Strength in Numbers #77
Over 25 years, I have been in post-secondary school for 13 years, had 1.5 years of a postdoctoral fellowship, and have been to 50+ conferences. In total, I have spent more than $250,000 on education and will not stop.
I am a lifelong learner and always looking for more information to apply and integrate into my philosophies on maximizing performance and injury protection for the throwing arm.
Last weekend, I was at The Bridge Conference at Wake Forest, which presented some amazing talks on baseball sports science and how the information can be applied to player development. I found it interesting that there was a mix between biomechanists, strength coaches, and pitching coaches presenting, all providing such detail about how they use data to make actionable decisions.
It made me think about what to ask of you for this week’s newsletter. Are you measuring what matters? Are you making data-led decisions? Are you making data-informed decisions if not led by data? Are you missing an opportunity to individualize and optimize training for your athletes objectively? Are you overwhelmed with data and do not know where to start?
FEAR OF LACK OF KNOWLEDGE CREATES COMMUNICATION ISSUES
In a room full of 125 people, most of which were at the MLB level, only four people were using ArmCare.com and monitoring their player’s arm strength and range of motion.
I was educated thoroughly on their approaches and wished they were added to the panel, as it was awesome to hear about how they are adapting our platform and making the process their own.
For example, one group focuses on post-testing after warm-up routines to ensure they do not overwork their arms before bullpens or games. Another did post-testing after arm care training to ensure the athlete was not overly taxed or undertrained.
At the MLB level, I had some discussions with coaches, and it saddened me that they were left in the dark as it relates to biomechanics and strength monitoring and were generally told what decisions to make rather than considering them firsthand on their own. Some even had to take a back seat to player communications, some of their own volition, as they did not feel knowledgeable enough to discuss the data and their application.
This was a real-world opportunity for me to understand the baseball community, particularly pitching coaches, who tend to pass on all the physical training and monitoring responsibilities to people they think are more qualified or potentially more educated.
Until now, there hasn’t been an educational offering with clinical components, strength training education, and workload planning guidelines. But, the Certified ArmCare Specialist Course, which is getting close to 400 graduates to date from all disciplines, provides this full scope.
I also cannot wait to reveal our Certified Pitching Biomechanist Course.
This education will further support the medical and strength community in understanding how to look at the data in meticulous detail and examine movement profiles from the lens of motor preferences in building strength and coordination training programs to facilitate training consistency and reduce the risk of injury.
When I think about our education, we are doing what is needed, we are creating Specialist-Generalists. People who are specialized but have a solid understanding of other areas outside of their discipline to enhance performance and protect the athlete from pain, injury, and dysfunction.
A COUPLE OF GIFTS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
I am giving you two presents this year to get you on the right path. I know you did not forecast spending money on yourself or your education this holiday season, so I want to do something special for our readership.
The first is the launch of our Certified Biomechanist Course.
If you are like the crew I met in North Carolina at the Wake Forest event, you see your knowledge as THE competitive advantage, and we want to support you as you head into the preseason.
We are also building a specialized community of experts called ArmCare Elite that will be free to those with dual certifications (Certified ArmCare Specialist and Certified Pitching Biomechanist credentials).
More on ArmCare Elite is coming, but knock this course out, take the Certified Pitching Biomechanist Course and join the club. You will definitely be ELITE, and the community will grow in advanced knowledge and innovation to truly be industry leaders in player development and injury protection.
The second gift for you is that I have a recording of part of the presentation I provided at Wake Forest that you can watch on your own time to get a feel for Strength and Coordination, blending 3D motion capture and dynamometry to create the ultimate training programs designed to transfer to on-field performance.