cadaver lab

And next we'll be dissecting the spine, visualizing seven cervical, twelve thoracic, and five lumbar vertebrae.

[cutting/scraping]

You can determine that this was an active person who acquired extensive degenerative changes, especially throughout the lumbar segments. As we examine the individual vertebrae...

Hey Jim, check out this T1.

Whoa. Haven't seen that before.

Ask Dr. Smith if he's seen it. What would cause dense sclerosis here?

Maybe he had some kind of bone tumor.

No. The bone mineral density is very high.. Bone is living tissue that adapts to the mechanical stress imposed upon it. This thing underwent some immense loading at some point.

Maybe he just had a big head.

The weight of the head actually places mild tensile strain across posterior elements of the thoracic curvature.

Did he lift or carry something near his neck? In this day and age? Whatever the case, that T1 clearly took a beating.

Alright class, that's all we have time for today. Next week we examin the anterior chest wall.


 - - - - - -



The professor makes a quick exit and the students chat about dinner plans as they haphazardly fold up stiff extremities, close tables, and wash their hands. When the lab assistant flips off the fluorescent lights and closes the door, a death of silence and cold and unvented formaldehyde blankets the lab.




I'm not sure why my unconscious brain sporadically creates this scene. The dream is always focused on bones, possibly because they are the most permanent part of our physical existence.




The people in the cadaver lab are always in their own world, detached from their subjects, like when I was the student. They notice, but don't care about the fractured fingers which make my hand appear a bit like Orthanc. They utter "hmmph" and move on after noting the torsional effect that years of throwing had on my right humerus. They poke their scalpel at a bone spur that developed just below my right ankle from repeated ankle sprains. And now, they move on with their lives after observing the dense bony hypertrophy of my first thoracic vertebrae.

They go on with their day like it's all no big deal. And why should it be? There's no time for reading dead bones that tell a story of little use or interest to them. So they bury the load bore on T1 and the scapulae during epic sets of 20-rep squats. They disassemble the lumbar spines journey toward a triple body weight dead lift. They lay to rest the stories of personal records, sweat, strain and fracture.

Dissected, noted, and tossed into the extra-large plastic biohazard tub. And that would be all...

If physical strain strengthened only muscle and bone...
If I brought no one along to share in those journeys...

If I used my knowledge, experience and passion to my own ends...

If the training didn't change me even beyond marrow, the very essence of who I was as a friend and father and husband.

In truth, the effects of habitual intense physical training transcend the mechanical forces that shape bones and the neurochemical signals travelling to and from the brain. Where peak performance gradually falls and bones crumble to dust, a capable and resilient person moves through the physical to inspire, forge, and serve generations...

Community in Training

The ceremony begins at around 2:45. I drink coffee while organizing my thoughts and the basement. I stroll around the yard and make ready.

Few of my friends near and far can pin down the Bonny Lane Club. It does not have a social media presence or tax ID. It is not advertised, nor is it a secret.

The Bonny Lane Club is a small community built upon a minimalist approach to physical training and athletic performance. It is a handful of like-minded friends and I lifting heavy things, jumping, running, and climbing. We maintain our health, improve our game, have fun, and push the envelop in some spectacular accomplishments in my basement and back yard. On Bonny Lane itself there are sprints and car pushes toward the cul-de-sac.

The Bonny Lane Club is not for everyone. The hours are quite limited, give or take two hours, three days per week. The training equipment is definitely not extravagant, but movement awareness and functional abilities are high. We take improvement seriously, and know the magic found in consistency. Members understand what it means to train with purpose beyond "getting in shape for swimsuit season." They don't mind moving aside a bike or fishing pole, and exercise patience with my children watching and sporadically joining in.

The Bonny Lane club has no contracts. This is not bartering, but I've found that the community clicks much better when everyone contributes something. Those who can pay a little do so. Once in a while I purchase new gear. Someday I may care to replace the warn-out carpeting and dented drywall. Others contribute as they can. Younger Bonny Lane Club members have contributed babysitting, drum lessons for my sons, chickens (not eggs, but living chickens with their gear), and deck staining.

After working as a physical therapist for over 15 years and training others and myself for much longer, I can confidently claim to know my way around fitness goals and trouble-shooting problem areas. My work informs this hobby and my hobby informs my work. This is simply what I do, and it brings me joy and energy. There's no doubt that this is my high calling.

Over the years I've witnessed how physical training in a secure community transforms more than the body. There is far more to this than strength and speed and coordination. We are all works in progress, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Focus and intensity have a way of breaking through any barriers.

While the Bonny Lane Club is not foremost an outreach tool, neither is it all about sets and reps. Through training we get to know ourselves and each other. At times we are too breathless to talk. Other times, we share the meaningful stuff of life. This is not a homogenous group, yet we genuinely care to support each other, to see each other succeed inside and outside of training.

I pray that what I do with my home, interests and abilities confirms what is literally written on the walls.

[This post and the Bonny Lane Club is inspired by the teaching and intentional community of Dan John. Read more about that here.]
 

Failblog

I could watch Fail Army for hours. I love seeing the innocent everyday miscalculation, the outcome of plain foolish choices, and the awesome stunt gone wrong. Above all I love witnessing a show-boat eat it.

Fail Army is entertainment. It's a demonstration of practical Newtonian physics. It's a lesson in the antecedent - behavior - consequences of decision making. Plus, the kids love it. If you turn the volume down, Fail Army (but not the fail look-a-likes) is usually rated E for everyone.

I study Fail Army. Whatever that says about me is true. I don't exactly enjoy seeing people suffer pain or injury. So why do so many people find this fascinating?

Does everyone have such vivid recollection of the fails they personally witnessed? There may or may not have been a camera to document the event. But a good fail definitely sticks with you.

There was the time I raced my friend down the hill through my parents field. Jon ran full steam into an electric fence, folding his feet into his face, and I won the race. He called his mom to come pick him up.

My brother, barely a toddler, pulled my cousin in a small wagon. Ty began stumbling down hill, the wagon steamrolled him and progressed wildly until it crashed into an apple tree, ejecting Will into a back flip. There was the time Garrett missed a dunk and fell 10 feet with his body laid out horizontally, fracturing both of his wrists.


Of course I have PLENTY of my own in every fail category mentioned above. Just last year I lost a patch of hair to some tree bark while bashing my head in an attempted wall flip. More recently I slipped while shoveling dog poo, saving my cell phone from the wet grass but landing on my elbow, catapulting a half-dozen turds across my chest.

There was the time when I was hospitalized for three days after leaning over a firework that exploded millimeters above my left eye. There was my (pitching) loss to Jeannette (the worst team in the league), a broken toe on my first attempt at bench press, and passing out during my uncles wedding.

Fails are usually physically and emotionally painful. Where most of us don't learn the easy way, pain is the best teacher. There are no excuses, debate, or wondering. There's no room for textbook theorizing. You miscalculated or made a stupid decision. And it hurt. The next time you will make an adjustment.You will heed the council of others. You will reconsider the risk to benefit ratio of whatever it is that you're doing.

Fails can be horribly life altering, even fatal. But by Gods grace most people walk away from most fails. The only unpardonable fail is the one that we walk away from unchanged. I believe this is rare, and that most fails are redeemed in some way.

Tell me about your vivid memory of a fail.

Maybe knocked down but not out forever...
   -Toby Mac

Plantar Fasciitis Support Groups

There are many Facebook support groups, often more than one for a given problem or diagnosis. One of my clients being treated from Plantar Fasciitis recently encouraged me to join a group called Plantar Fasciitis Help and Support. It's based out of the UK but has members from all over the world.

Support groups are beneficial on the whole. It's always nice to know there are people with shared experience walking the path with you. It's good to hear stories of the people who struggled and overcame their problem. It's usually helpful to learn specifically what products and treatments did and did not work for others.

But from my little neck of the woods (orthopedic rehabilitation), support groups are not completely good. There is definitely confusion. There are over-confident laypeople who make sweeping conclusions from their own personal study of N=1. There is plain bad advice.

Just because Crocs are the only thing that give you relief does not mean that this is good advice for all. Just because foot exercises (likely done incorrectly) made your pain worse does not mean that exercise is always bad. Just because your specialist pointed out a heel spur does not mean you will or will not respond well to omega-3 supplements. Cortisone injections simply cannot be miraculous AND of the devil.

And on and on.

Here are a few key points that those dealing with Plantar Fascitis should consider:

1.  Plantar fasciitis is a common problem with a myriad of different causes.

There is no one cause of all cases. There is no one solution that will help all cases. No one exercise. No one medicine, shoe, or orthotic. Other foot problems are often misdiagnosed as plantar fascitis. Lastly, plantar fascitis often occurs in conjunction with other foot conditions like diabetic neuropathy, posterior tibialis tendinopathy, and entrapment of the medial plantar nerve.

So when the Youtube guy in a white lab coat with a $110 haircut says that you should never stretch because it irritates plantar fasciitis...well, actually, he's partially correct. What he is describing is nerve entrapment with plantar fasciitis, not merely plantar fasciitis. In that case, some stretches should be avoided and others encouraged.

What I take issue with is the NEVER/ALWAYS presentation. It is RARELY so simple.

2. Mechanical problems demand (at least some) mechanical intervention.

Sure, I would advise taking an omega three supplement because all inflammatory and healing processes in the body are indeed electrochemical in nature. Anti-inflammatory drugs and injections are often merited, though it's unwise to rely on these for the long-term. In the end, plantar fascitis is primarily a mechanical (movement related) issue.


No matter the drug, supplement, soak, or cream, if you return to the same mechanical forces on the foot, the issue is highly likely to reoccur. Icing, massaging, foam rolling, and ultrasound can also be helpful. But yet again, when the foot hits the ground is when the crap hits the fan. You can quote me on that. 

3. Simple rest.

I understand that this may demand some time away from your normal work duties and exercise habit. But you must lay off your feet for a while. Rest is often not given an honest try, and there is absolutely no better way to control the pain and inflammation in a highly irritated foot. Gentle stretches are often helpful and aggressive stretching is often painful. But if you rest and return to the same mechanical forces on the foot, well, you know what's going to happen.

4. "Okay, okay already - so what should I do to address foot mechanics?"

You may get away with "fixing" the root of the problem by changing to a high quality shoe that is appropriate for your foot type. Or maybe you truly do need an off-the-shelf or custom orthotic. Just don't expect much from the typical Dr. Schols gel/foam ones. They are made so that the tolerance level is great. But the treatment effect is usually minimal. The closest thing you will get to a "natural cure" to plantar fascitis includes taking time to identify movement issues from the great toe and up the kinetic chain, which comes in three steps:

1. Address weakness, tightness, and faulty movement patterns at the pelvis, lower back, knee, and ankle.
2. Translate this into a new pattern of walking, running, jumping, etc. You really should see yourself walk, run, etc under video. 
3. If you are very active on your feet or if your foot is a "structural outlier" -very low, high, wide, etc, - you will likely need a custom orthotic device.

5. Conservative treatment has limits.

Be wary of individuals and products who speak always/never and promise you the world. Chronic plantar fascitis just may not respond to any intervention outside of surgery.  Though surgery should be saved as a last resort, it's sometimes necessary. The scar tissue, arthritic spurring, or thickening of the plantar fascia just may be too far along.

When this is the case, do not consider your more conservative efforts in vain. Go ahead and ask any surgeon about this. It's still wise to attend to appropriate footwear, foot exercises, general exercise habits, running/walking form, and possibly an orthotic. You want to get every mechanical factor in your favor to the greatest extent possible in order to experience a good surgical outcome.

 

seasons and years

Most of us have little idea of how we arrived at the doorstep of the year we call 2015. I spent a few hours last Sunday night trying to figure it out, got carried away and missed much of the Steeler game. Sorry dad. And I still don't have a good handle on it. 

It would make sense if our 24-hour days divided up neatly into 28 days per month and 12 months per year. But of course we had to invent the idea of leap year to make up for our 365-day imposition on the sun. Did you know that the earth does not move at constant speed in its elliptical orbit? In the norther hemisphere, spring and summer are longer than fall and winter by about 3 to 4 days. Even our precious 60-minute hours and 24-hour days are in flux. Because of the gravitational forces of the moon and other planets, twenty four hours is only the average duration for the earth to complete a full rotation. We simply don't notice the routine occurrences when a day swings up to 8 minutes shorter or longer than a "day."

The Gregorian calendar was proposed to number our years from the day Jesus was born. Wouldn't it be nice if the year 1 actually occurred on the year Jesus was born? Speaking of Christmas, wouldn't it make sense if the pagan feasts on which it was piggybacked also took place on the first day of winter when the days start getting longer? Why wasn't the winter solstice, the longest night in the norther hemisphere, marked as the last day of the "old" year?

Sunrise at Stone Henge on the winter solstice.

Yes, I'm proposing that the winter solstice and Christmas and the first day of the new year should line up. But then again, the day of the solstice occurs in cycles between what we know as December 20th and the 24th. Still, I say we move January 1st to December 22nd and celebrate Christmas, winter festivals, and New Years day at the same time. That would make sense and save us the holiday fatigue.

Side note: Some scholars say that Christmas was assigned to December 25th a few hundred years AD, when some church leaders started teaching that Jesus resurrection and conception necessarily occurred on the same day (March 25th). From there they arrived at December 25th (9 months after conception) as his birthday.

At any rate, our years are labeled imprecisely from the year that Jesus was born, which itself has been imprecisely layered upon imprecise winter solstice festivals which are based upon the actual winter solstice, which varies by the day and hour. What does this have to do with my theme here at Mental Reps? It's a bit of a leap, but I'd like for you to consider the imprecision of our bodies.

What makes a formal exercise beneficial and unique to other types of formal exercise? In what ways is informal movement better? What is the best diet for fat loss or muscle gain? How many days per week should you train and allot to recovery? What's aerobic or anaerobic training? (Where, for example, does a typical Crossfit WOD or a hard set of 20 squats with high resistance fit into all this?) What's the correct movement tempo, rep, set, and resistance scheme to maximize health versus physical power, strength, or size?

The answers are definitely far less clear-cut and precise than we think. God is apparently no respecter of our man-made divisions, categories and labels. Neither are our bodies.

But I do know that we need to be paying attention to what we eat and how we feel and function. We need exercise and rest. We desperately need rhythm to our days far more than a precise measure of the time and many of things that we do desire.

Please question your sets, reps, timed splits and macros. Be critical of the health and wellness industry (my forte), with it's man-made categories and assumptions set in stone. The 7-minute abs, the 14-day detox, the organic kale flax diet. Some of these are fine and well, but they never exist in isolation. Quick fixes and one-size-fits-all formulas don't exist at all.

Drinking two Red Bulls in order to drag yourself to the gym or ball field is going to catch up with you. Trying to accomplish too many things at once is an easy recipe for failure. One way or another, those sharp abs will come at a cost. And they won't be worth it (or sustainable) when you're arthritic knees can't raise you from the couch. Is the control freak diet and exercise schedule really necessary? Will it be destroyed under the weight of a life that demands more than focusing on yourself? It should.

Us mortals need our categories, divisions, and labels. They're convenient, if not entirely accurate. Anything we do to the extreme is sooner or later going to cause the pendulum to swing back with force. You are not likely the exception. I'm preaching to myself as much as anyone reading.

However imprecise we understand and make use of it, we are given this blessing of time. May 2015 be a year you take inventory of what's important to you. May you move well, rest well, and serve others in honesty and humility. And have some fun!

Rotational Training for Baseball (Part 3).

Part One of this series included general observations and commentary on sport-specific training, with a brief introduction to the three planes of motion. 

Part Two highlighted 5 key points regarding strength training for baseball.

                               - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here we tackle the fun stuff - sport-specific power training for baseball.

Power training for baseball should bridge the gap between (relatively) heavy load, controlled movements and actually throwing, hitting, and running like a beast. The perfect strength training program for any given individual is worth little in terms of performance if it doesn't translate to demonstrating high amounts of rotational force (Torque) QUICKLY.

How exactly do you develop power in the transverse plane? Are traditional plyometric power exercises safe and warranted for baseball players? Is power development plane-specific? Here are a few key points regarding power training for baseball.

1.Traditional plyos are warranted for baseball players.

"Why are you training a baseball player to jump? This isn't high jump or basketball." 

I will admit that I'm biased toward traditional power training with leaps, bounds, tuck jumps, hurdle jumps, depth jumps etc for a very bad reason. (I'm a good leaper, well, for an old man). Also, there are only a handful of lower body, transverse plane specific plyometric exercises to choose from. I think Eric Cressey would agree that lateral hops are a great baseball specific exercise, but they can only take you so far.



Although traditional plyos are predominately sagittal plane movements, they remain a great way to supercharge the nervous system. They are total body efforts that require the athlete to develop body control and optimize ground reaction force. They are by all means the best way to reach and develop fast twitch muscle fibers.

You could achieve much of the same effect with triple the injury risk and time invested by doing the Olympic Lifts. This backhanded compliment about Olympic lifting comes courtesy of this entry where I lay out why O-lifts are not the best choice for most athletes.

Plyo push-up variations...sure.

Traditional plyos should not receive the same emphasis as they would for, say, a long jumper. But there is definitely room for them. Plus, most athletes benefit greatly from leaping and bounding off one leg, and baseball players are no exception. Single leg launching and landing does require great transverse plane strength and stability.

2. A word of caution.

Please be aware that knees and feet are at risk for those who throw caution to the wind. The type of impact, total number of repetitions, form, and fatigue should be monitored and progressed gently. My clinic records prove that even strong athletes may suffer injuries from careless application of plyos.

Awesome-making, shin-eating machine.

Build up the impact gradually. Don't perform high power movements when in a state of extreme fatigue. Variations of single leg plyos are great, but don't perform repeated single leg bounds across cement or hardwood. Control the deceleration while landing your jumps. Only jump as far and as many times as you can land well. There are a handful of tricks to the trade that many trainers are apparently unaware of.





3. The total body whip.

I would argue that the most baseball-specific exercises are power/plyometric exercises that 1) incorporate the transverse plane, and 2) use everything between the ground and the hands. While traditional lower extremity plyos have their place in a baseball training program, the majority of plyometric training for baseball players should incorporate these two criteria. Our options are quite limited here. There are really only a handful of exercises to do and I think about 60% are worth the time.

Or stomach the thought of swinging an actual ax.

Baseball players should be on a steady diet of throwing the med ball, clubbing a tire (or something), and hitting with an over-weighted bat. "Battling ropes" may serve some purpose as well. How heavy should those items be? They should be heavy enough that the exercise is not replicating the exact mechanics of throwing and hitting. Baseball players take enough stress and strain with their repetitive tasks. On the other hand, the objects should not be so heavy as to hinder the athletes peak power production (i.e. the athlete can still move relatively quickly).

4. Intent precedes content.

Maybe it's just me, but it's irritating to see athletes doing 20-rep wall balls and box jumps with 60% effort. Using plyometric power exercises to hit your lactate threshold and determine your willingness to suffer is a great way to test the integrity of your connective tissue. This is not the time to drone through the motions as if the training effect you desire is magically going to happen. Instead, do what it takes to throw the med ball like you're trying to knock the wall down. Hit the tire like you're battling for your life. Feel the impulse, energy generated between your feet and dead earth, traveling through your hips, torso, shoulders and out of your hands.

There's something very satisfying about the thump of a tire or brick wall.

5. Work smarter and harder. 

Progress isn't always measures in duration and impacts. Just because you have 20 good jumps, throws, or tire hits in you now doesn't mean the goals should be 60 or 100. Hit it with more force. Tuck jump the hurdle, measure vertical- and long jump distances, and time the short sprints/agilities. Radar some med ball throws or measure the distance covered. The younger crowd at GoWags swings a standard (relatively) heavy wooden bat at pitched balls. Measuring ball exit speed gives good incentive for and objective measurement of full effort.

Apply these principles and there you have a comprehensive baseball - specific training program. Certainly comment if there are any additional considerations that you have found beneficial. I hope to unpack many of the ideas presented here into a series of short videos. Let us know if you have any questions that you would like to be addressed.

Rotational Training for Baseball (Part 2)

One of my favorite transverse plane weather systems

Part one of this series mentioned that throwing and hitting are total body movements that take place primarily in the transverse plane. Developing rotational power in this plane is essential to any training program that claims to be "sport specific" for baseball. Here are a few key points related to strength training for baseball.

1. Many traditional weight training exercises DO have their place in a baseball specific program.

Most athletes benefit greatly from doing time in some variation of the fundamental movement patterns. As power athletes, baseball players are no exception. We're talking about squat, dead lift, pressing and pulling variations. While the standard barbell lifts are not particularly transverse plane movements, they do offer many benefits.

Keep in mind that much of what we see in gained strength is neurological in nature. Here we will not get into the details of muscle unit synchronization, rate coding, and antagonist muscle disinhibition. Suffice to say that the brain learns to move the body more efficiently on macro- and microscopic levels. Well-renowned trainer Mike Robertson suggests that athletes master sagittal plane movements first because they are easier to learn and control but still provide the general benefits of loaded movement. 

NOT effective for gaining size

The traditional lifts are also critical for an athlete that desires to put on quality size. Obliqe crunches, cable "chops," and shoulder rotation against tubing are not going to cut it. The best way to gain muscle is to focus on the "big" multi-joint movements that demand high amounts of force output and a stable core. The idea of gaining muscle mass leads to the next point.

2. Thickness is uniquely important to the transverse plane.

Part one of the series also described how the structural differences between a fit basketball player and a fit baseball player are obvious, and this reflects different qualities of power (transverse- versus sagittal plane). The thickness of an individual joint, and of the athletes body as a whole, are of relatively little importance for sagittal- and frontal plane movements. But that's not the case when you analyze rotational movement in the transverse plane. It's a simple matter of physics that more muscle mass generating force further from the axis of rotation is going to produce more torque. 

3. The transverse plane hides out in unilateral exercise. 

Hopefully I have established that while traditional weight training exercises are not particularly transverse plane movements, they should be included in a baseball training program because they are a great way to engrain sound movement patterns and to gain efficiency, strength, and size. But now you may be wondering where the transverse plane strength exercises come in. What do they look like? Spinning with weights? Swinging around a barbell by one end? 

THE key for training the transverse plane is undoubtedly unilateral movements. Pushing, pulling, squatting, and lunging with one arm or leg at a time demands a lot of rotational force at the moving segment as well as rotational stability at the spine and other non-moving segments. The transverse plane demand is obvious in rotational movements like med ball throws and tubing work. But most of those are better classified as power exercises.  Examples of appropriate strength training exercises that make the transverse plane obvious include tubing twists, cable chops, and side lunges. But there is much more! The (relatively) heavy unilateral lifts should be the meat and potatoes of developing strength in the transverse plane. 

A poorly executed barbell lunge: making obvious the demands of frontal and transverse plane stability.

Try to perform a simple hip hinge on one leg. Touch both hands to the floor without rounding your spine or excessively flexing at the knee. Or try to maintain an upright torso and lunge while holding a modest weight at or above shoulder level. Try push-ups with one foot on the floor instead of two. Viola! You're training the transverse plane.

These three exercises are great examples, simple and effective, of training the transverse plane. You truly don't need the ridiculous theatrics on a BOSU ball to train stability and balance. You would be surprised at how many athletes cannot control even a light load. The knee and pelvis quiver or collapse, or the spine twists, folds, or side bends.

Training on machines with cables and columns that guide the movement steals all the transverse plane benefit. So get off the machines and control some iron where it's just the athlete v. gravity. Movements like lunges, split squats, step ups, "lawn mower" rows, and land mine presses truly should be a prime area of focus for most baseball players. Do not think of these as light accessory movements. When taken seriously and worked consistently, these unilateral exercises can also be good for stimulating more muscle mass.

4. You can't be a powerhouse in any plane if you're imbalanced or injured. 

Overhead squats not advised

Another reason why unilateral lifts should be emphasized in a baseball training program has to do with staying efficient and injury free. Hitting and throwing are both high intensity, asymmetrical efforts that baseball players routinely subject their bodies to. It should be no surprise that mobility and strength imbalances develop after hundreds and thousands of repetitions. Unilateral strength training will often reveal strength and stability imbalance and help as a corrective measure to offset the asymmetrical strain.

Lastly, baseball players do need to give special consideration to arm health. Over the years, most throwers acquire some degree of anterior shoulder capsular laxity, posterior stiffness, and a literal twisting of the humerus. There are typical changes at the thoracic spine and pelvis as well. There is very little room for some exercises such as overhead barbell presses and overhead squats in this population of athletes. Other exercises like traditional back squats and bench press are generally safe for most baseball players, but should be used with some caution. This is highly specific to the individual, but in all exercises, special attention should be given to the position and movement of the thoracic spine, humerus and the scapula.

5. A word on the Olympic Lifts.

Can you see why power cleans, clean and jerk, and snatch grip anything are probably not a good choice for baseball players? The olympic lifts are very powerful moves. But they're not great mass builders because they require very little time under tension. They make relatively little demand for mobility or stability in the transverse plane. Getting to intense but safe training with these requires a lot of time to learn them as a skill. Some strength coaches and trainers may say otherwise, but it is my opinion that they are just not worth it. I believe that power training can be accomplished more safely and effectively in other ways.

Power training for baseball will be the last installment in this overview of baseball-specific training. I do hope to unpack some of the ideas with a series of short video clips. Certainly let us know if you have anything in mind that we can address.