Greatly appreciated Testimonial

I was greatly appreciative when I checked my e-mail this evening and was greeted by these words from Juan Carlos Santana, Founder of the Institute of Human Performance. 

"I have traveled the world ten times over.  I have had to the opportunity

to Chair the NSCA sports specific conference for 3 years.  I believe it

would be a safe thing to say that I have been around some of the best

strength and conditioning coaches on the planet.  When it comes to

baseball, I believe few strength coaches I have ever met have the

multi-dimensional perspective to the strength development of baseball

players as Adam Brush."

"Adam has played and coach baseball, giving him a practical knowledge of

the game, coaches like me will never have.  He has also dedicated the last

10 years to studying the functional biomechanics of baseball, as well as

the application of functional training methods to specifically deal with

baseball related performance.  When you look at the players Adam has

trained, and the impact he has had on their performance, his capabilities

become blatantly obvious.  This is why I had complete confidence in making

Adam the director of IHP baseball."

  

- Juan Carlos Santana

Core Strength Training

There's tons of perspective out there regarding the core and core training. So, in keeping it brief, what's one more...

First, the core has been identified as the musculature of the trunk anywhere from the shoulders down to the knees (front and back) or the sternum to the hips (front and back). Either way, the function of the core is two fold: (1) to protect the spine and (2) to generate and transfer forces. Both relying heavily on core stability - aka - CORE STIFFNESS.

According to Juan Carlos Santana, in his recently published book Functional Training,  a majority of the major muscles of the core are oriented in a diagonal or horizontal fashion. This machine, the body, was built to rotate. But we need to possess core stability to handle this rotation whether in sport or daily tasks.

When it comes to baseball performance training, core strength is vital for rotational movements such as running, throwing and hitting. Core strength can be achieved by training for core stiffness as Ive written here anti-rotation, here anti-extension,  here anti-flexion, and here anti-lateral flexion). In turn, core strength is not only utilized but is needed during our various, medicine ball (MB), core explosive exercises - which requires a whole lot of core stiffness in order to generate and transfer the necessary forces to throw the MB. All in all core stiffness, which bridges the transfer of forces between upper & lower body, becomes critically important to maximize baseball’s on-field performance demands.

Enhance your core stiffness (stability) to enhance your on-field performance.

Out Train The Game.

Active Recovery

How are you actively recovering during or from your training session?

Active Recovery can loosely be interpreted as exercises/drills/activities that are performed (with lower intensities & volume) at the end of high intense training sessions or on an “off-day”.  Activities such as biking, yoga, hiking, walking, stretching, or even "playing" (not competing in) a game are just a few of the more common types of Active Recovery that have been noted. However, there are no hard written rules that say AR exercises can’t be integrated as actual exercises within the main portion of the training session…more specifically immediately following your Primary Exercises. Here are my random thoughts about Active Recovery and what you should be doing:

       1. The AR eliminates and/or minimizes any idle time.

       2. The AR allows for more total work to be performed & integrated into a training session        without compromise

      3. The AR exercise can be performed while allowing for recovery from the Primary Exercise

      4. The AR provides an opportunity for functional exercises to be integrated into more traditional training programs

      5. The exercises (Functional) performed as part of an AR are capable of being implemented without interfering with or exhausting the Primary Muscle Group.

      6. AR exercises ought to be performed from functional, ground based standing positions that trains the opposing muscle group or a movement opposite of the Primary Lift.

      7. Core work, upper/lower body mobility, prehab/rehab work, etc  make great AR exercise options that be can also be seamlessly integrated along side the Primary Exercises.

      8. The AR exercise typically is lighter in terms of intensity and volume. In other words it should not be fatiguing…

HOWEVER,  I don’t follow the notion that the AR exercise can never be challenging.

      9.    As a client/athlete increases the strength of their neural system so should the intensity of their 

             AR exercises

    10.    Depending on one’s specific training goal, multiple AR exercises/drills can be added after the 

             Primary Exercise.

FOR EXAMPLE:

A. Hypertrophy (suggested rest period 30-90 seconds) - you want minimal rest/recovery time away from your primary lift; but don't simply do nothing...include 1 AR drill. One that is fairly quick and simple to perform that allows client to get right back to the primary lift to make those hypertrophic gains.

Primary Exercise: Traditional Flat Bench Press (8-15 reps)
Active Recovery: Standing 1-arm cable row (15 reps)


B. Strength (suggested rest period 2 to 5 minutes)- Since the weights lifted during the primary exercise are heavier, more rest is required in order for the muscles used during the primary lift to recover as completely as possible. Again, the rest period is not idle rest; and because the rest is longer more AR can be performed. Two AR drills is ideal here.

Primary Exercise: Traditional Flat Bench Press (4-6 reps)
Active Recovery: Standing 1-arm cable row (15 reps)
Active Recovery: Lateral lunge (15 reps)

-OR-

Primary Exercise: Traditional Bent-over 1-arm row (4-6 reps)
Active Recovery: Standing 1-arm cable press (15 reps)
Active Recovery: 1-leg bodyweight squat (15 reps)


All in all, AR should not be overlooked or simply thought of as some kind of recovery implemented on so-called "off" days. With proper exercise selection and implementation, Active Recovery can maximize training benefits that would otherwise not be achieved if all you did was sit down and did nothing during your "rest".

Your RECOVERY needs to be ACTIVE

Out train the game.














             

      

Core Stiffness Series : #1 ANTI-ROTATION

When training core stability, or core stiffness as I like to reference it, consider a series of movement patterns that address the following: anti-rotation, anti-extension, anti-flexion and anti-lateral flexion. First up is an example of anti-rotation... a simple cable push-out which has also been referred to as the Pallof Cable Press.

SAQ or NOT

Before an under-performing (worn breaks, worn tires, sluggish engine) sports car hits the track or streets, it’s in the garage getting a makeover with a new stable frame, high performance breaks, tires and an improved powerful engine. All the things to make it accelerate, decelerate and change directions (maneuver in & out of traffic).  Same principle ought apply to our baseball players. But way too often, ball players are performing their maneuverability (SAQ drills) before the body is ready to handle the training loads these vast number of drills require.  SAQ drills can have their place in the strength training program, but if not properly progressed, the outcome can often be problematic regards to hips, knees, ankles, feet, hammys, etc.

Recently, I was asked by coaches that their players take it easy in the gym when they are to train legs/hips; because they are implementing a lot of SAQ drills on the field and don’t want them over-training legs. HUH? Really? It’s as if they want to implement on-field SAQ drills in place of  “legs day” in the gym. In my opinion, this thinking is backwards. We build strong, stable and powerful legs to withstand not only the training tolerances of SAQ drills but for the purpose of enhancing overall on-field/in-game speed. And, in my opinion a strong, stable, powerful lower half is made in the weight room (the garage) by implementing a lower body strength training protocol that includes a healthy dose of exercises such as; 1-leg squat, 1-leg RDL, split squats, lateral lunges, hops, ankle pumps, wall marches, etc.

Simply stated, 1-Leg training supports 2-Leg activities but 2-Leg training does not have the same transfer to 1-Leg activities.

So just why is 1-leg (1L) training so important? It all comes down to 1-leg stability at the hip, knee, and ankle. Greater 1L stability means greater amounts of forces (power) are available to be driven into and received from the ground; therefore, a quicker, faster athlete.  You don’t always need special SAQ drills or toys or even external loaded pieces of equipment.  Train 1L stability via the inclusion of 1-leg exercises (along with proper core stiffening program) then you can take your athlete out of the “garage” and turn them loose.  Remember, the car gets built, improved and strengthened in the garage not on the streets.

In summary, it’s often been said that vitamins/protein shakes, etc (supplements) don’t take the place of food, they supplement food intake; Similarly SAQ drills don’t replace the required strength training, they supplement proper strength training.  

Don’t over think, or over train the game…out train it.