Today’s episode features strength coach and gym owner, Eric Cressey.  Eric Cressey is the president and co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance (CSP), with facilities in both Hudson, MA and Jupiter, FL.  Behind Eric’s expertise, CSP has established itself as a go-to high-performance facility to both local athletes and those that come from across the country and abroad to experience CSP’s cutting-edge methods.  Eric also works with the New York Yankees as the Director of Player Health and Performance.  In the past five years, 125 CSP athletes have been selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, and CSP works with players from all 30 MLB organizations.

The field of sports performance is rapidly evolving, especially in the private sector where sport skills and specific strength are becoming increasingly blended.  Compared to a decade or more ago, strength and sports performance coaches are learning more and more about the specific biomechanics and KPI’s that lead to success of their athletes on the field.  Additionally, ideas on shoulder injury prevention and rehabilitation for athletic populations are also changing fast.  Modern sport coaching is also getting better, albeit more slowly than what athletes would like, in methods to develop an optimal specific work capacity for their players rather than old school methods of slogging laps.

To keep up in a fast-changing world, I was really excited to catch up with Eric Cressey and see how his process has evolved in his years as a coach and business owner.  As a man who works with many of the top athletes, coaches and therapists in the world, seeing how Eric’s process has grown over the years is an enlightening conversation.  Some of the areas we get into specifically involve the blend of sport and strength coaching, shoulder health, work capacity, maximal strength training, and more.  This was a brief, but information dense episode that coaches and athletes of any sport (but particularly over-head and throwing sports) can get a lot out of.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

 
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Timestamps and Main Points

5:55 How Eric got into coaching strength training and performance for baseball players

9:40 Eric’s transition into getting into the technical and biomechanical side of pitching

20:25 How getting into pitching mechanics has had an impact on Eric’s strength program

23:25 How Eric’s thoughts on strength training and powerlifting in working with athletes have changed over the years

27:55 How Eric’s thoughts on shoulder training and injury prevention have evolved over time

35:55 Pros and cons of using fixed vs. free scapular movements with athletes

36:55 Indicators from watching athletes move in the weightroom as to their chances of a acquiring a shoulder injury in sport

38:55 Building work capacity in baseball players

44:55 How Eric looks at asymmetry in baseball players

 “I wrote up a weighted ball and extreme long toss program, and I got a text when he had thrown live against the hitters at Harvard, he said I was 91-94mph, then we saw some 95s and 96s, he had a life changing velocity jump”

“A strength and conditioning coach is writing a throwing program, that’s never happened”

“Weighted implements had been around for a long time, but they haven’t been utilized… it got me thinking about weighted balls, medicine balls (for throwing enhancement).  Training in those middle grounds seemed to have a lot of value”

“There are things that are being coached mechanically that are well intentioned but they don’t take into account the limitations that an athlete has, he just can’t get into the positions they need”

“Pitching mechanics are actually the most heavily debated topic out there”

“We want to prepare our athletes for a chaotic world,