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

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

To Overhead Press or Not to Overhead Press

I received this question from a friend of mine who is currently in physical therapy school and thought I'd share my response here. Q. Had a question. I know that at [X clinic he worked at] some of the therapists told me that overhead press was bad to do due to some impingement of the supraspinatus. This is also something we've learned in school but im not sure if this is specifically for those who just aren't strong enough or those recovering from injuries and such. Do you do overhead shoulder press w/ dumbells or BB and what is your take on the subject?

A. As usual, this is a question of contraindicated exercises versus contraindicated people. To make a blanket statement such as "no one should overhead press" would be both remiss and short-sighted. For example, if this is the case, should I avoid taking down and putting up my 5lb container of protein powder on top of my kitchen cabinet each morning? But I digress.

Getting to your the center of your question: Is the overhead press a fantastic exercise? Absolutely! Can the majority of the population perform it safely? Eh, not so much. In fact, this is a very similar subject matter to the back squat. The squat is arguably the greatest exercise to add lean body mass and increase athletic prowess, but may not be the wisest exercise selection depending on the person/situation. Chris actually addressed this very question in THIS post as to why he doesn't back squat the Division 1 baseball players he works with over at George Mason.

First things first: Look, I LOVE the overhead press. In fact, nothing makes me feel more viking-like than pressing something heavy overhead.In my personal opinion, the barbell military press is one of the BEST exercises to develop the deltoids, traps, serratus, and triceps, along with (if performing it correctly) the abdominals, glutes, low back, and upper thighs. HOWEVER, a lot of "stuff" needs to be working correctly in order to safely overhead press:

• Soft Tissue Quality
• Thoracic Mobility (specifically in extension)
• A Strong (and Stable) Rotator Cuff
• Upward Rotation of the Shoulder Blades
• General Ninja-like Status

Improved thoracic extension will positively alter your shoulder kinematics as you press overhead, a strong and stable cuff will help keep the humeral head centered in the glenoid (the shoulder socket) in order to free up that subacromial space (decreasing risk of impingement) , upward rotators will keep the scapulae in proper positioning, and I don't think I need explain how obtaining ninja status will help you overhead press like a champ.

If you can get all the things above up to snuff (via specific drills/exercises), then you're in pretty darn good shape. In reality, this comes down to ensuring you lay down a sound foundation of movement before loading up that very pattern. If the movement patterns and necessary kinematics are there, then chances are you get the green light to overhead press.

However, it doesn't stop there. A few other things need to be taken in to consideration:

1. Training Economy. If you only have X number of hours in the gym and Y capacity to recover, then you need to choose the Z exercises that will give you the most bang for your buck without exceeding your (or your athlete's) capacity to recover. Considering that the "shoulders" already receive tons of work from horizontal pressing movements (on top of horizontal and vertical pulling exercises), I really don't feel that most trainees - especially those that are contraindicated - need to overhead press if the primary goal is to further hypertrophy the deltoids and/or elicit some sort of athletic performance improvement.

2. Injury History. Partial thickness cuff tear? Labral fraying? Congenital factors? All these (and more) will come into play with deciding if overhead pressing will set you up for longevity in the realm of shoulder health.

3. Population. Are you dealing with overhead athletes? They're at much greater risk for the traumas listed in #2, and, not to mention, they already spend a large majority of their day with their arms overhead so you need to consider how mechanically stable (or unstable) their shoulder is, along any symptomatic AND asymptomatic conditions they may possess. Conversely, if you're dealing with a competitive olympic lifter, or an average joe who moves marvelously, then the overhead press may be a fantastic (or even necessary) choice to elicit a desired outcome.

4. Type of Injury. Ex. Those with AC joint issues may actually be able to overhead press pain free due to the lack of humeral extension involved (whereas the extreme humeral extension you'd find in dips or even bench pressing could easily exacerbate AC joint symptoms). Using myself as example, I can actually military press pain free, whereas bench pressing quickly irritates my bum shoulder. I don't have an AC joint issue (as far as I know...), but I've still found that my pain flares up when my humerus goes into deep extension (past neutral) in any press such as a pushup, barbell press, dumbbell press, etc. so the military press actually feels pretty good for me PERSONALLY. With regards to pushups and dumbbell pressing, I can usually do it fine as long as I'm cognizant to avoid anterior humeral glide.

As for pressing overhead with dumbbells vs. barbells, I find that, frequently, it's best to start someone with dumbbell pressing with a NEUTRAL grip (palms facing each other) as this will give your shoulder more room to "breathe" by externally rotating the humerus and lowering risk of subacromial impingement. From there, you can progress to the barbell as long as the items listed in the beginning are in check.

In the end, this comes down to how well you move, your posture, and your individual situation. With technology currently PWNING our society's movement patterns via increased time in cars, sitting in front of our computers, gaming, and overall sedentary lifestyle, we have to fight much harder than our ancestors to turn that "red light" to a "green light" in the sphere of overhead pressing.

Note: to conclude, feel free to watch the video below by Martin Rooney. Hopefully, you can read the central message portrayed:

Understanding Competing Demands, Part Deux: A Sample Workout

On Wednesday, I touched on competing demands and how these will affect the quantity, and quality, of the training stressors appropriately applied to athletes and general fitness enthusiasts alike. I used myself as an example of making a major mistake in attempting to obliterate a great athlete while not understanding everything he was facing outside the gym walls of SAPT. You can read it here in case you missed it. Getting right to it, below is a sample lower body workout I may use with an athlete who is performing sprints and change-of-direction training with his or her sports team, throwing/hitting two days per week, and maybe getting in a lift or two under the watch of his high school coach. There are obviously countless scenarios that would affect the individualized programming of the specific athlete, but the one below should at least give you an idea.

A) Trap Bar Deadlift

*

1x3, then 1x3@90% weight used in set 1

B1) DB Split Squat ISO Hold B2) ½ Kneeling SA Cable or Band Row

**

2-3x5/side hold :5

3x8/side

C1) DL Hip Thrust, Back+Feet Elevated

***

C2) Sandbag Walkover C3) Side-Lying Wallslide with Slider

2x8 hold :5 2x6 2x8/side

D) Sledge Swings or EASY Prowler Push

2-3x10/side or 3 Trips

*Work up to one "heavy" set of three, and then do one more set of three at 90% of the last weight used. **Even though this session would be considered "lower body," I added this because I really feel people can't get enough horizontal pulling. Especially with the unilateral version you receive a bit of added core stability and thoracic mobility to boot. ***Your butt cheeks should feel like they're about to fall off the bone if you do these correctly.

B1) Split Squat ISO

B2) 1/2 Kneeling SA Band Row

C1) DL Hip Thrust, Back+Feet Elevated

C3) Side-Lying Wallslide with Slider

D) Sledge Swings

The above program will provide plenty training stimulus to elicit positive strength adaptations, while at the same time not fatiguing the athlete to the point of sending him or her backwards. Also, while I didn't list them, there would also be plenty of mobilization drills to help "undue" the crappy positioning and imbalances that the athlete accrues throughout the week.

With the trap bar deadlift, you'll receive a solid dose of work for the entire posterior chain while still giving the quads plenty stimuli (as the trap bar deadlift engages the quads a bit more than conventional deads), along with some healthy compressive stress (which the spine tends to handle better than shear stress).

The accessory work will hit most of the things that athletes fail to receive from their other spheres of training, namely:

• Glute strength and endurance (which, unless you're first name is Don, and last name Juan, there's about a 110% chance you lack these)
• Scapular retraction and depression
• Serratus anterior work
• The lateral subsystem (QL, adductor complex, and glute medius)
• Light conditioning (with the sledge or prowler) that should "wake-up" the athlete more than anything as opposed to some insane glycolytic session

In all honesty, I tried to come up with a clever way to end this post but...I got nothin'.

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

Develop a big league rotator cuff…

Check-out the videos below of a couple of our minor league baseball guys finishing up their training session with some grip and rotator cuff work.

Any deadlift/farmers walk variation will be improve rotator cuff strength through irradiation.  Cook and Jones popularized this term, and many others have trumpeted it, so I’m not passing it off as my own.  As the guys are “squeezing the snot” out of the trap bar all the nerves get jacked-up along that chain forcing the cuff muscle to pack and support the shoulder into a properly retracted position.  The offset component makes it a “two –for” as we throw a little core stability at them simultaneously.   

The medball on the wall drill, where they’re tracing the alphabet, is a predictable rhythmic stabilization drill where again, they’re packing the shoulder blades, and using the cuff muscles to stabilize the humeral head.  You can increase the difficult of these drills by incorporating gentle perturbations, making them less predictable.

The sledge leveraging drills for are for forearm strength, and conditioning of the wrist and elbows.

A lot more than just sleeper stretches and full cans,

Chris