Archive for October, 2011

Monday Mental Musing- Getting Tough

Posted: October 31, 2011 by Matt Kramer in General, Mental Game, Training
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This is the first of my weekly “Monday Mental Musing” posts- where I will begin to dive into the mental training side of baseball though I hope the application will reach beyond the game of baseball. As I mentioned in my nutrition post one of my favorite quotes is Yogi Berra’s “Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical.”  The more I have come to learn in this game, and the more I have seen my mental training benefit my game, the more his statement rings true.

After the first Northeastern snowstorm of 2011 this past weekend, 2.7 million people were without power and there are still hundreds of thousands of people without power.  As I returned from my training session today (more…)

Training Nutrition 101- A Day In the Life of My Stomach

Posted: October 25, 2011 by Matt Kramer in General, Nutrition, Training
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One of my most favorite quoted athletes of all time, Yogi Berra, once said, “Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical.”  Granted his math doesn’t quite add up, but there is a subtle sense in his madness.  I’d like to adapt this favorite quote of mine to training and say that “Fitness is 90% nutrition, the other half is physical.”  Here’s why:

Nutrition is one of the most important, arguably the most important part of any proper training program.  You can train hard and train smart, but if you are not supplying (more…)

The Warm Up- The Breakfast of Your Workout

Posted: October 14, 2011 by Matt Kramer in General, Training
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Just like that good breakfast to start your day (and as you will see when I chronicle my nutrition later, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day), the warm up is an integral start to any proper training program.  Not only is it important to prepare the body for the training session to come, but it is also an integral part of maintaining and gaining back range of motion that has been lost.  If you aren’t warming up properly, you are putting yourself at risk!

The law of repetitive motion states that:

I- NF/AR

where I=injury, N= number of repetitions, F=Force or tension of each repetition as a percent of maximum muscle strength, A= amplitude of each repetition, R= relaxation time between repetition.  A proper warmup, among other things, will aim to increase range of motion, or amplitute, of each repetition, thereby lowering the risk of injury, I, throughout training.

Our warmup at Cressey Performance consists of (more…)

Offseason Day 1- The Evaluation

Posted: October 7, 2011 by Matt Kramer in Training
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As with every client who steps through the door at Cressey Performance, each pro player coming back from the season undergoes a thorough evaluation through which an individualized program- from warmups and stretching, to agility, medicine ball exercises and the lifting program- is created. The evaluation consists of a thorough mobility and movement screening through which areas of concern become quite evident.  Joint mobility is measured and movement patterns- overhead squats, walking overhead lunges, among others- are assessed.

No matter how hard one works to counteract (more…)