Does anyone know about his training? Any good?
A friend of mine is really into his book. It’s called Core performance. I think it just came out a couple of months ago. He trains some high profile athletes. I have not seen the book.
The book sucks. His facility kicks a$$. Has become very popular lately, mostly for his ability as an entrepreneur, but has some good, logical training techniques. see www.athletesperformance.com
ive seen the site, not much there, thats why i posted her, all i have really been able to take from it is smash the p-chain and abs, focus on speed and general movement drills, and use dynamic warmup techniques via hurdles. Am I missing something? Although Nomar does get hurt often(even though its his wrist which was directly hit with a fast ball) you must admit his speed, agility, and hitting ability are very impressive and for a baseball player 190-195 is an impressive size for the speed he possesses. Speedkillz, could you give some more details about his core performance program, specifically the parts you saw to be of any use? Thank you.
http://outside.away.com/magazine/0898/9808sissyboy.html
http://ronjones.org/CurrentComments/COREPerformancebyMarkVerstegen.html
Maybe Clemson will enlighten us.
I will bring the book to work tomorrow and I’ll post a lot of it verbatim.
Is that the guy with the flat top on the inside cover of NSCA’s journal hocking some pully machine that is touted to be better than weights? If so, you know where his first priority is.
“Is that the guy with the flat top on the inside cover of NSCA’s journal hocking some pully machine that is touted to be better than weights? If so, you know where his first priority is.”
Yup, that’s him.
Mark is a great man…can’t say enough good things about him.
He does use kaiser equipment though and it’s great stuff, so you can’t knock him for that. If he was representing the body by jake ab scissors that would be different. His facility is amazing and his work is solid. I’m just not a big fan of using swiss balls for 50% of your workout.
For those of you who are interested, ESPN has been doing a nightly clip of athletes training at API for the combine. They have done about 3-4 clips thus far. Search for combine prep on the ESPN site and you should find it. You’ll see a lot of Keiser machines being used for bench and squats, along with drill specific work and explosive med ball throws. I know they use sleds and the Vertimax as well. I was suprised to see them lifting heavy as well, showing a heavy single on the bench by one of the lineman. Kinda exposes the fact that even Verstegen isn’t using “functional”(swiss balls, instability, etc) training when it really comes down to getting results for speed and power.
Yeah, I watched those intently. You will have to excuse my comments back then. It was a bitter time for me 
API does good things and are very innovative. They are still quite the marketing machine, but you can’t fault them for that. I appreciate more the contributions of Michael Boyle and others who have not had the most press coverage but still continue to develop fantastic athletes. But Coach Verstegen’s contributions are great.
First, Mark rarely trains anyone anymore, his staff does. It’s hard for him to train in 4 states at once (AZ, FL, CA, NV)
Second, if his program sucked, than why does his clientel pays big bucks to essentially live there all week in the off-season? They often train 2x a day, have a lounge to rest and play video games, cooks for food, therapists etc. They go there for a reason, cause it keeps them healthy so they can play longer, making more money.
Also, if your athlete was making $10 million a year, what would be your main goal for training? If you are smart, you’d make sure he stayed healthy and look at performance enhancement second. No one has insurance to cover a $10 million salary, let alone 50-60 guys in that range.
And why does “functional” have to mean using swiss balls? The term is complete bastardized. Functional has to do with understanding anatomy and training the muscles to respond properly
Who are you ranting at? I thought my part in this thread (apologizing for the past bitterness) was clear. I never said his program sucked, either.
But, I also want to note that the fact that Coach Boyle does respect Mark Verstegen tremendously means that any opinion I have shared (past or present) is insignificant even to myself.
Dan, wasn’t aimed at you.
Training isn’t a circus. 1. Progressively overload the body. 2. Specificity. It’s hard to overload when you use one leg squats on bosu balls. Only coaches who read one book and see “cool” exercises do stupid things like this.
Boyle (Dan you this, but for others) who wrote the book “Functional Training For Sports” lifts heavy, uses sled, and jumps.
Got ya. Good points. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Don’t mean to jump in but Mike Boyle is a proponent of single leg squats.
Charlie & Mark Rippetoe are not for the SLS. The article at the front of CF.com highlights the possible fallacy in SLS training. Rip used to squat over 600 pounds as a power lifter but says he could not do a single SLS.
Not to say that coach Boyle is any less and maybe has his own reasons.
Before making comments about training programs of others, do you know why Boyle likes single leg squats? Do you think that is all he does? How much about his program do you know?
This is what gets me going is when judgements are made.
Please read above #2 and my comments about staying healthy. The specificity of a powerlifter and a sprinter is not exactly the same as a hockey player, a football player and a soccer player. Stability in the hip is very important for athletes who change direction to avoid potential leg injuries.
Do a search on the forum for Loren Chiu’s presentation. Single leg squat is different than any change of direction or cutting movement. SLS has the foot under the hip and moves vertically with little to no shearing motion. Cutting or change of direction requires the leg and foot to be away from the hip (in front of, lateral to). Completely different motor programs. A bilateral squat is closer to these movements than SLS.