Twelve Iowa football players in hospital

The following article appeared on ESPN.com January 25, 2011. The take away message is MORE IS NOT BETTER. Train Hard! Train Smart!

Adam...

Twelve Iowa football players are recovering after being taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Monday evening with a kidney condition, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported on its website Tuesday.

The Gazette said the Iowa players have Rhabdomyolysis, which is a breakdown of muscle fibers that releases myoglobin into the bloodstream. This can affect the kidneys and be can be caused by excessive exercise.

This corresponds with a posting on the Facebook page of Iowa linebacker Jim Poggi, who wrote he was hospitalized after his urine turned brown.

The school released a clarification Tuesday night saying the players admitted were all participating in NCAA allowable winter workouts and that the symptoms for which the players were being treated were likely related to those workouts.

The school released a statement earlier Tuesday saying the players had been hospitalized, but were recovering.

"The student-athletes were admitted throughout the course of Monday evening," a University of Iowa staff physician said in a statement. "All of the individuals are responding well to treatment as of Tuesday morning. All are in safe and stable condition."

The school would not confirm the identities of the players or their individual medical conditions, but the staff physician and a football team physician confirmed Tuesday the players were responding well to treatment.

"Coach Kirk Ferentz is out of town recruiting, but he is aware of the situation and is being kept abreast of the progress being made," Gary Barta, Iowa's director of athletics, said in the school-released statement. "Our No. 1 concern is the safety of our student-athletes, so we are pleased with the positive feedback. Our next step is to find out what happened so we can avoid this happening in the future."

The school says it's not clear when the players will be discharged. A school spokesman, Steve Roe, says privacy laws prevent further comment.

Iowa offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde, who recently graduated from the program and was a member of the team's leadership group, defended Iowa's workout practices in an interview with The Associated Press.

"They are nothing if not concerned for the health of the players," Vandervelde said. "That's always the first priority, health and development. I mean workouts are never used to punish. It's always about improvement, and workouts are always well within the capabilities of the athletes asked to perform them."

Tuesday's announcement that a dozen players had been hospitalized was just the latest bad news to hit the program that just wrapped a disappointing 8-5 season.

Senior wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos was suspended for the Hawkeyes' Insight Bowl win over Missouri after an arrest on drug charges. Johnson-Koulianos pleaded guilty to marijuana possession while other drug charges against him were dismissed.

Running back Adam Robinson was dismissed from the team after being arrested for possession of marijuana in his hometown of Des Moines while on suspension for violating team rules.

Information from ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Sanchez signs!

For 4 years (2006-2009) Anibal Sanchez spent much of his time on the DL from variety of right shoulder/elbow issues.
The off-season leading into the 2010 season Anibal and I were introduced to each other and thus our 1st off-season strength training program began. It was during this time that Anibal was arbitration eligible and awarded $1.25 million.

Fast forward - 2010 recap: Anibal leads the team in innings pitched (195) and games started (32) while finishing 13-12 with a 3.55 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. Most importantly, he spent ZERO time on the DL for the first time in his MLB career.

Pretty damn good comeback from 4 previous DL plagued seasons. So good that the Marlins avoided arbitration for 2011 by signing Anibal to a one-year $3.7 million contract. This kind of money was clearly performance based from 2010.

And now, we are 4 weeks out from his 2011 spring training report date of Feb 18th. He is well ahead of schedule and ready to bring it in '11.

Best of luck!

Go hard in the yard.

Dynamic Hip Mobility

The following video demonstrates a different approach to hip flexor mobility. As mentioned in previous blogs, if the hip flexors are tight, the glutes become inhibited ( shut off ) causing the hamstring to take on greater and perhaps excessive functional responsibility. When that happens repetitively we can possible be faced with hamstrings pulls.





Go hard n the yard

Adam

Ramon Hernandez Lower Body Training

Here's a video clip of Ramon implementing our lower body training program. His SUV is 7,500#...but add the the driver, and a full tank of gas, AND Ramon was getting after about 8,000# truck push. Regardless as to how many games Ramon catches in '11, the amount of squatting behind the plate and overall log term knee stress cannot be downplayed. That being said, our off-season lower body program is designed specifically to keep his knees safe and healthy, so he arrives into spring training camp with fresh knees and ready to go. Therefore, we get after the truck and tires. The truck push is more favorable on the knees, than traditional squats, while never sacrificing strength or power. The huge PLUS to truck/tire training is the amount of real conditioning you'll get.

Get after it. Trucks are easy to find.

Go hard in the yard.

Lower Body Strength & Power

Lower body strength, lower body power and a new dimension to endurance/conditioning. Check out Florida Marlins SP, Anibal Sanchez taking care of business. 7400# SUV + full tank of fuel+ driver and we're in the range of moving 7800#. When we train he is all business with laser focus. Feel free to contact me at Adam@ihpfit.com for any baseball related questions or comments.

Go hard in the yard.

Adam-

Bull Durham

Classic scene. We have the 5 tools and then we have this scene from Bull Durham really simplifying the game

Big Red Machine

Five Tool Baseball client and Cincinnati Reds catcher, Ramon Hernandez re-signs for the 2011 season. Ramon returned to Five Tool Baseball in mid-October to resume his 4th consecutive off-season strength training program. Mid-October! This guy loves his off-season training. He looks great. Ahead of schedule.

Congrats Monie.

Go hard in the yard!

Adam