Prior to my foray into baseball/softball instruction, I had the great experience of working with James Cooper [well known as Adrian Peterson's trainer]. The athletes working with him were very good. Damn good actually. Many were track guys and football players.
In working very closely with these high caliber physical athletes, I began to notice something about those who really were the most most explosive, i.e., they could start ---and stop--VERY quickly [as in change direction very quickly],they could jump higher---and quicker,etc.
In being able to closely observe these types, what seemed somewhat puzzling and seemingly contradictory was this:
They seemed to be "stiffer", somehow more "taut". These were the 2 terms I used to describe them. In a word, tighter. Even when they walked around it struck me that these terms applied.
BUT---and this is the seemingly contradictory aspect--they also seemed "springier." Tighter....but springier and more explosive. How does that work exactly I thought [this goes back over 20 yrs ago]? What explains this kind of physiology I wondered?
I can STILL remember one guy jumping from a standing start over 1 hurdle. I thought at the time: " This guy BARELY loaded [almost no hip/knee flexion], barely moved anything but had this tremendous take-off. Same with the landing ....yielded VERY little.
Then had an astonishingly fast 1st step take-off. He looked alot like this clip. Note how this guy in the clip does NOT create almost any loading of the hips/knees. Another ex. of stiff---but springy!!
In the yrs. that followed my initial impressions, I have read many books and articles that have greatly helped to better understand this kind of stiff/springy physiology.
To put it simply [this IS twitter!], much of this can be explained by understanding how fascial tissue--like tendons--can play a huge role in facilitating ballistic movement.
As one well known sprint coach [forget the name] said about elite level sprinters: "They are running on tendons". This explains the hurdler in this clip ,i.e., the muscles are creating isometric tension [stability] and the tendon "stiffness" is doing most of the work.
I took a quick search and found this article that I think is a good quick summary on tendon stiffness vs compliance:

linkedin.com/pulse/tendon-s…

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More from @SteveEnglishbey

14 Oct
I just saw this clip and I want to make a few comments that are somewhat distinct from others commenting.
First let me say that I agree that the bottom clip is a better swing. Simply put it's more efficient. What do i mean by this? Simply put, it's quicker from initiation to contact. Then the question is why is this the case?
To put it into a basic context I have used to analyze elite level hitters: They do 2 things well:1] they create very good bat/body alignment from initiation to contact and;2] they rotate the trunk really well.
Read 18 tweets
14 Oct
Paul Nyman recently cited this as regards how many typically tend to interpret/analyze information:
exploringyourmind.com/only-hear-want…
You should read all of it. But I'll cite a few excerpts.
"The information we choose through our attention mechanism doesn’t always have to be the most valid or relevant. We rather try to pay attention only to the things that confirm our beliefs or opinions."
...." we look for environments that reinforce our beliefs. Since everyone around us thinks the same way we do, we believe our opinion is the one that’s right."
Read 14 tweets
5 Oct
I recently had an experience with trying to convince a mom that her 15yr old son needs to work with me that I think unfortunately is symbolic of at least part of the cultural zeitgeist that we are living in. Here's the context:
I had talked to this mom about her son a couple of times at the gym about my background and teaching experience. Now I hasten to add that in these situations I am very sympathetic to parents in their pursuits to find good instruction.
My basic premise is along the lines of: "Why the hell should you trust me as someone who is REALLY knowledgeable and could REALLY help your son/daughter? Why would you NOT think that I am simply one of MANY who claims to be really good?"
Read 33 tweets
5 Oct
In the first 40 seconds , Paul explains his ideas about the role of a coach. Essentially it is that of guiding the trial/error process and minimizing the degree of error, eg., practicing irrelevant things, not really understanding flaws and how to effectively correct them, etc.
I agree with this and I'll cite a particular ex. which is representative of much of my long experience as a teacher working with players.
Yrs. ago I was working with a 14 yr. old softball player. Pretty athletic, very focused, and very serious about wanting to develop.
Read 20 tweets
22 Sep
My good friend[ and VERY smart!!] Rick Collins argued that the guy on the right was throwing harder.

To which Paul said: "The player on the right understands how to transfer/increase rotational momentum developed by the upper body to the arm using shoulder horizontal adduction."
Now [of course] Paul knows the answer ---because he did the simulations!
But. For outside observers the question is: How can one "see" ....correctly?
He cites ---as THE determining factor as regards the difference in velocity ---"horizontal adduction" ie., the back scapula continuing to "slide" along the ribcage [I refer to this via the more proximal articulation [scapula PROTRACTION].
Read 18 tweets
22 Sep
"We truly live in a "one tweet" world of "information attention"..."

I completely agree with this. And this is precisely why I do not write any more than I do on twitter.
There have been numerous times that I have been prompted to write something about "how the body works" in the context of throwing/swinging dynamics; but nixed the effort on the grounds that it would necessarily entail some depth/precision of thought.
A kind of depth and precision that honestly I rarely see on twitter in the domain of throwing/swinging [or in other domain for the most part].
Read 21 tweets

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