Recline Row Row Row Your Boat!

RECLINE ROW  By Adam Brush – Performance coach at IHP and creator of FiveToolBaseball.blogspot.com One of my favorite exercises that strengthens the posterior chain musculature, responsible to decelerate the arm during a throw, is the RECLINE ROW. This exercise creates back strength, shoulder stability, core stiffness, and even grip strength (when modalities such as ropes [...]

Olympic Lifts for Baseball? Really?

Great post by my good friend Adam Brush Just so we’re on the same page, baseball is a rotational sport. So while recently looking over a collegiate baseball summer training program I couldn’t help but notice Olympic lifts were included. Really? Olympic lifting is a sport in and of itself that includes lifts such as [...]

Are You Training to The 5th Power??

My good friend Adam wrote this on his site:  fivetoolbaseball.blogspot.com. Even though the article is written for baseball the principles are applicable to any activity and to life in general! As many baseball purists are aware, baseball players are evaluated utilizing the measuring stick known as the five tools: hitting for average, hitting for power, [...]

The Lumbar Spine: Poor Communication Equals Poor Spine

    By Michael Rizk, CPT, ART     Have you ever witnessed a relationship gone sour? The telltale signs are significant, but many   times the root cause stems from poor communication. There is one particular area of the body   that seems to get more press than a short‐lived Hollywood hook‐up. You’ve got it – the lumbar   spine (LS) is likely the most injured, dysfunctional, and (supposedly) weakest link of the body.       In relation to the rest of the body, the LS is active in nearly every functional task performed … it   resides at the crossroads of the body. For that reason, it is important for the rest of the body to   communicate with the low back to let it know how important it is, how much it is needed, and   how much it is appreciated for all it does.       What is meant by communication with the LS? Great question! Communication refers to the   ability of all our joints to feed triplane motion to the LS creating triplane stability. A lack of   triplane  mostability  (mobility  plus  stability)  can  shut  down  the  phone  lines  feeding   proprioceptively rich information to the LS, thus creating undesirable chain reactions.     By design, the LS facilitates flexion and extension, allows lateral flexion, and almost inhibits   transverse plane motion. The small amount of transverse plane motion may in fact be the most   important motion allowing the LS to be the transverse plane transmitter of forces between the   upper and lower extremities.      To simplify motion, we consider two phases: loading and unloading. Loading is the preparation   of the task and unloading is the performance of the task. Using the golf swing as an example,   the backswing is the load and the downswing / follow through is the unload. The moment of   [...]

The Transformation of Strength and Power

By David Westerman LMT, FAFS   Are  we  utilizing  “authentic”  principles  of  Function  when  designing  our  strength  and   power programs?   Is  there  a  special  population  that  might  be  missing  two  of  the  most  important  bio‐  motor abilities in their training and rehabilitation programs?   As  a  former  collegiate  and  professional  strength  and  conditioning  coach,  strength   and power were (and are) the two most emphasized bio‐motor abilities.    Take,  for  example,  the  “power  clean”  in  an  athletic  weight  room.  This  is  [...]

Great Sandbag Exercise

By Nick Nilsson (From Charles Staley website/newsletter) So it’s no secret that I like using equipment that offers multiple exercises. When it comes to THAT, the sandbag is one of the kings of the hill. I’ve been messing around with this thing for awhile now (you’re going to see a lot more sandbag stuff coming [...]

Characteristics of the Human Body

Examining the characteristics of the human body further assists in understanding function.  This allows for better understanding of human movement for improved program design and rehabilitation programs.  For e a more depth explanation and further discussion check out my freind and colleague JC Santana’s book Functional Training; Breaking the Bonds of Traditionalism.  The proportions of [...]

Training to the 5th Power (for Sport or Life)

  Here is another great post from my good friend Adam from his blog: fivetoolbaseball@blogspot.com As many baseball purists are aware, baseball players are evaluated utilizing the measuring stick known as the five tools: hitting for average, hitting for power, running speed, arm strength, defensive skills. Complimentary to these five tools, are a series of [...]