Recently, I traveled to Europe with ISG baseball  to participate in a baseball clinic for the European Baseball Coaches Association and my first presentation was basically using video to review different elements of the swing.  I’ve always been asked a lot about what types of things I do with video and what software I use, and this was no different after speaking in Vienna.  With that, it’s about time that I put this together….

      promo code: “jalbert” at checkout for 5% off of total order

The main video software I use is called Sports Motion.  I created a page on the main site where I give a brief list of some of the features, but you can also check out Sports Motion’s myspace page which has some videos detailing features of the program. 

Because of the number of inquiries from coaches at the EBCA conference in Europe, I was able to get my own promo code for those looking to buy the software and now I can make that available to anyone.  So if this is something you are interested in, you can use the promo code “jalbert”  for a 5% discount when you check out with your order from Sports Motion.

If you have any questions related to this, feel free to ask or email

Written by Dr. Mel Siff, Supertraining is a classic text in the field of strength and conditioning.  Based on its reputation alone, this was one of the first books I bought on the subject and I couldn’t really appreciate the quality and amount of information provided because I didn’t know much about the subject.  Now having been through graduate school, I still look at this book as one that covers just about everything: basic biomechanics, physiology, energy systems, skill acquisition, all types of strength, endurance, flexibility, power, periodization, lists of exercises…..you name it.

Read more…

I’ve been meaning to do this (start some quick reviews) for a while and I thought this would be a good way to start….

A few years ago, I was directed to an article entitled: The Holy Grail in Speed Training by author Barry Ross.

I found the article very interesting, contacted Mr. Ross and got going on the workout. I was “retired” at the time and figured I’d give it a shot…..what I found (my personal experience) was quite interesting.  Within a couple of months, my deadlift improved from the mid-200′s to near 420 pounds while my body weight stayed the same.  For sprint work, I did 10 yard starts from a base-stealing position using an electronic timer.  Over that winter, I decreased my 10 yard time by .2 seconds.  And on the first 40 that I had timed, which was the first sprint I had run over 10 yards, my time was over .2 seconds faster than I had ever run. Pretty cool.

It didn’t take long for Barry Ross, who is a seasoned track & field and strength coach, to open his own site and release his book: Underground Secrets to Faster Running

The book outlines the concept of mass specific force, and sites some nice research studies to back up the claims.  The workout is incredibly easy from an equipment, execution and planning  standpoint, but not so easy in terms of the load/intensity used!  Basically you have to lift heavy!  With all the talk of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, this method gets right to the point of muscle fiber recruitment and training for strength.  It is a fast, simple read that goes through mass specific force, physiology, exercise selection and workout design in a logical fashion.  Theory and application.

In addition to the lifting and running, I was hitting and throwing with a pair of minor league players and I noticed that my bat speed and throwing velocity were improving above what I had achieved in college.  Also pretty cool.  Although not excatly common-place, strength training for the posterior chain and specific swing/throw training appeared to be a great combination.

Check out Barry’s web site for more information — Bearpowered.com