Functional Performance and Athletics: Doctors of Physical Therapy

Dear Parents of Youth Baseball Players,
Before you get carried away letting your kid throw a baseball year round let me tell you a few things you ought to consider. With the expanded programs offered by travel ball and other private industry I’d like you to 🤔 about what is important for your kid to maximize his potential on a baseball field for the long term and not simply his next season of ball.
1️⃣5x risk of major injury in those who throw a baseball more than 8 months out the year.
2️⃣Trying to change upper body mobility/stability/strength while throwing a baseball is like
trying to change the tire on a car that is still moving. Throwing a baseball is the fastest motion in all of sports, the demands on the body are exceptionally high and trying to improve both skill and strength at youth ages is like head butting a nail into a 2x4. Try it, it’s not easy. 🔨
3️⃣Your passive restraints at the shoulder/elbow (ligaments) take a beating throwing year round. If you don’t have the active strength and control to match that loss in the passive restraints (which 98% of the youth/high school athletes I see at this age don’t have this capacity) you will get injured.
🤔I’d bet you’d like your kid to reach his potential right? The fastest way to NEVER see that potential is to have your young athlete work skill work year round without a well-rounded strength, stability, mobility, and arm care. Lots of talented baseball players never get to where they need to be simply due to lack of thought from everyone involved in their development. THINK!🧠

Ever wonder what it looks and feels like to walk out of my office? Well here ya go! Or it could only be that good because of mullet and pit vipers! Who knows! But as my business space transitions to the new one over the next month this the door to access me now!

🎯Disc Herniation
“Sciatica” is a big boogey man for so many people.🙊One cause of symptoms is a disc herniation.
🤔Did you know that disc herniations are actually quite common AND a majority of the time individuals who have such a diagnosis don’t even know because they are asymptomatic?
🧐Treating individuals with this diagnosis can be tricky. One size NEVER fits all. This particular gentleman has dealt with severe symptoms for >1 year. He is no weight lifter, however the barbell teaches you more than just strength. In 5 weeks of rehab this guy has given me his all.
💪🏽He’s done everything I’ve asked and proof is in the puddin’. In this video, he’s pulling a solid 335# without symptoms. 🔺Sorry for the quick cut off on the video, you only missed some profanity laced excitement🤪
📌Gettin’ err done like Larry the Cable Guy

Maximizing the Force/Velocity Curve

Power Development🚀
💥Maximizing the force/velocity curve is a key component to training high level athleticism.
💥Essentially it means that as the weight goes up, the speed of that movement will go down and vise versa.
💥Sports in general, require large quantities of power to be successful. A great athlete will be able to elicit exceptional speed at higher loads.
💪🏽The beauty of strength training is there are many ways to skin a cat. 👇🏽These are just a couple examples in programming done for a high-level soft-BALLA! .coleman your dedication and commitment to becoming the best athlete you can be is simply 2nd to none! It’s a true pleasure to watch you in a gym environment. Many think they work hard, few actually do! This gal is one of the few! 💯

☄️3-D Gluteal Activation☄️
⚡️“Feeling” an exercise where the intended stimulus is supposed to be is KEY. I may harp on this more than most in my business because damn it matters! When building any tissue, many factors need to be accounted for. Muscle fiber orientation needs to be recognized and exercises need to be rx’ed appropriately to ensure every portion of the intended tissue is stressed with a solid stimulus.
⚡️Give this exercise a shot if you’re experiencing low back, hip, and/or knee pain. Perform in a controlled manner for 3x12-15 with a firm squeeze at end range.

🍑Let’s Talk About those GLUTES!🍑
💥While on COVID break, I got the opportunity to slide into Joey August’s realm . For those who follow my page and don’t know Joey August you are missing out! He’s an outstanding personal trainer, strong as an ox, and an even better human being! I’m lucky to call you a friend brotha!
🎬In this video, we are discussing one of the best exercises to improve b***y activation and strength.
🎯This versatile exercise can be performed with minimal equipment and can be adjusted to fit any particular need. Needless to say, if you aren’t doing this👇🏽, you SHOULD be!
Also, give Joey a follow and see what he’s cooking up!

🍁 Fall baseball is back in swing for the WWCC boys! Better watch out for the boys in Black and Gold! Putting in that work!

🚀Speed Work Series🚀 🧱Box Step Drill
This is another drill that has a host of variations that can be used to challenge an athlete and/or work on various areas of breakdown during a sprint. Many younger athletes really tend to exhibit poor chest and shoulder positioning during sprinting. This particular drill can help with that.
1️⃣Ensure proper positioning at the start
2️⃣Tell your athlete to “switch feet as fast as possible”
3️⃣ Make adjustments as needed: raise/lower box, add band tension if ready
🔑The key with this is the maintenance of proper shoulder and chest positioning while cyclically moving the feet.

🚀Speed Work Series🚀
As mentioned in previous post, positioning is key. With this Triple Extension Drill you are really trying to teach an athlete how to maximally generate power while maintaining spinal neutral. If the spine is NOT in neutral, forget about maximal power generation and speed.
1️⃣Start with lean against a wall so the body is at a 30-45 deg ankle from wall
2️⃣Wrists at shoulder height or lower
3️⃣Hips underneath the athlete
4️⃣Drive one leg as aggressively into hip flexion as possible, while maintaining a neutral
spine.
☝🏼This Wall Drill can be used a number of different ways, however with the triple extension drill I’m just looking to encourage the athlete to generate maximum power with proper positioning. Stability in the spine will directly correlate to improved force production.💥

🐂Tight Calves FIX🛠
🔹Athletes your calves absorb a ton of stress with training. In sport, you spend a majority of your time in a plantarflexed position with weight on the balls of your feet. The gastroc/soleus complex works hard for you. Give your calves a little ❤️ with this tack and release self STM technique. ALWAYS follow up your self STM work with active ROM work, unless you just want to waste your time🤷🏼‍♂️

Get FASTER! 💨 💨
✅Developing speed and COACHING athletes into successful positions while sprinting whether it’s reactionary or linear acceleration can be difficult. Each athlete is different, has different limitations, and responds differently to certain cues.
✅Teaching speed is just like teaching exercise. You break it down, you find limitations, and you perform drill work to isolate those limitations.
✅Phase 3 hip rehab for includes sprint work as she’s developed compensatory motor patterns due to chronic pain. Here we are really working on pure linear acceleration which is great for athletes who have a difficult time generating pure power. She begins with a loaded front leg, chest angled appropriately for max power. Stride length is our main focus at this time! Big changes in just one treatment today, keep grinding kid!🙌🏽
🤔speed video in slow mo

🧜🏼‍♂️Diving into Monday after the long weekend!🤘🏼Hope it was enjoyed by all! ‘Murica is pretty legit!

💥Back Blaster💥
🦁This exercise is a great back developer. The beauty behind this exercise happens in the set-up.
Tips: 1️⃣The hip on the same side as the arm performing the exercise needs to be higher than the opposing side to put the latissimus dorsi on max tension
2️⃣Use a box or bench to stabilize the opposite side. This is not a balance exercise, it’s a strength exercise so perform accordingly.
☑️The pronated grip allows for rhomboid, lower and middle trap activation as well! Crush it like a beer can!🤙🏼Happy 4th ‘Merica🇺🇸

🏋🏼‍♂️Difficulty with Overhead Press?
☑️Scrape the Rack Overhead Press is a great option for those who have limited shoulder stability and compensate elsewhere when moving weight overhead. As I’ve stated in previous posts, overhead pressing is much more “functional” (whatever that means) then the bench press for a majority of the population and most field sport athletes.
🔺By scraping the rack, you improve humeral centration in the socket allowing for a decrease in pain when moving into the overhead.
🔺Set up can be standing, tall-kneeling, half-kneeling, or seated. Add a bit of cervical flexion at the top end to add tension to the movement and really target what you want with this lift.

💥Ab Wheel Rollout💥
This is one of my favorite anti-extension exercises. However, it’s also one of the most poorly executed exercises by WAY to many people. I’ve seen some of the worst technique in a gym on this little wheel.🤢
🤓The most common mistake I see is that one tends to lead with the arms in the exercise. This forces a ton of overhead stability and MOST will put all the forces in the lumbar spine with this approach.
✌🏽In the second portion of this you’ll note that the hips lead the charge and once they hit lockout the arms finish the movement. 🤔Remember: this is an anti-extension exercise, not a flexion based exercise.
☑️So Rollout like Ludacris, not a fruitcake!🤡

🚀Progress your Push-Up🚀
☑️Push-ups are one of the most functional bodyweight exercises for all spectrums of the athletic realm. A bench press somehow continues to be a “landmark” exercise that everyone establishes baselines of even though it doesn’t correlate with much specificity to the vast majority of field sports.
💣Instead of bumping your push-up reps from 20 to 30, use banded tension to draw out a better strength effect.

Bulldoggin’ thru a Pec Strain 🐮
💯This is one tough kid right here! My job is always to meet the needs of patient, no matter the goal. As healthcare providers, we advise and give guidance based on best practice. Typically, 4-6 weeks of rehab would be advised for this athlete before return to sport, but with the finals approaching getting him to a point where he can simply get out and wraaastle a steer is what we were shooting for with a limited time frame.
❗️Rodeo is a sport that demands a lot out of an athlete’s body. Many of these athletes have an extra internal drive that you just don’t see out of field sport athletes. And yes, they are ATHLETES! If you don’t believe me, just get on a horse and chase a steer down. Then jump off that perfectly good horse onto said steer and wrestle that 500-700 lb critter to the dirt!
☑️Pre-Run Warm-Up
1️⃣Banded Overheads x10
2️⃣Banded Pullaparts x20-30
3️⃣ Face Pull x 20-30
4️⃣Neutral Row x 20-30
5️⃣ Neutral Chest Press with CONTROL x15-20
🙏🏼It’s been a pleasure working with you my man! You got something inside you that I rarely see! You get a Master’s Degree in being a B.A. from me!🤘🏼Looking forward to watching you succeed finals! SEND IT!

Static Stretching Sucks🤭....well not all the time!
❗️Static stretching is less than ideal before big training bouts or game day.
❗️However, when implemented properly it can be a pretty dang successful way to elicit muscle growth.
💯Intra-set stretching is a great way to build muscle, improve mobility and flexibility in a time saving fashion.
😬This isn’t for the faint of heart! Get a good pump and then stretch “pumped” tissue. Boom!🤯
🙋🏼‍♂️How’s your current training program? Are you consisting seeing results? Are you mindlessly going from one set to the next?
🔥Let’s fix that! Contact today for your individualized programming tailored to YOUR goals.
[email protected]​ or (509) 876-0090#strengthtraining

⭐️Alternating Star Pattern Pull Apart⭐️
🔨Build resilient shoulders with this exercise. I love this exercise with overhead athletes due to the SAID principle and can easily be implemented in any arm care program
☑️This exercise is best executed when the body is in full tension throughout the movement patterns. You should shoot for slight shoulder external rotation at the top and slight internal rotation at the bottom for maximal benefit.
🔫Shoot for lots of volume with this!

🛑Sooo one time, I told if she cleared 5’4” in the high jump that I’d let her punch me as hard as she could! At the time of that discussion, she had only cleared 5”0” in a track meet. She cleared 5’4” the very next day. She must have wanted to punch me pretty bad! So today I let her take some hacks at me to hold up my end of the deal.😬
▶️Jokes aside, this young lady is rare. From rehab for various things to focused strength and conditioning. She is insanely driven, focused, and just flat works! Everyone sees the incredible athlete on the field. I’m fortunate enough to see the hard work, dedication, and diligence she puts in off of it to make it all look so easy when she is on the field of play. However, the best of Eli may be who see is as a human being and for that I’m most proud of her!
💯Eli the only one who can stop you is yourself! Your potential is limitless, dream the wildest dreams, because you got a gift kid! Thanks for the dead arm and laughs today! Now knock out your calf raises!

💣Landmine Reverse Lunge💣
🤷🏼‍♂️Many times I see people lightly loading lunges and performing this exercise for volume. That’s cool and all if you are a bodybuilder or are hitting a hypertrophy cycle, but it’s best loaded heavy if you are a runner, jumper, baseball player, football player, soccer player, or ATHLETE of any kind.
💥This set-up allows for someone short on heavy dumbbells to load the lunge pattern HEAVY.
✅Note: Use straps if grip is the limiting factor as your legs should feel like you are a newborn giraffe when done with this exercise.

⚡️Back Plank⚡️
☑️The ability to generate and sustain tension is of utmost importance for power development in athletics and also for pain-free movement in the general population. Insert: 🔙 Plank
✅Get into a full body brace, hugging yourself to increase upper body tension, while ensuring quad and posterior chain activation. A few sets of 30 seconds will hit the spot!

🔥Dynamic Effort Trap Bar Deadlift 🐆 Speed Kills! Dynamic Effort work is a great way to turn your strength into power. Power translates much better to sport! Keep your sets high and reps low. Focus is moving a weight as FAST as possible!

📞Contact at 509-876-0090 or 💻email ​[email protected]​for individualized sport and goal specific programming!