New Post Workout Drink: Chocolate Milk

After you workout it is vital that you get food into your system. Now it may surprise you what you could use for that post workout meal. A new study, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, reports that athletes who drank chocolate milk after an intense bout of exercise were able to workout longer and with more power during a second workout compared to athletes who drank commercial sports beverages.

"Our study indicates that chocolate milk is a strong alternative to other commercial sports drinks in helping athletes recover from strenuous, energy-depleting exercise," according to co-author Joel M. Stager, PhD, professor of kinesiology at Indiana University. "Chocolate milk contains an optimal carbohydrate to protein ratio, which is critical for helping refuel tired muscles after strenuous exercise and can enable athletes to exercise at a high intensity during subsequent workouts."


The study was done on cyclists and given one of three beverages:

1) low-fat chocolate milk

2) a traditional fluid replacement sports drink

3) a carbohydrate replacement sports drink


On their second workout the chocolate milk drinkers were able to workout out twice as long as the sport drink users, and as long as those who consumed the fluid replacement drink. The researchers theorized that chocolate milk contains the proper carb to protein ration for optimal post workout drink. The researchers also note that chocolate milk is a great-tasting and cost-effective alternative to many sports drinks. Another important factor is that milk contains calcium to build strong bones which is not found in your typical sports drink.

5 Keys To Baseball Success

Key 5: MINDSET
Great athletes at all levels have what we call “the intangibles.” Athletes and coaches talk about it, but they are qualities that can’t be taught. These are the qualities that separate the good athletes from the great ones. The higher the level, the more difficult it is to separate yourself from your teammates, because everyone is talented. Athletes need to be persistent, passionate, positive, competitive, driven, tough and focused to succeed at the highest levels. Look at yourself as the guy that rises to the occasion, makes teammates better or makes the big play. The proper mindset will allow you to adapt to the increased volume of work that is expected of you as you move from level to level in your baseball-playing career.

5 Keys To Baseball Success

Key 4: MOBILITY
Every drill that is performed should be geared towards augmenting your movement on the field. Working to improve efficient athletic movement, allows for the performance of the athlete to increase. Baseball is a sport that requires versatility, reaction, first-step quickness and multi-directional speed. It does not require maximum speed, unless you are running out a triple or inside the park homerun.
Your goal should be to improve starting speed and acceleration, allowing you to improve your home-to-first time and your base-stealing potential. To develop starting speed or to maximize your accelerating starts work on baseball specific form runs, starts, stops and cutting drills, and utilize sports loading as a training tool.

5 Keys To Baseball Success

Key 3: SHOULDER INTEGRITY
Glen Fleisig, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the American Sports Medicine Institute, studied 95 young pitchers who had shoulder or elbow surgery and compared them to 45 pitchers who never had significant pitching-related injuries. During the study they found that the injured athletes pitched more months per year, more pitches per year, more innings per year, and more games per year. They also found that that the pitchers, were also more likely to have pitched with higher velocity, to have pitched in more showcase games and have been starting pitchers.

Your goal is to create balanced strength between the anterior and posterior muscles of the shoulder. You should incorporate bands and tubing exercises to develop the endurance necessary for the rotator cuff and shoulder to withstand the stress of throwing. It’s important to work on shoulder flexibility and stability to assist in the dynamic throwing act. The joint capsule must be flexible enough to provide fluid delivery.

Quality Equipment Matters by. Dr. Ken

One of the difficult things in anyone's life is to admit they are wrong, were wrong, or can possibly be wrong. Another is to admit that they have benefited or learned not from a teacher, a coach, an older mentor, but from a peer.

Guys who train with weights tend to think its all right to learn something from a wizened, experienced old hand but it is somehow unmanly to learn from someone who is an equal.

When you make as many mistakes as I have in the course of a lifetime, admitting you're incorrect about something becomes second nature. As one who has always learned everything the hardest way possible, it is also not difficult to admit that I have learned from peers or those younger or less experienced than me.

As one of the "older guys" in the Iron Game, I have been fortunate to train with and/or correspond regularly with and/or been coached by and/or been friends with some of the great names in the sport.

Among these I would include Bill Starr, Dan Riley, Ken Mannie, Hugh Cassiday, the late Pat Casey, Bill Pearl, Bill 'Peanuts' West, Bob Zuver, the late Joe Don Looney, the late Alvin Roy, Dick 'Smitty' Smith, Jan Dellinger, and others I can't think of now.

Having so many who fall into 'the late' category only emphasizes my age and experience. One of those who is a peer in age is Kim Wood, John's father from whom I learned a tremendous amount, who forced me to reconsider what I was doing in my training and that of others approximately thirty or thirty-five years ago, and who continued to serve as a sounding board for training ideas. Kim has included some commentary on John's site, tidbits that barely scratch the surface of all he knows about effective training.

One of the things that Kim stated and which made my wife and I chuckle because it put our age, our experience, and our passion for training into perspective was the comment, 'I don't know how many reps I have left but I want to enjoy all of them as much as possible.

I agreed.

Although I see myself and treat myself as I did when I was nineteen and still expect record performances in the garage or basement, that just doesn't happen very often as one nears sixty years of age. However, the attitude that records can be broken remains and the desire and drive to train as hard as possible never wavers.

I too want to enjoy every rep because I always have and understand the benefit of doing each rep correctly and passionately so that the reps add up to a great set and with a few great sets, there grows a great workout so yes, each rep does matter.

That brings me to equipment and Kim made his original comment while holding a thick-handled globe dumbbell. I want to use a Formulator because the leverage of the piece is more effective than doing the wrist curls and reverse wrist curls I have done for forty-six years and that's a piece of equipment I was wrong on, absolutely wrong on when I pooh-poohed it.

I don't want to go to Home Depot and buy a piece of rope and be forced to re-wrap it with duct tape every third workout, I want a quality climbing rope, one that reminds me of the rope climbing I did over and over during lunch time while in high school in order to get stronger.

If I am going to enjoy hanging on the rope as it is attached to the support pin of my power rack, I am going to do it while grasping the best piece of rope I can. I might be the only one who feels and understands and enjoys the difference relative to just any other piece of manila rope but I'm the one who counts, the only one who counts when I'm training.

I want thick-handled dumbbells and bars because they make me work harder and make the workout more productive and for me, more fun. Kathy and I have been very fortunate and blessed in being able to make a living but in a lifetime, I have been on both ends of things financially and even when poor and barely scraping by, I never scrimped on my training equipment. I might have had little of it but it was all good, solid, safe, and enjoyable equipment, at least the best I could afford.

We all train for our own reasons and if enjoyment is one of them and using equipment that is different, more challenging, fascinating, and inspiring to you makes each rep a bit 'better' than that's what you should be using.

5 Keys To Baseball Success

Key 2: TORSO STRENGTH
Fielding, swinging the bat and running the bases are all movements that originate from the mid-section or torso, so the torso should be a focal point in a baseball training program. Train the torso in a continuum of stabilization, strength and power. You must first stabilize the spine to develop strength and you must develop strength prior to developing power. Stabilization exercises will focus on the deeper muscles of the torso, lower back and will be performed on the floor. Strength exercises can be incorporated with power ball drills that cover two planes of motion: linear and rotational. When working with power balls the weight of the ball should not be the priority. Make sure the emphasis is on the quality and the speed of movement.

Dustin Carter

This is for every athlete that makes excuses when it comes to his workouts. No more excuses. Enjoy.

Improving Baseball Speed

During the past several months, we have been training our high school baseball players to improve their speed. The most important teaching lesson that we have to continuously remind our guys is to be quick with the hands. This is an important trigger that helps with moving fast out of home plate or stealing a base. The proper arm movement allows for an action reaction that sets a chain reaction throughout the body. When teaching our players the proper technique, we make sure that the action is quick and simple. The quicker the hands the quicker the rest of the body will follow the action.

Jason Hadeed: Rest In Peace

This is a sad day for the training community. I'm sad to see such a great friend and vibrant spokesman for the field lose his life so early.

From Rivals.com newswire:

Jason Hadeed, age 33, and founder-owner of Elite Athlete Training Systems, was fatally shot late Friday night, Feb. 8, in the 200 block of King Farm Boulevard in Rockville, according to Montgomery County Police.

Rockville police responded to a report at 10:15 p.m. Friday and found Hadeed lying on the ground, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Hadeed was taken to an area hospital where was pronounced dead, according to police.

Michael Wayne Adams, 44, who lives in the 200 block of King Farm Boulevard, was taken into custody by the Fairfax (Va.) police department following a 911 call from an individual who provided the suspect’s name and who wanted to turn himself in.

Police later learned that Adams was an acquaintance of Hadeed, but the motive for the murder is still under investigation, according to police.

Hadeed was 33 years old and is widely considered one of the nation’s top trainers.

Hadeed founded E.A.T.S. in 1995 and trained several area athletes that have gone on to play at D-I colleges.

A former strength and conditioning coach with both the Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens, Hadeed was named as one of the top 100 Trainers in America by Men’s Journal two years in a row in 2004 and 2005 - he was also nominated this year as one of the nation’s top trainers.

Our thoughts and prayers go to his family. Jason was a father of 2 boys and a fund has been set up for them, all donations can be sent to:

The Jason Hadeed Children's Fund
6003 Loganwood Drive
Bethesda, Maryland 20852

5 Keys To Baseball Success

During the past 8 weeks, I have been training an elite group of high school baseball players getting ready for their senior years in high school. As we train and educate these players, it's important to make them aware of what will be expected from them at the next level.
So the most important aspect that a young high school baseball player will have to get used to as they move to the college level or the minor leagues is the total volume of work. Developing total body power, torso strength, shoulder integrity, mobility, and the proper mindset, should be the top 5 priorities for high school baseball players to focus on, as they prepare their bodies for the volume of work at the next levels.

Key 1: STRENGTH TRAINING
The main objective of a strength-training program is to aid in the prevention of injury to the shoulder, elbow, hip and legs, as well as, to develop a more powerful and durable athlete by increasing overall strength. You should concentrate on increasing overall strength with emphasis on the shoulder complex, low back, hips and legs. The upper body lifts in your program should be focused on the muscles of the upper back and posterior areas of the shoulder (decelerators of the arm). Remember that the majority of injuries in baseball are shoulder (cuff and labrum), elbow, core, low back, and hip related. Concentrate on improving strength in these areas during your training.

Nike Coach of the Year Clinic

I just got back from presenting at the Nike COY Football Clinic in Chicago. Craig Bundy and his staff did a tremendous job of hosting and making sure that everything went smoothly. If you ever get a chance to attend, I highly recommend it.

I spoke along side some great college and high school football coaches. I was the only strength and conditioning coach, so my talk was very well attended. But, I have to tell you, that it still amazes me how few programs have yearly organized strength and conditioning programs. Some schools don't have the resources, staff or facilities to make it happen, but it shouldn't be an excuse. I was glad to see many of the coaches in my presentation approach me during the weekend with a desire to learn more about how they could improve their own programs.

Here is a little overview of my presentation. My talk covered our four phase plan on developing the physical development of our athletes: Post-season, Off-season, Pre-season, In-season. Every phase builds upon the next one as the year progresses.

Post-Season:
1. Active Rest
2. Program Evaluation
3. Injury Assessment
4. Surgery-Rehabs
5. State of the Program

Off-Season:
1. Orientation Process
2. Expectations
3. Testing
4. Program Design

Pre-Season:
1. Football-Specific
2. Tactical Elements
3. Volume
4. Intensity

In-Season:
1. Medical Staff Relationship
2. Daily Injury Reports
3. Injured Player Adjustments
4. Strength Training
5. Conditioning
6. Recovery Techniques

I will be speaking at the Indiana Hall of Fame Clinic at Earlham College this coming Saturday. If you are interested and would like to hear some great professional and college colleges speak about how they make their programs work and be successful, this is the place to be this coming weekend.