Author Archive
March 24, 2011 | 
Author We do wayyyyy too many blackburns in my gym. But you know what? I think they have as much bang for the buck as any set of exercises out there. For an overhead athlete like baseball, softball, volleyball and tennis players, it’s really hard to beat them.
Here is a real-life example of a baseball player who has the signs of S.I.C.K scapula, which can leave the shoulder and elbow in ruins if not treated.
Morgan before: (Look at right shoulder – DRASTICALLY lower than his left)
And here is Morgan again, after I showed him this picture and told him that he needed to d0 the full Blackburn circuit 2x per day, every single day. He’s a hard worker, so he did…
Pretty big difference. He isn’t perfectly symmetrical yet, but has gotten pretty close with just an additional 12 minutes of rehab/prehab per day. Blackburns are the one thing I wouldn’t live without as a baseball player. They perform miracles…
I’ve recently started a group of female volleyball players from Ilini Elite, and I’ve been talking with parents about what special needs they have to meet the demands of their sport. Let’s discuss:
The Female Athlete In General…
Needs more attention paid to the hips and thighs. Why? ACL tear prevention.
Women have wider hips than their male counterparts, which makes the angle from the hips to the knees, the Q-Angle, sharper than that of men. This means that as legs come down from jumps, sprints, pivots, etc., the knees have a higher likelihood of caving inward, which often results in knee-ligament damage. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve two admissions for you: I listen to the Hip-Hop jingly club crap on the radio pretty frequently, and I’ve gotten an earful of Christian Radio recently. Thing is, I’ve been duped… Read the rest of this entry »
The season has been starting for high school baseball, and college ball is now well underway. With the youth and pro seasons looming, every ballplayer will soon be feeling the early-season jitters, whether on the mound or at the plate. I pitched in front of some big crowds (for me) last year, and coping with it was a completely new experience. The more you find yourself in those situations, the better you’re able to deal with it, but it all comes down to your mindset, focus, and ability to calm yourself when things get out of control… Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t know why, exactly, but I felt great today. I had a really crappy night with a person very close to me but with a beautiful, warm day in my new hometown, things just melted back to being very, very good.
Having a long, cold winter really does change you, and it’s hard to step back and appreciate how the sun and some warmth can alter your perspective, or at least shine light (pardon the pun) on the good things you do have.
The bottom line is that I’ve been making a comfortable living in a new town filled with awesome people. I’ve met new people who have been receptive to me seemingly each week, and it turns out that they give me as much as I try to give to them via my training. Read the rest of this entry »
Had a great time eating Italian Beef and talking baseball with Tom & Jack of Corn Belt Baseball. Check out the conversation here.
Using curse words is, to the baseball player, about as traditional as The Star-Spangled Banner, hot dogs and sunflower seeds. What would our beloved pastime be if our heroes weren’t yelling expletives, audible even to the upper deck, after beating a very hittable pitch straight into the ground? Who would we be as ballplayers if we didn’t randomly insert F-Bombs into even the most pedestrian of sentences?
Who the f**k knows? (oops – sorry) Read the rest of this entry »
I want to give a big shout out to two of my athletes who have made some headlines recently…it’s always great to see the young guys succeeding – with or without my help!
Jesse Heaton
Jesse, an infielder/pitcher, is a Senior at Central Catholic High. He was selected, among hundreds of applicants, as the winner of the Presidential Scholarship – the most prestigious scholarship offered at St. Joseph’s (Indiana) College. Aside from getting a lot of interest to play college baseball, Jess truly a high-character individual, which is undoubtedly why he landed such a big (valued at $100,000+) grant. He will find success in whatever he chooses down the road.
Eric Fight
Eric, a Junior outfielder at Normal Community High School, just received a top-40 ranking in the newest Prep Baseball Report grading system of high school prep prospects. Eric is ranked as the 38th best Junior-Class prospect in the state of Illinois. He has been moving steadily up the rankings as he has gotten bigger, faster, and increased his throwing velocity. Good things lie in store, as he still has two full seasons left in high school. You can read PBR Showcase report on his ranking, including his scouting report, Here.
The following is an exercise that I learned from my client Gerry, who was rehabbing his shoulder following some pain. I tweaked it and added to it, making it into it’s own circuit rather than just a single exercise. Watch the video and add it to your regimen – your shoulder will thank you as mine has!
I just got off the phone with my friend Zach, and we were talking about creating more energy toward the plate. Zach is with the Orioles, and as it turns out, we had both come to a similar epiphany this offseason while trying to find ways to get more out of our bodies. The solution? For me at least, it’s utilizing a “hip bump” and creating an “energy angle.” I believe Tom House coined the term “energy angle,” though I’m not sure.
So, let’s look at the changes I’ve made this offseason. My big thing is pushing my ankle back, past the rubber, to allow a more drastic hip bump. What I mean by this is, I push my heel backward, then push my hips forward toward the plate to create a triangle between my head, left hip, and foot. This creates the energy angle, which is basically a lean of the lead leg toward the plate. The upper body remains upright while the hip travels forward, thus creating the triangle.
The effect this creates is one of falling – because your hips travel forward in front of your body, the angle gets steeper and steeper until you feel that youre about to fall forward. At this point, the foot and the lift leg shoot forward (to save you from falling, more or less), thus creating more forward energy toward the plate. The weight shift is so dramatic that you can feel all of your core muscles turn on, and you legitimately get a falling feeling. The increased momentum puts more load on your hips and core while allowing your arm to whip through almost effortlessly. Let’s look at the first video of me doing this…
Okay. I just got out of a relationship with a terrific girl. We couldn’t hold things together for a bunch of reasons. The biggest? My other girlfriend…
Now, don’t misunderstand me – this lady in the lovely onesy is just a representation, a personification, of the biggest love in my life – Baseball. So Baseball, the lady pictured above, is quite attractive to me, so much so that it would be hard to NOT be excited about her. Read the rest of this entry »
In-season training is where all my athletes are now headed, and I was just recently asked, “How do I balance my training and exercises between games?” (Good question, Ben Mier). So, I thought I would share with all of you in cyberspace what I wrote up for my pitchers. This is by no means the only way to go about things between games, but having played high school, college, and a pro season in which I only missed one start (damn finger blister), my experience helps make the training theory match up with what actually works. Get your work in, but be prudent and make sure your best stuff makes it out to the mound.
Goals:
1. Maintain the fitness and strength built from off-season training
2. Take the mound at 100%, without fatigue
3. Finish the season as strong as one started, healthy and pain-free
On the Day of a Start:
- Make sure to eat plenty throughout the season. If caloric intake drops, your performance will also drop. Velocity can be influenced by eating habits, so make sure to eat lots of healthy food.
- Move around, but keep any exercise to a minimum. Stretch out multiple times, but no exercises for the arm or otherwise
- Visualize yourself attacking hitters and making them fearfully submit to you. Aggression and confidence are remarkably important. Read the rest of this entry »
I give a lot of press to baseball performance, but softball is an oft-overlooked sport in the training realm. I have a great group of softball players who work just as hard as the boys do, and the results speak for themselves. Here is a clip of Anna Caldwell making short work of some diamond push ups, which are tough; the vast majority of girls don’t have the triceps strength to get them done.