How much core training is REALLY necessary?

Postural endurance is foundational at Pair & Marotta.

Many coaches will ask, how much core training do I really need? Often times its completely dependent upon the moaning and groaning of their team. But at that point, you're letting the team run the practice. And that's just your first worry. 

In addition to that, consistency will lack and so will results. But if you have a plan that is scheduled and gradually progresses the exercises, then you can guarantee that your team is all meeting a minimum level of performance. So once the plan is established all you have to do is keep raising the bar!

So how much is really necessary?

Well Dr. Stuart McGill talks about this in his book, "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance," he states that the core muscles that stabilize the back are type-I, slow twitch muscles that are meant to make small, adjustments to keep the spine steady instead of making large range of motion adjustments. So core stabilizing muscles should be trained for muscular endurance. And as the coaches who attend our "On-Field Core Training" workshop last weekend saw, there are many ways that we can do this. But think about how the abdominals are used during throwing and swinging a bat. They act like any other muscle does, requiring a strong, fast contraction to allow the larger muscles of the hips and shoulders to pull from. Basically they have to act like an anchor. So those muscles need to be trained to react quickly to a stimulus. 

Think about how the core must contract at the moment that the baseball hits a bat? The core must contract and stiffen the spine to prevent any absorbing of force. If this is done correctly, the batter will be able to transfer up to 90% of his power back into the ball to create a hard hit.

So in prescribing exercises for this type of contraction, you can prescribe it just like you would any other plyometric exercise, intensity of the exercises will play a large role. For our capability of using only body weight, a partner or a bat,  2-3 sets of 8-20 repetitions per exercise is optimal. A good method would be to operate in phases. 

Cable lifting is near the top of the core training pyramid.

 For example phase 1 would be 2 sets of 8. Phase 2 would be 2 sets of 12-15. Phase 3 would be 2 sets of 15-20. Phase 4 would be to add another set and decreasing repetitions. So 3 sets of 10-15 would be optimal and then finally phase 5 would be to have 3 sets of 15-20. But as a coach you CANNOT let form and technique deteriorate. Remember, you play how you practice. This goes with core training too!

3 things to save your player's shoulders...

Shoulder injuries are the most common injuries in baseball and softball players. A study in 1999 surveyed 500 youth pitchers and found that over half of them sustained some time of shoulder or elbow pain during the course of the season. The study found that the more pitches thrown correlated with an increase in elbow and shoulder pain. 

On first thought it would seem that we simply need to strengthen the shoulders and elbows of these pitchers. But lets look at things a little deeper and connect the chain and see where it ends up:

Muscles that comprise the Rotator Cuff

• The Glenohumeral (shoulder ball and socket) joint has muscles (rotator cuff) that attach it to the scapula

• Scapula is a "floating bone" which is anchored to the rib cage by the anterior serratus  

• The scapula to the spine by the rhomboids and the levator scapulae.

• The spine is stabilized by the core muscles  

If any muscle along that chain is weak, the unit will only function as well as the weakest muscle can tolerate. In other words, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Fortunately, there are many core exercises that can be used to strengthen all of the muscles together as a unit, thereby increasing the ability of the ENTIRE chain.

So here are 3 exercises that you can do to train the kinetic chain of an overhead thrower.

1. Side planks - Side planks train the muscles of the Glenohumeral joint, scapulothoracic joint as well as the lumbar stabilizers in the frontal (lateral) plane. This is one of the best exercises for improving core stability and is a necessity for ANY overhead throwing athlete.
 

2. Supine opposites/ Deadbug - the deadbug trains the muscles of each side of the body to operate independently. This trains the body to prevent rotation and stabilize the core - a REAL strength and control exercise 

Med Ball Shakers

3. Med ball shakers - Using a medicine ball, take an athletic stance and quickly shake the ball back and forth for 6-10 seconds. You'll know if you are doing it correctly because your abdominals will be on fire. If you're arms are burning then there is a good chance that you are having issues using your abs to initiate motion and instead are using your arms.

These arejust three of the exercises that we have used in our the baseball players we train for speed, agility and quickness here at Pair & Marotta Peak Performance!

To learn more about core training for Baseball and Softball using just your body weight and a bat, get registered for our "On-Field Core Training for Baseball/Softball" workshop on Saturday January 22 from 10am-noon. You'll leave with a TON of valuable tools that you can use on field with your team!!

Email aaron@pairmarotta.com for more information!

3 Things you NEED to know about core training...

Often times we read things and get so excited about them that we forget where we are reading them. We forget that Men's Health needs to ultimately sell magazines to stay in business. So they are going to print things that people like.

I used to subscribe to Men's Health. But then I started noticing a lot of similar articles popping up and also a lot of filler and fluff.

In each issue they do have a few well put together articles. Many having to do with grooming, sex and then of course getting ripped in 15 minutes a day. In fact I remember one issue had what was called the "Ripped in the Shower." It consisted of stretching your chest, some body weight squats, calf stretching and some isometrics for the biceps and triceps.

One of the guys that Men's Health looks to for information on back fitness is Dr. Stuart McGill. We at Pair & Marotta Physical Therapy also look to him (and a few others) when we want to see what the newest research in back health is saying.

Dr. McGill has a book out titled "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance." I've been using the information provided in it with clients and patients for a little over a year now and the results are amazing!

So here are 3 things that we've gotten from "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance":

1. You have to control the spine before you can hope to unleash its ability. Too many coaches are busy doing exercises that create motion at the lower spine instead of teaching athletes how to control the spine. Without control, power is useless!
2. The spine is not meant to bend and twist. Yes it can bend and twist. But look at its anatomy and you see that the joints of the spine are not like any other joint in the body. They are not a ball and socket, not a hinge, not a saddle, and not condylar. If anything it is a gliding joint. However the muscles connecting each joint are very intricate and stiff. The spine is there as a center stabilizing column for the rest of the body to move around, rather than itself moving in all directions.
3. Shoulder and knee injuries are highly correlated with poor spine health and stability. We see a lot of baseball pitchers who have shoulder injuries and basketball players who have knee injuries and time and time again the same trend is seen: poor postural control and stabilization. As I stated in the point above the spine is meant to be stable. If the spine is not stable then the arms and legs have nothing to anchor too. If there is nothing to anchor too its like hitching your horse to a log lying on the ground: sure its attached, but there is not security/stability.

Lucky for the baseball and softball coaches here in Bakersfield, Pair & Marotta Peak Performance is hosting a 2-hour workshop titled "On-Field Core Training for Baseball/Softball" where we will discuss how to implement a core training program into your practices. The workshop will demonstrate field tests to use, core training sequencing and ultimately power training for the core using just a baseball bat and a partner.

This is a free workshop that will take place on Saturday January 22nd from 10am-noon at our Peak Performance facility at 5337 Truxtun Ave. 

For more information or to register contact Aaron@pairmarotta.com

The 3-hour window for MUSCLE gain...

Willis is talkin' bout eating... A LOT!

Hormones are what dictate what our body does. Hormones regulate our body temperature, our metabolism, our balding patterns, and our sleep/wake cycles. Hormones do everything in our body. They are basically the central control system. Whenever we do something, hormones are released. 

From a fitness standpoint, this has HUGE implications! When we workout and lift heavy, our body releases growth hormone (GH), testosterone, insulin-like growth factors (IGF's), cortisol and catecholamines. These are all necessary for increasing muscle mass, especially in high school aged athletes. These hormones serve to prime the muscle for growth and repair to allow the muscle to perform beyond what it was previously capable of.

But in order for the body to build muscle, there has to be material to build it with. Also because this is a prime time to build we really want to cram the muscle cells with plenty of fuel. 

The "gate keeper" that regulates fuel delivery to the cells is insulin. Without insulin, there won't be much fuel deliver to the muscles. So after each workout, all athletes need to eat food that A)stimulates insulin release and B) gives us material to build with.

The foods that satisfy requirement A are simple carbohydrates. Now normally I recommend that athletes stay away from simple carbohydrates outside of a post-workout period. But since we are talking post-workout, i'll allow some simple carbs. Foods that are simple carbs are breads, cereals, bagels, fruit juices, jelly. 

So the carbs give us an insulin release and some fuel to get into the muscle. But we also need protein. The best protein post workout is whey (pronounced WAY) protein. Whey is a fast digesting protein that also has a substantial insulin release with it. But if whey protein just isn't practical, then milk is a good back up plan.

But here is where things get really important for muscle building. During exercise, muscle breakdown occurs. The longer you wait after exercise to get some carbs/protein into the body, the more breakdown occurs. Also, the longer you wait the lower the level of muscle building, or anabolic, hormones decreases. The body needs to be fed when these hormones are at high tide!

So there is 3-hour window that carbs/protein must be eaten. After this 3 hour window, the levels of anabolic hormones have decreased to a point that eating a large meal of simple carbs will be stored as fat rather than used to rebuild muscle. 

Good post-workout meals are:

• 1 cup of non-fat yogurt + 1 cup of granola
• 1 cup of chocolate milk
• banana/strawberry/ yogurt smoothie
• 1 cup of cereal + 1 cup of milk
• peanut butter + jelly sandwich
• peanut butter + banana sandwich

These are just a few meals that would help to build muscle post-workout. 

In summary, workout with high effort, eat well following workouts and outside of that 3 hour window stick to protein and fruit/veggie combinations. This way your athletes will build muscle without burning fat .

First thing in the off-season...

Poor nutrition will minimize off-season gains

High school and junior league football seasons are either over or coming to a close. So now its time to start thinking about what to do in the off-season. Most people immediately think weight lifting. But there is something else that if not taken care of, will quickly reduce off-season performance:The first thing that needs to be done is to evaluate what your kids are eating.

Sure everybody wants to talk about sports training and weight lifting to get ready for the next sports season. But in honesty now is the time to look at the nutrition habits of your athletes, and even your family.

Here are some simple rules to follow when putting together a weekly menu for you and your young athletes.

4 days of lunch done.

1. Make sure your kids eat a breakfast of grains and protein. A quick and easy breakfast for them is to have some Wheaties, Cheerios or All-Bran with a sliced up banana or some berries tossed in for some sweetness.
2. Have them take their lunch to school. One thing you can do to spice up their lunches is to grill 4-5 pieces of chicken on Sunday afternoon and then they have a great source of muscle building, fat burning protein to take to school. Chicken is so universal you can do make a laundry list of great lunches using grilled chicken. 
3. Have a bowl of fruit sitting out around the house and challenge your family to eat it all before the week is up. Fruit is not meant to last weeks on end. So you should be shopping for fruit on a weekly basis.
4. Have mixed nuts in a small bag that your kids can take to school and munch on. Kids should be eating every 3-4 hours. If they have a healthy snack on hand they are much more likely to eat a healthy snack rather than the junk that's floating around their school.
5. Buy your kids an BPA free water bottle to take to school. Water is essential for the body to function. And most kids aren't getting NEAR enough. Again, if they have a resource on hand, they are much more likely to use it.

These tips will help ensure your young athletes stay well nourished during the day and are also fueled up when game time arrives. 

Check the link to the right for the "Athlete Nutrition BluePrint" from physical therapist and strength coach Jeff Cavaliere. He's put together an awesome program that will put your athletes on the path to success.

The forest and the trees...how to treat an overuse injury

Many athletes who play a single sport will begin to develop an injury. I use the term "WILL" because it is almost a certainty that if an athlete performs the same motions over and over, certain "links in the chain" will begin to breakdown due to being used too much. 

Delivery car? You mean delivery "trike."

Think of a delivery car that drives in stop-go traffic every day for 8-10 hours per day, for the life of it. Now compare that to a car that is used to drive to work, sits in the parking lot and then is driven home at the end of the day. In addition this car is used on longer trips up and down the interstate highway on an every other month basis.

Young athletes who play the same sport year round are basically driven like that delivery car. Eventually the hardware is going to break down from being overused. 

Usually at that point parents become very concerned with their child's injury and are scavenging the internet looking for solutions. 

Here's a quick tip: look at the injury. Its called an "overuse" injury for a reason. Assuming that no structural damage has been done, the primary way to let an overuse injury heal is to stop doing whatever they were doing. 

Lets say we've got a baseball pitcher experiencing shoulder pain. The young athlete will most likely want to know how he can rehab but still pitch. Or sometimes the parent wants a second look at their child's mechanics because "they have to be doing SOMETHING  wrong, right?"

The truth is even major league pitchers get 4-5 days between starts. Yet many young kids will have a busy summer tournament schedule and pitch every other day.

How many pitches am I at coach?

Some will counter that with, "well they aren't throwing as hard or as many pitches as major league pitchers!" I will respond with the obvious statement that these are not 25 year-old men who are pitching every other day, nor do they have the bone density, muscular density or muscular endurance to tolerate that throwing schedule. In addition to that, many coaches and parents don't even know how many pitches their kids throw in a game. Do they count warm-up pitches before each inning? These things need to be considered.

The first response by ANY parent, coach or doctor to an overuse injury is to stop doing what you were doing. Don't get so overwhelmed by the injury, its possible treatments and the "threat" it poses to a 10- year old's "college potential" and let your kids heal. Stop looking for the forest past the trees. It's right in front of you.

Let your child play multiple sports throughout the year. This will prevent many overuse injuries on its own. A child who is playing baseball in the spring, football in the fall and basketball in the winter will RARELY have any overuse injuries.

I hate seeing kids not being able to play the game they love. But us as parents need to know that overuse injuries are almost certain if we don't give our kids a significant time off during the year to heal, recover and develop other motor skills Your kids will thank you as will their long term health and enjoyment of a sport..

How to WRECK your swing in the on-deck circle...

Every player wants to have every swing be their best. Every batter should be standing in the on-deck circle preparing for the next at-bat to be their best.

But many hitters in both softball and baseball are wrecking their swing in the on-deck circle. How?

Two ways. The first is by taking half-hearted swings. From a motor learning standpoint, any movement has what is called a General Motor Program, or GMP. That GMP has what are called parameters that are constantly refined to execute the skill. Think of parameters like lane markers on a highway. They tell you where to drive.

But if you change the parameters, such as changing the weight of a bat, or the center of mass of the bat, then you will change how the program is executed. When a player simply goes through a half-hearted swing in the on-deck circle, they are training their muscles to move at that speed. So when they get up to bat, their first swings are going to be slower because they have just changed the speed at which the GMP is executed.

As a result of using a batting donut, a player gets up to bat and now their swing mechanics are altered and the first couple of swings are not as efficient as they could be. In addition, adding a batting donut distributes that extra weight unevenly through the bat. 

The concept behind using a heavier bat is called "post-potentiation activiation." In layman's terms it says that you'll use more fibers faster after performing a few repetitions when weighted. However, as I just stated above, using a donut adds too much weight and as a result changes the mechanics of the swing. 

So how can you use the on-deck circle to its maximal potential? Here are 3 suggestions.

1. Use the on-deck circle to actually warm up. You can do some light stretches to loosen up and then 5-8 quick "squat jacks" to prep your body for quick lightning fast muscle recruitment. Also work on hip rotations to groove the movement pattern of that "perfect swing."
2. Get rid of the batting donuts and simply have multiple bats with a range of 4-5 oz. Using a bat that is slightly heavier (2-3 oz) will give you the post-potentiation effect without altering the motor program.
3. Swing the bat as hard as you can with each swing. Each time you take a swing, you are refining the motor program of the swing - you either improve your swing, or degrade your swing. Make every swing the "perfect" swing.