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Just want to take this opportunity to congratulate IHP client, Max Susskind (Jr. midfielder- St Andrews lacrosse team), for being ranked - according to insidelacrosse.com - as the top 30th High School lacrosse player in the country and 8th ranked midfielder.

Max and I have been training together since his freshman year and it has been quite rewarding to watch him grow as an athlete and more importantly as a person.

Comment (24)

As it pertains to squats, the question shouldn't be how low should you go, but rather how low can you go?

From my own observations at the Institute of Human Performance most individuals, barring injury, demonstrate the ability (thus mobility) to perform a bodyweight (BW) squat (i.e. onto a box) to a depth that is parallel or deeper.  However, add a vertical load - such as a barbell squat - dominated by gravity and the previously demonstrated mobility is overshadowed by an individual's lack of stability. Basically, the vertical load inhibits (shuts down) the body's mobility/range of motion because it's threatened by the body's lack of stability.

So if vertical loaded barbell squats can limit mobility due to poor stability how can we still squat and train for each of these components. For me, the answer is the MVP Shuttle (MVPS) - an absolute workhorse at the Institute of Human Performance. At IHP I take a dual squatting approach. One, continue to squat with vertical loads to improve stability. Two, implement squats on the MVPS to maintain depth/mobility of the squat. Because of its horizontal carriage coupled with the adjustable headrest, the MVPS basically minimizes gravity while allowing for a wide range of squat depths to be performed safely. In addition, the MVPS is equipped with up to 16 selectorized bands allowing for those varying squat depths to be trained with loads less than, and (in some cases) equal to or even greater than bodyweight. This dual squatting approach has been a balanced combination for mobility, stability and strength.

Train hard. Train Smart.

Adam

Comment (20)

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 the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk. These lifts require a tremendous amount of technique and demand a high level of skill specific to the sport of Olympic lifting.

So why are these movements/exercises finding their way into the world of baseball training? I know, I know Olympic lifts can create powerful hips; and they do...in the sagittal plane of motion - which is not the motion dominated in baseball. Baseball is dominated thru the transverse/rotational plane. I'll say it again - from hitting, throwing and running - baseball is a rotational sport requiring rotational power training.

Structurally, Olympic lifts can create abnormal and high levels of joint stress - particularly thru the shoulders and wrists- (let's not forget about the shear force that can be placed on the knees). I think we would all agree that the knees, shoulders and wrists are rather important to a ball player, and we wouldn't want to risk an off-season injury.

I'm not against Olympic lifts - I MIGHT incorporate them(MAYBE) if an athlete has a good base and understanding of Olympic lifting. However, I haven't seen too many baseball players having exposure, or even master these lifts. Therefore I ask myself how important is it to teach and incorporate a potentially "risky" movement in order to develop sagittal plane hip power when baseball is dominated by rotational hip power. In other words what's the reward:risk ratio?

Now, Im not saying we shouldnt do any sagittal plane power training. I just believe that in order to save the shoulders, wrists and knees a safer alternative, such as box jumps or even a standing bilateral 2 arm explosive row, can be performed BUT IN CONJUNCTION with rotational power training. Furthermore, you may find that you are working with limited time so wouldnt you rather spend your time training for baseball than teaching exercises specific to the sport of Olympic lifting.

Train Hard. Train Smart.

Adam

Comment (35)

Many of us have knee pain.  However,  there's a really good chance that the pain we experience in our knee is only a symptom and not the problem. There are two possible scenarios that could be causing your knee pain.

1) Tight Psoas -    Tight psoas inhibits/turns-off your glutes thus limiting the amount of force that your glutes can normally produce.  In part, the glutes are responsible for decelerating femoral internal rotation.  Therefore, if the glutes are limited in force production (inhibited) then they could lose the ability to decelerate femoral interal rotation. And repeated, uncontrolled femoral internal rotation can increase loads placed on the knee creating knee pain.   Tight Psoas COULD cause knee pain.

2) Ankle Restriction -     Ankle restrictions  such as after an ankle sprain inhibits the glutes - which as stated above can reduce the ability to control internal rotation and adduction of the femur. When this happens, the IT band can tighten causing stress at the knee. In addition, an ankle sprain can cause ankle restrictions in the sagittal plane,  causing increased movement in the frontal and transverse planes at the knee.  Ankle restrictions COULD cause knee pain

Train Hard. Train Smart.

Adam 

Comment (8)

In addition to the blogs posted here,  from time to time I also post blogs  featuring nothing but ideas, thoughts, articles, comments, etc specific to baseball. Check it out  www.fivetoolbaseball.blogspot.com . 

Keep checking our IHP blogs for articles, IHP happenings, training ideas, specials, etc.

Train hard. Train smart.

 Adam

Comment (12)