Episode 171 - Andrew Hauser: Rounding the Bases to Rehab & Recovery

Episode 171 has us sitting down with Andrew Hauser, in the midst of the 2024 World Series between the LA Dodgers and NY Yankees, talking about the nuances of rehabilitation and the intricacies of professional baseball.  Andrew has had the opportunity to work in Major League Baseball for over a decade and now works in private practice addressing injuries for all professional athletes, including the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and Olympic team athletes.  We discuss some of the causes of the injuries that are plaguing various athletes, looking at basic qualities like blood flow, oxygen distribution and general fitness levels.  Today’s athletes are so fixated on the specific skills in their sports and sometimes miss the basic physical qualities in their preparation and maintenance programs.  Andrew identifies his process for improving athlete health and resiliency, as well identifying potential risks for injury in various sports.  

Andrew graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Athletic Training in 2008 and obtained a Masters degree in Performance Psychology in 2020.  He has worked in a variety of roles in his 14 years of experience as an athletic trainer and strength coach, with his most recent role being the Director of Performance Rehab with the Los Angeles Dodgers during which time he was a part of their 2020 World Series team. Andrew's passions lie in both the strength and medical aspects of sport, but also in professional development and education. Prior to moving to L.A., he served as the Director of Health & Performance for the Atlanta Braves where he oversaw medical and strength staff and was able to integrate departments both in the Major League and Minor Leagues all while continuing to develop and refine his and his colleagues' skills. Andrew's experience in sport extends beyond baseball. He has worked with a number of athletes in the NFL, NHL, MLS and track/field and has become a sought-after consultant and public speaker for professionals and athletes nation-wide.  

You can find out more information on Andrew Hauser below:  

Instagram:                   https://www.instagram.com/andrew_hauser_atsc/  

Website:                      https://www.continuumhp.com/              

The D&D Fitness Radio podcast is available at the following locations for downloadable audio, including:  

iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/d-d-fitness-radio-podcast/id1331724217  
iHeart Radio – https://www.iheart.com/podcast/dd-fitness-radio-28797988/  
Spreaker.com – https://www.spreaker.com/show/d-and-d-fitness-radios-show  
Spotify –  https://open.spotify.com/show/5Py2SSPA4mntNwYRm0Opri    

You can reach both Don and Derek at the following locations:  

Don Saladino: http://www.DonSaladino.com
Twitter and Instagram - @DonSaladino
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/donsaladino  

Derek M. Hansen: http://www.SprintCoach.com
Twitter and Instagram - @DerekMHansen
YouTube - http://youtube.com/derekmhansen

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to the D and D Fitness Radio podcast, brought
to you by your hosts Don Saladino from New York
City and Derek Hanson from Vancouver, Canada.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hey guys, Andrew, are you I'm done? Nice to meet you.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Nice to meet you.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Done.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
How you doing well? Man? Thanks?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
See what's going on?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Brother?

Speaker 5 (00:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Sorry about the Mets, man.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
You know, it's it's it's it's uh, We're used to it.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
But it was just an incredible, just a fun season
to keep up with, right, Like, it's just when you're
when your team's battling in that gritty I just think
it's so much fun.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
So you know what you got for the series? I
don't know, man, for so I'm not and I don't
hate the Yankees. Let me be clear.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
I'm a New York fan, a diehard Met fan, but
I'm like, show you the rarity. I don't hate the Yankees.
I think La is gonna be tough.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
They They've got a deep They've got a deep lineup.
I'm questioning their pitching, even though it was good in
the series. Is Yankee pitching a little better? Is Yankee
relief kind of lousy?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
I don't know. I'm all over the place with it
right now. It ain't gonna be easy.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
I think it's gonna be a seven game series. I think.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
It.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
To beat the Dodgers, you have to get through their
starting pitching early in the series.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, there's no way they're They're back in their bullpen
is really tough. But they're also worn out.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
They keep forgetting that they lost several like they have
their Arguably they're one and two out pitchers, right Kershawn
and Otani?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
And how's Freeman going to be?

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
How's this? How's his ankle? I think?

Speaker 3 (02:01):
I don't think another week is going to make a
huge I mean, he might be slightly better, but I
bet he's gonna reaggravate it quick in the series.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I know, what'd you think? Who's your who's your team?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Uh? I don't know. I worked with the Dodgers, so
but I don't really care anymore. I grew up in
Campas City, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
But but but why wouldn't know when to say who's
your team? Like? Are you a Royal fan?

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Like?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Would that be who you? Actually?

Speaker 3 (02:28):
I grew like I grew up a Royals fan, but
I worked in MLB for so long I feel like,
I've just seen behind the curtain too much, so I
don't I don't really care one way or the other.
It'll be a good series. I just wanted to be
a good series.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah, I get it. I totally get it. Once you
once you're once you're around it so much, you kind
of stop being a fan. I get there's certain things
I'm not going to mention that I've been exposed to.
A lot of that, you know, just loses its luster.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, I think that's most of pro sports, It's probably
most of entertainment. It's all of that.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
So what was your so? What was your so? Can you?

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, let me let me start here. Like I met
Andrew back in like twenty nineteen. We were in Dallas
and he attended one of my courses and we kind
of hit it off, and we've been kind of staying
in touch. And then now he's moved out of Major
League Baseball, he can kind of give sort of a
background on the teams he worked with when he was
in the league. But now he's working privately out of Scottsdale, Arizona,

(03:26):
and works with all sorts of pro teams pro athletes
in terms of providing rehab return to play. So he
has some very interesting insights and we're gonna we're gonna
teach a course together in about a month's time in November,
talking about a lot of this stuff. So's he's introduced
me to a lot of concepts around you know, muscle oxygenation,

(03:48):
looking at aerobic systems as even for alactic sports like baseball.
So I'll let Andrew kind of give us a bit
of a background on his career and where it's taken him.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Yeah, shoot, man strength coach right when I got out
of school in baseball and then but I went to
school to be an athletic trainer. I actually did it
because I thought it was strength conditioning. Originally the joke
was on me. So been a strength coach, an athletic trainer.

(04:20):
Was oversaw everything in Atlanta, so oversaw medical, like all
the medical, all the strength. It was a rehab director
in Atlanta. So man wren't. A lot of different hats
got out after twenty one and that's when I like
I started traveling and started doing seeing a lot of
NFL guys at that point. And now it's a mix

(04:43):
of like rehab of hands on stuff of shoot, I
mean some guys, I just do like at distance conditioning
or or either at distance like breath stuff breath training.
It's a it's a mix. It kind of runs the game.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
I meant to be honest, You're kind of almost like
a problem solver depending on what that person is lacking.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Do you have it? Do you have a pet background?

Speaker 3 (05:09):
I'm at so I'm.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Not a PT.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
But the irony, I think like all my like mentoring,
I would say, was all like chiropractic and PT. So like,
I don't I know how most athletic trainers are. I don't.
I don't work like that, No I am.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
I mean there was a few people. I mean I
owned a few clubs in New York City for years,
and I had a group of pts that was run
by a good buddy of mine, doctor Charlie Winegroff.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
And I've known Charlie forever.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
Yeah, so Charlie. I actually married Charlie. I mean I
was in his wedding party and he's one of my
closest friends. So you know, I'm it's ironic how you
get labeled, right, Like people call me a celebrity trainer,
and I'm like, I'm not a celebrity trainer. I work
with a lot of celebrities because I know what I'm doing,
and I think a lot of that has to do
with the fact that I lived a little bit in

(06:02):
that bodybuilding world. But then I worked in strength and
conditioning on golfers and I worked at Charlie for twelve years.
So being able to live in that performance zeke world
put me into this really unusual category. Yeah, Derek, I
do hate the celebrity trainer name for some reason. All
these tabloids and magazines just keep on to calling be that.
But it's you got to go with it so interesting.
So you so you got the at background, you are

(06:25):
a strength coach and you are just going to come
in and assess a specific athlete and just say what
are you lacking or what do we need to work
on with you to improve?

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Honestly, that's probably the best way to sum it up,
like it really is. It's like it's just problem solving,
like guys fly in or all fly in like and
that's what I'm looking for, Like, Hey, what's what's your limitter?
Both mechanically and physiologically?

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Are you are you trying to do it all on
your own?

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Are you a connector and you including other people to
kind of help like assist you throughout that process.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
I've got somebody else that does like all the blood
work for me and that helps me with training, like
I just had to pop out, and he's actually taking
care of that right now. I'm in the process, honestly,
I'm trying to bring it for sure, another therapist on
and then we're just really growing out the business at
this point, just higher, higher price point with with athletes,

(07:21):
but I also want to make it available to two
younger athletes too, so I need to hire some people
for that. I don't have the time or bandwidth at
the moment.

Speaker 5 (07:30):
So congratulations, man, oh thanks, right, Yeah, he's I mean
one of the things that Andrew's done quite well is
it's not just like we always don and I always
talk about like tech and wearables and all this stuff,
and most of the time.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
We're disappointed. I guess we could say right by a
lot of this stuff. But I think Andrew has has
found a way to tap into some some technology that
really does help process in terms of like verifying maybe
what he thinks is the issue and saying, yes, okay,
this is the issue, so I'll let him kind of
talk about that with some of the athletes CCS.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, I think, and I feel like I've tried so
many different technologies, but it is like for me, at least,
good tech is like it's just affirming what the athlete
is almost already feeling and they just don't know how
to say it. That's kind of what's well, that's part
of what led me. Like I use moxie a lot,
which we'll talk a lot about in the course too,

(08:33):
but I don't know have you ever used amoxie done
oxy monitor? So it's a muscle oxygen saturation locally. Now,
as you use it longer, you start to get a
better systemic picture or idea of what's happening, Like how
good is their intramuscular coordination there? And now if you

(08:55):
start using multiple maxies and it's like well in Huler
coordination or even like upper body lower body coordination, So
you start to see like can they utilize oxygen? Can
they redeliver it or recover from from whatever they're doing?

Speaker 4 (09:14):
That you dumb that down a little bit and just
explain to people maybe a lot of our listeners aren't
going to even they've never heard of it. I've heard
of it, I've just never used it. So you explained
to them exactly what that is.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, So it's a it's a it's a little monitor
like you're gonna put it like a for most people
that are just starting out, like just healthy athlete, I'm
going to put it on their their their quad and
I'm looking oxygen is the energy in your body? Equate
it to uh, the gas you're using. It's picking up

(09:46):
some other measures that get a little more technical, but
essentially it's like you're looking at their gas and then
their gas tank, So how much gas can they use?
And then when they are done hitting the gas, that
can it then refill with gas and then the gas
tank is more that gets more into like hemoglobin and myoglobin.

(10:07):
And that's actually what the moxie monitors picking up. Now,
that gets obviously, that gets pretty sciensy, but you get
a lot of info from it, especially with injured athletes
or just with athletes that aren't super fit, which I
would say, shockingly, most professional athletes are way less fit
than than most people would probably think.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, that was the interesting thing. Don is like he's saying,
you'll have like a certain athlete and I'm not I
don't want to get too specific here, but he'll have
an athlete and it might be, you know, a pretty
good athlete, but when he tests them on basic general
fitness qualities, they're lacking. They're deficient because they're so caught
up in the specifics of their game. So, like, I mean,

(10:52):
I'm sure Andrew could talk specifically about pitchers, but okay,
what are they supposed to do? They're supposed to throw
a ball fast and probably focus a lot on the arm,
but there's other problems within their body, within their systems.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
True, had a guy last week that I like, I
just have a basic test I use on the bike.
Now again, I'm looking for all of our systems kind
of have a limitter and a compensator. So, okay, can
they use can they use gas? Can they recover gas?
Can they in a picture? I'm going to have a

(11:26):
monitor on their el, their forearm too, as well as
their legs. I'm looking can they divert blood from one
area to the other. Uh, it's pretty important pitching. Cross
country skiers are really good at that. Very few of
them can. But I mean, this this individual the other day,
I mean, he was he was redlined on the twenty

(11:46):
second bike sprint. I mean it probably took him at
minimum five minutes to recover, like his heart that's just
his heart rate, to actually recover from three twenty second
bike sprints. It was like, oh okay, And I know
that's not sport specific, but that's kind of the point,

(12:08):
like we're looking for more just general fitness qualities because
I think when we look at all these sports, and
baseball is where most of my history is, but you
have such a long season, and no one's thinking about, like, well,
what carries you through a season, like with all that travel,
with all the games. I mean you're playing every day

(12:29):
like two off days a month. Your aerobic system whatever
we want to call that, Like, that's really what's carrying
you through the system and supporting all that high intensity effort.
Like if you're a pitcher, like it is high intensity effort,
I mean just mentally, they're creating a high heart rate
on the mound. So that's that's a whole other, whole

(12:51):
other discussion. But I'm a firm believer now that now
the pitch clock went into place a couple of years
ago in baseball, I think that's just added to it,
but the the fact that the aerobic system has gotten
like somehow a bad rap and has almost gotten ignored

(13:11):
to some extent. I mean it's a travesty though.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Right like, because you were hearing it for a while
most well, you know distance running doesn't apply to baseball,
And I'm like, well, doesn't it like it's is in
if your aerobic systems better, aren't you going to have
better recovery, better endurance? Why are we suddenly kind of
bastardizing something that you know, maybe.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
A relatability kind of important.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
Yeah, one hundred percent. So you reminded me of actually,
to bring his name up again, Charlie. Charlie created this term,
and that he did create it. But I want to
say I was around when he did. We were joking.
He would call golf ish golfish g O l F
I s H and I remember we were in a
meeting and him and I got frustrated for a while
because when I started in the golf fitness business back

(13:56):
in I think it was the first TPI three. So
what was that two thousand and four, two thousand and five,
A long time. My brother was a pro I was
a collegiate baseball player, we were really in a rotational sports.
You know, we had an understanding of it, but we
really kind of dope into this golf fitness thing.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Now.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
At a specific point in my career, I remember everyone like,
you know, it was like everyone like in golf videos,
they're using the Mackay golf grip. Everything's in five iron posture.
And this was back in the early two thousand. So
we would Charlie would just turn around and say, oh,
this program, it's just all golfish. It was just like,
you know, Charlie talks very Charlie mannerism, so just golfish.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
This is just all golfish.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
And he'd be like he'd be all frustrated over it,
and I would laugh, but there.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Was he was like, just make a better athlete, create
a better athlete. And I got that for him also.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
And then you know, as my career went on, I
really understood and I started seeing a lot of this
continued golf training and it being you know, not to
destroy all of it, but you know, then tpi's posting
pictures of like Rob Yang doing Olympic lifting, and suddenly
golfish isn't so golfish anymore. It was about turning these
players into better athletes. And now I still see specific

(15:09):
strength coaches who are holding onto this golfish approach because
I feel like that's their differentiator in marketing where I'm
shooting a video for Golf Channel in a few weeks
and there's nothing golfish on there.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's just like audyweight squat. They're like, we why do
you get bubble early extension?

Speaker 4 (15:26):
And they have to be able to get the tea
in the ground and they can't lose posture and they
don't have these qualities. They most of these golfers can't
maintain these basic qualities. Yet they're trying to get on
a bosuit ball and they're trying to just do this
the entire time that I'm like, stop being golfish, is
what I'm saying, right.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
No, that's one hundred percent. That's that's what I think.
I mean it really is. It's just bringing general physical
preparedness back to the masses. It's like those that's what
Derek and I have talked about a lot, like that's
almost what you're feeding these pro athletes. Those are the
buckets that are not getting filled anymore. And that's what like,
you know, what's old is new again. That's what burnin

(16:07):
that it did so well for so long. Like I
was lucky enough. I got mentored early on by a
guy that was I've worked with Urn for a long time,
so it's like, okay, that was It's funny because I
saw what he was doing. You know, this is almost
twenty years ago now, and most of the like I
ask all the athletes, I see the baseball players like, hey,

(16:29):
like you guys have hurdles, like hurdle routines that you
do do like do you do body weight circuits still
or medball routines? It's like none of it. They don't
do any of it anymore. And it's I mean again,
it's just making him athletic again, it's not challenging.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Ugh, yeah, andrew Don Andrews said, there's like athletes to
come to him who've never lifted over three or four
reps in the weight room.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
You see that one in football. But yeah, yeah, at
least college did you just take.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Things and we go too far with it?

Speaker 4 (17:02):
Right, I've been now in this business close to twenty
seven years, right, I'm going to be forty eight in April,
and yeah, I remember that conversation.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
I remember, Oh, well, if you want to move fast,
you shouldn't do anything more than five reps.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
And you're like, well that's isn't that just supposed to
be a part of your training. Don't we want to
still work on maybe twenties or muscular endurance or how
about teaching someone who has never who doesn't have that
movement competency? And don't you need more reps to practice
and get better at it?

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Like I don't, like, why did we go so far
away from this?

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Well, that's something Derek and I have talked about, like
as you get more fit, like to your point about
like holding a posture, usually those things improve as their
fitness level improves. All of a sudden they do have
this capacity. But oh wow, Like I wasn't even working
on that specifically. Yeah, it's just gotten I mean it's
like you sports, everything's just gotten specialized more and more.

(17:56):
But we're missing the forest amongst the trees.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Didn't Like I always heard stories about like Nolan Ryan
and Roger Clemens doing like long runs and being very
fit and doing strength work and all this stuff, like.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
They didn't know what they were doing.

Speaker 4 (18:14):
Every want a joke, right if we think about it.
I was looking at Nolan's stats the other day. When
do you play twenty seven years? Yeah, twenty seven years?
And the guy and I did, and I looked up.
Sorry to interrupt, Yrek, but I gotta throw this in
the most amount of pitches he ever threw in a
game was like two.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Point fifty two.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
It's crazy, It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
What are you like? What is going on today? Right? Like,
we're just seventy eighty pitches of guys out. I'll shut
up though.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
If you get to i mean one hundred pitches that
there's some guys I've had that you know, they'll take
him to one ten. If they get over one ten,
it's shocking. They might need an extra day. Yeah, I
mean that was a huge part. Even I've had some
really good players in the major leagues that that's still
a lot of those things, a lot of the like

(19:02):
even like running foul poles was a huge thing forever
in baseball, and a lot of that stuff you're even
starting to see kind of go by the wayside, and
it's not totally gone. But again, I think it just
comes back to intent, understanding what your intent is. And
I've thought about this a lot just being in different

(19:23):
like leadership roles and pro sports. Like it's the easy
thing to say is always like, well, people just communicate more. Okay.
Sometimes you do have physical barriers within a facility too,
where like you just aren't able to see each other
and communicate a time. So like, but if you have
a common a common language, which to me is physiology,

(19:47):
Like if we can understand and be on the same
page with physiology, and it's like, hey, multiple roads are
going to lead to rome, like you can do what
you do, I'll do it. I'll do and like, yeah,
we're saying the same message without even saying it.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Looking at this right, So I just pulled it up
because I wasn't sure about that stat. It basically says
Nolan Ryan faced fifty eight Red Sox batters on June fourteenth,
nineteen seventy four, striking out nineteen and walking ten in
a thirteen inning no decision. He threw two hundred and
seventy eight pitches and struck out the off Seasonil Cooper
six times. So why do you think, I mean Nolan

(20:24):
RAN's a bad example because he's just, in my eye,
most durable, probably the best fastest pitcher that we've seen.
Why why is it now? I mean they are being
so careful, rightfully so with these pictures. But do you
think are they getting hurt more or less than they

(20:44):
did back in the seventies and eighties? And do you think,
like I mean, are they just stronger in there? Because
I don't remember back in you know, the eighties, I
don't remember more than maybe two guys throwing one hundred,
where now you've got three to five guys on every
ball club that could probably top out at one hundred
if they want, between the starter's, middle relievers and closures.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah, I think it's very multifaceted. Guys are definitely getting
hurt more and more. I mean just the last couple
of years. Even you see l injuries are up from
a few years before that, which is way up from
previous time I think. I mean now like we can
look at the pitch clock, I think is adding to
it again just I think that's just a piece of it.

(21:31):
They took sticky stuff away, and that's real. You have
to grip the ball harder now because that's there's no
uniformity in how those balls are rubbed up. Like some
places do a great job of it some places you'll
go and it's just like right out of the package.
So that that's been part of the game.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
But that was that was legal at one time.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
Sticky stuff, I thought that was I thought you couldn't
use any substance on a ball.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yeah, okay, well we could say it was I legal
or not. Like I've been on teams that not almost
everybody was using sunscreen in rosin almost everybody. And like
I've been on another team where it's like sunscreen and
rosin like you're in kindergarten. I fear he's in sunscreen
and rosin. They have like their own stuff made. They'd
have like oh yeah, there's yeah, it is super prevalent.

(22:20):
And then it just got out of control and way
like when you see a huge thing of pine tar
on a guy's neck or all, or a guy takes
it off and like right in front of the umpire
like okay, we're taking that too. Car.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
You also got to think about I mean back in
the sixties, seventies, eighties, I mean I think if a
pitcher had four pitches, that was a lot, right, Like
you saw your traditional fastball, curveball, change up, and then
like were they throwing a slide or like they weren't
throwing ghost snuckleballs, you.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Darvish right now. I was watching through the other day.
He has nine pitches, So what do you nine pitches?

Speaker 4 (23:00):
They actually have one of the coolest layouts they and
I actually save this, Derek, I'm gonna send it. I'll
send it to you guys later. But it showed you
releasing a ball and all nine pitches coming out of
his hand and reaching at home plate at a different time,
And it showed the speed at the point they would
reach if they were all kind of raising each other,

(23:21):
and what the pitches did did or what they will do.
And what I started thinking was, is what is that
actually doing to the arm When you're always manipulating your
hand or gripping the ball in a different position, and
you're always trying to doctor your arm, your elbow, your
shoulder in a specific journey, That's got to be an
incredible amount of wear and tear.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Could I feel like you could probably make the argument
either way because that at the same time, like it's
a lot of variability at the very ability, and it
is more stress resilience for him.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
Opposed to he's just kind of cracking his arm on
a curve ball and having that off the table over
and over and over. Now because he said very but
has you had any injuries? I don't even know he
has had some.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
I don't think he's had an elbow. He's had a
bunch of neck things, interestingly enough, But I mean you
look at like, you know, work for the Dodgers. I
came up with the Rays. They what they do a
really good job of is like, hey, if you have
an elite pitch, like let's say you have a curve ball,
it's like three thousand RPMs, You're gonna throw that probably

(24:27):
ninety percent of the time if you're like a relief pitcher.
So like, there goes your variability out the window. So like,
in my opinion, like your career longevity probably starts to
shrink more and more, but your success might also go up.
So it's a bit of a double edged sword. But
I think that the specialization out of the bullpen is

(24:49):
part of it. Guys are definitely throwing much harder, like
on the whole. Now, some of that is like I mean,
drive Line did a great job of this, Like I
mean they essentially took what the track world had been
already doing from a throws perspective, I mean they're just
underwaiting and overweighting things. Now they can dial in some
mechanical things better and better. But so like as people,

(25:13):
as guys are getting more efficient at that, they are, Yeah,
they're throwing way harder, they're just mechanically becoming more efficient.
But I do I mean I did draft medical reviews
for like for a decade and I haven't done him
now in six or seven years. But by the end
of a decade, it went from like seeing like you'd

(25:35):
always have some guys that like, oh, this guy had
a UCL in college, Like, Okay, that's probably a higher
risk situation where it's like, man, like, now you look
at some of these medical reviews, it's like doing a
medical review for a six or seven year major league
veteran that's got all this chronic stuff, like, well, yeah,
he's got a lot of mileage on him. But now
you're seeing that in like high school college kids. I

(25:58):
think that's a huge part of it. I mean, and
they're going to see uh, strength coaches, and they're getting
like personal coaching on the side from such a young age.
They're not playing multiple sports. I think that's the level
has elevated. But like you take that a step further,
like the floor is essentially elevated. But in my opinion,

(26:20):
now you're seeing the ceiling is going to have to
drop off.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
All right, now watch this I want to I was
actually able to put in rob if I just play this,
can you guys see this?

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Watch? I wanted to share this.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
But then you've got to be able to recognize the splitter,
which is show the slider.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Baking balls.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
So for a lot of people who didn't know what
we were just looking at, I'll show one time this
is what we were just talking about.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
I wanted to share.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
But Darvish is Releach releasing this pitch and it's really
nine pitches that he's throwing.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
The ball is going to be there the fastest. But
then you've got to be able to recognize the splitter,
which is shown with a slider.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Slower the big difference.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
What do you have?

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Twenty mile per hour differential? Right?

Speaker 3 (27:13):
That's and that's what hitting is. I mean, it's really
like a just your the eyes ability to pick that
stuff up. You should look at an overlay like a
there's a picture for the Dodgers Blake Trining. There's a
guy on Twitter, Instagram, one or the other that does it,

(27:33):
pitching Ninja Rob Friedman, and I mean he overlays a
lot of guys. So I mean, you're having a ball
come out of the same window of that hand, and
like he's he's going to have twenty inches one way
on his sweeper or he's going to have twenty twenty
the other way on his on his sinker, and that's
coming at ninety seven ninety eight, So you have to

(27:56):
be able to pick that up from the exact same spot.
Like that's I think. I think hitting is the most
difficult skill in all of pro sports. Now. I think
the most difficult position in any pro sports quarterback. But
I think the most difficult skill is hitting a baseball.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
I can believe that no one really gives I think
these hitters enough credit because they don't necessarily understand and
they don't really they never stood in the batter's box
and watch it.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
I'll never forget.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
I think it was had to be close to twenty
years ago when was her Edwards the coach of the Jets.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
When years at.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Early that was after Rex Ryan probably.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
Yeah, oh eight eight even earlier. I don't even remember
her medward it's it's irrelevant. But one day, I think
the media was just blasting the Jet players and he
turns to the media and goes, guys, we're gonna answer
your questions and we're going to bring media down, or
we're going to have a one day camp.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
So he brought down all the media. It was awesome that.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Like like one of the one of the one of
the writers who was like beating up on all the
players was standing there trying to patch a kickoff and
like falling to his knees. Totally embarrassing. But he turned
around after the cameras on him and goes, see, it
ain't that easy, but it was beautiful. It was okay.
And now we're sitting here and I'm subjected to it too.

(29:23):
It's like two strikes. What what the hell you just
staring that at?

Speaker 6 (29:27):
But when a pitch coming at you at ninety eight
miles an hour and it's starting no exaggeration, six inches
out on the on the outside of the strike zone,
and it just kind of moves in at the end
and clips the edge, yea, let him exactly.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Done.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
What's the fastest pitch you've ever been at the plate
at tried to hit. Yeah, what do you think?

Speaker 2 (29:51):
Hi?

Speaker 4 (29:51):
Actually, I'll never forget the first time I faced ninety
six miles an hour. I was going into college, and
I remember this because I I faced a kid who
was I was playing in the NABA World Series, and
I remember I think he played for the Enan Warhawks
or one of these teams that we were playing, and
he was like sixteen years old and he was like

(30:12):
six six farm boy, and he was like throwing ninety
six miles an hour, and I was like, damn, Like
these guys are good, right. And then when I got
to college, I thought it was more natural to see.
You know, I played Division one, ninety three, ninety four,
I thought was pretty common. Ninety two. Every once in
a while you had a guy in here who just
peppered it. But I didn't really see a difference between
ninety three and ninety six.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
At that point.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
I saw guys throwing ninety two that had an incredible
amount of movement and it looked a lot faster. So
I think that's so impressive about guys like Pedro Martinez.
You know, I remember watching him from the outfield and
I could see his pitch move and being like Jesus Christ,
I'm watching this guy move a fastball from center field?
What do you think that looks like?

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Behind home?

Speaker 4 (30:52):
Like standing at Home played and there were certain pitchers
that I just felt like were just so much you
know better guys you didn't throw hard, like Greg Maddox.
How the hell can you have a guy throwing eighty
nine to ninety one who were just so dominated. It's
just you think a placement in that game.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Of chess, right, it gives you an appreciation for spin
rate when the guys that it looks way harder. I
remember playing cats with Rich Hill, who anywhere from like
eighty six to ninety one, and I felt like it
was going to take off and hit me in the face.
But then you see guys that are throwing a hundred
that are getting pepper like all over the field like

(31:31):
barreled up. It's like that gives you the appreciation for
spin rate. But Greg Maddox, like, you take spin rate
and now you also like he's really just messing with
people's eyes, like changing their field of vision always, whether
it's playing that horizontal game like with his change up
and off of his basketball, or playing like the up

(31:52):
and down game. It's it's an impressive skill.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
Did you hear them? Just there was something on social
media recently.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
They were in viewing him and his catcher, and his
catcher said like, I never called the pitches.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Greg always called his own pitches. I was like, I
think Smaltz turn around. He goes, Yeah. The the fasciname thing
about Maddix is he was calling his own pitches. I'm like,
what are you talking about?

Speaker 4 (32:12):
What do you mean He's calling his own bitches and
like Maddix I think turn around.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
It was like, yeah, no, when I used to do
this with my hand.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
Or Howard catch the ball and god like he got that,
Like imagine that he's catching a ball from the catcher
a certain way and that was his sign. Did the
catcher what was coming next? I mean, this guy was
just on another level.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Well when I mean stein Sein, steeling has always been
a part of the game, so like there's always there's
always games going on within the game, Which is the
cool part is you get a little deeper.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
What's your opinion on that? Do you do you do you?
Are you one of these that find that cheating or
do you just.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
I don't think that like now if you're using like
an outside source to figure it out, that's I think different.
Like I don't I don't know the total depth of
what like Houston was doing in twenty seventeen. It sounded
very much so, but I mean, I mean that's been
a part of the game. I mean I remember even

(33:12):
like high school, that happening, like if you're catching up
a sign or picking up something that the picture is doing,
like that's always happening like throughout a game. And that's
part of being a professional too, Like if you're tipping,
like you better get that figured out because you're gonna
get waffled.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Eight people. It's good.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
I'm not a baseball guy, so it's good to see
you guys talk about this.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Though, But I feel back because I could just keep
asking questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's no. I obviously agree.
I'm in agreeance with you.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
I feel like that if the pictures, you know, showing
his signs or he's letting him into much, that's that's
that's his fault.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Like there's some people that are incredible at it, like
they just pick it up. It's it's really impressive. There's
like there's two there's three players that come to mind
that I've had, Like, I mean, it would take me
all day, and I don't think i'd pick up some
of the stuff that they're just doing in a split second.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Well, what are these pitch coms now? I mean that that.
I mean they're wearing.

Speaker 4 (34:11):
These communicators between the catcher in their hat and you
can always see maybe once every few games there's a
picture having a problem with one where they have to
change it out. But is if that's giving them their signs, right, then,
how the hell is anyone able to pick up on anything?

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, now, like if they're using that, I mean that
was the point was to try to take that away
from them. I don't know, and I can appreciate it,
but it also again it takes out some of the
the art of it all too.

Speaker 4 (34:44):
Yeah, what's your from from dominant pitching standpoints?

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Who are the ones that kind of stick in your head?

Speaker 4 (34:53):
And I'm not necessarily saying the fastest, I'm saying the
ones that have just given hitters the most amount of trouble.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Yeah, that's there's a few. So the ones that, like
I've had, like on teams of mine. It's funny because
I can go back to like Matt Moore is a
reliever right now with the Angels, and in the minor leagues,
he is one of the most dominant pitchers I've ever
I've ever seen like he probably he no hit maybe

(35:24):
the best minor league team I've ever seen now, and
he had a lot of success as a starter early
and then he had an elbow injury. Took him a
while to kind of get back in more of a
reliever role, but he was unbelievable. The one guy I
think I've ever been in the opposing dugout and been like, oh,

(35:47):
I remember seeing in fifty had to be twenty fifteen.
I remember being in New York, so in the dugout
in New York playing the Mets, and so Harvey was pitted.
That's when Harvey was like when eighteen twenty games they
had into guard that year. The gram was kind of
a no name guy at that point. Nobody really knew
who he was. But I remember seeing him be like,

(36:07):
there's something. He wasn't throwing one hundred at that point.
He was throwing hard, but I was like, there's something
different about that, and you could see it from the dugout.
I've only heard two fastball's ever come out of a
guy's hand from the dugout in a professional game. Eraldus
Chapman like you could hear it come out in Yankee Stadium.

(36:27):
You could still hear it come out of his hand.
I think he was like throwing one O four that day.
So and this guy he's been he's I don't know
if he played this year or not. It's quite a
story about him. But Matt Bush relief pitcher, another guy
short short writing. I mean Sureser was one of the

(36:51):
more was man. It's just had so many good people.
I love Bueller pitching. Like what Bueller did the other night,
that's that's postseason Bueller playoffs Urius. He's just cold blooded
on the mound in the postseason, and that's what you're
looking for. Like the guys that have success in the postseason.

(37:15):
This kind of gets into a deeper physiological conversation, bringing
this full full circle. But I always looked at like
there's some really elite pitchers that struggle in the postseason
and they'll be Hall of famers there. There's that doesn't
take away from what they've done. Everybody has a different
emotional response. Come it's a totally different game the regular

(37:38):
season in postseason games. But then you have guys that
elevate when they're in those tight situations when they're in
the postseason. Like Urius was always kind of that way,
Bueller's that way, and you're watching the Pulp postseason right now.
Key k Hernandez is that way. Jock Peterson is another
one of those guys. It's that way.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
He has impressed me. I mean he's he's clearly plays
to another level underneath this light. There's something about him.
In the regular season, you don't even know who this
guy is, and then he becomes one of the more
dominant Dodgers in what school is like he is later
in the order, right, I mean, he's not one of
these guys seen out earlier.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
I think I kind of look at it on the
carbon dioxide continue him. To be honest, it's almost like
they're the difference between getting hypoxic and like your heart
rate elevates you you know, you get a huge sympathetic
response or hyper kapnik where your breath actually slows, you
get more of a cerebral blood flow response and you

(38:41):
can control it. I almost look that's almost how I
look at those guys that are performing at that high
level and when the lights get brighter where they have
that ability, which I think to a point, I mean,
it's natural in a lot of these guys, but to
a point, I do think that's trainable. Maybe not to
that extent, like some people just have a propensity for

(39:01):
it obviously and and the ability to do that. But
I think it's kind of two sides of the same coin.
Some of those guys too, are always into Joe Kelly's
another one that comes to mind comes to mind, but
they some of these people need that kind of stimulation
to also kind of level out, like they're they're those

(39:23):
are you like your super ADHD personalities that then like
that level of stimulat like they're always searching for more stimulation.
That level of stimulation is what like calms them. So
it's almost like that's their adderall.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
Do you think that was part of Linndor's play I mean,
he you know, he he was always a good player, like,
let's face it, but I feel like this playoff and
or this past half of the season, he really went
to this superstar status. And I mean it was their
Grand Slam that he hit against who.

Speaker 7 (39:56):
The hell was it was? It Uh was Uh, it
was with Philly. I think, yeah, it was, it was
it was Philly. I was at I was actually I went.
I was at a charity event.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
I left it because I couldn't stand out watching the game,
and I walked into a bar by myself and I
sat there and I saw him rolling up to the
plate in the second he hit that home run, and
he's running around the bases. He was floating and there
was this calm over him. It almost reminded me of
Matt Williams. You remember Matt Williams for The Sad Right
and Matt Williams. There was a movie out in the

(40:27):
nineties called Super Sluggers and it was the greatest home
run video ever because it was all these two stuff,
you know, players from the nineties, and it was it
was showcasing all these like it was called up it
was called Super Sluggers, and Matt they were asking him all,
what's your how do you think you get your strength
from when you hit home runs? And Strawberrys like, I

(40:49):
think I get it from my wrists, and they're all
like answering, they all have like these different answers, and
they asked Matt Williams the question of, like, what's your
approach to hitting a home run? He goes, my home
run is as I hit the baseball, I put my
head down and run a first base and they just
showed him put his head down. And I remember watching
this and thinking to myself, how freaking cool is this?

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Like this guy's expecting like he expects to do that.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
And when Lindor hit Slam and they were like the
biggest home run of your life?

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Why were you this calm, cool and collected?

Speaker 4 (41:19):
And he says, because I finally realized this is what
I'm supposed to do. And I feel like that right
there was this massive switch for him, and I feel
like he went from here to like here and it
was impressive. And do you think it's you know, in
a way he's saying himself, I'm supposed to do this.
I believe I should be doing this. And do you
think he really talked himself into that? And when a

(41:41):
player's flipping out and getting excited, maybe they're just excited
and don't expect to be doing that. Like what do
you think the mindset approach is for a lot of
these hitters.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
That's a really interesting question because I think and Lindor
is interesting because he was elite. He hasn't played as
elite until recently since he's gotten to New York. But
that's the guy he was in Cleveland. So was it
just looking for the opportunity to use that almost? I
mean not that he's not trying to use it before,
but that that then takes it to the next level. Man,

(42:14):
That's which I always like, like Larry Fitzgerald. You know,
he catches a touchdown, he gives the ball to the
ref and you know, act like they've been there before.
Now the flip side of that is, man, a lot
of Latin American players are like when you see guys
pounding their chest, that's like if you've ever been to
a game in the Dominican I mean, it's like going
to a college softball game in the US. Like they're chanting.

(42:36):
They're just like, it's a total different level of emotion. Kids. No,
and generally speaking, I mean this is just more cultural thing,
but more Latin American players, it's usually much more of
kind of an emotional roller coaster, which is again interesting.
You have somebody like him or I think of like
Raphael Devers. I mean, there's there's a few guys in

(42:58):
the league that are more like more of a calming
presence at as a Latin American player, But I do
think there's something Usually guys that are like the like
a veteran Major League player at a high, high level.
They have their personality, but they're always they're always coming
back there. They rarely get like too high or too

(43:20):
low unless it's I mean, you obviously see some stuff
in those situations, like if they do, it's a quick
bounce back to write where they were, and so they're
always and I think that's every sport frankly that I've
seen this in, Like no matter what their personality is,
there's always a regression or progression back to the mean.
So it's like it's very much right here all the time.

(43:41):
Freddie Freeman's a great example of that. I actually had
asked him before about it. Said he used to get
super upset after like strikeouts. I can't remember the player
he said that called him out on it. It is like, hey,
you're gonna have three more, three more attempts today, like
five hundred more this year. It's going to be okay.
You can't live and die with with with every pitch,

(44:05):
every at bat, you have to move on be in
the moment, really.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Talk about a pure hitter. I mean that guy.

Speaker 4 (44:11):
I mean, what's fascinating about that Dodger lineup is that
naturally you take Otani and you put him in and
own in his own world. I feel like, because just
what he could do from pitching, and then the fifty
to fifty club this year, I mean, the guys, the
guy's in modern day pay Ruth. But then you know
you can't sleep on one of the two of the
other best players in the National League, and that's Mookie

(44:32):
Betts and Freddie Freeman. I mean, do you put those
guys in top five? They're definitely in top ten, right,
I mean, the hands down, they've got to be in
that ten conversation.

Speaker 3 (44:41):
I think Freddy's the most He's the most natural hitter,
like just hitter that I've ever had. I mean, he
can lit up and I'm coming back from an injury
one time I think this was twenty seventeen and watched
him if he took five swings in a day before
the game. That was on the high end, Like there
might be three people in a decade that can do

(45:03):
that and hit three hundred in the major leagues.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
So it's like there's do you think that helped him
or do you think that worked against him? Because think
about it, he's taking five swings wide. Does he not
want to tire himself out? Is he trying to keep
himself relaxed before the game or then I think.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
It was because I came back so early from an entry.
To be honest, Now some of that is too, Like
pitchers always talk about this like savior bullets. So it's
like you have so many guys that are trying to
hit themselves out of slumps and just hit, hit, hit,
And I've heard Charlie talk about this before, like you
call that a slump. I call that metabolic acidosis, Like yeah,

(45:44):
I agree, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:49):
I think a lot of the times these players do
this just from that mental standpoint of like we got
to admit it, like are they getting that much better
by hitting you know it's falls before a game or
are they just getting themselves into a good frame of
mind mentally? Well, I guess the proofs in the pudding, right,
like are they gonna how they're gonna perform.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
That given day?

Speaker 4 (46:09):
It's fascinating. I think how any athlete, you know, you
can just as good as these players are, you really
don't know what you're gonna get. Right, The best hitter
in the major leagues this year hit what three thirty five,
three forty. I mean that's for non baseball lovers out there,
I mean that's that's a little bit more than three
hits out of ten at bats on average throughout the season.

(46:30):
I mean, that's that's fascinating, right, It's it's it's fascinating.
So think about the amount of times how much they
are unsuccessful, and yeah, you have to be.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
Able to move on and move on quickly. It's uh,
but and I think what you don't see a lot.
I mean, these guys are like ducks a little bit,
the guys that are struggling, Like even if they're not
showing it, like there's there's so much going on under
the water, under the hood. And like I I've seen
a lot of guys get over coached at the major

(47:02):
league level whin they're scuffling, and then you just kind
of see that snowball. So it is like their ability
to separate sometimes, I think, is it's important. It's really
important because it's just gonna perpetuate otherwise if you don't mind.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
I want to ask an opinion on one hitter, and
it's not I'm not asking for anything personal.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
I don't even know if you know this guy or not.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
But obviously, me being a Met fan, I've always Jeff
McNeil with his you know, winning a batting title.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Was it three years ago?

Speaker 4 (47:32):
For those who don't know what the batting title is,
it's the highest batting average in the National League or
the American League. You win the batting title. So the
guy wins the batting title, and then his numbers have
been tapering off. I think he's an outstanding hitter. He's
fallen a little bit short. He's out because of an injury.
He comes back in, you know, the coaches bring him
back in and they play him over Iglesias, who I

(47:55):
think is a pretty hot bat at this time. As
your opinion, you're winning with a Glacias in the lineup, right,
he's your second baseman. OMG, this whole oh my god, crap,
that's driving every other fan nuts the song, this and that.
But he has a really great energy brought to the table.

(48:16):
Do you agree with the move of sitting a guy
who's hitting the baseball really well to put a guy
in who just.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Doesn't have his timing.

Speaker 4 (48:24):
I'm not saying he's worse to a hitter than the Glecias,
He's probably overall a way better hitter than him, but
his timing's not there because he hasn't played in forty
fifty games.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
What's your opinion on that?

Speaker 3 (48:34):
That's that's why managers get paid the big bucks. Well,
you could argue front offices now and this is obviously
not knowing like the clubhouse dynamics or anything there. But
I think you have a guy like McNeil. He also
brings a different presence to the lineup. So even if
Galacias is the hot hand right now, like you have

(48:56):
to respect that as the opposing pitcher, that this guy's
the lineup and he could do damage on you even
if he's not one hundred percent right now. So I
go with that. Or honestly, if I was the Mets,
I think I would have Das for their catcher. He
seemed like an automatic Alberta seemed like an automatic out

(49:17):
not just nowhere, but then.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
It was weird, and then he just came back that
game where he was just terrible and lit it up
to get three or four hits. He was just that's
what kind of made them so special. I think this
year was this unpredictability. It's would be really exciting for fans.
Do anything else, Andrew, really appreciate your time today, man,
I could.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Have talked, Yeah, it's interesting listening to you guys go
back and forth. So I just had one thing like
Andrew and I had sort of shared videos of like
Deshaun Watson tearing his achilles, and then there was a
basketball player that tore his achilles yesterday and do you
think yet it's not officially he looked back like somebody
hit him with a baseball bat. Do you think that

(50:00):
some of these issues we're talking about about general fitness,
blood flow, muscle oxygenation are contributing to some of these
tendon ligament injuries? I know you talked about, you know,
lower body contribution to blood flow to the upper extremities
and all that. Do you think if somebody is lacking
that circulation, they're going to be more susceptible at a
connective tissue level?

Speaker 3 (50:22):
I think absolutely. I mean oxygen, does I have a
perfect example of an athlete I was just working with
like oxygen or injured tissue for one does not utilize oxygen,
and that really is like that's our that's our source
of energy for healing, for anything we do. Like you again,
you can't you can't rev up an engine without it

(50:46):
more or less. But like the flip side of that
is you have to have the vasculature and the vascular
network to support that. And what what I think is
like so important with all that, Like I was saying,
I just had an athlete that like he was clearly
fatigued his from a vascular perspective. What I was seeing

(51:08):
like his gas tank was small that day, just to
simplify it, and your gas tank is changing every day.
I saw that a lot with like when we would travel,
gas tanks with shrink, when guys would if we had
a really tough emotional game, gas tanks with shrinth, dehydration,
shrink injury. They shrink because it's almost like you have

(51:28):
all these areas in your body that are having like
mini asthma attacks. It's like the oxygen and energy is there,
but then you don't have anything to actually use any
of it. So again, not knowing the situation for what
was going on with like Deshaun Watson or I think
Wiseman was the player in the basketball game. At least

(51:49):
it looked like he popped his achilles, Like those are
those are those are big things? Like if if I'm
seeing that before a competition or like today like practice,
like Okay, we're gonna have to go about our warm
up a little differently so we can start to increase,
like can we vasodilaate and just get more blood to

(52:10):
that area. I mean, that could very well have been
part of it with I think with a lot of
athletes that is in general, because as your fitness level
decreases or maybe never built it in the first place.
I mean, blood flow is a huge part of that.
And that was Urt Koshansky's thing, which which is why
I like Verrur Koshansky is like all this stuff that

(52:32):
he was talking about forty years ago, he didn't have
the best methods to measure it, but like we can
see that in real time at this point, but it's
doing the exact same stuff. Like that's what he was
trying to do. He was trying to build vascularity first.
He was he was trying to move blood from an
upper limb to a lower limb or wherever. Like that's

(52:55):
just becoming a more efficient athlete and more efficient performer.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Do you think there's a specific.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
I want to try and keep this question very basic
for our listeners, but do you think there's a very
We all know there's different types of energy systems training
for different types of sport or activity, and of course
the question is always well what is the goal?

Speaker 2 (53:18):
But do you find that there is a specific.

Speaker 4 (53:23):
Type of cardiovascular training that a lot of your athletes
are lacking in or that might be universal for a
lot of different athletes in different sport right, Like there's
maybe maybe hot intervals are different because of their line duration,
But is there a specific bucket that you almost feel
like you need to put every athlete into because they

(53:44):
need to train that energy system?

Speaker 3 (53:46):
I would three parts, three short answers to that same question.
I think like sustained isometric work yep, across the board.
I think every athlete needs it, and it's going to
increase stroke volume of your heart. So it's like, oh okay,
like there's a lot happening under the hood just with
sustained isometric work. And then I think both tempo running,

(54:11):
to be honest, like they're either not going slow enough
or they're going, they're never getting to the right gear
almost in that instance.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
But how would you define tempo running? Sorry, how would
you define that from a heartbreat standpoint?

Speaker 3 (54:28):
Well, for me, and I'm gonna have a monitor on them,
so I look at playing catch kind of the same way,
to be honest in baseball. So for me, it's like
that sixty to seventy five percent intensity sweet spot where
they can coordinate it, Like it looks coordinated because I
hate when like, hey, if I tell you to slow down,
but you're just because it's way faster than me, Like, no,

(54:51):
you can coordinate that. So it's a coordinated movement because
a sprint, Yes, it's coordinated, but you have to create
a certain muscular response for that. You're like, there is
a clear physiological picture I want to see with tempo
running or playing catch that is not creating that. It's
not too slow, it's not too fast. It's just like

(55:11):
that perfect middle ground. And everybody knows those speeds, whether
they're playing catch or running, they have that speed.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
You think, that's that's sixty to seventy five percent of
your max heart rate. That that's what you're that's what
you're recommending.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Just perceived intensity. I don't even want to say. I
don't want to put a heart rate on it because
that is so it's so variable. Like that's where I think,
like cardiac output rides and all that stuff got kind
of misconstrued because of that, Like heart rate is your compensator, Like, hey,
let's drive up stroke volume and then all of a sudden,
your cardiac output is it's one oh five. What was

(55:48):
one forty before? Honestly, anything sustained is the third part
to that question. So any sustain I use the bike
a lot because most guys just can't run for a
sustained period of time. I know, Derek, you're playing around
with a lot of that stuff right now, just in
your own training. So keep the the RPMs. I keep

(56:13):
those very high. And then but the resistance is actually
very low, So you're getting that like your heart is
escentrically elongated, it's getting it's getting more elastic, where most
of the stuff we do in the weight room or sprinting,
it's the heart's getting thicker, So it's growing inward compared
to outward.

Speaker 4 (56:35):
Interesting, that's awesome to do a whole conversation on that. Listen,
I really think stuff too, and thanks for your time.
If anyone wants to find out more about you or
what you're doing with your projects, could you let them
know where they can find you.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Yeah, well, I mean I've got Instagram, I've got a
website Continuum HP dot com. But yeah, then Derek and
I on Derek's website. We have a course coming out
next month in uh first run of it's going to
be in Scottsdale, So November, what sixteenth, seventeenth, Yeah, and
that's all through derek site.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
So but yeah, running Mechanics dot com. So we have
a listing there, so we have we have a number
of people from Major League Baseball teams attending, and it's
going to be a good show.

Speaker 4 (57:20):
I think, and your ig is just Andrew Howser Andrew
underscore t SC.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
You're putting me on the spot. Yeah, I think that's right.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
I'm looking right now.

Speaker 4 (57:32):
I think it's Oh, Andrew Underscore Houser h A U
S E R underscore A.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
T S C Man. Yeah, that's simple, right.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Very simple. You got me as a new follower right now.
So I recommend everyone give Andrew a follow. I mean
just browsing quickly browsing to his content right now. I mean,
you're you're great to listen to today. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Yeah, thanks for having me. Good scening, guys.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
I wanted to connect the baseball brains here, so that
was good brain.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
I'm just I'm just I'm just passionate about it, all right.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Thank you very much both.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
Take care and thanks again.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
Yes M.