Increasing thoracic mobility to improve pitching velocity…

While the majority of the adolescent pitching population is busy this offseason shortening their pec minors on the pec-deck, we’ve got our guys and gals performing thoracic mobility drills aimed at actually improving pitching performance and velocity.  Besides just improving the overall functionality of the student-athlete, incorporating thoracic mobility drills (both extension and rotation) are going to improve their abilities in the “cocking” or “layback” phase of the wind-up. 

Some indicators that suggest the pitcher in your life is in need of some thoracic mobility drills:

1)      He or she spends the vast majority of their day slumped over a desk, then at home on the computer, and then on the couch in front of the TV creating a strikingly similar posture to this cute little fellow…

2)      He or she has complained of, or have battled chronic, elbow, shoulder, and lower-back pain throughout their career.

3)      His or her fastball couldn’t breakthrough a wet paper-bag.

Only about 10-weeks remain until high-school tryouts.  Slowly step away from the bench press, and request a free consultation with the experts at SAPT, so we can “get you right.”

But what do we know…

Chris

Emphasize Individual Pathways to Sport Expertise

Research on expertise, talent identification and development has tended to be mono-disciplinary, typically adopting genocentric or environmentalist positions, with an overriding focus on operational issues. In this paper, the validity of dualist positions on sport expertise is evaluated. It is argued that, to advance understanding of expertise and talent development, a shift towards a multidisciplinary and integrative science focus is necessary, along with the development of a comprehensive multidisciplinary theoretical rationale. Here we elucidate dynamical systems theory as a multidisciplinary theoretical rationale for capturing how multiple interacting constraints can shape the development of expert performers. This approach suggests that talent development programmes should eschew the notion of common optimal performance models, emphasize the individual nature of pathways to expertise, and identify the range of interacting constraints that impinge on performance potential of individual athletes, rather than evaluating current performance on physical tests referenced to group norms.

Did you grab the essence of that abstract? I'll wait while you read it once more and let everything sink in...

Fascinating. Often in team sport the coaches and, thus, the athletes become focused on everyone on the team achieving the same physical performance norms. For example: everyone on a soccer team must achieve or exceed 11-minutes on the Beep Test, every front row player on a women's volleyball team must touch at least 10'0", or every 100m sprinter must perform at least 75 continuous push-ups.

But what if EVERY athlete simply can not achieve these norms? As a coach, what is the message you send? Is it one of insistence upon achieving the norm at the detriment to development of more important skill sets? Or to the detriment of continuing to develop a well-rounded athlete that in the long-run may, in fact, exceed these norms?

The message in this abstract ("Expert performance in sport and the dynamics of talent development."

Sports Medicine

2010.) is the same message we send to parents, athletes, and coaches alike at SAPT. We constantly emphasize individual successes and performance over and above any comparative norms. And this is the ROOT of why we provide unique and individual programming for every single one of our clients. Why would you train exactly like someone else? You're unique, right? I know I am. My strengths are different than yours. And my weaknesses will be just as unique to me.

Do yourself or your kid a favor when looking for performance training options (be it physical preparation, technical skill development, or mental performance) and seek out the sources that provide an individually focused approach. Yes, it will cost a few dollars more than, say, an enormous "speed camp" cattle call, but in the end it will be well worth it to foster true performance development in your athlete.

25lb Chinup PR and Newton's Second Law

When most people think about becoming stronger, the only variable often looked at is the weight on the bar, or the size of the dumbbell. After all, if you're squatting 225x5 on week 1, then 250x5 on week 3, you've gotten stronger, right? Of course...it's progressive overload at it's finest. However, what happens when adding weight to the bar simply doesn't cut it? If you bench press 200lbs for six reps one week, and then are unable to bench 200lbs for seven reps the following week....you've failed to get stronger, correct?

Not necessarily. In fact, your strength gains may have significantly increased, but you failed to realize it, and thus the fuming and fussing on the car ride home begins.

First, let me provide some video footage of my wife, Kelsey, hitting an impressive weighted chinup personal record. Here she is, on Thanksgiving morning, pulling her sternum to the bar with 45lbs dangling from her waist:

(Yes, women can do pullups. Boys, you have some work to do.)

For the longest time, Kelsey was stuck at +20lbs strapped to her waist. She couldn't seem to break that barrier. Then, in the course of only a few months, she added another 25lbs to her waist! How did she do this, you inquire? Whew, I thought you'd never ask....

She stopped grinding out her reps.

You know....the kind where you kick your feet around, pulling yourself up - or pressing the bar - slower than molasses running uphill in July.

Up until her recent training cycle (the one where she hit the chinup PR), she ALWAYS grinded out her reps. In her mind, if she wasn't adding more weight to her waist, then she wasn't getting stronger (she will admit this, too). This continued for months on end, her max chinup remaining right at a stubborn +20lbs. However, once she stopped worrying about the weight, and kept her reps clean and crisp, her chinup strength skyrocketed! She of course did this in conjunction with some intelligent programming, but that's not what I'm going to get into here.

The same thing can happen to you, whether it's your bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, or whatever. And you can thank Newton's Second Law for this phenomenon. For those of you who may forget high school physics, and/or are more visual learners, let me provide you a picture:

Looking at the equation, and using a bit of Algebra 1, it's easy to see that there are a few ways to increase F: one of these being increasing m while keeping a constant; the other being, increasing a while keeping m constant. If you don't know what F, m, and a stand for, then shame on you. I'll wait while you look it up.

I'm about to get my nerdification on a bit, so if you're uninterested in reading further, take home this: you can still get stronger by moving the same weight FASTER, rather than needing to add more weight to the bar. In fact, this is often the limiting factor in one's inability to continue to improve his or her strength.

Okay, for those of you that are still with me, we know that there are three primary factors that affect the phenotypic properties of muscle:

1. The Nervous System
2. Mechanical Loading
3. The Endocrine System

The nervous system is the driving force behind adaptation of our motor units (a motor unit being a motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it innervates). In fact, it is the nervous system that's responsible for determining whether your fibers are fast twitch or slow twitch.

Mechanical loading refers to moving a weight (as in a squat or bench press), and the endocrine system would be all those hormones running throughout your body.

Today, we're going to briefly glimpse at the first two on the list.

With the F=ma equation, the "F" would be the force your muscles produce, m would be the weight on the bar (or the mechanical loading), and a would be how fast you move it.

With regards to muscle fiber strength and size changes, a propelling force in inciting these desired adaptations is neural drive. The more neural drive you have to the muscle fibers, the more they develop in size and strength. Essentially, you're tapping into your high threshold motor units, the one's that have the greatest potential for size and strength.

What is one way to increase neural drive? Increase force production.You know, that big F in the equation.

Since we can't perpetually increase F by adding weight on the bar (if only, if only....), we can still cause F to go up by improving our a, the acceleration!

More acceleration = more force output = more neural drive to the muscles = more chances of the opposite sex wanting to hang out with you. Yes, that is scientific fact.

All this boils down to is that you need to measure improvement not only by the weight the bar, but also by how fast you move it.

If I could call out one of the greatest mistakes I see in the average gym goer, it is that they are constantly grinding out reps in their attempts to get their sexification on. And, even worse, they'll hit failure, missing reps and crashing the bar onto the safety pins. This will only fry your nervous system and make you weak. The strongest lifters in the world never miss reps. I think they must be on to something, no?

Stealing an example from Roger Lawson, continuing to grind out your reps (i.e. moving the bar slowww and coming close to failure) is akin to continually punching the accelerator and slamming the brakes at each traffic light. You know, like that hilarious scene from Meet the Parents.

If your body is the analogous to the car, and your nervous system is comparable to the engine, what do you think will happen to your performance in and out of the gym? Not positive things, that's for sure.

Going back to Kelsey's example, she spent a solid few months staying far away from failure, ensuring that her reps were always clean and crisp. By improving her acceleration, she was enhancing her nervous system via improved force production, staying fresh by avoiding slow reps, and eventually added 25lbs to her chinup. Easy peasy.

30 Things I Want to Share

I started this post back in September when I noticed that I was exactly 30 years and 30 weeks old, thus, the 30 points I want to share. I hope you enjoy this one... going back and rereading what I had written, I realized this post was better than I originally gave it credit for. Lots of things I've learned about training, coaching, and life throughout!

• I’ve discovered that with every moment older I get, the less and less interested in material objects I become. I guess this is how real adults are able to buy things like vacation homes and afford retirement.
• Weight training does not make women gain weight, unless they are eating like they want to gain weight.

• Considering the cost of gas consumption when purchasing a car is one of the greatest financial lessons my parents ever taught me. It is also the reason why we own a Prius.
• Imposing a strict tempo is probably the most important change I’ve made in my programming over the last 4 years. Prior to that I really had very little appreciation for how powerful training the eccentric and isometric portions of every movement can be.
• Knowing you can provide well for you children is hugely satisfying.

• I frequently feel that only a handful of trainers/coaches in the world actually know how to teach a squat correctly.
• A professor I had in undergrad once told me "a Bachelor’s degree simply shows you have the ability to commit to something and finish it over a long period of time. The people at your first job will still have to teach you what you really need to know." It’s all about experience.
• Certifications mean very little. It’s, again, all about experience.
• Everyone who lives in and around DC should check out the National Arboretum. It’s a beautiful and relaxing place to unwind.
• I recently read a running book that did a much greater job explaining the importance of working at your current pacing level (i.e. % of 1RM for weights) than any weight-training book I’ve ever read. The book is Daniel’s Running Formula.
• Every trained female should be able to perform at least 3 pull-ups. I used to make excuses for myself about why I would never be able to do them… then I smartened up and figured out a great pull-up progression (see #9). After a bit of time, I found myself doing sets of 10 dead-hang pull-ups.
• Mel Siff’s Supertraining is still the most comprehensive book about anything ever written. My mind is blown every time I crack that book open. How someone produces a work like that is beyond my understanding.
• You can tell a great deal about how parents raise their children by how their kids act in the face of a challenge.
• “If you want to be fast, you have to move fast.” This is referring to bar speed in the weight room.
• “You will pass out before you die.” Another great weight room quote from a mentor of mine.
• If you’re unsure about set/rep schemes as they relate to percentage of 1RM. You MUST read Tim Kontos’ article on Prilepin’s Chart. I continue to reference this when I need solid guidance on final decisions in volume and intensity.
• Working to become less egocentric is an important endeavor to improve overall satisfaction with your life. For example, women who avoid the free weight area of a gym because “all the guys stare at me.” No they don’t. Get over yourself.
• Coaches (strength or sport) who become frustrated at athletes easily are not well equipped to be teaching in the first place. We’re teaching more than how to set a screen or do a pushup, we’re teaching life skills.

• Not having spent any time around babies before having one, I never really knew what the big-deal was… I get it now!
• Everyone should consider wearing shoes that have a zero drop or a very low drop. I don’t like the term “barefoot” shoes because you’re not barefoot. You still have shoes on they just don’t have any elevation change from heel to toe.
• You will be better off if you make an effort to go to sleep and wake up at around the same time every day (yes, weekend days are still days, so they count towards this).
• You don’t have to yell at athletes and put on a big show to get them motivated to perform. Just treat them calmly and with respect. Get excited when appropriate.

• Television is such a massive waste of time.
• Work on soft-tissue quality regularly.

• I fully believe in the idea and pursuit of the American Dream.

Our take on "sport specific"

Quite frequently we're asked, "Is this (insert sport here) specific training?"  Here's our take: Understand that all athletes, no matter what sport, need to engage in general movements to enhance their global strength so to speak; these exercise include squats, deadlifts, rows, unilateral movements, horizontal pressing and pulling, vertical pulling etc.  These are, and should be, the bread and butter of every good strength training program.  

We also blend drills that have a bit more dynamic correspondence, or specificity, to one’s sport.  For instance, with our baseball players we incorporate various overhead and rotational drills with light medicine balls to improve velocities on these various planes of motion. 

These occur primarily in the offseason as competing for the energy to develop technical abilities is not as significant.  When implementing, we're careful to not too closely mimic the intricate movement patterns required by sport, i.e. throwing a baseball, as this can lead to a hindrance in the actual development and create inconsistencies with that particular skill.  Read that again; yes, mimicking too closely, or inappropriately weighting a particular movement can actually prohibit technical mastery of specific sport skill.  This is why as one gets closer to a competitive season, and certainly as one is engaged in-season, we wean these drills from the student-athletes program as the acquisition and refinement of sport skills are of paramount importance during this time.

From an injury prevention stand point, we are very cognizant of the stressors placed on the body during various sports, and understand that many of these stressors transcend sports.  As such we tend to focus most of our efforts on these areas in an attempt to combat the repetitive and asymmetrical nature of sport.  Our efforts are also aimed to improve the shortcomings of the individual as each present their own intimate challenges.

Getting strong all day long,

Chris

Keep’um tucked…

Question:Do you have any research that says that elbows out pushups can cause injury or are less beneficial than elbows in?

Is it ever OK to do an elbows out pushup?

Jack

Answer:

Hi Jack:

Thanks for the question!  Yes, there’s a bunch of research out there that supports the importance of keeping the elbows tucked during the pushup, most of which is found in health-science related journals that you have to pay for…but why pay when we can give it to you for free; Steve does a great job diagnosing the pushup, HERE! 

My quick concise answer to your questions regarding the injury implications of performing pushups incorrectly is, yes, you’re putting yourself in a compromised position by letting the elbows flare.  Not only are you creating all sorts of torque around the GH joint, but your scapular stability is compromised as well.  It may not happen immediately, but over time, you’ll likely develop an injury from the repetitive stress.  Not to mention the countless other imbalances being created by absorbing and producing force incorrectly.  

Additionally, from a performance standpoint, it’s certainly not advantageous to the press with flare.  Case and point, the picture below of some Detroit Lions linemen jamming the tackling sled…no elbow flare there…

  But celebrate with flare…absolutely…

Finally, do I ever think it’s okay to perform an elbow flared pushup…not really.  The only circumstance that I’d turn my head is during a testing scenario.  Well, let me qualify that, a testing scenario that I’m not conducting.  This may be applicable to military personnel.  If they are going to let you flare, and you’re more accustomed to this style, I’d probably roll the dice.  Conversely, if I’m testing athletes or the general pop at SAPT, less is more in my opinion; I’d rather see 5 perfect reps than 30 crappy ones. 

 Just keep’um tucked…

Chris