New York Yankee Wow's

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:confused: MLB Training Wows - Year in Review!

It is interesting how an organization such as the New York Yankees could possibly have hired a DOPE, Director of Performance Enhancement, Marty Miller, and not have reviewed and researched his training methodology and means. Especially with a $200,000,000 payroll in the balance!

Marty Miller had spent the past nine years as the director of fitness at the Ballen Isles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida!! He had a master’s degree from California University of Pennsylvania in performance enhancement and injury prevention!! I am not sure what Cashman (NY GM) was thinking, as Miller had not been working with MLB athletes for over 10 years.

The first thing Miller does upon his arrival to the Yankees is remove the squat racks and other important pieces of strength development equipment crucial to the success of baseball athletes. Not to mention sprint work was not considered an important part of the training program for position players or pitchers!!!

According to a team source, Pettitte was encouraged by either Miller or Cavalea to ditch the weight belt he usually wears while doing his squat routine, saying it would help him strengthen his stomach muscles during the exercise. And of course, Pettitte injured his back while doing the squats, costing him 10days in spring training. Oops!

In the short time Miller was with the Yankees Mike Mussina, Phill Huges, John Damon, Chien-Ming Wang, Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui all missed time with hamstring issues. This accounts for 60% of the starting rotation, plus the entire starting outfield! Athletes who heavily rely on hamstring strength and health.

This was compounded by the fact that there was no proticals in place to deal with hamstring injury recovery as it took weeks for many of these athletes to return back to competition?

Some players had even commented that the pre-game and practice stretching routine did not even include stretches for their arms! The training staff told the athletes that the active stretching gets everything stretched out! ‘Even if you don’t stretch it?’

I think one fan might have been on to something when he commented that the DOPE Director of Performance Enhancement) might have been a spy for the Boston Red Sox.

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Heard the weight belt tale from a therapist involved there. Typical when theory overrides practicality- and common sense. Why drop the belt when you’ve had no issues with it before?
Also, as you can imagine, dropping sprints- and running altogether isn’t a recipe for success.

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Yes Andy has been playing pro ball since 1991, what is the need to change what he has been successfully doing?

When looking at the limiting factors of the sport of baseball they are predominantly power based. Weather running or throwing you’re going to need to use your hamstrings at high velocities, no sprinting??? :confused:

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I wouldn’t have thought this would be a problem but of course you start with a lighter weight and work back up. From experience a lot of people don’t use them to increase inter abdominal pressure anyway. But as Charlie says “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.

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Why would you want to start with a light weight and work back up with an already mature athlete who has little enough time to get ready for the next season as it is??
The result of this kind of stupidity speaks for itself.

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Ok i stand corrected! Good point.

7

It seems more prevelent in team sport training from the college level to the pro’s. The athletes are more talented as you move up the pyramid you would think the coaching would be as well!

Its obvious they never even discussed what his philosophy or training methods were or they might have quessioned why such drastic changes were needed?