To slide or not to slide? You decide...
This is a great blog post by Charlie Weingroff, a PT and powerlifter, on the supposed potential danger of using slide boards in training. This assertion was made by Charles Poliquin (another industry favorite of mine) and Charlie methodically analyzes why he thinks Poliquin is incorrect. If you want to see how strength coaches should evaluate an exercise for inclusion (or exclusion) in program design, this is a textbook example of how to do it.
Full Disclosure - We have a slide board at Fury Performance and I think its a great training tool.
A better way to do Lat Pulldowns
This blog post from Mike Reinhold has some great tips and a good video on how to improve lat pulldown performance. As he discusses, the vast majority of people (including me!) do not peform this exercise as effectively as they probably could. Interestingly, we have been using two stretch bands to accomplish this same training set up at FPT that Mike recommends for awhile now due to our equipment limitations. Pretty cool.
Maybe someday...
A video tour of Joe DeFranco's new gym...this kind of stuff keeps me motivated to keep growing FPT!
The importance of proper nutrition for athletes.
Great profile of minor league pitcher Shawn Haviland that describes his complete 180 on the eating habits typical of many athletes today. Shawn trains at Cressey Performance and follows the Precision Nutrition system created by John Berardi.
Sitting around all day = bad back
Here is an article that discusses why the more we sit the more our back is likely to hurt. Previous articles that I have found on this topic have been a tad dense but this one does a good job of speaking to the layman.
More is not always better...
This article is written by Kevin Neeld, an elite hockey performance specialist. He talks about how practice and competition demands (and associated training demands) of many young athletes have become totally skewed away from the principals of proper long term development. The most instructive quote of the whole article for me was as follows...
"From a training standpoint, the goal is to get the maximum benefit from the minimum amount of training."
This is a must read for any sport or performance coach!
10lbs in 10 days...yeah right - get over it fatty!
This is a short blog post by Leigh Peele that discredits many of the sensational claims made in the media about rapid fat loss programs. Basically - it is not humanly possible! This post reminds of the countless times athletes have asked me the following question, "Coach, I only have 3 weeks until the beach - can you help me lose the fat on my (insert some random fatty area of their body)?". Somehow they never seem to like my answers...
The 3 rules of training programs for young athletes...
This blog post was written by Brian Grasso, the director of the IYCA. The three principles he outlines speak really well to what we are trying to accomplish at FPT...cheers Brian.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Brain Food - 9/4/2010
Eat like a caveman!
This is a cool article about the "Paleo Diet", which is designed to mimic our evolutionary eating habits. The proponents of this diet say it is unrivaled for both performance and overall health because it eliminates the "stressful" foods found in the modern diet. Definitely worth a read.
Concussions really are that dangerous!
This is a must read article for all parents and/or athletes who are concerned about concussions. It details the story of three prominent baseball players who have suffered concussions and are struggling with the aftermath. Yes - baseball players...traditionally non-contact athletes.
Subscapularis Massage Videos
I am a big fan of helping our athletes maintain proper tissue length/quality in typical problems spots with myofascial release techniques and I thought this was a pretty interesting read. It shows how to "release" a shortened subscap after SLAP repair. Very cool videos!
More on the barefoot running debate...
This blog post is a good read since it describes the lack of research supporting or discrediting the practice of barefoot running. I personally believe that adding barefoot warm up and balance drills to our programs has been a good thing for Fury Performance's clients but we never perform med-high intensity plyos or sprints barefoot. I am not willing to go that far with it for safety and injury management issues. Most of our athletes are indifferent to barefoot work but some actually request to do all their training barefoot. The lack of negative response tells me it is worth keeping around. As this article shows, there is always two sides to every story.
Pallof Press, Pallof Press, Pallof Press!!!
This blog post is by another one of my favorite industry pros, Tony Gentilcore. He works out of Cressey Performance and always has great training information to share. This one features video variations of the Pallof Press - one of the top core exercises used at Fury Performance. I wanted to include it because we use one of these exercises almost every day at FPT.
This is a cool article about the "Paleo Diet", which is designed to mimic our evolutionary eating habits. The proponents of this diet say it is unrivaled for both performance and overall health because it eliminates the "stressful" foods found in the modern diet. Definitely worth a read.
Concussions really are that dangerous!
This is a must read article for all parents and/or athletes who are concerned about concussions. It details the story of three prominent baseball players who have suffered concussions and are struggling with the aftermath. Yes - baseball players...traditionally non-contact athletes.
Subscapularis Massage Videos
I am a big fan of helping our athletes maintain proper tissue length/quality in typical problems spots with myofascial release techniques and I thought this was a pretty interesting read. It shows how to "release" a shortened subscap after SLAP repair. Very cool videos!
More on the barefoot running debate...
This blog post is a good read since it describes the lack of research supporting or discrediting the practice of barefoot running. I personally believe that adding barefoot warm up and balance drills to our programs has been a good thing for Fury Performance's clients but we never perform med-high intensity plyos or sprints barefoot. I am not willing to go that far with it for safety and injury management issues. Most of our athletes are indifferent to barefoot work but some actually request to do all their training barefoot. The lack of negative response tells me it is worth keeping around. As this article shows, there is always two sides to every story.
Pallof Press, Pallof Press, Pallof Press!!!
This blog post is by another one of my favorite industry pros, Tony Gentilcore. He works out of Cressey Performance and always has great training information to share. This one features video variations of the Pallof Press - one of the top core exercises used at Fury Performance. I wanted to include it because we use one of these exercises almost every day at FPT.
Monday, August 30, 2010
FPT Newsletter - September 1st, 2010
August Featured Athlete - Hannah Locke
Hannah started training at FPT in April to improve her basketball game and has been a regular fixture on Tuesdays and Thursdays ever since! At the start of her training, she posted the following numbers during testing.
Vertical Jump - 14 inches
Broad Jump - 61 inches
Push Ups - 8 reps
After 5 months of dedicated training, she just recently posted the following improvements...
Vertical Jump - 15.5 inches
Broad Jump - 67 inches
Push Ups -12 reps
In addition to making these great improvements and being an extremely hard worker, Hannah has been a great "junior coach", never hesitating to demonstrate an exercise for me or help other athletes who are working out at the same time.
GREAT JOB LOCK-STER!
The "List"
Rob Parker (Baylor School) - 6th & 7th in shot and discuss at USATF Junior Nationals!
Erica Tuck (Fury Gold) - Committed to play softball at Tenn. Tech!
Fury 95 - 7th place at ASA U14 Nationals!
Fury 96 - 9th place at ASA U15 Nationals!
Kalyn Helton (Red Bank HS)- Committed to play volleyball at UT-Knoxville!
Shelby Willard (Central HS) - 20lbs Squat PR over last year!
Gunshow of the Month
Training Pic of the Month
Bonus Pic!
Video of the Month
Check out the Old Timers doing Kettlebell swings!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q8jMVTwkWM
 |
| Hannah "Why is Green taking my picture?" Locke |
Vertical Jump - 14 inches
Broad Jump - 61 inches
Push Ups - 8 reps
After 5 months of dedicated training, she just recently posted the following improvements...
Vertical Jump - 15.5 inches
Broad Jump - 67 inches
Push Ups -12 reps
In addition to making these great improvements and being an extremely hard worker, Hannah has been a great "junior coach", never hesitating to demonstrate an exercise for me or help other athletes who are working out at the same time.
GREAT JOB LOCK-STER!
The "List"
Rob Parker (Baylor School) - 6th & 7th in shot and discuss at USATF Junior Nationals!
Erica Tuck (Fury Gold) - Committed to play softball at Tenn. Tech!
Fury 95 - 7th place at ASA U14 Nationals!
Fury 96 - 9th place at ASA U15 Nationals!
Kalyn Helton (Red Bank HS)- Committed to play volleyball at UT-Knoxville!
Shelby Willard (Central HS) - 20lbs Squat PR over last year!
Gunshow of the Month
 | |
| "I am Kim - hear me roar!" |
Training Pic of the Month
 |
| Shelby Willard High Steppin' |
Bonus Pic!
 |
| It took 2 years but we broke our first med ball! |
Video of the Month
Check out the Old Timers doing Kettlebell swings!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q8jMVTwkWM
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Eric Cressey on Steven Strasburg & his injury!
Great article on why pitchers need to take care of themselves, rest, and lift in the off season! If you a pitcher you should definitely read this article!
Friday, August 27, 2010
The Softball Pitcher Training Files: Don't #1
I have a confession to make - I have become a bit of a softball pitching performance geek in the past year. I used to get really into speed training with my athletes but that has gotten to be fairly routine for me. I can teach a kid to run better/faster without too much thought or trouble. However, there is something oddly fascinating to me about training softball pitchers. Perhaps it is the unusual throwing motion involved or the heavy workloads they endure in order to master their craft or their often kooky personalities. Realistically, it's probably a combination of all three. Simply put, training a softball pitcher (as with a baseball pitcher) requires a lot more thought and effort on the part of a trainer and is infinitely more interesting and challenging. There is so much you can do to help and also hurt a softball pitcher's performance.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of information out there on the special training needs of softball pitchers. Believe me - I have looked. This article series will feature my philosophy on training pitchers that I have developed through a quite a bit of research and the practical observations/experiences that I have made training some of the top high school pitchers in the Chattanooga/North Georgia area as well as countless younger pitchers in my training business. My primary goal is to help improve the general state of performance training for softball pitchers going forward. Enjoy!
Don't...
...think that Olympic lifts are the ultimate training tool for developing explosive strength and power in pitchers. They can have their place in a well designed and properly supervised training program. However, I can't think of any of the pitchers that I deal with that have programs that satisfy these two critical criteria. I don't have a problem with Olympic lifts at all but rather the high school coaches who continue to have their pitchers perform these lifts with poor technique and/or supervision. It is simply a question risk vs. reward to me.
Ever seen a kid snap a bone in their wrist while catching a clean? I have.
Ever had to help fix a kid that blew their shoulder up doing snatches incorrectly? I have.
Ever seen a kid strain their erectors (low back) doing jerks incorrectly? I have.
If you consider these examples (and there are others reasons that I shy away from Olympics lifts for pitchers that I will deal with in future posts), it isn't hard to see why picking different exercises for pitchers might be a good idea. One bad rep on any of these lifts could shelve a pitcher for a month or two or permanently alter their career.What high school or select softball team can afford that? I know many who can't because they win based on the performance (and ultimately the health) of their pitcher, who is often their stud and main weapon. I have often pondered the risk vs. reward idea when it comes to the Olympic lifts in my programs for pitchers and I haven't been able to justify them in over 5 years. Bottom line - unless you can teach and supervise them correctly, you should probably omit them from your training program altogether.
Here is a list of viable substitutions for Olympic lifts that I have used successfully in many of my training programs for pitchers. They should be fairly easy to implement into the average high school weight program.
Bodyweight Jumps of all types - done correctly they have a huge training effect!
Box Jumps w/ Bodyweight, Box Jumps w/ Belts &Vests
DB Squat Jumps & Lunge Jumps
Maximal & Repetitive Hurdle Jumps
Jump Shrugs (a hang clean w/o the "catch")
Full Disclosure - I used to compete in Olympic weightlifting and have been certified by the USAW to teach the lifts so I have some good perspective on this issue.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of information out there on the special training needs of softball pitchers. Believe me - I have looked. This article series will feature my philosophy on training pitchers that I have developed through a quite a bit of research and the practical observations/experiences that I have made training some of the top high school pitchers in the Chattanooga/North Georgia area as well as countless younger pitchers in my training business. My primary goal is to help improve the general state of performance training for softball pitchers going forward. Enjoy!
Don't...
...think that Olympic lifts are the ultimate training tool for developing explosive strength and power in pitchers. They can have their place in a well designed and properly supervised training program. However, I can't think of any of the pitchers that I deal with that have programs that satisfy these two critical criteria. I don't have a problem with Olympic lifts at all but rather the high school coaches who continue to have their pitchers perform these lifts with poor technique and/or supervision. It is simply a question risk vs. reward to me.
Ever seen a kid snap a bone in their wrist while catching a clean? I have.
Ever had to help fix a kid that blew their shoulder up doing snatches incorrectly? I have.
Ever seen a kid strain their erectors (low back) doing jerks incorrectly? I have.
If you consider these examples (and there are others reasons that I shy away from Olympics lifts for pitchers that I will deal with in future posts), it isn't hard to see why picking different exercises for pitchers might be a good idea. One bad rep on any of these lifts could shelve a pitcher for a month or two or permanently alter their career.What high school or select softball team can afford that? I know many who can't because they win based on the performance (and ultimately the health) of their pitcher, who is often their stud and main weapon. I have often pondered the risk vs. reward idea when it comes to the Olympic lifts in my programs for pitchers and I haven't been able to justify them in over 5 years. Bottom line - unless you can teach and supervise them correctly, you should probably omit them from your training program altogether.
Here is a list of viable substitutions for Olympic lifts that I have used successfully in many of my training programs for pitchers. They should be fairly easy to implement into the average high school weight program.
Bodyweight Jumps of all types - done correctly they have a huge training effect!
Box Jumps w/ Bodyweight, Box Jumps w/ Belts &Vests
DB Squat Jumps & Lunge Jumps
Maximal & Repetitive Hurdle Jumps
Jump Shrugs (a hang clean w/o the "catch")
Full Disclosure - I used to compete in Olympic weightlifting and have been certified by the USAW to teach the lifts so I have some good perspective on this issue.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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