Empower Athletic Development Education

Empower’s New Facility

February 1st, 2012

Just a quick update, Empower Athletic Development has finally expanded into our new facility! It's REALLY exciting and I appreciate the positive feedback and wishes.

The 3200 square foot space is divided into 1920 square feet of agility turf and 1280 square feet of rubber flooring. We have a cinder/plywood/Durock wall for medicine ball throws. We also installed a 3'x22' ~~crash pad~~ wall mat with our logo on it. The wall graphics are vinyl and were installed by a local sign company.

99% of the equipment is new and divided between orders from Elite FTS and Perform Better. The medicine balls are custom-ordered from D-Ball, black with our logo on them.

Visit www.facebook.com/EmpowerAthleticDevelopment for pictures, videos, and updates.

Visit my page, www.youtube.com/JJBonyai for Empower training videos.

Tennis, The Lower Back Menace

January 2nd, 2012

In my last post, I profiled how the biomechanics of tennis may approach an athlete's threshold to maintain a healthy shoulder. I also mentioned that according to at least one survey, shoulder injuries are NOT the most common in tennis, low back disorders are.

In the collage above, all the photos include one common susceptible movement direction: extension. It should not be coincidental that this study suggests the majority of lumbar spine disorders in tennis athletes are extension-driven. Hyperextension through the lumbar spine typically results in degeneration of posterior vertebral structures such as the pars interarticularis and articular facet joints. Combining rotation with extension, as demonstrated in all of the photos above, exacerbates the strain on the posterior structures.

Separating the Men from the Boys

The ability to limit, or control extension during high velocity movements is a critical difference between advanced and intermediate-level tennis players. According to this study, intermediate level tennis athletes utilize greater lumbar extension range of motion during different types of serves. Advanced tennis players are better able to control extension and utilize other strategies such as thoracic extension and spinal rotation to achieve optimal positions during the serve and other strokes.

Athletes will utilize motion through the lumbar spine when the requisite mobility at other joints is not available. The shoulder (external rotation), thoracic spine (extension, rotation), and hip (extension, rotation) all contribute to multisegmental tennis movements, just take a look at the collage above. Any of the exercises in this video are valuable for low back injury prevention, as they are designed to improve shoulder and thoracic spine range of motion, which will relieve the mobility-responsibility of the lower back.

In the video below, I demonstrate more exercises designed to mobilize the segments above and below the lumbar spine, while controlling motion through the lumbar area at the same time.

Mini-band Hip IR/ER – The lumbar spine will compensate for lack of rotation in the hips, something it's not structurally allowed to do.

Half Kneeling Hip Flexor Wall Ball Push – The king of hip flexor stretching. You must dorsiflex the back ankle and toes and PUSH HARD through the back foot. Keep the arms straight. Crush the ball. Do not stick your belly out.

Wall OH Squat w/Rotation – With your arms in the Y position, drive your chest into the wall, then take one hand behind your head and rotate. If you like the Bench T-spine Extension, you'll love this.

KB Swing - Hinging through the hips while controlling the spine. Simple.

Kneeling MB Rotational Throw – Integrating the hinge pattern from the KB swing into rotation.

Box Squat MB Rotational Throw – Emphasis on leg/hip action.

Hex Bar RDL – Reinforce the hinge.

Physioball Rollout – We have that weird shaped physioball which works really well for rollouts.

If you have any questions, please comment or email me!

JB

Tennis, The Shoulder Menace

November 28th, 2011

Competitive young tennis players can be a strength and conditioning coach's greatest challenge. They're on the court 6-7 days per week, all year round. The overuse, combined with a typically high strung competitive environment and play-no-matter-what attitude is a destructive triad that's likely to lead to a tennis-related injury.

Shoulder injuries are expectedly common in tennis athletes. Researchers suggest that shoulder injuries are not the most common in tennis and finish third behind back and lower body related injuries. However, the goal of this post and those to follow is not to proclaim one area of the body to be more significant than the other. Best practice training strategies for the upper body will also be indicated for back and lower body injury prevention and vice versa.

The collage above could be titled "5 Signs of Shoulder Disaster". Max external rotation, internal rotation in elevation, flexion/supination, end range flexion, and horizontal adduction are all provocative examinations for different shoulder pathologies. I admit the pictures of Rafa are extreme. His style and skill are extraterrestrial, but the pictures are still pretty cool and the similarities to the 5 provocative tests mentioned above are outstanding. If you're not familiar with comprehensive clinical examination of the shoulder, buy this book:

Following an assessment, you can categorize an athlete toward a variety of restorative emphases and levels of progression. A sport specific training program built upon kinetic descriptive statistics is useless if you're training a body that doesn't have sufficient range of motion and control. Your assessment should peel back as many layers as you are qualified to reveal, examining fundamental human capacities that are requisite for superhuman athleticism.

As a brief review of functional shoulder mechanics: The humerus (upper arm) attaches into the glenoid (socket) which is formed by the scapula (shoulder blade). The scapula sits on the ribs which attach into the thoracic spine (upper back vertebrae). The shoulder joint, collar bone, shoulder blade, and upper back all must move in harmony (thoraco-scapulo-humeral rhythm), a premium for tennis athletes.

In the video below, I demonstrate a sequence of shoulder preparation exercises that address the capacities I've reviewed. As I mentioned above, some athletes may do more mobility than stability or vice versa as determined by their assessment.

Why Softball Pitchers MUST Squat Part II

November 2nd, 2011

In Part 1, I declared that nothing is more valuable to a young, developing softball pitcher than improving leg strength. I don't normally make such broad statements, but in this case I'm not hedging. The message must be clear, the path unobstructed and well lit: Softball pitchers must be STRONG.

A 135 pound female should be able to back squat 185 pounds below parallel once. This is highly dependent on age and training age. This example calculates to approximately squatting 137% of the athlete's bodyweight, which is between 125%-150%, a common range for starting strength standards.

Some athletes may never back squat, especially if they start weight training late. There are combinations of acceptable weight room achievements for those exceptions. Regardless, the back squat is the ultimate progression, meaning it's an exercise that should be worked toward, not started with.

What's below parallel? Squatting to four standard Airex mats stacked (10 inches) for athletes 5'9" and below or a 12 inch plyo box for athletes 5'10" and above somehow works out universally.

Why Squatting and Not Single Leg Exercises?

Single leg exercises are not superior for windmill softball pitchers if they are used exclusively for an athlete that CAN squat. When used as an assessment, the squat demonstrates the athlete's ability to allow the upper and lower body to move independently (overhead squat), through near-available range. Under load, the squat develops propulsive strength and yielding strength specific to windmill pitching, even if the two movements look nothing alike.

Disregarding upper body action, the windmill delivery is essentially a linear long jump off of one leg to an angular/lateral stop onto one leg.

So if the delivery starts off of one leg and ends on the other, why is a bilateral strength exercise the ultimate solution? Well, this post ran longer than expected, and I have a lot of explaining to do so I will gather my thoughts for a third installment.

Volleyball Practice Preparation and Strength Training

September 22nd, 2011

Here is my response to a recent request for volleyball specific exercises for young girls who have little strength training experience. My first suggestion is to utilize fifteen minutes at the beginning and end of practice to implement basic mobility, stability, and strength exercises. Admittedly, getting a sport coach to adjust their practice to include strength training is a long shot; however, so is getting 14 year old females to do any kind of take-home strength program.

All you would need for this type of program is a wall, the first row of bleachers, and a volleyball for each player. No mats are needed if the athletes have kneepads.

Here are brief "All a volleyball coach needs to know.." descriptions of each exercise and a corresponding video below.

Pre Practice

Wall Ankle – Mobile ankles save knees. Keep the heel on the ground and drive the knee out over the little toe.

Wall Hip Flexor/Quad – Tight hip flexors and quads will contribute to jumpers knee and inhibit jumping power.

Wall Thoracic Spine Extension – Shoulder stretching and strengthening is useless if your athletes can't lift their arms over their head, which begins with extending through the upper back. Young, tall girls will slouch and round their shoulders even more throughout the day making matters worse.

Quadruped Tspine w/Ball squeeze - The upper back must also be able to rotate to create power and keep the shoulder healthy.

Spiderman w/Tspine – The hips and shoulders are connected diagonally, so they must be stretched independently as well as together, such as in this exercise.

Quadruped Alternating raise w/ball- The connection between the hip and opposite shoulder must not only be flexible, but strong. Think of this as creating a super strong rubber band that can also be stretched. That creates hitting power. During this exercise, CRUSH the ball the whole time.

1Leg Hip Bridge w/Ball – Strong glutes and hamstrings contribute to jumping power and knee safety during landing and lunging.

Yoga Push Up/Calf Stretch – Your athletes will think this a great calf stretch, meanwhile they're prepping their shoulder stabilizers to work as the arm moves overhead.

Forward Hop – In the video I'm using hurdles, at practice you should use lines on the court or short cones. 10-15 each leg is plenty.

Lateral Hop Inside and Outside Leg - Same prescription as the forward hops.

Rapid Response Line Jump – You can shuffle, scissor, twist, move back and forth or side to side (in the video); just make sure you incorporate some exercise that prepares your athletes to adjust and recover their feet outside of their hips QUICKLY.

Post Practice

Sumo-Overhead Squat - This immediately hits the "refresh" button on total body mobility, something your athletes may actually lose over the course of a practice. You don't need to squat to get strong, but you need to squat to stay healthy.

Rear foot elevated Split Squat – Use the first row of bleachers, and add pauses and 10-30 second holds to make this more difficult.

1 Leg Squat-Step Up – For weaker athletes this can be more of a step up from the floor. For stronger athletes, this should be a squat down to and up from the floor.

1 Leg Deadlift-Reach w/ball – Along with the Sumo-Overhead squat, this is the second-most important movement to master.

Push up Progression – Use the bleachers, pauses or holds, and eventually the real deal. This is NOT just a chest exercise.

Partner rope pull – The most difficult component of at-practice strength training is balancing upper body pushing exercises and pulling (think rows, chin ups). Here's a cheap, awesome, fun practice finisher. Buy a LONG rope and have your athletes take turns reeling each other across the gym floor (have one athlete sit on a towel). This isn't a tow; it's a hand-over-hand pull. Use small teams to help pulling, rotating which athlete is in front. If you're a sport coach, trust me that nothing will go further to preserving your athletes' shoulders than improving their pulling and grip strength.

Tug of war might actually be a great shoulder and ACL preservation exercise as well. How do ya like those shin angles?

Why Softball Pitchers MUST Squat Part I

September 15th, 2011

In young, developing windmill pitchers, no drill, exercise, or implement will lead to greater overall gains more than improving leg strength. Balance and bodyweight exercises should progress to near maximal, compound lower body lifts as athletes mature. However, attracting high school and even college females to the squat rack or platform is not always easy. Want to get your softball athletes to ferociously attack legs in the weightroom? Use my analogy. I call it "Carcrashpitch".

In my masterpiece below, the car represents the body, while the driver represents the arm and ball. I apologize if the crash-analogy is offensive or violent, but it works. This event occurs much like the windmill delivery. If you're unfamiliar with the sequence, here is my review. Essentially, we're trying to maximize the resultant velocity of the driver (arm and ball) as she flies threw the windshield, while controlling her direction.

To do so, we can adjust a few variables:

1) Speed up the car. This equates to improving the pitcher's explosive drive off of the rubber.

2) Reinforce the wall. The car must come to a halt QUICKLY in order for the driver (arm and ball) to continue at a high velocity. If the system (car and driver) takes time to slow down, the resultant velocity of the ball will be less. This equates to improving deceleration capacity of the lead leg and trunk.

3) Make sure the collision is head on. If the wall is angled, or the car turns at the last second, both the velocity and direction of the driver (arm and ball) will be negatively affected. This requires development of strength and body control that supports technical mastery.

4) Remove the windshield. This equates to releasing restrictions in the upper body that would interrupt the kinetic sequencing of the delivery.

5) Install an "eject button" to be triggered at impact. Contribution from the upper body and torso muscles gives the ball one last boost before it's released. This requires upper body strength (also beneficial for shoulder preservation) and elastic core development.

The car crash analogy can be applied to other movements including batting, overhand throwing, golf, and striking.

In Part II, I'm going to cover the specific lower body kinetics of windmill pitching and explain specifically why many young girls have difficulty mastering pitching mechanics.

Windmill Pitching Upper Body Injuries

September 8th, 2011

Softball pitchers can deliver hundreds of pitches, over multiple games, during the course of a weekend or tournament because the windmill action is a "natural" motion, right? Take a look at one of the most successful pitchers of the past decade, and decide whether you still think so.

To be fair, these are action shots of Taryne likely during different pitches, during different games, at different times in her career. Competitively, she got it done; however, it doesn't take a pitching instructor or physical therapist to realize how she had to compromise her body to succeed.

This post is not about mechanics; it's about stress and injury risk. Here's a brief description of the implications of each position throughout a delivery similar to Taryne's.

Picture 1 – Shoulder hyper-extension. Normal extension approaches 50-60 degrees. Improperly loaded shoulder extension (destabilized range of motion during pressing, dumbbell flies, pec stretching, etc) has been contraindicated for anyone trying to preserve the anterior shoulder.

Picture 2 – Horizontal adduction/flexion with the humerus rotated medially. This is similar to the provocative test position for acromioclavicular joint pain; however, this position can also elicit symptoms caused by rotator cuff and labral injuries (1).

Picture 3 – Near maximal shoulder flexion. Pain with forceful, near maximal shoulder flexion is a classic sign of impingement (1).

Picture 4 – Delivery at 9-o'clock position. At this point in the delivery, the highest biceps activity is reported, as it assists in both shoulder flexion and stabilization of the elbow (2).

Picture 5 – Release. Here, the shoulder endures the highest distraction force throughout the delivery (3).

Picture 6 – Shoulder flexion with the humerus medially rotated and scapula elevated. The "empty can" position approximates the greater tuberosity against the supraspinatus (rotator cuff muscle) and coracoacromial ligament. Elevating the scapula can increase the stress to the superior structures. As the scapula elevates, it will tilt forward, narrowing the space between the acromion and humerus, through which the supraspinatus is located (4).

Seen enough? Four of the six positions above are provocative positions for shoulder pathology. This should suggest that approaching them repetitively with high loads and velocities is likely to result in injury, unless countered with proper technical and performance training. Here is more data on the reality of stress and injury to windmill pitchers.

Inside the Numbers

Softball pitchers commonly pitch between 3-6 games over the course of a weekend or tournament
A youth softball pitcher may deliver 7x more pitches over the course of one year than a youth baseball pitcher (5)
Of 180 college pitchers surveyed, 131 reported being injured over the last 12 months, 80 of those injured directly related to pitching (44%) (6)
Of 25 pitchers surveyed, 64% percent reported a previous arm injury resulting in time loss, and 60% reported arm pain at rest during the competitive season. (7)

The risk of pitching related injury in softball is remarkable, with that risk only increasing with level of competition (6). Up next, I will review the forces produced and endured by the lower body during windmill pitching, specific lower body injury-risk, and more importantly, the effect of lower body biomechanics on pitching efficiency. Proceeding these reviews, I will cover pre-training assessment, restoration strategies and performance training modifications specifically for windmill pitchers.

References

1) Wilk, Reinold, Andrews (2009). The Athlete's Shoulder.

2) Rojas et al. (2009). Biceps Activity During Windmill Softball Pitching. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 37, 3.

3) Werner et al. (2005). Biomechanics of Youth Windmill Softball Pitching. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 33, 4.

4) Sahrmann (2002). Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes.

5) Doyle (2004). Review of the Windmill Pitch: Biomechanics and Injuries

6) Hill et al. (2004) Female Collegiate Windmill Pitchers: Influence to Injury Incidence. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 18, 3.

7) Sauers et al. (2011) Upper Extremity Injury History, Current Pain Rating, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Female Softball Pitchers. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 20.

Empower on TV!

August 31st, 2011

Well, kind of. My good friend and colleague Anthony Renna stopped by our facility to ask me a few questions about Empower's business and training model for his broadcast, StrengthCoachTV. Anthony's show is relatively new, so it is certainly an honor to be one of his first stops, as he travels around the country unveiling unique and progressive training businesses.

Four Phase Program for First Step Speed

August 22nd, 2011

Recently, I was asked by two different coaches what suggestions I had to improve "lateral" range of baseball or softball middle infielders. Both coaches were asking specifically on behalf of high level athletes so it's important to program in that context for the remainder of my response.

Lateral range can be partially determined by sport-specific mechanics and instinct, so I'm only going to cover the drills I would use during strength and conditioning sessions to improve the athletes' capacity. Lateral range is a product of a powerful rotational pivot combined with a crossover step and followed by linear acceleration. That's it. So my first suggestion to coaches is to keep it simple. Baseball and softball do not require complex sequences of change of direction drills, which only lead to fatigue and poor mechanics. Total-body rotational power, an effective crossover and linear propulsion are the primary training considerations for developing first step speed.

Here are, what I consider, the exercises that have the highest transfer to the three components of first step speed/lateral range:

Initial Push/Rotational Pivot: Bilateral Squats, Lateral and Rotational Bounds, Lateral Wall Drives, Cable Rotational Rows

Crossover: Lateral Wall Posture Holds and Drives, Crossover drills

Linear Acceleration: Jumps, Linear bounds, Linear Wall Posture and Drives

Here is a 4 Phase/4 Day template created specifically for improving first step quickness/lateral range: The exercises that I've provided above are programmed into Day 1 and 3 of this program. Each phase of exercises is demonstrated in the video below.

Windmill Pitching Performance Training Part II

July 27th, 2011

Following Part I, let's look at the different phases of windmill pitching with special attention to a few instances where strength and conditioning coaches can really benefit a softball pitcher's capacity and technique.

If you are unfamiliar with the windmill sequence, please review Part I, so this information doesn't come out of left field.

Wind up –

-Variable

-Load/prep of the back leg to drive off rubber

Stride to Lead Foot Contact –

-Drive off rubber with back leg, propelling the body in a straight line toward home plate

This movement is very explosive and results in pitchers reaching stride lengths between 80 and 100 percent of the body height. Full hip extension on the back leg is required for maximal power and lumbar stability.

-Pitching arm will travel from 6 o’clock to 12 o’clock (between 160-180 degrees of flexion/abduction)

In this position, thoracic mobility are scapular stability are critical, as well as multi-segmental extensibility across the anterior functional fascial lines (see: Anatomy Trains).

-Body turns toward third base

-Lead leg lands with knee slightly flexed (around 30 degrees)

Here, single leg strength and joint stability are required for efficient energy transfer from the stride leg into the upper body.

One way I explain the consequence of joint instability to young athletes is using a "sand pit" analogy. Movement with joint instability is like testing vertical jump in a sand pit. Performance is inhibited (can't jump as high) because the sand gives out underneath the feet. Jump performance improves on solid ground because the interaction between the feet and ground is stable. If any joint "gives out" during the push of the rubber or during landing of the stride leg, maximal velocity will never be obtained and an overuse injury is likely to appear.

-Lead foot lands internally rotated (around 30 degrees) toward the third base side

-At lead foot contact, pitching arm will be at 12 o’clock

-Lead arm points toward home plate

Delivery to release –

-Pitching arm travels from 12 o’clock to release very close to the plane of the body

Core stability, thoracic mobility and proper scapular loading will allow the arm to "track" correctly toward the target (catcher). From 12 o'clock to release, the shoulder and elbow endure the largest distraction forces throughout the delivery. Biceps activity peaks during this phase as it contributes to the stability to both joints.

-Elbow may be slightly flexed and elbow/wrist position will vary at release depending on the pitch thrown

-Lower trunk will rotate (20-45 degrees) toward home plate up to point of release

During the delivery, the upper and lower torso separate. This dissociation leads to a stretch and subsequent stretch-reflex contributing to pitch velocity. The pec major is the primary engine which flexes the arm in this movement; however, its power is determined by the muscular teamwork behind and below.

-Back leg slides (must maintain ground contract) in straight line toward lead leg

Follow through –

-Pitching arm (elbow/wrist) action is variable

-Back leg completes its slide, with the back foot contacting the lead foot

-Lower trunk completes its rotation toward home plate

Similar to other rotational movements, the trunk rotates into a stiff front leg. Once again, the pelvis and torso do not move as one unit. As you can see in the photo above, the pitcher's shoulders have rotated beyond her pelvis after releasing the ball which may help reduce stress to the pitching arm.

-Pitcher should finish “tall” into lead leg

-Pitcher will adjust back leg in order to prepare to field a batted ball

Coming up, I will review the most common pitching-related injuries, proposed mechanisms, assessments, restoration and preservation strategies. These future posts will include specific tests, corrective exercises, coaching-eye exercise corrections (notice the difference) and training strategies for youth, adolescent and elite level pitchers.