3 Things Athletes Can Learn From Derek Jeter

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In case you've been living under a rock this past week, you've heard Derek Jeter retired from the game of baseball.  Arguably one of the greatest baseball players of all-time on the best franchise in the history of the MLB.

What's stood out even more than his illustrious career, is him as a person.  Jeter has played in the league for 20-years and is considered one of the greatest leaders and class acts in the game.  Everybody who has known Jeter has nothing but great things to say about the guy, and in the professional sports world this a feat in itself.

There are things all athletes can learn from the career from Jeter, and below are 3 things athletes should take notice too.

(Photo Credit: Giantbomb.com)

1. Consistency

Jeter is a model of consistency and a guy that plays day in and day out, not to mention he plays what is considered to be the leader of the defense - Shortstop.  Overall, Jeter played for 20-years with a career batting average of .310, hit 260 homeruns, drove in 1311 runs, and scored 1923 times.  

Check this out, in his first full season he hit .314, had 10 homeruns, 78 RBI's, and scored 104 runs.  In his 18th full season he hit .316, 15 homeruns, 58 RBI's, and scored 99 runs.  Not only that, in his 19 full years in the bigs, he played in 145 or more games in 16/19 seasons.  If that's not a model of consistency, I don't know what is.  Jeter has also said that he's within 5lbs of the weight he was during his rookie season, meaning he's a guy that takes care of his body and the does little things that allow him to be great.

Half the battle is showing up, day in and day out, and putting your best effort on the field and Jeter did that.  He played through pain, played when he was tired and beat up, and played when he didn't feel his best.  He didn't make excuses, he showed up and performed, this is admirable and something all athletes should take note.  

2. Let His Game Speak

If there is one thing all competitors say about Jeter is he respected the game and played it the right way.  He wasn't cocky, didn't try to show anybody up, played hard, played with respect, and played the game the right way.

He didn't talk about himself or try to subtract from other players/teams; he let his game speak for itself.  It's a breath of fresh air to hear this as all you ever hear today is players talking about themselves or trying to tear down another player.  It's great to have confidence, but these kind of antics are over the top and don't win you over any admirers. 

Jeter let his game do the talking and his game did the most talking when the game is on the line.  He has been given the nickname, "Mr. Clutch" for good reason.  Just think about his last week - He ended his final game at Yankee Stadium with a walk off RBI to win the game.  Then he ended his final career at-bat with a hit.  All great players step-up when the game is on the line, and Jeter did this as well as any.

Walk the walk, don't talk the talk.

3. Humble

The guy is going to be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer, was Rookie of the Year, been a All-Star 14-times, won 5 Gold Gloves, won 5 Silver Sluggers, was MVP of both the World Series and All-Star game, and was a World Champion 5 times.  If anybody is in a situation to be cocky, it's Jeter, yet you never hear anything.

The guy goes about his business, avoids negative headlines, and play the game the right way.  He's humble, down to earth, and respectful of the game and it's history.  If you haven't seen this commercial of Jeter, it's a must see.  Plus it's got ole Franky Sinatra music leading it, so it's even more awesome!

Take note athletes - Be humble, be consistent, and let your game speak for itself.

Go Get 'Em!

Wanna Throw Cheddar? Then Get Stronger!

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Overhead actions dominate many sports; everything from pitchers, quarterbacks, volleyball players, tennis, swimming, to handball players, they all have huge requirements for OH actions.  With all of these actions, the major goal is to increase the velocity of the implement used - we want to increase throwing velocity, throwing distance, serving power, stroke power, and spiking power - Overall we want to increase the high stinky cheddar!

Well how do you improve OH power and velocity?  

Previous research has reported that high-velocity throwing begins at the lower body (1).  OH power is driven through leg/hip movements and this power progresses up through the torso/core, to the shoulder and finally through the arm where it gets put to work on the given implement.  A stronger and more stable lumbopelvic-hip complex contributes to higher rotational velocity (3).

Roach and Liebermann indicated that 90% of the work for throwing power is generated at the hips (1).

Yes, 90%!

Look at anybody who thrives in an OH sport and they'll have a solid lower half.

It makes you wonder why we see all these special devices, bands, and weighted balls designed to improve throwing velocity, when the reality is that the best way to improve throwing velocity is to improve your lower half.  Trying to increase throwing velocity by focusing on strengthening the shoulder or arm is akin to putting new tires on a car - it will look good and give some performance benefits but if the engine isn't there, it really doesn't matter.

We love to use med balls and some of the devices mentioned above to develop and cement the rotational sequencing, but it's important to understand they are just a small tool and are not as effective for increasing throwing power as strength training.

In fact a study from way back in 1994 showed this; medicine ball training alone had a neutral effect on throwing velocity, while a strength training group produced a significant increase in pitching velocity (4).  This is not to say strengthening the shoulder or the use of certain devices isn't warranted, they have a time and place, but they shouldn't be the vocal point in training programs and unfortunately that's exactly what we often see in many OH training programs.

As many can attest, we feel the best approach is a combination of different tools, but first and foremost is a good base of strength.  With this base is place, the other tools can be more effective and transfer to sport to greater degree. 

What's even more interesting about developing the lower body is that Lehman et al found that power in the frontal plane (lateral movements) correlated most to throwing velocity; more so than vertical jump, sprinting speed, and vertical med ball power (2).  

What's this all mean?

It means that throwing velocity is specific and training demands needs to follow suit.  Traditional squat, deadlift, clean, snatch, and bench alone don't cut it.  Training elements need to be in place to focus on frontal plane movements and developing power in this manner.

When I first read this study a year ago, I decided to study many of my athletes on these same tests.  Specifically, I evaluated unilateral lateral jump and throwing velocity.  After compiling 25 samples, I found the same result - those athletes with the longest lateral jump, threw the hardest.  The graph below shows the obvious trend; you not only need great power and strength in the lower body and hips, but it also has to be specific to lateral movements.  

X-Axis = Lateral Bound; Y-Axis = Throwing Velocity

How to Throw Cheddar?

First and foremost, get strong and powerful, especially in the frontal and transverse plane.  This means applying many of the tools used below.  If you haven't seen some of these or performed drills in this manner, then you're short-changing your ability to throw that high stinky cheese.  Take a look.

Finally in terms of OH training, we really hammer away at hip and pelvis stability and control.  Burkhart et al demonstrated that poor gluteus medius strength and control can effect "up the stream" and place increased stress on the shoulder.  These researchers reported that approximately 44% of athletes presented with SLAP (superior labral anterior-posterior) tears also exhibited gluteus medius weakness (5).  Another interesting study showed that pitchers showed lower glute and hip strength/control compared to position players (6).  This may contribute to explain why pitchers tend to have greater occurrence of arm injury when volume is equated.

Weak glutes and hips will not only effect leg drive and force put through the body, but it also effects position and mechanics through different OH movements.  When we look at pitchers, during balance point, if the hip on the grounded leg sinks or sags it will effect the whole delivery.  We need a strong and stable base in this hip and this means working on glute medius strength through band walks, clams, or side lying leg raises.  We also like to work this stability in the specific manner it is seen in many OH athletes, demonstrated by the drill below.  The band forces the abductors to be highly active to stabilize this position. 

Bring in the Closer

With all the OH athletes we work with, increasing OH power is key and when athletes go through our program that emphasized frontal plane movements, they can tell the difference.  A big squat and deadlift is great, but if that doesn't specifically transfer to lateral and rotational movement, then it's all for not.  We get great feedback from our athletes who feel the transfer of strength, power, and speed during OH movements because of our approach.

So if you want to throw cheddar, get strong laterally and see the results!

Go Get 'Em!


References

1. Roach and Liebermann.  Upper body contributions to power generation during rapid, overhand throwing in humans.  Journal of Experimental Biology, 2014

2. Lehman, G et al.  Correlation of Throwing Velocity to the Results of Lower-Body Field Tests in Male College Baseball Players.  Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: April 2013 - Volume 27 - Issue 4 - p 902-908

3. Saeterbakken, A et al.  Effect of Core Stability Training on Throwing Velocity in Female Handball Players.  Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: March 2011 - Volume 25 - Issue 3 - pp 712-718

4.  Newton, R; McEvoy, K.  Baseball Throwing Velocity: A Comparison of Medicine Ball Training and Weight Training. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: August 1994

5. Burkhart SS, Morgan CD, Kibler WB. Shoulder injuries in overhead athletes. The “dead arm” revisited. Clin Sports Med 2000;19(1):125-158.

6. Laudner, Kevin G., et al. "Functional hip characteristics of baseball pitchers and position players." The American journal of sports medicine 38.2 (2010): 383-387.

Research Review: Sleep

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Sleep!  I absolutely love to sleep, but unfortunately I'm in the wrong field with daily wake-up calls at 5:00am, but Sundays are the 1-day I get to play catch-up on some good sleep.  So it's only fitting that I write this on a Sunday morning after a good night of rest.

For athletes, sleep might be the most powerful tool you have for increasing performance.  It's also one of the easiest aspects to improve but often very under-managed.  It's very UNcommon to hear of an athlete we work with get to bed before 10pm, yet alone 11pm or midnight.

This is discouraging considering the impact quality sleep can have on athletes, especially those in high school or below.  The role sleep plays in energy levels, recovering from training, focus, attention, hormonal levels, and combating fatigue is clear.  Serious athletes have serious schedules, from training, to practice, to school, to games, to individual instruction, etc and this takes a major toll on the body.  The main weapon athletes have to balance this effort and make sure it turns into success on the field and in the classroom, is sleep!   

There is growing evidence that sleep duration and lack of sleep affect the onset of metabolic syndrome, obesity and type II diabetes, particularly via their association with increased body weight, glucose intolerance and high blood pressure (1).

Not only that but researchers have shown that sleep extension (adding on average of 110-minutes a night) increased shooting accuracy, decreased reaction times, decreased fatigue scales, and improved ratings of physical and mental ratings during practices and games in basketball players (2).

These

Collegiate Basketball players increased their sleeping patterns to around 10-hours a night and in return saw their free throw percentage increase by 9% and 3-point shooting percentage by 9.2%!  That's a lot of points to be had by a player and a team, and can mean the difference in the outcome of many games! 

When I talk to athletes athletes the common response is that it's not a big deal to lose sleep and it doesn't effect their playing ability.  But research tends to feel otherwise, and just 1.5 hours of sleep loss can decrease insulin sensitivity, decrease leptin concentrations, and can acutely decrease body weight, but chronically increase body weight (1).

In plain terms, decreased insulin sensitivity means insulin levels remain elevated for longer periods of time due to the lack of ability to get glucose in muscle tissues, ie not what we want.  Leptin is known to suppress appetite, so a lack of leptin can lead to increased hunger and appetite which may lead to weight gain.  This effect can be seen as studies appear to point to a relationship between lack of sleep and higher body mass index and fat percentage (3).

Literature is growing to show a clear relationship between lack of sleep and different potential health and performance problems.

"In summary, inadequate sleep, in both quality and quantity, should be regarded as a plausible risk factor for the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In addition to other health promotion measures, a good night's sleep should be seen as a critical health component by clinicians in the prevention and treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes." (3)

Overall sleep deprivation can effect the following

• Reduce Testosterone levels
• Reduce Ability to Recover
• Increase Stress
• Increase Appetite
• Increase Risk of Obesity
• Increase Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
• Decrease School, Athletic, and Work Performance

Tips For A Better Night of Sleep

• Pitch Black - A huge hormone that helps control the whole sleep-wake cycle is melatonin.  Melatonin is greatly influenced by light; darkness increases melatonin production while light reduces melatonin levels.  At night we want complete darkness to help stimulate melatonin production which will aid in quality sleep.  So try to keep your room at dark as possible. 

• Cool - Most sleep better in cool climates.  Try to keep your room around 65 degrees, whether this be with a fan or open windows.  Too hot or too cold a temperature, as we've all experienced, can effect quality of sleep.
  

• No Electronics - This goes hand in hand with keeping your room as dark as possible.  Electronics stimulate the body and suppress melatonin.  They actually keep you awake and it takes longer for the body to reach deep sleep with these in the background.  So shut off all electronics 30-minutes before heading to bed!  Even better is to eliminate as many electronics as possible from your room.  Keep your computer, Ipad, Ipod, cell phone, etc out of your room at night.

• Develop a Routine -  Getting into a routine or ritual before bed helps the body wind-down and get used to a pattern of sleep.  This can mean anything to anybody; whatever works for you, go for it.  Many like reading, writing, stretching, a hot bath, meditation, or listening to music.  The body starts to learn this routine, and knows when these activities start that it's their cue to wind-down and get ready for sleep.

• Eat and Drink The Right Things -  Avoid eating big meals, caffeine, and alcohol too close to bed time (90-120min).  These things can effect your ability to fall asleep and the quality of your sleep. 

Now get those zzz's!

Go Get 'Em!

References

1.  Robertson, Russell-Jones, Umpleby and Dijk.  Effects of three weeks of mild sleep restriction implemented in the home environment on multiple metabolic and endocrine markers in healthy young men.  Metabolism Clinical And Experimental, 2013

2. Cheri, Mah; Kenneth, Mah; Kezirian, Eric; William, Dement.  The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players.  Sleep, July 1, 2011.  34(7), 943-950.

3. Jessica, McNeil; Eric, Doucet; Jean-Phillippe, Chaput.  Inadequate sleep as a contributor to obesity and type 2 diabetes.  Canadian Journal of Diabetes.  Volume 37, Issue 2, Pages 103-108. April 2013