One of the long-standing myths of sport and exercise is the demonization of “Lactic acid”. We have been told that is what makes your muscles burn and fatigue during exercise and we need to “flush it out” as part of the recovery process. It all sounds cool, but unfortunately NONE of that is true.  What is it? What is often termed as lactic acid is a byproduct of … [Read more...] about The Lactic Acid Myth

Being stuck at home does not mean you cannot still improve your health, fitness and performance. You can still stay fit, resilient and strong with the right plan. Here are some recommendations to help get and keep you on track to your goals: Home Exercise Programs Exercise Library - On my YouTube page you can find a library of videos with instruction for over … [Read more...] about The Home Fitness and Performance Survival Guide

The following list are suggestions for when looking to purchase fitness equipment for training at home. This is a minimalistic list and should be adjusted as per your fitness level, goals, space and budget. There are many exercises that can be done with no equipment, but the following list increases the number of options available.  Dumbbells (Minimums. … [Read more...] about Home Exercise Equipment Recommendations

Former Houston Astros Manager AJ Hinch was interviewed yesterday for the first time since he was suspended and then subsequently fired due to his role in the baseball sign-stealing scandal. During the interview he said something poignant that I have actually been saying for years regarding building a culture when working with either an individual or a team. Hinch said, … [Read more...] about You Get What You Tolerate

Dear Coaches- I am begging you that you please take my advice based on over 20 years of experience in training athletes at all levels - Stop killing your kids. Thanks- Eric So it is a Thursday late afternoon in early January and I quickly check my phone messages before I start my training sessions for the evening. This is a text I received from one of the kids in my … [Read more...] about A Plea to ALL High School Coaches

Endurance A.K.A - Conditioning, Cardio, Work Capacity, Work Tolerance...What does it all mean??? Which one do I need, if any???How do I best develop any of them???While some of the terms listed above all may be somewhat interchangeable, they all refer to our ability to challenge our bodies and keep going. That being said, the dynamics of most physical endeavors, … [Read more...] about Defining Endurance and The 10% Rule for Conditioning

Watch any athletic endeavor closely and you will notice that most, if not all, of these activities have a prominent rotational component. Ironically, when we look at many strength and conditioning programs for athletes, they never train in the transverse (rotational) plane, which may be one of the reasons we see so many oblique strains and groin pulls. Squats, … [Read more...] about Rotational Cross Patterning

While many people talk about the benefits of stretching and flexibility, some people could actually do more harm than good by increasing their range of motion. There are two main components that hold a joint together and determine it's range. First is the joint tissue itself (ligaments, joint capsules, etc.) and the second is the tension of the muscles that surround it. … [Read more...] about Are you TOO loose??? How Stretching Can Make Some People Worse

Awareness of nutrition and it's impact is paramount to anyone's success with a training program. All of the training in the world can't undo a bad diet. To drive this point home, there is a fun mental exercise I do with all of my athletes to drive this point home. First thing I do is ask them to fill out a 3-Day Food Log by writing out everything they eat and drink … [Read more...] about Nutrition Visualization

I first became aware of the 4 Levels or States of Competence model from a motivational speaker about 20 years ago. He was applying the model to how we develop business acumen, but as he was speaking, I thought that this concept applied beautifully to what I was doing in teaching people movement. I believed I was really on to something unique and began using … [Read more...] about The 4 Levels of Competence

This post is by far my most personal to date so don't expect to learn much about the technicalities of fixing shoulder mobility or analyzing athletic body positions in this one. Also expect to come across way more curses than usual, so if you're easily offended, please hit the "back" button and check out a different post. I'm going to let my Jersey out a little on … [Read more...] about Reflections and introspection on life and the little I’ve learned over the last 46 years

What do we all do over 20,000 per day, but often never even give a thought to?The human body can go weeks without food, days without water, but only a few minutes without air. Breathing is one of the first signs we look for to see if someone is alive or dead. In many cultures the same word is used for breath as they use for spirit or "life force", such as Chi or … [Read more...] about Breathing: How, What, When and Why

If I could change the names of any of the tests in the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), it would most certainly be the Deep Squat, the In-Line Lunge and the Trunk Stability Push-Up.Why?What do those 3 names all have in common? They are also connected to popular gym exercises, so much debate, misinterpretation and confusion comes out how we look at these movements. … [Read more...] about Tests vs Exercises

In the past few weeks I've had a few eye opening experiences that inspired this post regarding how we go about preparing athletes. Both were related to baseball and softball, but the concepts we will discuss can be carried over to just about any discipline or activity.The first instance was a high school baseball player who came in for a training session and told me that … [Read more...] about Learn, Practice, Train

The Active Straight Leg Raise (ASLR) is one of the fundamental tests of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) that is a lower limb reciprocal pattern that assesses dynamic hip mobility while simultaneously looking at core stability and motor control of the trunk and pelvis during single leg hip hinging.A few notes to consider:-It is NOT simply a hamstring test!!! Sure, the … [Read more...] about The Basics of the Leg Raise

Research recently published shows how to improve scores in the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), but it's probably not how you think...Being a lead instructor for FMS since 2006 and having used the system extensively with thousands of clients, I have seen many misinterpretations of the system and heard many ways in which it is misunderstood. This … [Read more...] about Improving FMS Scores – Research Review

When you have two kids who play sports and you train athletes for a living, it is only a matter of time before the other moms and dads pull you to the side and start picking your brain for info on how to make their son or daughter a superstar."Do you do classes for speed training?" is the question they ask me most often. My reply is always a non-committal, "kind of". I'm … [Read more...] about The Best Speed Drill Ever !?!?!

Since I've started training clients, before someone starts working with me, I always ask them a few simple questions. One of which is, "How do you know if I have done my job and you have had a great session?"The two most common answers:1. It was hard and I sweat a lot2. I was really sore the next dayI will quickly will then reply, "That's great. I have a special program … [Read more...] about How Do You Know You Got a Good Workout???

Here's a great client story from many years ago:Bob comes in and tells me I got him in trouble. He said his wife is furious at him. Bob struggled with his mobility, to say the least, so I would always tease him that he just needed some WD40 to grease his joints. He goes on to tell me that his mother-in-law who was in her eighties would call the house and … [Read more...] about An Amusing Use for WD40

A poor habit I see in too many weight rooms is the propensity to crank back the neck and look up at the sky when doing squats. I don't how or where this started, but I think I know why. Due to a lack of mobility and/or stability many people lack the ability to maintain a neutral spine as they get lower in the squat and will begin to tuck under their pelvis and flex their … [Read more...] about Don’t Look Up When You Squat