Author Archive
October 22, 2011 | 
Author The theme of the first part of my summer was travel, and waiting; waiting to get from one place to the next. My worst flight of the summer went from Maui to Chico, California. It was bad because we left Maui at 4:00 to fly to Kona, a neighboring island. We had an 8 hour layover in Kona, followed by an overnight flight to LAX. We then got a smaller plane and flew from LA to Sacramento, at which point we hopped on a bus and drove I think 3 hours to Chico. It was awesome.
The layover in Kona was less magical than one might think. We were basically trapped in there – it was a purgatory of sorts. Sure, we were on the coffee coast of a tropical island, but we couldn’t leave, there was only one airport dining choice, it was outdoor and could rain on us at any moment, and there was nothing to do.
Enter: Extreme Boredom Challenge. Read the rest of this entry »
A big shout out to the Black Keys, two nerdy white dudes who rock it out – Thanks for producing some great bluesy rock’n'roll!
I recently had a pitcher drive up to see me from a few hours away to see me. I asked them how the found me, and they said they just searched on Google. Thanks, Google.
I get a lot of traffic to my site from the search engines, specifically Google. It’s pretty interesting how you can see patterns and I can predict what articles will be popular based on their public familiarity. Here’s a snapshot of my top search engine terms and values assigned to them. I think these were quarterly figures, but I really don’t remember – I took this a picture a little while back.
Go to the search engine and try some of these out – you’ll find I’m on the first page of Google for a lot of them, and am one of the top 3 articles in the highest ones.
Also, look at the pattern – big names, like Gatorade G, Craisins, Asea Water (a supplement that people are now starting to hear and become curious about), Muscle Milk, Blackburns, “Talent is Overrated” (a book that Ben Brewster posted a review about) are what drive the most traffic to my site. People search my name a lot, and funny enough, you can butcher it and spell it a thousand ways of wrong and my site still pops up. THEY KNOW…
Fortunately, Google views my writing as relevant for such topics that are oft written about. The Gatorade G Series is Gatorade’s biggest development in the last few decades, and I’m one of the most relevant articles reviewing it, according to Google; I’m thankful for that.
So, I’m not really sure the algorithm they use, but when I post new things they tend to have the ability to gain a high pagerank with search engines, which in turn boosts my views and I think even furthers my pagerank. It’s a sort of circular system, I guess.
Anyway, if you’re a regular reader you might find this interesting. If not, well, go read some other dude’s lame training blog.
At my gym we are the proud owners of not one, but TWO landmine devices. These snazzy little CV joints bolt to our Rogue Fitness Westside racks, and they provide us with smooth motions for our angled barbell training.
What is Angled Barbell training, you ask? Well, you can do it two ways: jam a barbell into the corner of a wall, or place it into a landmine attachment. Then, the barbell pivots on the axis and allows you to perform movements with less than the full gravity of the barbell and an arced range of motion.
We use these a lot, and they simply provide us with an extra stimulus in the gym. Angled barbell movements are unique. The following is a video featuring one of my young badasses, Ethan Newby.
One of my favorite mostly-lateral-sort-of-rotary core exercises is the landmine twist. We do ton of these and as my buddy Daryn says, “you just feel powerful doing them.” It’s really true – you get your hips and core into it and sling that weight like you own it.
If you’re interested in performing angled barbell training in your own gym or training facility, a good place to turn is my friend and trainer Nick Tumminello. He is releasing his new instructional DVD on October 8th. The DVD will be offered at a special reduced price with Free shipping, and include bonus videos for the first week of its release. I interned with Nick for almost two years; if you turn to me for training advice, you’re going to really like his exercises – his knack for thinking up creative training solutions is part of what makes him a special guy in the industry. Click the above link or the picture below to go to his site.
I train a few female volleyball players and I’ve been out to a few matches recently to watch them play. I finally brought along my 210 fps High-Speed camera and grabbed some videos. We had been talking a lot about vertical jumping and its (obvious) implications in their sport, and I was also curious about the biomechanics of the jump and arm swing on a spike. I found some good slow motion videos of professionals to complement my amateur videos. This is worth a look before we move forward and discuss it.
I’m a baseball player, and as such have a tendency to assume other overhead motions are mechanically the same. Throwing a baseball or softball requires lots of external and internal rotation Range of Motion, strength and speed. Those without these qualities simply don’t throw as hard as those who do. The volleyball strike, however, is mechanically different, though a lot of those qualities in hard throwers likely apply to hard hitters. While there are similarities, the two are pretty different at the moment of impact. I’m not going to compare the two side-by-side – that’s not the point of this article. Rather, I want to talk about the spike beginning with the liftoff from the legs, the arm’s path as it goes through the volleyball, and implications that path will have on the training and injury risks of the volleyball athlete. Read the rest of this entry »
Grip strength is probably the most underrated athletic attribute. Soccer and other sports in which the hands aren’t used ,and faking injuries is a major part of their competition, probably don’t need a whole lot of gripping power. But, athletes of combat and implemental sports (those in which an implement, like a baseball bat or tennis racquet is used) can benefit a great deal by having stronger hands.
We have tons of innovative grip tools in my gym. Anything that is either heavy, oddly shaped or thick can be used as an effective grip strengthening tool. While there are many great options out there, here are my Top 5… Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t Know Who Andrew Sacks Is?
There’s a reason for this – he’s a nobody.
Sure, he is my best friend. Sure, he is a good strength trainer. Sure, he is likely a good brother, son, and future father to a gay son. But, he’s the store-brand version of Dan Blewett, and we all know how shitty generic macaroni and cheese tastes. You want me, Dan Blewett, in your life just like you want Kraft Scooby Doo Macaroni and cheese. Accept no Andrew Sackses.
To prove to you that I’m the better athlete, I need only one argument – what I call…
The Gravy Defense… Read the rest of this entry »
Having nothing to train for makes for difficulty in getting motivated. I’ve set goals for myself in some big lifts this offseason, and I decided to rub these goals in my friend, and trainer, Andrew’s face. We compete in tests of ability and strength when we are together, and I texted him last week to ensure he knew how much better I am soon going to be. Here’s how the conversation went:
Dan: Just a warning – I’m gonna be squatting 450, deadlifting 500 and jumping 33 inches by Christmas. Be prepared to be physically dominated via YouTube.
Andrew: By Christmas? That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard you say
Well, the competition is on, though with a catch – we will be competing only in the vertical and broad jump. The reason I am posting this is because both of us are going to provide you with our methods of reaching these goals and thusly humiliating the other. Both trainers, we are going to employ all of our tricks to get the big weight moving. I’ve squatted 390 (ass-to-grass, of course) as a 1RM in college, deadlifted 425 two years ago, and jumped 28 inches at my best in college. Never have I trained specifically to increase those numbers, but that’s just where my personal records stand. Andrew is, as we always have been, basically the same. He has historically jumped one inch higher, squatted about the same and deadlifted a little less than I. He’s a hair better in jumping, I’m a hair better deadlifting, and we’re about even in the squat. We’re a good matchup to see who can gain the most advantage on the other by way of a specific training plan, of which you’re going to get a peek… Read the rest of this entry »
Currently, myself and a handful of my athletes are involved in the “Fall Eating Challenge.” What is the fall eating challenge? Well, it’s a challenge that I made up. I make up lots of stuff – I’m my own boss and I do what I want.
Basically, the problem that we are addressing with this challenge is “little person syndrome,” otherwise known as “Hey, put on some damn weight.” I have some very strong kids working out with me, but they just aren’t going to apply the force they need to the baseball, softball or volleyball without some added muscle mass. There’s a lot to be said for being strong, but when it comes down to it, Force = Mass x Velocity. You can tell me that Tim Lincecum throws gas all you want, but 99% of guys his size simply will never be able to produce the power that he does from his little frame. Most big leaguers…BIG.
It’s that time of year when many of my trainees and I are settling in to a season without competition. Competitive season puts such a strain on the body that it’s difficult to work out as regularly, and it can be hard to keep a strict, healthy diet. When I come home from my 100 game pro season, I’m as weak as I am all year, and usually about 5 lbs fatter to boot. My goal for myself and my athletes in our first month back in the gym is to shed the newly gained fat, regain muscle size that we’ve lost, and regain a high capacity for work. This method is also great for anyone trying to put on muscle as fast as possible.
Easing into things is overrated – I prefer a 1 to 2 day max break-in period, after which we are hitting it 100% in an effort to regain general strength as quickly as possible. The way we do this is by challenging ourselves in a mix of exercises that I categorize as:
- Low-external weight, high-rep
- Conditioning circuits and complexes
- High-Intensity, high-yield Read the rest of this entry »
Bart Simpson once sold his soul on an episode, and felt awful until his sister, Lisa, bought it back from him. I don’t necessarily believe that I have a soul, but I do know when intangible things inside me hurt. That intangible something inside me hurt every time I was pulled from a game this summer. Unfortunately I got shelled a lot, and every night I went home with a hole in my heart and a pit in my stomach. There had been better times.
I had failed on the mound much more often than not all the way up until my first season of pro ball. After that first decent year of pro ball, in which I went 6-7, 3.90, I had sort of forgotten how it felt to really struggle. Any bad outing I may have had in 2010 was usually followed by a good or series of good outings, effectively whitewashing the bad ones.
But this year, I hit a major roadblock when I signed with Fargo of the American Association. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Things Really Good Hitters Do….it’s my newest article for Cornbeltbaseball.com!
I’ve had the privilege of pitching to and under some very smart people this summer. My catcher, Todd Jennings, has AAA experience and has caught some very big name Major Leaguers. My coaches have given me lots of instruction in becoming a more intelligent pitcher, and pitching to my strengths.
I got a little dugout demonstration that I thought was very insightful, a great visual presentation of why some pitchers can throw effective high fastballs and some can’t. I downloaded a nice sketch App from the Mac App store so that I could give you a beautifully crude rendering of a pretty simple, but important concept.
“Barry Zito made 100 million dollars throwing high fastballs.” Why was he able to do this? Because his big-breaking curveball starts high and breaks sharply down low, and looks like a high fastball out of his hand. Thus, when he drops it in for strikes consistently, he can freely mix in fastballs high in the zone that deceive the hitter. They chase balls up that would get hammered if thrown from the hand of a slider/sinker type pitcher. Here’s how it looks:
Everyone needs to know a little bit about Jason Carter. Now, I am a lucky trainer in that I couldn’t really tell you who my hardest working athlete is. I had a tremendous group of guys and girls who gave incredible efforts each and every day, and who are still busting their butts at my gym in my absence. But, Jason needs some special recognition, because I could not be more proud of him.
Jason just graduated from Central Catholic High and committed himself to trying to walk on at Lincoln College, which was his school of choice for reasons beyond baseball. Lincoln has a good baseball program, but Jay had gone previously unnoticed by their coaching staff. Discouraged, I urged him to continue his hard work, and to control the things within his power. He could have given up like many will during this transitional time, but he receded into his training, busting his butt in my swelteringly hot gym and running 400m sprints around a blazing hot track. Not many athletes put in this kind of summer work, and he did so not knowing if he would even get a payoff.
As he continued to push and push, his pitching prowess started to increase. His fastball is now exploding, and he is always sending me messages about his performances. They were steadily improving, despite the fact that he didn’t get as many opportunities to pitch his Senior year as he would have liked. It would have been way easier to bow out, get an education and move on from baseball, than to sprint balls-t0-the-wall around a track on 100 degree days. Jason’s that kind of guy. The fastball and slider now have more life than ever, and he’s got the guts to throw them hard and down in the zone.
I got a message the other day – “7 innings, 11ks against a team with a record of 17-2. Got a call from Lincoln after the game, and they offered me a scholarship.” I couldn’t tell you how happy this made me, to see a kid reach out and take what he wanted, all through hard work. He has earned every penny of that scholarship money, and he will be a leader on that team. “A Resolute Man Will Find A Way” – these are words that were passed on to me by a professor in college, and I have had many great young athletes grab hold of them this past year; Jason is one of them.
I have two graduating seniors from Central Catholic High who are going on to play baseball in college. Jesse Heaton is headed up north on a scholarship to St. Scholastica, and now Mr. Carter is signed on a scholarship to Lincoln College in Illinois. Jay and Jesse train together, so look forward to big things from both of them. Here they are featured under the squat rack…
Jesse and Jason push each other, and are a great team of elitely-conditioned, dedicated athletes. It’s an honor to now wish both of them good health (hard workers don’t need luck) as they head off to play in college.
Anyone who has been around the game has heard managers, pitching coaches, fans and players all gripe about a common enemy: the walk. I wholeheartedly agree that walks are destructive to a team’s chance at winning, but I question the old adage that “walks almost always score.” I question this not because I want to convince pitchers that walking hitters is OK – it isn’t – but rather because it doesn’t make sense to me that simply because a batter reached base via four balls, he becomes more of a threat to come in to score. There have to be other reasons that allow walked runners to score at a higher frequency, if in fact they truly do score more often. Let’s reason our way through this in conjunction with a few common stats to see what conclusion we can come up with. Read the rest of this entry »