Posts Tagged ‘baltimore personal trainer’
March 18th, 2010 | 
Author: If you know me, you know I am a huge believer in fish oil, and I typically take 3 tablespoons (42 grams) per day. It helps my joints, my heart, my blood pressure, my recovery from workouts, and the list goes on. I am also a very discriminating food and supplement shopper. So, let’s discuss some of the things you should be looking for when buying fish oil. Read the rest of this entry »
Not sure what you should be eating to get that flat, cut stomach you’ve always wanted? Want to know how to get those abs to pop? The answer may shock you… Read the rest of this entry »
I recently got a question about supplement potency and what one should look for when buying them. My answer is short: USP verification.
USP stands for U.S. Pharmacopeia, and they test dietary supplements to verify that what is on the label is actually in the product. Right now, all you’re likely to find with the USP seal is bottled capsules and tablets – sports products almost never go through USP verification.
Look For This Seal
The USP seal is the only thing I care about when I buy things like vitamins. Not all types of products, though, are going to go through this process. If you buy things like creatine, whey protein, and other sports nutrition products you just want to buy from a company you trust, because even the reputable companies don’t seem to get those types of products verified. I trust Optimum Nutrition for my protein, and NOW foods for seemingly everything else (NOW sells protein too, but I like Optimum better). NOW is one of my favorite companies to buy from because the vast majority of their products, are subject to some sort of independent testing or USP verification.
I’m not all the reliant on supplements, as whole foods are priority #1, but I do make sure to get the best for the least when I do buy them. Fish oil comes from Carlson, whey protein from Optimum, a multivitamin and vitamin D from Wal-Mart (Equate brand, baby!), and creatine from Optimum.
Bottom line is, if the ingredients are the same, why pay more? I know guys who lovetalking about taking their Animal Pak multivitamins. They feel soooo great taking these packets of 7 or more pills to get the RDIs of every vitamin. Animal Pak has done a great job at selling to suckers under the premise that if 100% RDI is good, then 1500% must be 15X better. Not so. And guess what? If I did want to take a worthless mega-dose of vitamins I could just pop 8 Equate multis. At 4¢ a piece, taking more than necessary still wouldn’t break the bank (Animal pak runs about $35 for 44 days worth, making each dose about $.80 each).
I don’t stress about taking vitamins because I try to eat for my vitamins, and I do a pretty good job of it. Anyone who eats a balance diet of lots of different colored vegetables and fruits doesn’t need a whole lot of help from multivitamins, and certainly not the mega-doses that many brands claim are crucial to health or athletic performance.
The bottom line? Pick the cheapest product that gives you the VERIFIED potency you are looking for.
Come back on Thursday, March 18th for my thoughts on buying fish oil, and feel free to comment on brands that you know and trust!
Have you seen this video about the Seattle Mariners’ new approach to strength training? If you haven’t please check this out.
I got a kick out of this man Elliot running around calling everyone a “beautiful rotational athlete.” Interesting guy.
Now, I DO think he knows what he is doing, but he acts like his new program is a whirlwind of modern science – it isn’t. Good trainers have been doing for years what he is now introducing as revolutionary, and the training isn’t nearly as complex as he makes it out to be…case in point: he pulls out a chart of Dustin Ackley’s power curve, then a minute later shows one of their players doing lateral hops. Wow! All that technology boils down to…..lateral hopping. Lateral hopping is a good plyometric for pitchers but lets, please, not act like it’s never been done before. That could have been prescribed without dropping a dime on sophisticated software.
And take a look around this “bare” weight room. Little equipment? Hardly; they just removed the superfluous machines that no good trainer would keep around. The good things (and heavy, at that) are still there – squat racks and a lot of dumbbells. And the pulley systems are pretty expensive, despite being minimalistic, so I don’t like them pretending like it’s the gym Rocky trained in.
But Hooray for the Mariners, they do seem to have found someone who at least knows something, even if he is playing it up a bit too much.
I’ve been getting some questions about pitchers stretching routines, so I’m gonna share what I use as a pretty straightforward top to bottom stretch. In about 20 minutes you can hit all of your major muscles and joints, and be ready to go. I like to start with the lower body, and move between stretches as fluidly as I can.
First, get some blood flowing. 5 minutes of moving around at a good pace to build some muscle and joint warmth will improve all of the stretches.
I am listing these exercises in the most fluid and logical sequence, so do them in this order and they will flow together nicely.
1. IT Band
IT Band Stretch
The IT band is an aponeurosis, or flat tendon band, that stretches from the lateral hip to the knee. This is tight on many athletes, and can restrict the thigh in multiple planes of movement, as well as cause knee problems.
To stretch, straighten one leg and cross the other in front. Lean into a wall while keeping the stretching leg straight, and you will feel a stretch down the outside of the leg.
2. Hip External Rotators Read the rest of this entry »
Today I received a package from Texas, one that I had been eagerly awaiting for a number of weeks now. The good folks at Phantom Weight Technologies were nice enough to send me multiple sets of their newest products for a full review. My weight Sleeves have finally arrived, and right out of the box I am excited about the possibilities.
Working at a serious baseball academy is giving me the opportunity to run these things through a gauntlet of tests, and I already have high school, college and pro guys lined up as willing participants. Phantom won best in show at the Dallas ABCA convention this past January, so there is a lot of buzz about them in the baseball world right now. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s cold and dreary here in Baltimore, but spring is on the way and just around the corner. What does one usually do around April or May? Spring cleaning, of course! I’m messy, and disinterested in actually cleaning anything, but at this time, with the season on the horizon, it’s time to throw out the old and stale and bring in the new training exercises, methods and programming. If you don’t re-examine what you’ve been doing every so often, you’ll never be up to speed with your body’s continually changing needs.