Do Kids Stretch?

Dana Cavalea: Performance Training for Baseball

Do kids stretch before they play? Do kids stretch before they run after each other? Do kids stretch ever besides in gym class and when they are forced to? The answer is a definite NO! So then why do adults and teens have to stretch? The answer to this question seems to be: LIFE MAKES YOU STRETCH. The bottom line is this, as we get older, often times we become less active, and with this reduced activity, comes more sitting. Sitting shortens muscles, which leads to altered tension on the musculo-skeletal system. This fact, along with increased muscle as a result of age, creates more tension on the body, fueling the sensation and need for stretch. So, should adults still stretch, absolutely, but if activity is increased, sitting is decreased, sports forcing multiple movements and planes of motion are performed, and pool recovery, along with massage are instituted into your routine, you can certainly stretch less!

For more from Dana please check out his blog.


Dana Cavalea and Major League Strength serve as baseball performance strength and conditioning consultants for all Baseball Factory events. Dana currently serves as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the New York Yankees. He has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays. Dana founded Major League Strength, a company that works to provide athletes with first class professional training and a dynamic program designed to elicit positive results in all aspects of Human Movement and Sports Performance. Dana is certified by the CSCS, NASM-PES and the USAW.

X is for EXcellent Shoulder Health

Dana Cavalea: Performance Training for Baseball


The Cable X-Pattern is a favorite in the Major League Strength Exercise Protocol Sheet for keeping healthy shoulders. The ability to move the scapula in a downward path is crucial to enhancing posture, while at the same time decreasing shoulder injury.

If a thrower can maintain a neutral scapula or shoulder blade, that is the first step towards achieving arm health because it takes the thrower away from the postural distortion pattern of rounded shoulders, so common now in the computer age. Pull the Shoulders back... and keep shoulders healthy!

For more from Dana please check out his blog.


Dana Cavalea and Major League Strength serve as baseball performance strength and conditioning consultants for all Baseball Factory events. Dana currently serves as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the New York Yankees. He has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays. Dana founded Major League Strength, a company that works to provide athletes with first class professional training and a dynamic program designed to elicit positive results in all aspects of Human Movement and Sports Performance. Dana is certified by the CSCS, NASM-PES and the USAW.

The Hip Flexor Complex...and Anterior Pelvic Tilts..

Dana Cavalea: Performance Training for Baseball

This post will is meant to further discuss the Anterior Pelvic Tilt Posture, and show how this results from a tight hip flexor complex, as well as an intro to how this postural deficit will cause decreases in performance and increase risks for injury throughout the lower extremity, as well as through the low back and obliques.

As you see in the tilted pelvis, the lower back almost looks as if it is getting "jammed" as a result of the tilted pelvis. With that being said, we see must understand what is happening here, and also see the simplicity in functional anatomy.

If the pelvis is tilted, high in the back, low in the front, we will see that the hamstrings become long and "tight", while the hip flexors (which also include the quads) become short and "tight". With that being said, the common complaint of tight hamstrings, especially in the baseball world always has a cause, and 9 times out of 10, it is not the hamstrings that are directly tight, but the hip flexors which are causing what we will call perceptual sensation of tightness of the hamstrings.

So with this being said, event though this tightness is a sensationm, it is real, and could lead to continual hamstring strains. In our next post we will discuss how this postural issue can results in oblique strains and lower back tightness.

For more from Dana please check out his blog.


Dana Cavalea and Major League Strength serve as baseball performance strength and conditioning consultants for all Baseball Factory events. Dana currently serves as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the New York Yankees. He has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays. Dana founded Major League Strength, a company that works to provide athletes with first class professional training and a dynamic program designed to elicit positive results in all aspects of Human Movement and Sports Performance. Dana is certified by the CSCS, NASM-PES and the USAW.

Dynamic Warm-Ups: Part 2

Dana Cavalea: Performance Training for Baseball

So, we talked about Dynamic WARM-UPS in the last 2 posts, and this is the new buzz word surrounding training for sports, so, sometimes many think that since this is the new "way" to warm-up, its the only way to warm-up. Much like the Functional Strength Training Revolution that is now taking place, with med balls, physioballs, and training movements in a free environment rather than machines, Dynamic Warm-Ups are in, but we can not throw out the methods of the past.

With this being said, we must focus on static stretching methods as well as Dynamic. How do we use static stretching in a new world of Dynamic Movement? The way we do it is by using static stretching on the areas of the body that are typically overly tight on ballplayers. These areas of the body include the following:

1. Hip Flexors
2. Glutes/ External Rotators
3. Obliques/ Intercostal Mucles
4. Hamstrings

These 4-Major Areas of the body should still be addressed by static stretching, which will require the athlete to hold a stretch position, then back off, then repeat again. Back in the day, it was said to hold a stretch for 30 seconds, but the reality is, a more effective means to increasing tissue length and extensibility is to hold a stretch for 3-5 seconds, then back off, then repeat again through a larger range of motion.

So, its simple, stretch the hamstrings by using the stretch above, leaning into the stretch for 3 to 5 seconds, then get off it, then get back on it at a new range of motion.

As we continue to speak about static stretching, we will talk about using angles to increase depth.

"TRAIN HARD"

For more from Dana please check out his blog.


Dana Cavalea and Major League Strength serve as baseball performance strength and conditioning consultants for all Baseball Factory events. Dana currently serves as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the New York Yankees. He has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays. Dana founded Major League Strength, a company that works to provide athletes with first class professional training and a dynamic program designed to elicit positive results in all aspects of Human Movement and Sports Performance. Dana is certified by the CSCS, NASM-PES and the USAW.

Roll Out...Did you get your Roll ON?

Dana Cavalea: Performance Training for Baseball

Time to get back to training! Hopefully you enjoyed last weeks talk about the MENTAL GAME, but this week its back to getting your body right!

If you don't own a foam roller, you need to buy one! This is the greatest tool for a self massage. As athletes, due to the repetitive patterns/movements/ and stresses of sport, your muscle tissue gets knotted up and can't slide and contract optimally. With this being said, if you can afford a bi-weekly, or weekly massage great, but for those that can't, you need to get on the roller. The roller is like a MUSCULAR ROLLING PIN, which will not only flush the tissue and promote blood flow for healing, but really works to release the tension that builds in the tissue.

At first the roller hurts, but when you get up from a good session you will feel relief, and your legs will feel extremely light, and they will have new life! This foam rolling is a part of regenerating the body, and for athletes could be done everyday, and for Coaches, it is a must do post game!

For more info. check out our Recovery DVD which breaks down foam rolling, and combines it with stretching techniques that will keep your muscle tissue at ideal lengths, and in ideal health!

Click here to see the RECOVERY DVD: http://www.mlstrength.com/store.php

Keep on Rolling!

For more Blogs from Dana, check out his blog Major League Strength
Dana Cavalea CSCS
Major League Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coach
www.mlstrength.com
Check out the mlstrength.com blog

Dana Cavalea currently serves as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the New York Yankees. He has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays. Dana is certified by the CSCS, NASM-PES and the USAW.