Pirates made $29.4M in 2007 and 2008
Here’s the article link from ESPN today.
This is why I WILL NOT support this team under current management.
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An article from Blue Jackets.com about their new strength and conditioning coach.
Barry Brennan has moved on to Atlanta after the new hired Head Coach of the Blue Jackets has replaced the entire coaching staff with his own men. To me, Barry was an awesome guy with an exceptional knowledge of hockey and what it takes to play in the NHL.
Here are my thoughts on strength and conditioning/physical preparation coaches and head coaches..
As a strength and conditioning coach from high school through the highest level of professional sports, dealing with a head coach can be an issue from “our” standpoint. Since the wins and loses fall on the Head Coach, he’s the boss and he’s been around a long time. He has the experience with the game. Our side of things are changing and many head coaches do not want to change with it. A coach that is hard headed? Not me! Ha! Yeah, especially here in Pittsburgh- land of the hard heads!
Strength Coaches or Sports Performance Coaches like Head Sports Coaches learn from mentors. In many cases, very few coaches in sport look towards physical preparation of their sports performance athletes in a modern way. In western Pennsylvania were football rules, 95% of the high schools are doing the same stuff that was done in the 1980′s. Why? Because “that’s what we did and we won”! The coaches that have “sort of” adapted are using high end Division I football strength and conditioning programs that were samples given to them at football clinics. There are to many reasons to list why this is wrong but I’ll touch on two of them.
#1 The high school football coaches do not have the experience to teach Olympic Lifts, Squats, Deadlifts, jumps/plyometrics, and bench(yes I said bench. Benching with flared elbows is flat out wrong).
#2 From 9th grade to 12th graders, there may be 1 legitimate DI athletes in the entire high school football program. The workouts that they are doing were designed for exceptional athletes(DI) who have trained at the highest level(year round) for several years under a DI football strength and conditioning coach. The advanced sports performance workouts that these collegiate athletes do are way more advanced than what 99.9% of high school athletes can handle.
Our job as a physical preparation coach is to balance our beliefs with the coaches style. In hockey, it’s not smart to “bag skate” a team. Why kill a team that just played four games in a tournament the day before? It happens more than is doesn’t. Where does that leave me in preparing for the ice hockey teams dry land or off ice training. Each head coach has their own beliefs sometimes right, sometimes wrong. I understand the science and what stresses the human body can handle in a given day, week, month, season. Our job is to make sure that the athletes are 100% in an extremely physically demanding sport. The dry land for ice hockey must be adapted accordingly. I’m also a coach and understand the mental aspects like “mental toughness” that are more important than a bench press.
It’s tricky and not something that a typical hockey, football, baseball, lacrosse training athlete or parents understands.
Also take in mind that professional sports and are a business as are most high end DI sports.
The slope is slippy(some Pittsburgh eeze for yinz) my friends.
Original article from Bluejackets.com
Blue Jackets: He’s selling sweat equity
New strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins wants to gain the players’ trust as he raises their fitness levels
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 02:52 AM
By Tom Reed
The Columbus Dispatch
Fred Squillante | Dispatch
Kevin Collins checks his stopwatch as Blue Jackets players take on the stairs inside Nationwide Arena. | Video: Collins and the Blue Jackets at work
Fred Squillante | Dispatch
Jackets forward Jake Voracek works out in the weight room in Nationwide Arena.
Fred Squillante | Dispatch
Blue Jackets prospect Trevor Frischmon, left, watches as strength coach Kevin Collins discusses a workout routine in the weight room.
Fred Squillante | Dispatch
Blue Jackets center Tomas Kana works on a triceps exercise.
‘Puck-rakers’ blog
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Them’s The Rules
August 18, 2010
The two-day NHL Research, Development and Orientation camp began today in suburban Toronto. General manager Scott Howson along with most of his NHL peers are in attendance. Management teams are getting an early look at the top 2011 prospects as well as proposed rule changes and rink…
Six Blue Jackets players spent Friday running up and down the 40-step staircase leading to the Nationwide Arena concourse.
The sound of squeaking tennis shoes and grunting athletes echoed, and the T-shirts of Jake Voracek and Derick Brassard, among others, went from dry to damp to wet in 15 minutes.
Hanging from the brick wall above the perspiring players, a cartoon Roadrunner on a Time Warner Cable banner asked, “How fast are you going?”
But the man in charge, Blue Jackets strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins, wasn’t concerned as much with the speed as the effort. And as he watched Brassard stumble to the ground only to rejoin the chase, Collins knew he was getting it.
“You are trying to push players to limits they have never reached before,” Collins said. “But you have to get them to trust you first. It’s a must in building relationships.”
The 28-year-old with the distinctive goatee won’t set forward lines or drastically influence personnel decisions. He is, however, one of the more intriguing hires of the offseason. Collins must win over players loyal to Barry Brennan, the former strength coach, while ensuring the club’s fitness level becomes a nonissue.
That wasn’t the case a season ago as the Blue Jackets finished 14th in the 15-team Western Conference. The conditioning of certain players was a story line throughout the season, and it reached a flashpoint in February when interim coach Claude Noel ranked the team’s overall fitness level as a three on a scale of 1 to 10.
General manager Scott Howson was left to determine the level of culpability among his players, Brennan and other coaches who might not have worked the team hard enough in practice. Howson chose not to renew Brennan’s contract.
Enter Collins, a former Division III college hockey player and minor-league strength coach the past five years.
The staff’s youngest member, Collins had known coach Scott Arniel from their days in the Buffalo Sabres’ organization. Collins, who has a degree in exercise physiology, earned recommendations from Sabres strength coach Doug McKenney and minor-league coach Kevin Dineen, a former Blue Jacket.
“(Collins) has been here for a month and he’s very organized,” Howson said. “He’s a hard worker who knows what he wants done and has strong beliefs in what he’s doing.”
Inside the Blue Jackets weight room, Collins barely raised his voice over the thumping music as he watched Derek Dorsett complete a core-building exercise on a slide board. Collins isn’t an instructor with bulging neck veins shouting encouragement during workouts, or one who is trying to revolutionize his profession.
Collins said that most other conditioning coaches use similar exercises, training techniques and nutritional approaches. He is simply getting to know his players and selling them on any subtle changes he makes.
Initial reports from the dozen young players and prospects training under Collins are positive. Jared Boll said he appreciates the intensity and difficulty of the workouts.
Running the arena stairs 12 times in 30-second intervals each Friday certainly has caught the players’ attention.
“I’ve gotten to know him and I trust him,” said Boll, who has added 10 pounds to his 6-foot-4 frame in the offseason.
Collins’ next task is gaining the respect of veterans such as R.J. Umberger, one of the club’s most well-conditioned athletes.
“From what I hear, he’s a good guy with a lot of great ideas,” Umberger said. “For a lot of us it was tough to see Barry go. I’m going to be honest with you, he’s one of the best strength coaches in the league. He’s a friend and someone I will stay in touch with.”
Collins ultimately will be judged on the Blue Jackets’ record, third-period efforts and energy exhibited in the second night of back-to-back games.
“Going to a new team there will always be challenges,” Collins said. “It’s never easy going into new relationships, but it’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”
There are no express elevators to the top for 14th-place clubs – just lots of steps.
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A client asked me about Crossfit. This was actually an athlete, not a personal training client. I would like to think that we provide the reader with an honest, in the trenches opinion at http://www.umbergerperformance.com. We sometimes upset certain populations and that may happen.
Crossfit is a mixed bag for me. Are we talking about athletes, “average joe’s” , or ex competitive athletes that want to train hard? Like many franchises the system can be bastardized very easily. Crossfit gyms can vary depending on the owner and trainers. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. As with any personal training or sports performance coach, I would caution training with someone that has zero background in anything else but Crossfit. NOTHING is the end all be all. Find someone that can see the other side of the coin while doing Crossfit workout.
Olympic Lifting just for Athletes?
I really appreciate the teaching of Olympic Lifts(OL) to normal people in the Crossfit program. I think the Olympic Lifts are great movements if taught properly. That is the double edge sword. I have a long list of our Fusion Workout and personal training clients that have lost 10-30 pounds in a few months and they never touched an Olympic Bar. (They would’ve probably preferred to use a bar over using sandbags and kettlebells). The OL are a great tool and only a tool.
Personally I have many of my athletes in Pittsburgh use Olympic Lifts for two main reasons(I’m not getting into an intense scientific debate over this. I’m using the KISS principle) #1 Proper movement mechanics and/or intramuscular coordination. They need to learn and better their execution of a proper RDL. In addition, the athletes need to learn to bring their hips through with explosion finishing through toes. #2 If they go to college, they are probably going to have to do OLs. Why not learn them now. That’s remedial, but why not?
Training or Working Out?
I love the enthusiasm and passion for training. That’s what Umberger Performance was founded on. That is definitely my favorite aspect of Crossfit. As with any system, those that train verse working out are limited. My greatest challenge as a coach is to impress upon my clients the difference between working out and training. Dave Tate from Elite Fitness Systems just wrote a great post on this exact topic.
I would imagine that “Crossfitters” as a group are closer to training than any other commercial system that I’ve been exposed to. As a regular person you simply don’t subject yourself to that kind of punishment without a passion for training and self betterment. Not a typical personal training client!
My Issues
My main issue is Crossfit is performing the most technically complex lifts (Olympic Lifts) in a fatigued state. By no means am I an OL’ing expert, I don’t compete or coach competitors. I however understand that performing anything in a fatigued state is dangerous. Some of that is art, some is it is science. After 6 months with some very good athletes they have problems finishing through with their elbows and performing a proper catch. Watch video of some major DI football programs. With a full football strength staff(head, a few assistants, GA’s and interns), year round training for several years, AND freak athletes the technique is still questionable when performing OL by themselves. Strength coaches don’t super set OL with anything but maybe a corrective exercise. So one or two trainers in a large groups are going to fix “moms” form after she just got done sprinting 400m?
Regarding the training of athletes, ah not so much. Crossfitt isn’t ideal for sports performance training. There’s an argument to maybe establishing a General Physical Preparedness(GPP) cycle using Crossift. For the most part, GPP is extremely intense and uses a variety of movements in tools.
How about a SWAT team member or someone in the military doing Crossfit, absolutely. There’s a great fit.
When training “Average Joe’s” in our personal training and Fusion Workouts at Umberger Performance, I have them perform the same warm up as our athletes here in Pittsburgh. The personal training and Fusion Workouts are similar in many ways to the workouts that the athletes perform. However, a normal person doesn’t need to OL, squat, or bench press. (I do have “meat head days” for the guys that want to bench and squat.) Believe it or not, all of my clients functionally move better, have lost weight, and have their conditioning levels greatly increased. Umberger Performance has one woman that was a size 2 drop to a zero and another woman who was a size 8 drop to a size 2. Both are mothers of several kids and in their 40″s. My males/fathers have dropped 15-20 pounds and actually have something that resembles hip mobility. I know… Big deal. That isn’t very hard achieve with great clients. I don’t disagree. I raise that issue to address my clients success with minimum risk of injury without having anyone puke. Maybe a little “Prowler Flu” but no vomiting.
Another issue I have is that most woman don’t possess a great deal of relative strength. A great exercise that Cross uses is a pull up/chin up/ muscle up. Relax ladies, there aren’t to many of you walking around that can rip out 10 pull ups.
Here’s the issues that I deal with in “Lineman” type males athletes and those “meat sticks” that are seen with internally rotated shoulders at commercial gyms:
-Take a 200 pound meat stick that does 5×10 on a bench press with 225 lbs and 5×10 on pull ups. 50 reps pressing and 50 reps pulling. Sounds pretty good right? There’s problem because many woman or “big guys” can’t perform 50 pull ups encounter.
- If 50 reps can be completed for each… each bench pressing is done with 25 pounds more than what he actually did pulling. That’s 1250 pounds done over pressing verse pulling. Take that over a month or a year.
- Let’s say 225 lbs is to heavy to press for 5×10… They most likely aren’t going to be able to perform 5×10 on pull ups unless they are rock climbers.
This is an issue that many large men and normal woman face. Regardless of how a pulling exercise is modified(assisted pull up, body weight rows, pull downs etc.) the amount of prescribed volume doesn’t compensate for the lack of pulling strength. Over time this will lead to even greater imbalances and eventually to injury.
Closing
I believe that Chris Shugart handles the Crossfit issue with a very fair article outlining many of my thoughts in much greater detail.
In closing, I believe that Crossfit if done correctly, is great workout for certain populations.
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Here is the mastery of some insane body weight exercises! This really isn’t for tradition sports performance training athletes or personal training clients.. Gymnasts or rock climbers will eat this type of sports performance training up!
This is how we warm up at Umberger Performance! Yeah right!
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Here’s a great article on Transfats and why they are brutal on the human body but are found in foods that over weight people eat…
Charles is being a bit sarcastic in this “mock” conversation but he makes his points. This isn’t just for woman. Hockey players and athletes in general can benefit from a healthier diet. Charles makes a comment about eating like a caveman. I’ll take it one step further and say for optimal fat loss and sports performance, one should “shop on the outside of the grocery store.”
Here’s the actual link
Written by: Charles Poliquin
7/21/2010 12:58 PM 
This a typical day three conversation that I have with a Health Conscious Female Client (HCFC)
HCFC: I must admit, I do feel better from switching to the meat and nut breakfast. But I have a confession to make I only could stomach 2 ounces of meat the first days.
CP: That does not make you a bad person. You will find that with time, your appetite for meat will go up. I suggest you switch to ground meat first, makes it easier to jack up the quantities.
HCFC: Is it normal that my appetite goes up?
CP: Yes, because the meat and nut breakfast provides you with the right building materials for the proper neuro-transmitters to have drive and concentration, namely dopamine and acetyl-choline.
HCFC: Can you explain further?
CP: It is very clear. The first thing you put in your mouth upon awakening…provided it is food…will set up the neurotransmitter cascade. Research done in furniture factories in Israel and Sweden has shown over 4 decades ago that a high protein intake determined the number of furniture workers did not only before but also aftr lunch. More recently at Harvard University, quality of breakfast make-up influenced in children self selection in caloric intake for the whole day.
Translation; you eat a high protein and some smart fats at breakfast, you are more productive the whole day, and less likely to binge on empty calories.
HCFC: But I must say that I have a concern…is all that fat going to make me fat?
CP: Repeat to me the two top reasons why you are here.
HCFC: 1. The last two times I went to the beach to swim I got harpooned.
2. I have gotten so repulsively fat, that even my hand falls asleep when I … how can I say.. when I “double-click my mouse”.
CP: you mean when you try to be the “master of your domain”
HCFC: Precisely!
HCFC: Precisely!
CP: That is a case of over sharing. Lets move on.
First, you cannot group all fats under the same category. Mislabeling is far too common. For example, President Obama prefers that we refer illegal aliens as to unregistered Democrats.
Lets make it simple you need to completely eliminate hydrogenated fats.
I want to you read labels, and avoid anything that says hydrogenated fats, or partially hydrogenated fats. You will find those in most packaged foods such as; the coating or make up of most protein bars, margarine, breakfast cereals, crackers, chips, pretzels, cookies, cereal bars, microwave popcorn, and all the bullshit low-fat and fat-free snacks. There are even many packaged foods advertised as “healthy choice” that include this type of very toxic fat.
HCFC: Why is hydrogenation so bad for fats?
CP: Basically, in hydrogenation, you bombard an oil’s fat molecules with hydrogen atoms, making it more dense and raising its melting point, making the oil become solid at room temperature. This results, as an unfortunate consequence in creation of trans fatty acids.
Partially hydrogenated oil implies that the hydrogenation process stopped short of a full solid, creating creamier, almost soft, butterlike texture. This is the deal behind margarine.
When you hydrogenize fats, you create this trans fatty acids, which are linked to anything from higher cancer rates to increased cardiovascular risk.
And here’s something else to think about: ingesting a lot of trans fat changes the composition of body fat — it’s harder to pinch. Ask any experienced tester. If you pinch test someone who eats a lot of French fries and chicken nuggets, his fat feels a lot different. So in that case the tester has to be very skilled and needs to have a kung-fu grip worthy of leaving the Shaolin temple.
There’s a reason why the medical division of the National Academy of Science says that the only safe level of trans fat is zero: it actually changes the cell structure. Our body doesn’t know what to with it.
The problem is that in the U.S., again labeling can be misleading. There is a loophole in the labeling law: If a serving has less than o.5 grams of trans-fat, the label may state ZERO. Yes, that includes 0.49 grams in a serving size even a toddler would find ridiculously too small.
HCFC: So what you are saying is that I could read the label, it would say no trans fats, and yet I could be consuming them?
CP: You have a firm grasp of the obvious.
HCFC: So, how I do I know if what I am eating has the right type of fats.
CP: Ask yourself this question before you put it your mouth: Did a caveman have access to that food:
An avocado? Yes!
Cashews? Yes!
Croissant? No!
Mars bar? No!
Pretty simple isn’t?
That is it for today, tomorrow we will address your exercise program.
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