Muscles and Management

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry has the chance to talk to former big league relief pitcher Eric O'Flaherty. Eric spent almost a decade in the big leagues with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics and New York Mets, posting an incredible 0.98 ERA in 80 innings pitched as the set-up man for the Braves in 2011. The two get righ...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! The 26th installment of Muscles and Management takes a look at some of the benefits strength and speed training can provide in terms of improving aerobic capacity and overall conditioning. Gerry gives a breakdown of maximum and operational output and how increasing your maximum output can create a phenomenon where your operational (sub-ma...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry talks to Trey Hannam, a budding presence in the community of hitting and the online baseball community. Both Gerry and Trey get to talking about their respective similarities as young coaches in the worlds of strength training and hitting in terms of how they both started their careers and built a presence online. Th...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry tackles a topic every athlete and coach can benefit from. Speed! We have all heard the expression "quick feet," utilized when it comes to sprinting and getting faster, but is it correct to say speed comes from quick feet? Gerry explains how the ankles, knees, hips, hamstrings and the overall series of leg m...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! This episode takes a look at a training method that has become popular in development of athletes, velocity based training, and how you can properly utilize and implement it to both gauge progress and build specific areas in an athlete. Gerry gives a breakdown of what goes into velocity based training and gives an overall look at the forc...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! Les Nozzle is a former power lifter and current veteran strength and hitting coach who works with numerous athletes out of Omaha Nebraska. This interview gives an authentic, in-depth view at what it takes to physically prepare athletes who have a desire to get to the next level. Les and Gerry discuss everything from nutrition, strength tr...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode, Gerry has the chance to talk to University of Texas at San Antonio hitting coach Carlton Salters. Carlton has a terrific understanding of overall movement of the body and has done an exceptional job of applying this understanding to improving hitters. Gerry and Carlton talk over the core principles that drive his teaching...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode, Gerry talks to veteran recruiting coordinator Ryan McGee. Ryan has worked in recruiting for almost a decade and has placed 50+ athletes to college at Gamers Baseball Academy. The episode starts with Ryan's personal recruiting experience as a high school player trying to get to college, and how he ended up at Division...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry has the pleasure of talking to Detroit Lions tight end Jerome Cunningham. Jerome discusses his journey from playing football at Division II Southern Connecticut State University, to being un-drafted in 2013 and all the way to the NFL, where he currently plays for the Detroit Lions. Get the perspective of a profession...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry has a chance to talk to Kyle Rogers, Head Strength Coach at industry leading Driveline Baseball in Kent, Washington. Driveline Baseball is one of the most prominent brands and facilities in the realm of baseball training, and Kyle heads the entire organizations strength training department. However, Kyle did not take...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry welcomes guest Jason Spray. Jason is a former NSCA National Strength Coach of The Year, 15 year strength coach at Middle Tennessee State University and has trained NFL pros like All-Pro Safety Kevin Bayard and Tennessee Titans running back and former Alabama standout Derrick Henry. Gerry and Jason immediately tackle...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry goes on a heated and passionate rant about the use of unstable surface training in the world of sports performance and strength and conditioning. Hear all about the video of a pro athlete that went viral, why Gerry WAS NOT a fan of the way balance training was being emphasized and his scientific breakdown on what is...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry sits down with TJ Ward. TJ played college baseball at Division 1 University of Hartford having a very successful playing career and leading Hartford to their first conference championship in school history. TJ is now one year removed from his college career and hopeful of getting signed by an affiliate of a Major Lea...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry gets into everything there is to know about contrast training. Contrast training is a training method that pairs a resisted activity with an unresisted speed movement. The resisted activity helps the athlete exploit post-activation  potentiation (PAP), otherwise known as the phenomenon of high firing rates of muscles...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode, Gerry starts by taking a chance to answer a few questions he has received the past few weeks. One of the questions inspired the topic for this week's episode, relative strength. What is relative strength? How can you ensure that your weight gain has contributed to increased speed and strength, and how can you decide...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry takes time to tackle one of the most misunderstood topics of sports performance training: conditioning. To start the episode he gets to the faulty understanding of what it takes to properly condition athletes and why using "mental toughness," tests can be an ineffective way to prepare athletes. In addition,...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode, Gerry explains what is wrong with the infatuation with "sport specific," training when it comes to strength training/sports performance and why you should avoid bring your sport, sport implements (bat, stick, ball, skates etc.) into the weight room. To start, this episode details the distinction between general...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry gets a chance to talk to Dr. Terry Phillips of Driveline Baseball. As a Doctor of Physical Therapy Terry has extensive experience in the rehabilitation and sports rehabilitation fields as well as great knowledge in improving overall movement quality. Terry has worked with Driveline Baseball for almost three years and...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode, Gerry has a chance to sit down and talk to Hasani Whitfield, co-owner of Gamers Baseball Academy and Untamed Baseball in Northern New Jersey and head coach of Division Two Caldwell University. Hasani enjoyed a successful playing career at Caldwell University before he ventured out into the world of travel baseball as he s...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! This episode is EVERYTHING related to the vertical jump and gives an easy to understand and simple to follow breakdown of what goes into an insane vertical jump and how you can improve your own! Gerry starts the episode giving a breakdown of what two main factors contribute to the vertical jump, why the test is a great indicator of lower-...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this first "question and answer," episode of the Muscles and Management podcast, Gerry takes some time to answer a few questions related to varying topics in strength and conditioning and sports performance. Up first is a question regarding energy systems for team-sport athletes. After an explanation of the main energy system...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry talks to Rob Friedman, who runs one of the biggest baseball/pitching instruction accounts on Twitter, @pitchingninja. This interview starts out aiming to find out what made Rob start the account, and how it was able to rise to such prominence in the world of baseball and social media. Also, find out how that large ex...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry discusses all things related to the 60-yard dash, baseball's most common and most used test to measure speed. Although universally used, he gives his reasoning for why the test isn't as effective as some may think, and then gives a breakdown of why it is ineffective when it comes to the game of baseball its...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! In this episode Gerry touches on some of the basic principles you can adhere to in order to build a solid, goal-oriented and results based program. All the training knowledge in the world is useless if it cannot be properly applied to a program that helps steer athletes and general trainees alike to their goals in the most efficient way p...

Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode! This episode marks the first of the Muscles and Management series to dive into the business side of the spectrum! Gerry details five tips that you probably will not learn in college that you can apply to both start and effectively grow your business. After graduating from a top business school and starting his own sports performance/train...