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, presses, … [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