Strength in Numbers #95
If you’re an avid follower of baseball and love to learn new and fascinating information about the sport, then you must be familiar with TREAD Athletics.
The mastermind behind TREAD is Ben Brewster, a former player and coaching engineer who provides detailed analysis of drills, deliveries, sports science, and other related topics.
AN INSIDE VIEW OF TREAD
I have known Ben for a few years since joining ArmCare, and he has done a tremendous job in reaching players all over the world, all ages, and all ability levels.
The central hinging approach for himself and the company is identifying optimal performance for each player and then breaking things down with strong metaphors, cues, and feedback to fully grasp what is needed.
At the same time, TREAD continuously assesses the physical body, habits, and health.
On the topic of assessment, Tread has a proprietary screening process that is delivered remotely to guide its training programs and corrective approaches. Although we may use different terminology to describe mechanics, we both prioritize establishing a strategy tailored to the athlete’s needs rather than expecting them to conform to our methods.
TREAD is pushing forward in getting every athlete under their umbrella an ArmCare unit so that programs can be further individualized based on fatigue, recovery profiles, and, of course, good old fashion strength.
FROM ANATOMICAL TO BIOMECHANICAL
I admire Ben because he takes time to develop himself professionally.
Most large business owners go into administration mode and get removed from the players, which minimizes their impact. But Ben is in the mix, innovating on his end and creating, and he’s always asking thought-provoking questions that can truly impact the game.
For example, one of our recent conversations was about the throwing arm’s length and leverage that got our wheels turning about force production and how to optimize the long-lever vs. short-lever guy.
Given the physics and all things being equal besides arm length, the long lever guy—who has greater mass distribution away from the center of rotation—needs more force to get it moving. This science opened up an interesting topic of debate as limb length is a popular anatomical scouting benchmark, not just in baseball but other sports.
NEUROMUSCULAR EFFICIENCY
It’s a weird paradox in baseball right now that athletes are throwing less and resting more than ever but are getting injured more. As we have covered, the solution is individualized arm care training based on identifying fatigue, weakness, and inhibited recovery.
To help with this, TREAD has a rich database of athletes that they can peel back the onion on individual characteristics that make each player unique, such as qualifying neuromuscular efficiency, which is the athlete’s strength response based on the volume of throws.
Guys high on neuromuscular efficiency can throw a lot with little loss in strength, and that’s where we want to be.
As ArmCare continues to get onboarded at TREAD, Ben and his staff will undoubtedly nail down a process and framework that can boost the explosive strength, power, and stamina of the throwing arm. Because that’s what they do best—connect all dots to allow their athletes to handle greater demands at higher levels of performance.
THE BANTER
Ben and I have done some podcasts covering a wide variety of topics that we have strong opinions about. For example, when is it appropriate to increase the layback of the throwing arm through passive stretching, especially when 3D data and passive range of motion tests indicate restriction?
We also cover things such as,
- What strength-velocity ratio, shoulder balance, and isometric strength testing mean to performance,
- Holistic habits that we hope players will adopt,
- How Ben sees kilograms, embodied shapes, and positions in the delivery that dictate function and ball action,
- and how all the above impact throwing arm strength to dovetail the ArmCare motto, “Strength Matters Most.”
Check Out The ArmCare & Tread Podcasts
TREAD EDUCATING THEIR PLAYERS
In the video below, Ben describes how to utilize our device in detail. He’s a great teacher and covers all the bases. TREAD Athletics is truly getting after it with data-led training and top-notch guidance in the game.
