outlined NINE reasons why distance running is not the correct course of action – and then, in my next installment, outline a new model for training between starts that we’ve used with great success at the professional, collegiate, and high school levels.
Why Distance Running is Not the Answer
Reason #1: Immunity Concerns
As a strength and conditioning coach, my number one priority in working with athletes is to keep them healthy. This refers not only to musculoskeletal health, but also general health. In an outstanding 2006 review, Gleeson wrote that “postexercise immune function depression is most pronounced when exercise is continuous [and] prolonged.” Interestingly, this review also noted that many of these symptoms are “attributable to inflammation of the upper respiratory tract rather than to infectious episodes (1).” In other words, distance running between starts is more likely to cause and spread sickness in your clubhouse than that tramp in the right field bleachers who wants to hook up with every guy in your bullpen.
Strike 1.
Reason #2: Endocrine Concerns
Here’s a little excerpt from an email I got from a minor league guy I work with in the off-season:
Yesterday might have been the roughest day of my career. It started by getting back from our game Sunday night at 11:30PM. I couldn’t fall asleep until at least 12:30AM, and then we had a 3:30AM wake up call to catch a bus to the airport for our flight at 6:15AM. We had a layover for an hour and a half, then got to the next city at 11AM. We drove to our hotel and I got to my stinky room at the Sleep Inn and tried to catch some sleep – except we had to be at the field at 4PM.
Days like this are the norm for many professional (and particularly, minor league) pitchers: late nights, early wake-up calls, red-eye flights, long bus rides, and – as a result – completely warped sleeping patterns. And, as I’m sure you can imagine, the diet that accompanies these travels is less than stellar, particularly when clubhouse food isn’t exactly gourmet or healthy. And, let’s just say that a lot of ballplayers at the collegiate and pro levels far too much alcohol, and that has direct negative consequences in terms of sleep and tissue quality.
So, basically, we’ve got absurd sleeping hours, terrible dietary habits, too much alcohol – and one of the longest seasons in sports. Effectively, we’ve done everything we possibly can to reduce lower testosterone and growth hormone output, creating a mess of a hormonal environment. Frankly, you could get this same hormonal response by forcing pitchers to watch Golden Girls reruns while sitting on bicycle seats and downing estrogen tablets – and you wouldn’t have any incidences of plantar fasciitis.
Instead, you know what’s done instead? Distance running! Yes, the same distance running that is responsible for the markedly lower testosterone levels and higher cortisol levels in endurance athletes. It’s like putting a new engine in a car with square wheels: studying for the wrong test.
It almost makes you wonder if some guys used performance-enhancing drugs just to counteract the negative effects of their running programs!
Strike 2.
Reason #3: Mobility Concerns
One of the issues with distance running is that it doesn’t allow for sufficient hip flexion to truly activate all the hip flexors. Specifically, we get a lot of rectus femoris recruitment, but not much activation of psoas, which predominately is active above 90 degrees of hip flexion. Likewise, you really aren’t getting much hip extension at all.
So, on the whole, by using a repetitive motion like jogging for an extended period of time, pitchers are losing mobility in their hips – and that’s the very mobility they depend on so much to generate stride length and, in turn, velocity.
Frankly, runners are the athletes (and I use that term loosely) I see with the most marked lower extremity dysfunctions due to the lack of range-of-motion in the jogging stride – and the fact that they pile so much mileage on this faulty movement pattern. I am a firm believer that we were made to sprint, not jog.
Strike 3. The batter’s out!
Reason #4: Negative Effects on the Stretch-Shortening Cycle
Here, I need to get a bit geeky for a second so that I can explain the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). The easiest analogy I can use is that when you want to shoot a rubber band at someone, you pre-stretch it before you release your shot. Muscles work the same way; pre-stretching them (eccentric action) prior to shortening them (concentric action) stores elastic energy and helps that muscle generate more force. Anecdotally, I’ve heard estimates that as much as 25-30% of pitching velocity is attributed to elastic energy – or how effectively someone makes use of the stretch-shortening cycle.
Where we’re different from rubber bands is that we can actually train those elastic qualities to make our tendons more efficient at collecting, temporarily storing, and releasing that elastic energy to help us run faster, jump higher, and throw harder. It’s why doing plyos, sprinting, and throwing medicine balls can do wonders for a player’s performance.
With the stretch-shortening cycle, we need three things, according to Komi (2):
1. a well-timed muscle preactivation before the eccentric phase
2. a short, fast eccentric component
3. immediate transition (minimal delay) between stretch (eccentric) and shortening (concentric) phases. This period is known as the amortization phase, and the shorter it is, the less elastic energy we lose (as heat).
To be honest, #1 takes care of itself. For #2 and #3, though, we are definitely working against ourselves with distance running, as the importance of the SSC rapidly diminishes as exercise duration continues. In fact, the vertical jump only predicts sprinting performance up to 300m (3).
In other words, the longer exercise goes, the more we “muscle” it instead of being relaxed. What do we know about guys who try to muscle the ball to the plate? They don’t throw hard because it impairs pitching specific mobility and they don’t let the arm whip through.
I will take a guy with a good vertical jump over a guy with a high VO2max anyday. Distance running conditions guys to plod instead of bounce – and this definitely has implications in terms of chronic overuse conditions.
Strike 1.
Reason #5: Strength and Power Reductions
As just one example of how stressful the pitching motion is on the body, the humerus internally rotates at 7,500°/second during the acceleration phase of throwing. It takes a lot of strength and power to generate this kind of velocity, but just as importantly, it takes a lot of strength and power – and in a timely fashion – to decelerate it. We need to not only be able to generate enough force to resist and control this acceleration at end-range, but also be able to generate this force quickly (power). To that end, you would think that conditioning for pitchers would be similar to that of strength and power athletes, who avoid distance running altogether.
Instead, most pitchers run several times a week. When was the last time you saw a marathoner throw 95mph?
Additionally, in many cases, coaches encounter Latin American players who have never had access to weight-training equipment – and this is a huge window of untapped potential. Using distance running when these athletes could be devoting more time to getting stronger is a huge hindrance to these players’ development, as it conditions them to go longer instead of faster. At some point, you have to put more horsepower in the engine instead of just changing the oil.
We know that when we first get young athletes started with weight training, there is a huge transformation to make them more athletic in the 8-10 weeks that follow. You would be surprised at what good training can do for many advanced pitchers in the initial phases, too. The reason is that, unlike position players, many pitchers are (to be blunt) one-trick ponies. They know how to throw a nasty cutter, a crazy 12-to-6 curveball, or a slider with a funny arm-slot. So, it’s always been “okay” for them to be completely unathletic outside of their delivery. They might get guys out, but they’re long-term gambles teams because of their increased risk of injury; weak, immobile bodies break down the fastest – just like distance runners. Additionally, being able to quickly recruit muscles (and do so powerfully) is crucial for rapidly stiffening joint complexes to create stability and prevent acute injuries like ankle sprains and ACL ruptures. Strength and power athletes are much better off in this regard than endurance athletes.
Strike 2.
Reason #6: Inappropriate Intensities
In what was – at least in my eyes – a landmark study, McCarthy et al. (1995) looked at “compatibility” of concurrent strength training and endurance training. Traditionally, the attenuation of strength and power gains has been a big issue when endurance exercise is added to a strength training program. As I noted in Cardio Confusion, these researchers found that strength and power loss was only an issue when the intensity of the endurance exercise was greater than 75% of heart-rate reserve (HRR) (4). I can guarantee you that the majority of pitchers who are running distances are doing so at well over 75% HRR.
As I’ll note in my recommendations at the conclusion of this article, I strongly feel that the secret is to stay well above (circa-maximal sprinting, in other words) or below (70% HRR, to play it safe) when implementing any kind of running. The secret is to avoid that middle area where you don’t go slow and don’t go fast; that’s where athletes get SLOW! And, ideally, the lower-intensity exercise would be some modality that provides more mobility benefits.
Strike 3. The batter’s out!
Reason #7: Nobody likes to babysit.
Simply put, running is babysitting. Catcher is actually the position that requires the most endurance in baseball, but we don’t run catchers extra, do we? Nope – and it’s because we have bullpens for them to catch, batting practice for them to take, and all the other responsibilities associated with handling a pitching staff and being a pseudo coach on the field.
My business partner actually was a division 1 pitcher almost ten years ago, and when I brought up this argument, he smiled and nodded, replying with, “When I was a pitcher, all we did was shag fly balls and run poles.” Meanwhile, 57% of pitchers suffer a shoulder injury during a competitive season (5) – and that doesn’t even include elbow, lower back, or lower-extremity injuries! At the major league level, pitchers are 49% of the players, but they account for 68% of the time on the disabled list league-wide (6). Running isn’t going to prevent these problems; it’s going to exacerbate them.
Strike 1.
Reason #8: Distance running ignores existing imbalances.
Baseball is an at-risk sport for a number of reasons. You’ve got an extremely long competitive season, overhead throwing, and – possibly most significantly – unilateral dominance. Switch hitters and guys who bat right and throw left (or vice versa) tend to be a bit more symmetrical, but the guys who bat and throw on the same side tend to have the most glaring issues. Many really smart dudes – most notably, Gray Cook – note that asymmetry is quite possibly the best predictor of injury. When we get pitchers after a long season, our first goals are to address range of motion deficits in:
1. lead leg hip extension (tight hip flexors)
2. lead leg hip internal rotation (tight external rotators)
3. lead leg knee flexion (tight quads)
4. Throwing arm shoulder internal rotation (tight posterior rotator cuff and capsule)
5. Scapular posterior tilt (tight pec minor and levator scapulae)
6. Throwing arm elbow extension (tight elbow flexors)
I knocked back some caffeine, splashed some water on my face, and really put my thinking cap on to see if I could come up with a rationale for how distance running addresses any of these issues. In the end, I had nothing. I came to the realization that jogging negatively affects the majority of them – and pitchers would be better off just shagging fly balls instead of splitting time between that and long runs. At least they move side-to-side when they’re chasing fly balls.
Strike 2.
Reason #9: It’s really boring!
I am a firm believer that the best coaches are the ones who engage their athletes. The best coaches I had in my athletic career were the ones who made me look forward to each training session. With that said, the only people who look forward to distance running are – you guessed it – distance runners!
Most of the ballplayers you’re coaching have always seen running as a form of punishment for doing something wrong; they hate it as much as I do (okay, maybe not that much). And, truth be told, they’d hate it even more if they realized it is limiting their development as athletes.
Strike 3. The batter’s out – and the side is retired.
Conclusion
I have always disliked it when people criticize the status quo, but fail to offer solutions of their own. With that in mind, the next installment of this series will outline my personal perspective on how to attack the time between pitching outings.
By: Eric Cressey
The management of pitchers between starts is one of the most debated topics in the world of baseball training. Some pitching coaches want multiple throwing sessions between starts, while others insist that a single bullpen is sufficient. Athletic trainers debate on whether or not a pitcher should ice after a throwing session. And, specific to my realm of expertise, there are differing opinions on what kind of running programs are appropriate for pitchers between bouts of throwing.
Not to toot my own horn, but I’m a pretty well-read guy – and I can honestly say that I’ve never read anything along the lines of a truly logical argument for or against a specific running program for pitchers. So, I guess that’s where I come in with this piece.
With that in mind, I’ll be very blunt with you: I despise distance running for pitchers (and the overwhelming majority of other athletes, for that matter). While many pitching coaches are probably reading this and cursing my name already for going against the norm, I’d encourage you all to hear me out on this. Below, I’ll outlined NINE reasons why distance running is not the correct course of action – and then, in my next installment, outline a new model for training between starts that we’ve used with great success at the professional, collegiate, and high school levels.
Why Distance Running is Not the Answer
Reason #1: Immunity Concerns
As a strength and conditioning coach, my number one priority in working with athletes is to keep them healthy. This refers not only to musculoskeletal health, but also general health. In an outstanding 2006 review, Gleeson wrote that “postexercise immune function depression is most pronounced when exercise is continuous [and] prolonged.” Interestingly, this review also noted that many of these symptoms are “attributable to inflammation of the upper respiratory tract rather than to infectious episodes (1).” In other words, distance running between starts is more likely to cause and spread sickness in your clubhouse than that tramp in the right field bleachers who wants to hook up with every guy in your bullpen.
Strike 1.
Reason #2: Endocrine Concerns
Here’s a little excerpt from an email I got from a minor league guy I work with in the off-season:
Yesterday might have been the roughest day of my career. It started by getting back from our game Sunday night at 11:30PM. I couldn’t fall asleep until at least 12:30AM, and then we had a 3:30AM wake up call to catch a bus to the airport for our flight at 6:15AM. We had a layover for an hour and a half, then got to the next city at 11AM. We drove to our hotel and I got to my stinky room at the Sleep Inn and tried to catch some sleep – except we had to be at the field at 4PM.
Days like this are the norm for many professional (and particularly, minor league) pitchers: late nights, early wake-up calls, red-eye flights, long bus rides, and – as a result – completely warped sleeping patterns. And, as I’m sure you can imagine, the diet that accompanies these travels is less than stellar, particularly when clubhouse food isn’t exactly gourmet or healthy. And, let’s just say that a lot of ballplayers at the collegiate and pro levels far too much alcohol, and that has direct negative consequences in terms of sleep and tissue quality.
So, basically, we’ve got absurd sleeping hours, terrible dietary habits, too much alcohol – and one of the longest seasons in sports. Effectively, we’ve done everything we possibly can to reduce lower testosterone and growth hormone output, creating a mess of a hormonal environment. Frankly, you could get this same hormonal response by forcing pitchers to watch Golden Girls reruns while sitting on bicycle seats and downing estrogen tablets – and you wouldn’t have any incidences of plantar fasciitis.
Instead, you know what’s done instead? Distance running! Yes, the same distance running that is responsible for the markedly lower testosterone levels and higher cortisol levels in endurance athletes. It’s like putting a new engine in a car with square wheels: studying for the wrong test.
It almost makes you wonder if some guys used performance-enhancing drugs just to counteract the negative effects of their running programs!
Strike 2.
Reason #3: Mobility Concerns
One of the issues with distance running is that it doesn’t allow for sufficient hip flexion to truly activate all the hip flexors. Specifically, we get a lot of rectus femoris recruitment, but not much activation of psoas, which predominately is active above 90 degrees of hip flexion. Likewise, you really aren’t getting much hip extension at all.
So, on the whole, by using a repetitive motion like jogging for an extended period of time, pitchers are losing mobility in their hips – and that’s the very mobility they depend on so much to generate stride length and, in turn, velocity.
Frankly, runners are the athletes (and I use that term loosely) I see with the most marked lower extremity dysfunctions due to the lack of range-of-motion in the jogging stride – and the fact that they pile so much mileage on this faulty movement pattern. I am a firm believer that we were made to sprint, not jog.
Strike 3. The batter’s out!
Reason #4: Negative Effects on the Stretch-Shortening Cycle
Here, I need to get a bit geeky for a second so that I can explain the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). The easiest analogy I can use is that when you want to shoot a rubber band at someone, you pre-stretch it before you release your shot. Muscles work the same way; pre-stretching them (eccentric action) prior to shortening them (concentric action) stores elastic energy and helps that muscle generate more force. Anecdotally, I’ve heard estimates that as much as 25-30% of pitching velocity is attributed to elastic energy – or how effectively someone makes use of the stretch-shortening cycle.
Where we’re different from rubber bands is that we can actually train those elastic qualities to make our tendons more efficient at collecting, temporarily storing, and releasing that elastic energy to help us run faster, jump higher, and throw harder. It’s why doing plyos, sprinting, and throwing medicine balls can do wonders for a player’s performance.
With the stretch-shortening cycle, we need three things, according to Komi (2):
1. a well-timed muscle preactivation before the eccentric phase
2. a short, fast eccentric component
3. immediate transition (minimal delay) between stretch (eccentric) and shortening (concentric) phases. This period is known as the amortization phase, and the shorter it is, the less elastic energy we lose (as heat).
To be honest, #1 takes care of itself. For #2 and #3, though, we are definitely working against ourselves with distance running, as the importance of the SSC rapidly diminishes as exercise duration continues. In fact, the vertical jump only predicts sprinting performance up to 300m (3).
In other words, the longer exercise goes, the more we “muscle” it instead of being relaxed. What do we know about guys who try to muscle the ball to the plate? They don’t throw hard because it impairs pitching specific mobility and they don’t let the arm whip through.
I will take a guy with a good vertical jump over a guy with a high VO2max anyday. Distance running conditions guys to plod instead of bounce – and this definitely has implications in terms of chronic overuse conditions.
Strike 1.
Reason #5: Strength and Power Reductions
As just one example of how stressful the pitching motion is on the body, the humerus internally rotates at 7,500°/second during the acceleration phase of throwing. It takes a lot of strength and power to generate this kind of velocity, but just as importantly, it takes a lot of strength and power – and in a timely fashion – to decelerate it. We need to not only be able to generate enough force to resist and control this acceleration at end-range, but also be able to generate this force quickly (power). To that end, you would think that conditioning for pitchers would be similar to that of strength and power athletes, who avoid distance running altogether.
Instead, most pitchers run several times a week. When was the last time you saw a marathoner throw 95mph?
Additionally, in many cases, coaches encounter Latin American players who have never had access to weight-training equipment – and this is a huge window of untapped potential. Using distance running when these athletes could be devoting more time to getting stronger is a huge hindrance to these players’ development, as it conditions them to go longer instead of faster. At some point, you have to put more horsepower in the engine instead of just changing the oil.
We know that when we first get young athletes started with weight training, there is a huge transformation to make them more athletic in the 8-10 weeks that follow. You would be surprised at what good training can do for many advanced pitchers in the initial phases, too. The reason is that, unlike position players, many pitchers are (to be blunt) one-trick ponies. They know how to throw a nasty cutter, a crazy 12-to-6 curveball, or a slider with a funny arm-slot. So, it’s always been “okay” for them to be completely unathletic outside of their delivery. They might get guys out, but they’re long-term gambles teams because of their increased risk of injury; weak, immobile bodies break down the fastest – just like distance runners. Additionally, being able to quickly recruit muscles (and do so powerfully) is crucial for rapidly stiffening joint complexes to create stability and prevent acute injuries like ankle sprains and ACL ruptures. Strength and power athletes are much better off in this regard than endurance athletes.
Strike 2.
Reason #6: Inappropriate Intensities
In what was – at least in my eyes – a landmark study, McCarthy et al. (1995) looked at “compatibility” of concurrent strength training and endurance training. Traditionally, the attenuation of strength and power gains has been a big issue when endurance exercise is added to a strength training program. As I noted in Cardio Confusion, these researchers found that strength and power loss was only an issue when the intensity of the endurance exercise was greater than 75% of heart-rate reserve (HRR) (4). I can guarantee you that the majority of pitchers who are running distances are doing so at well over 75% HRR.
As I’ll note in my recommendations at the conclusion of this article, I strongly feel that the secret is to stay well above (circa-maximal sprinting, in other words) or below (70% HRR, to play it safe) when implementing any kind of running. The secret is to avoid that middle area where you don’t go slow and don’t go fast; that’s where athletes get SLOW! And, ideally, the lower-intensity exercise would be some modality that provides more mobility benefits.
Strike 3. The batter’s out!
Reason #7: Nobody likes to babysit.
Simply put, running is babysitting. Catcher is actually the position that requires the most endurance in baseball, but we don’t run catchers extra, do we? Nope – and it’s because we have bullpens for them to catch, batting practice for them to take, and all the other responsibilities associated with handling a pitching staff and being a pseudo coach on the field.
My business partner actually was a division 1 pitcher almost ten years ago, and when I brought up this argument, he smiled and nodded, replying with, “When I was a pitcher, all we did was shag fly balls and run poles.” Meanwhile, 57% of pitchers suffer a shoulder injury during a competitive season (5) – and that doesn’t even include elbow, lower back, or lower-extremity injuries! At the major league level, pitchers are 49% of the players, but they account for 68% of the time on the disabled list league-wide (6). Running isn’t going to prevent these problems; it’s going to exacerbate them.
Strike 1.
Reason #8: Distance running ignores existing imbalances.
Baseball is an at-risk sport for a number of reasons. You’ve got an extremely long competitive season, overhead throwing, and – possibly most significantly – unilateral dominance. Switch hitters and guys who bat right and throw left (or vice versa) tend to be a bit more symmetrical, but the guys who bat and throw on the same side tend to have the most glaring issues. Many really smart dudes – most notably, Gray Cook – note that asymmetry is quite possibly the best predictor of injury. When we get pitchers after a long season, our first goals are to address range of motion deficits in:
1. lead leg hip extension (tight hip flexors)
2. lead leg hip internal rotation (tight external rotators)
3. lead leg knee flexion (tight quads)
4. Throwing arm shoulder internal rotation (tight posterior rotator cuff and capsule)
5. Scapular posterior tilt (tight pec minor and levator scapulae)
6. Throwing arm elbow extension (tight elbow flexors)
I knocked back some caffeine, splashed some water on my face, and really put my thinking cap on to see if I could come up with a rationale for how distance running addresses any of these issues. In the end, I had nothing. I came to the realization that jogging negatively affects the majority of them – and pitchers would be better off just shagging fly balls instead of splitting time between that and long runs. At least they move side-to-side when they’re chasing fly balls.
Strike 2.
Reason #9: It’s really boring!
I am a firm believer that the best coaches are the ones who engage their athletes. The best coaches I had in my athletic career were the ones who made me look forward to each training session. With that said, the only people who look forward to distance running are – you guessed it – distance runners!
Most of the ballplayers you’re coaching have always seen running as a form of punishment for doing something wrong; they hate it as much as I do (okay, maybe not that much). And, truth be told, they’d hate it even more if they realized it is limiting their development as athletes.
Strike 3. The batter’s out – and the side is retired.
Conclusion
I have always disliked it when people criticize the status quo, but fail to offer solutions of their own. With that in mind, the next installment of this series will outline my personal perspective on how to attack the time between pitching outings.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I'm Getting Old
1. A very well written blog on Chocolate.
2. A newsletter on Chronic Pain and things you don't get from your physical therapist.
3. I want to write my article for next week on static stretching but just like everything else in the training world it depends. It's so hard to try and write on anything without explaining how each situation is different. There are so many ifs and buts.
4. I've wrote quite a bit on how I feel about slow steady aerobic work. It's not effective if you goal is weight loss. Simply put your body gets efficient at the same thing over and over. Instead try the following:
Warm up:
5 minutes
Work:
20 seconds at 90%
10 seconds recovery/rest
Repeat for 4 minutes/8 times
Active recovery/walking for 3 minutes
Repeat a total of 3-6 times depending on fitness level
Cool Down:
5 minutes
This can be used with about anything from basic movements such at squat and presses (thrusters) to running on a treadmill. It should be intense and get your heart rate up quite a bit more than slow steady work. You'll keep that heart rate up longer after your workout, in the end leading to more calories burnt.
5. I'm getting old, 24 on Sunday. Things just seem to fly by.
6. Website up and running. Some minor things need to be changed but very excited on it!!
2. A newsletter on Chronic Pain and things you don't get from your physical therapist.
3. I want to write my article for next week on static stretching but just like everything else in the training world it depends. It's so hard to try and write on anything without explaining how each situation is different. There are so many ifs and buts.
4. I've wrote quite a bit on how I feel about slow steady aerobic work. It's not effective if you goal is weight loss. Simply put your body gets efficient at the same thing over and over. Instead try the following:
Warm up:
5 minutes
Work:
20 seconds at 90%
10 seconds recovery/rest
Repeat for 4 minutes/8 times
Active recovery/walking for 3 minutes
Repeat a total of 3-6 times depending on fitness level
Cool Down:
5 minutes
This can be used with about anything from basic movements such at squat and presses (thrusters) to running on a treadmill. It should be intense and get your heart rate up quite a bit more than slow steady work. You'll keep that heart rate up longer after your workout, in the end leading to more calories burnt.
5. I'm getting old, 24 on Sunday. Things just seem to fly by.
6. Website up and running. Some minor things need to be changed but very excited on it!!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Random Monday
1. I decided to get a website up and running for Feldman Peformance. It's in the works and can't wait for it to be done!
2. I see a lot of people who have been exercising for years on years. It amazes me how many of them are in love with a class at our gym called BodyPump (terrible class but I won't get started). I'd get some heat for saying that I'm sure if the wrong people read my blog but what I'm getting at is how they go through a class like BodyPump or life in general without knowing proper technique of a squat. Classes like BodyPump are a major contributor to why I hear endless people say squats hurt their knees or back. Within two minutes of working with these individuals on squat technique they learn to use their hips/glutes as the mover and magically they can squat pain free. Think how many times you squat to a chair or bend over to pick something during the day. Your lower back and knees will thank you after the squatting movement almost becomes second nature. There are numerous other things that need to be accessed and worked on to progress to proper squat depth for each individual but a book could be wrote on these issues.
2. I see a lot of people who have been exercising for years on years. It amazes me how many of them are in love with a class at our gym called BodyPump (terrible class but I won't get started). I'd get some heat for saying that I'm sure if the wrong people read my blog but what I'm getting at is how they go through a class like BodyPump or life in general without knowing proper technique of a squat. Classes like BodyPump are a major contributor to why I hear endless people say squats hurt their knees or back. Within two minutes of working with these individuals on squat technique they learn to use their hips/glutes as the mover and magically they can squat pain free. Think how many times you squat to a chair or bend over to pick something during the day. Your lower back and knees will thank you after the squatting movement almost becomes second nature. There are numerous other things that need to be accessed and worked on to progress to proper squat depth for each individual but a book could be wrote on these issues.
3. I try not to write a lot of negative things but there are numerous other things that bother me not only at the gym I train at but I'm sure at just about every other gym in the world, here's a short list of things that get to me:
- Bent over rowing with a rounded back
- Endless benching without being able to complete a proper push up
- Thinking tricep extensions are going to get rid of the flab on the back of your arm
- Unstable surface training (we have whole classes with Bosu balls!)
- Devoting a whole day to "shoulders"
- Thinking running takes the place of squats and deadlifts
- Getting a sweat going means you had a good workout
- Leg presses
- People who train their tails off and don't take care of things outside the gym
- Looking for a reason you're tired other than the fact that you got 4 hours of sleep the last two nights
- Thinking of supplements as steroids
- Not seeing progress toward your goals and still doing the same thing day in and day out
- Using bumper plates to bench press
- Static stretching before training
I feel a whole lot better now!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Nutrition Tip #6
Protein/Carbs Before Exercise To Burn Fat?
by Dr. John Berardi
While nearly everyone nowadays knows that pre, during, and post exercise nutritional intake is critical for improving protein status and glycogen synthesis, most people fear that the ingestion of protein and carbohydrates during these times will decrease fat oxidation (burning).
Well, put simply, they're wrong (sticking out tongue).
Studies have demonstrated that even in the presence of a relatively high carbohydrate intake (and large insulin response), the addition of protein to a carbohydrate meal can increase fat burning during exercise.
So it looks like a well-designed pre, during, and post exercise intake will not only improve protein status and glycogen resynthesis but it may actually increase fat burning. Bigger and leaner? Say it ain't so.
by Dr. John Berardi
While nearly everyone nowadays knows that pre, during, and post exercise nutritional intake is critical for improving protein status and glycogen synthesis, most people fear that the ingestion of protein and carbohydrates during these times will decrease fat oxidation (burning).
Well, put simply, they're wrong (sticking out tongue).
Studies have demonstrated that even in the presence of a relatively high carbohydrate intake (and large insulin response), the addition of protein to a carbohydrate meal can increase fat burning during exercise.
So it looks like a well-designed pre, during, and post exercise intake will not only improve protein status and glycogen resynthesis but it may actually increase fat burning. Bigger and leaner? Say it ain't so.
Friday, April 17, 2009
A Great Question About My Article
Ok I read yout Are We Eating too Much or Not Enough article and you really seem to know what your talking about, that is why I have a question for you and I hope you can help.
My names Caitlin Im almost 18 and I have come along way with weight loss. I have currently lost 69 pounds. I hope one day to become a Nutritionist and a Personal Trainer. I have spent so much of my time researching and learning about the body and the way it works. Including different things about metabolism and leptin levels, you name it :)
My family looks up to me and sees me as an insperation for all that Ive done for myself, being almost 18 and losing 69 pounds. I have actually helped many of them and friends of the family get on the right tracks. Theres one problem. Im sucessful with helping them but I cant seem to help myself and I have hit a rut.
As I have said Im almost 18, 5'4 and 130 pounds. I am so close to where I want to be my goal weight being 120 pounds.
I am currently doing the P90x, I dont know if you have heard of that program but it is pretty intense. I have already noticed a great deal of muscle definition and I have lost some weight while doing this program.
The problem is I have been around 130 pounds for 2 months now. I know its going to be harder because Im so close to my goal weight but I feel like Im working so hard and not moving any where.
I think I may know the problem but I am looking for a second opinion and like I said you seem to know what your talking about.
I am currently taking around 1500 calories a day. The videos for the P90x say that every workout you burn about 600 calories. My heart rate moniter says for only two of the exercises im burning about 600 and for the rest its closer to 300. Like I said these workouts are intense, plyometrics, core synergistics, chest back and biceps, legs and back, ab ripper x, and many more.
I also find I i get bored I may even do more like go out for a jog!
I believe the problem is that Im not taking in enough calories and its slowing my progress. I wanted to know by the information I have given, age, height, weight, calories burned for most exercises, and calories I am eating a day, if you have any solutions.
Also, my nutrition is pretty well. I do give myself a cheat day which is sundays but I find that those actually help me lose weight! Probably because the increase of leptin levels. I eat alot of good foods and try to go for whole wheat breads to get my fiber also know as "the good carbs." I eat fat free yogurt, alot of fruits, im not a big fan of veggies but I try to get them in, I eat nutri grain waffles for breakfast with sugar free syrup and a banana or on other days I may have oatmeal with a banana and for dinner I eat veggie patties, or try to find things low in fat but high in protein! I love subway turkey grinders! No cheese or dressings but tons of lettuce, pickles, and banana peppers. I also take a protein shake every day from body fortress, 26 grams of protein right there. I also find it helps me recover after work outs and gives me energy.
What could the problem be? Is it like I said, I need more calories?
I would really apreciate the help and your time!
Caitlin
First thanks for the email. I’ll answer it the best I can. Simple answer yes you need to add more calories to you daily intake. I’ve personally seen clients who have been eating 1200 calories for over 5 years! I can’t imagine that! I mentioned this in my article but it may take a bit of time for you hormone levels and metabolism in general to catch back up to “normal levels”. So keep that in the front of your mind.
P90x I have mixed feelings about but with someone in your situation where mobility issues probably aren’t an issue you probably will be just fine with it. I’ve never personally seen a video but I find myself saying all the time “it depends”. What I mean by that is 90% of the people in the world shouldn’t be following a video for their training. Most people have mobility issues that need to fixed or keep mobility up to help alleive or help alleive pain that could arise down the road. But that’s kind a whole other issue!
As far as what you are burning off during the workout sure it’s nice to know but there’s something called EPOC. Simply is means its what you burn off after your workout. This is why I think getting in the weight room is important in it’s efforts to create a bigger muscle breakdown and in turn create a higher EPOC and build more metabolically active muscle. So I would tell you to not worry so much about what your burning off during the workout and eating according to what you burnt off.
Here’s what I suggest to help you introduce more calories into your diet:
First , these were in my article as well but here is a starting point:
Eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.
Eat complete lean protein (described below) with EACH meal.
Eat fruits and/or vegetables with EACH meal.
Ensure that most of your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables.
Ensure that 20-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).
Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.
Eat whole foods whenever possible (except workout per/peri/post-workout drinks).
Water: You shouldn’t wait until you are thirsty to start drinking. Take your bodyweight in pounds, divide by two and drink this in ounces.
Protein: The bulk of the protein that you consume should be from complete sources- sources that contain the entire amino acid chain. These include chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, lean pork, lean red meat, fresh ham, roast beef, eggs, milk, cottage cheese, and milk protein powders (whey and casein). One gram per pound of bodyweight is ideal for most.
Protein foods to avoid: fatty meats, fatty dairy foods, some lunch meat (ones high in sodium and fat), whole milk.
Carbohydrates: The bulk of carbohydrates in your diet should be from fibrous, unrefined sources. These include oatmeal, oat bran, lentils, beans, 100% whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, yams, greens, most other vegetables (salsa), and fruit. Simple sugars should be limited to special circumstances (pre/peri/post-workout)
Carbohydrate foods to avoid: sugar added foods, white breads and pastas, most cereals, soda, fruit bars, candy.
Fats: The bulk of fat in your diet should be primarily unsaturated and in the form of essential fatty acids (EFAs). These include flax seeds and/or flax seed oil, sunflower seeds and/or sunflower seed oil, fish oil, hemp oil, olive oil, raw nuts, all natural peanut butter, and avocados, cheese, red meat, and whole eggs.
Fat foods to avoid: margarine, vegetable oil, corn oil, heated or fried oils in general.
Pre, Peri, and Post Workout Nutrition: In short, the research shows that the body tolerates carbohydrate very well immediately after exercise. So it’s a good idea to consume your carbohydrates during the pre/peri/post-workout period. Reserve foods with high glycemic loads for pre/peri/post workout
These foods include sugary type foods, most cereals, potatoes, liquid calories, and flour products such as white breads and white pastas.
Maybe you follow these to a T but in most cases something needs to be changed. Weather it’s adding a little protein to every meal or starting to eat every 2-3 hours.
Next thing I suggest is after you implement these steps see if you are putting in more calories. I don’t think every situation needs to track what they are taking in calorie wise, but it may be helpful to make sure you are putting enough food down. If the intake isn’t high enough I suggest adding a bit more dietary fat which I’ll explain a bit later.
Give this new intake 2-3 weeks (maybe a bit longer 3-4 with your metabolism “catching up”) and see if things change both on the scale and take a look how your clothes fit. This is where it may be a bit of a guessing game on your end. You may need to add more calories if you didn’t see a difference or wait for your metabolism to return to normal staying at the same intake. If I have to guess with someone at your age you metabolism and such will catch back up pretty quickly but each situation is a bit different. I would even suggest a couple “refeeds” a couple times a week after a workout to help return your levels back to normal. And with this refeed a 50-100 extra grams of carbohydrates will do the trick.
Carbohyrate intake is something that may be taken a look at also. Most “whole wheat” products aren’t that at all. Here’s a great article worth reading:
Most people don’t handle carbs all that well so I suggest with someone trying to lose weight to only get their carbs from veggies and fruits other than right after wakening and after your workouts. Here’s another great article explaining why:
It’s a complex article but hopefully make a bit of sense!
Lastly I’ll finish my book with post workout nutrition. Check out my blog post for more info on this:
Supplements can help you meet your goals by being easy to drink on the go and taking advantage of “the window of opportunity” after a training session. There are other choices out there as far as supplements but the big difference is how the products are made. They can be denatured while processed and in the end leading to you absorbing less of the product. Compared to a quality supplement that wasn’t denatured under high temperatures while processed, leading to your body absorbing more of the product.
My names Caitlin Im almost 18 and I have come along way with weight loss. I have currently lost 69 pounds. I hope one day to become a Nutritionist and a Personal Trainer. I have spent so much of my time researching and learning about the body and the way it works. Including different things about metabolism and leptin levels, you name it :)
My family looks up to me and sees me as an insperation for all that Ive done for myself, being almost 18 and losing 69 pounds. I have actually helped many of them and friends of the family get on the right tracks. Theres one problem. Im sucessful with helping them but I cant seem to help myself and I have hit a rut.
As I have said Im almost 18, 5'4 and 130 pounds. I am so close to where I want to be my goal weight being 120 pounds.
I am currently doing the P90x, I dont know if you have heard of that program but it is pretty intense. I have already noticed a great deal of muscle definition and I have lost some weight while doing this program.
The problem is I have been around 130 pounds for 2 months now. I know its going to be harder because Im so close to my goal weight but I feel like Im working so hard and not moving any where.
I think I may know the problem but I am looking for a second opinion and like I said you seem to know what your talking about.
I am currently taking around 1500 calories a day. The videos for the P90x say that every workout you burn about 600 calories. My heart rate moniter says for only two of the exercises im burning about 600 and for the rest its closer to 300. Like I said these workouts are intense, plyometrics, core synergistics, chest back and biceps, legs and back, ab ripper x, and many more.
I also find I i get bored I may even do more like go out for a jog!
I believe the problem is that Im not taking in enough calories and its slowing my progress. I wanted to know by the information I have given, age, height, weight, calories burned for most exercises, and calories I am eating a day, if you have any solutions.
Also, my nutrition is pretty well. I do give myself a cheat day which is sundays but I find that those actually help me lose weight! Probably because the increase of leptin levels. I eat alot of good foods and try to go for whole wheat breads to get my fiber also know as "the good carbs." I eat fat free yogurt, alot of fruits, im not a big fan of veggies but I try to get them in, I eat nutri grain waffles for breakfast with sugar free syrup and a banana or on other days I may have oatmeal with a banana and for dinner I eat veggie patties, or try to find things low in fat but high in protein! I love subway turkey grinders! No cheese or dressings but tons of lettuce, pickles, and banana peppers. I also take a protein shake every day from body fortress, 26 grams of protein right there. I also find it helps me recover after work outs and gives me energy.
What could the problem be? Is it like I said, I need more calories?
I would really apreciate the help and your time!
Caitlin
First thanks for the email. I’ll answer it the best I can. Simple answer yes you need to add more calories to you daily intake. I’ve personally seen clients who have been eating 1200 calories for over 5 years! I can’t imagine that! I mentioned this in my article but it may take a bit of time for you hormone levels and metabolism in general to catch back up to “normal levels”. So keep that in the front of your mind.
P90x I have mixed feelings about but with someone in your situation where mobility issues probably aren’t an issue you probably will be just fine with it. I’ve never personally seen a video but I find myself saying all the time “it depends”. What I mean by that is 90% of the people in the world shouldn’t be following a video for their training. Most people have mobility issues that need to fixed or keep mobility up to help alleive or help alleive pain that could arise down the road. But that’s kind a whole other issue!
As far as what you are burning off during the workout sure it’s nice to know but there’s something called EPOC. Simply is means its what you burn off after your workout. This is why I think getting in the weight room is important in it’s efforts to create a bigger muscle breakdown and in turn create a higher EPOC and build more metabolically active muscle. So I would tell you to not worry so much about what your burning off during the workout and eating according to what you burnt off.
Here’s what I suggest to help you introduce more calories into your diet:
First , these were in my article as well but here is a starting point:
Eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.
Eat complete lean protein (described below) with EACH meal.
Eat fruits and/or vegetables with EACH meal.
Ensure that most of your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables.
Ensure that 20-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).
Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.
Eat whole foods whenever possible (except workout per/peri/post-workout drinks).
Water: You shouldn’t wait until you are thirsty to start drinking. Take your bodyweight in pounds, divide by two and drink this in ounces.
Protein: The bulk of the protein that you consume should be from complete sources- sources that contain the entire amino acid chain. These include chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, lean pork, lean red meat, fresh ham, roast beef, eggs, milk, cottage cheese, and milk protein powders (whey and casein). One gram per pound of bodyweight is ideal for most.
Protein foods to avoid: fatty meats, fatty dairy foods, some lunch meat (ones high in sodium and fat), whole milk.
Carbohydrates: The bulk of carbohydrates in your diet should be from fibrous, unrefined sources. These include oatmeal, oat bran, lentils, beans, 100% whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, yams, greens, most other vegetables (salsa), and fruit. Simple sugars should be limited to special circumstances (pre/peri/post-workout)
Carbohydrate foods to avoid: sugar added foods, white breads and pastas, most cereals, soda, fruit bars, candy.
Fats: The bulk of fat in your diet should be primarily unsaturated and in the form of essential fatty acids (EFAs). These include flax seeds and/or flax seed oil, sunflower seeds and/or sunflower seed oil, fish oil, hemp oil, olive oil, raw nuts, all natural peanut butter, and avocados, cheese, red meat, and whole eggs.
Fat foods to avoid: margarine, vegetable oil, corn oil, heated or fried oils in general.
Pre, Peri, and Post Workout Nutrition: In short, the research shows that the body tolerates carbohydrate very well immediately after exercise. So it’s a good idea to consume your carbohydrates during the pre/peri/post-workout period. Reserve foods with high glycemic loads for pre/peri/post workout
These foods include sugary type foods, most cereals, potatoes, liquid calories, and flour products such as white breads and white pastas.
Maybe you follow these to a T but in most cases something needs to be changed. Weather it’s adding a little protein to every meal or starting to eat every 2-3 hours.
Next thing I suggest is after you implement these steps see if you are putting in more calories. I don’t think every situation needs to track what they are taking in calorie wise, but it may be helpful to make sure you are putting enough food down. If the intake isn’t high enough I suggest adding a bit more dietary fat which I’ll explain a bit later.
Give this new intake 2-3 weeks (maybe a bit longer 3-4 with your metabolism “catching up”) and see if things change both on the scale and take a look how your clothes fit. This is where it may be a bit of a guessing game on your end. You may need to add more calories if you didn’t see a difference or wait for your metabolism to return to normal staying at the same intake. If I have to guess with someone at your age you metabolism and such will catch back up pretty quickly but each situation is a bit different. I would even suggest a couple “refeeds” a couple times a week after a workout to help return your levels back to normal. And with this refeed a 50-100 extra grams of carbohydrates will do the trick.
Carbohyrate intake is something that may be taken a look at also. Most “whole wheat” products aren’t that at all. Here’s a great article worth reading:
Most people don’t handle carbs all that well so I suggest with someone trying to lose weight to only get their carbs from veggies and fruits other than right after wakening and after your workouts. Here’s another great article explaining why:
It’s a complex article but hopefully make a bit of sense!
Lastly I’ll finish my book with post workout nutrition. Check out my blog post for more info on this:
Supplements can help you meet your goals by being easy to drink on the go and taking advantage of “the window of opportunity” after a training session. There are other choices out there as far as supplements but the big difference is how the products are made. They can be denatured while processed and in the end leading to you absorbing less of the product. Compared to a quality supplement that wasn’t denatured under high temperatures while processed, leading to your body absorbing more of the product.
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