Hey this is BJ Gaddour with workoutmuse.com! I have the true cream of the crop with me today, Eric Cressey. One of the top fitness pros in our industry, a Perform Better presenter, a maker of many phenomenal products that help people get better from a fitness standpoint. This guy works with a who’s who list of baseball players at almost every level at his facility, Cressey Performance. We’re going to talk to Eric today about his new Show And Go program and a lot of other stuff that he’s got going on because it’s of great interest to me and everybody else at Workout Muse because this is the guy that does it every single day, in the trenches. Not just somebody sitting behind a desk who is putting to gather programs. Eric can you please share your background for those who man not be as familiar with you as I am?
Yes, absolutely! I have kind of been all over New England as I’ve gone through this whole process. I’m originally from Maine and started out thinking that I was going to be an accountant, but about 2 years into my college degree, realized that I wanted to be more in the fitness realm. Not really sure whether I wanted to go into research or personal training or strength training or conditioning. So, long story short, I wound up falling into the strength conditioning niche when I was at Yukon for my masters degree. I wound up getting into this baseball population almost by accident and it’s grown and become a real good niche for us. We are based in Hudson, Mass., which is about 30-40 minutes west of Boston. We see everything from 9 year olds to 75 year olds at our facility. About 80 to 85 percent of our clientele is baseball players. I train guys at the big league level, we train guys who are just drafted, we train college guys, high school guys, you name it. It keeps things interesting and it’s cool to be in this specific niche. I think where it’s most applicable to the product that people probably know me best for is that when you deal with the baseball population you accept the fact that you there are structural messes. A lot of them have torn ligaments that I don’t even know are there, cuff tears and things like that. Our job is to keep these guys on the field and improve performance at the same time. It’s kind of at the highest level that we have learned to really manage these things and work backwards so that we can apply some of the same principles to keep in the general fitness population. Whether they are in personal training or bootcamps or some other sport, we keep them healthy. It’s been a cool ride and it’s unfolding as we go.
Awesome! It’s funny, I read a blogpost that you did at Pat Rigsby’s blog about finding your niche and your specialty and how you were actually a tennis player in high school and you never thought that you would be working with as many baseball players as you are. It’s always kind of funny how things just work out the way they are supposed to work out and obviously you have done a phenomenal job of delivering an incredible service for those guys.
Yeah, it’s funny, I just got all these shoulder problems myself and you see all these same shoulder issues in tennis players as you see in baseball population, so when the opportunity rose, I was prepared for it. It’s just kind of funny how things happen. I like to quote an old saying of Thomas Jefferson: “The harder I work the better my luck seems to get.” It kind of resonates in that regard.
You bet. Let’s talk about the new program Show And Go. We touched on the fact that you work with high end baseball players but the practices are the same when the goal is losing body fat and gaining muscle, improving performance and preventing injury or reducing the risk of injury. That’s how you train your other clients at your facility as well. So tell us what Show And Go is all about and who it’s really best suited for.
For me, in a lot of ways it was something I always wanted to do because I have always written books with a publisher in the past and realized that I maybe wanted to do a little bit more than what the publisher allows you in terms of restrictions on the text and having to use pictures as opposed to videos and all that. So I wanted to make a product that was digital and that way I’d have a lot more wiggle room in terms of making things exactly as I wanted them and having a good companion video library. So in many ways it was a follow up to Maximum Strength, which is a book I published back in late 2007, early 2008. More than anything we wanted to show the average gym-goer that in any scenario, if you make subtle modifications to a general program, you can really kind of adapt it to your goals. So whether if you’re somebody who’s looking to get bigger or stronger or more athletic or leaner or whatever it may be and you understand how to tinker with the subtle modifications in your program, a lot of times you can take a program that may be more general and written for the masses and you can make it more appropriate for your needs. In that regard, we made this program and made sure that 4 times a week, 2 times a week we have training programs for people with different schedules and different availability and different competing demands. Whether you’re an in season athlete or someone who has absolutely nothing going on and you just want to lift weights all the time. One thing we did was offer a bunch of different medball conditioning options, whether it was movement training, sprint work or things like that, or whether it was something more along the lines if your classic interval training that may take place at a gym. Whether people wanted movement training, resistance training, circuits, stuff like that, on and off complexes. So we just try to make different things available to different people who have different goals. On top of that we have a bunch of bonuses tagging along with it that tend to help the cause as well. More than anything, I wanted to show that there are several key principles that any program should have but if you understand how to tinker with them, you can really make it run in accordance with your goals.
I love it! I was actually luck enough that you sent me the product to review. Just looking at anything you have done with Bill Hartmann and Mike Robertson, they are so well done. Can you kind of walk us through the program? Everything is laid out very neatly and organized. Take us through each component of a Show And Go workout and the reasoning behind the order of things and why we’re doing each component.
Absolutely! First thing about it and I think you’ll appreciate this, is that it’s actually put on the templates that we use with our athletes at the facility here. That’s big because it gives people a place to track their progress. You can print those out and take them to the gym with you. A lot of people appreciate that. To take it a step further, there are specific warm ups for each phase that we go through and there are 4 total phases and 16 weeks of training. We teach people how to go through foam rolling, front/side myofascial release and give them some cool, new age style techniques that we are using in one of the bonuses as well. So, guys will foam roll, they’ll go through the dynamic flexibility, get to their lifting which is going to feature a lot of things that are really specific to every program. Whether it’s a compound movement, fluctuations of training stress, progressive overload, rotating exercises, including single leg exercises, looking at postural stuff like pushing and pulling. In reality, we just give the people the information that they need to really tinker with it to make it right for them. On off days we may have supplemental conditioning if people are looking to drop body fat or prepare for a specific sport. Another thing that’s kind of been a big hit, and there are 2 parts to this, one is a really big video library that goes along with it and it includes over 175 exercises – basically every drill that we feature in the entire program. A lot of people like that video library and said that it justifies the cost of the product alone. To take it a step further, we actually have an entire chapter within the book all on exercise modifications for people who have limited equipment access. Something like a no squat rack or access to equipment cables and also people who have mobility issues that may prevent them from performing a specific exercise. So if you get stiff ankles or hips and you can’t squat right we show you a substitute in the meantime while you work to get that issue right. It’s very versatile in the way that it’s constructed so that we can try to be everything to everybody which is probably the exact opposite of what any marketing guru would tell me what to do.
One thing to add here and that is the great thing that you do. For those of you who don’t know, Eric is a very accomplished power lifter in his own right. I believe you have several national records in power lifting, correct?
Yeah, I’ve lifted some heavy stuff.
Yes, he’s lifted some heavy stuff. Not only that, he’s got the ability to do that side of things and he’s dealt with a lot of injuries in the shoulder in the past. So this program brings together the corrective aspect with the performance aspect together into one great program which is phenomenal. Most of these programs you’ll see, they are not going to include the foam roll tissue aspect or the dynamic flexibility aspect. That is what you do first and it’s and it’s most important and it’s what I really like about Eric’s program. People talk all the time about steak and sizzle. Everything that you have put together is the steak. Online marketers can sizzle all they want but at the end of the day, people are going to have to use the program and when they don’t get where they’re trying to go, they probably won’t come back. As a repeat customer of Eric’s, I keep coming back because every time he puts something together, when it’s released, it’s ready. Awesome stuff with that! You mentioned the 2, 3 and 4 workout plans – 2 day, 3 day, 4 day. Tell us about them. Obviously, the length of time is a little bit different for each day, but what are the main differences between those programs and who are they best suited for?
There’s always been a highly contested debate between the 3 times a week and 4 times a week with folks in the industry. Especially people who are into their lifting career. Those are folks that may respond better to less frequent training. Combining things into full body and condensing all that work load so they have more recovery. For me personally, I’ve seen better strength gains from a 4 times a week program, so I’ve always tended to gravitate towards that a little bit more. You have life that gets in the way sometimes. Not everybody can get to the gym 6 days a week and do their thing. People have stressful jobs and kids. Different things get in the way. I want to make sure that things are available to everybody, whether it’s 3 or 4 days a week. It just depends on what people like. I encourage people to be honest. It’s a 4 month program, but in reality you could try the 3 times a week and the 4 times a week option and have yourself a 32 week program. Along those same lines we have a 2 times a week option as one of the bonuses. What that is a great option for endurance athletes out there who really may have a lot of competing demands. You look at the life of a triathlete who may train 15 to 16 times a week and they just need to plug in resistance training wherever they can. Likewise, it’s a pretty good option for people who may be in season and if you’re an in season athlete, you can take those 2 programs and knock a few sets off and use those as the program that you use in season. It’s really just a difference if you want to go full body or do an upper body, lower body split and how you want to attack it.
I love it! What are the type of results that the average trainee can expect with this 16 week program?
The interesting thing about it is that I don’t know if results are ever typical. We tried to make it a product that just about everybody could use. We got an email from somebody this morning that was talking about how they had some pretty crazy changes. He said that, “I just wanted to keep you updated with the results. I’ve had some Show And Go and would like to ask a question in regard to this. I started the program with 10% body fat and I’m now down to just over 7% and this is the lowest I’ve ever gone.” So, we have seen guys that drop body fat like that and going from 10 to 7 is not easy to do. Likewise, we’ve seen guys that have put 60 lbs. on their squats and gain 15 lbs. in the process. So it really comes down to what you’re doing nutritionally as well as what you’re doing with this program, what you’re doing with your supplemental conditioning. We had some endurance athletes that tried out the 2 times a week option and really, really liked it as well. Everyone’s been a little bit different. I ran a big group of guinea pigs through this when we started off. One of my goals was to find some people from different walks of life. We had power lifters, we had rock climbers, we had endurance athletes we had general fitness people who were trying to get leaner – really a little bit of everything. It was cool to see them all come back with the response that they liked it and they all liked it for different reasons. That was what we were going for and in the process we educated them more than these programs that are out there that just have one specific goal that they want you to do and they just make you tired more than they make you better.
One thing to point out too, is that there are a good number of nutritional bonuses to accompany the product as well, correct?
Yes, it’s actually an add-on. Brian St. Pierre wrote a nutrition guide that is available for people who purchase the product as an up-sell. It’s actually included in the product and it’s well worth it. He went above and beyond to get our meal plans and sample snacks and all kinds of grocery shopping strategies that help too. That’s been a popular thing with the people who have purchased as a great add-on. Brian’s the guy who’s been doing all the nutrition stuff for our guys who do performance. We have all these guys who swear by him so it seemed logical to team up on that just like we would team up and work together in person.
Just like anything on line that you are going to give to people and allow them to purchase and use. These are the exact systems that you are using with your people and they work. You just have to be able to use them and be consistent and incorporate the nutritional aspect as well and get results. I’m assuming that the person who is going to be best suited for this product is the individual who is intrinsically motivated and who loves to get after it and is at a plateau trying to bust past that plateau or take things to the next level or boost past the 300 lbs. marker on their bench or get leaner and pretty much willing to do whatever you ask them to do because that’s what its going to take to follow systems, right?
Absolutely, it’s huge! Maybe the classic program hoppers, for lack of a better term, maybe those are some of the folks that would like this because it is a different perspective and give them a change of pace from what they are doing. It’s the old saying, Everything works, but nothing works forever. It’s a different perspective on how we integrate things. I’m not saying I have all the secrets or all the answers and anybody that would tell you that they do doesn’t really know their ass from their elbow. Our goal is to give you a new perspective and give you some results in the process and set you up for success in the 4 months that you’re doing our program and hopefully teach you some principles that you realize that you can carry forth to any program that you’re on. You’ll learn some exercises in the process. You’ll pick up some technique habits and you go from there.
Very cool! For those not familiar with the other stuff you’ve got going on too, just in case. If Show And Go wasn’t enough or exactly what you’re looking for, we have a lot of people group exercise and bootcamp owners and you put together a product called Assess And Correct with Mike Robertson and Bill Hartmann and presented a phenomenal way to bring an assessment style protocol into your group exercise programs to help keep people safe in what is typically a very injury prone market – you know, the good ol’ jump around, run around type workouts with no structure. Can you touch on the Assess And Correct program a little bit because I just think it’s of great value to anybody who owns a fitness business.
Mike and I, back in late 2005, filmed our Magnificent Mobility DVD. Later in 2006, Bill and Mike did a product called Inside Out. So Magnificent Mobility was more lower extremity and Inside Out was more upper extremity and warm up type thing. The feed back on those was great. They sold very well and helped to get all our names out there more. The one bit of feedback that we kept receiving was where we could improve upon was, “Which one do I use?” We gave them a series of drills and said this accomplishes this and heard, “How do I know if I need to work on this?” The truth is that we know certain people all have certain type hip flexors. Some people have crappy ankle mobility and things like that we know we need to work on. The general fitness population doesn’t necessarily a) know that they need to do that and, b) know how to assess to definitively state that they know that they need to do that. So what we did was we put together a collection of over 2 dozen assessments people can use to really figure out what’s going on with their body. Stuff that they can do on their own even if it’s with a digital camera and partner if they need to. Then we gave them – it’s almost like a chose your own adventure work – once you figure out what goes on in your own assessment, you can plug it right in with an exercise progression. It’s awesome, especially for people who lead bootcamps. It’s a small investment for what you can use it for, for literally years. Change your warm ups all the time and you’re getting a ton of different exercises and you can pick 7 or 8 of them for your warm up each day and you can rotate it all the time and know that it’s going to keep the attrition during your bootcamp down because people aren’t going to be getting banged up and winding up with achilles tendon problems or interior knee pain. You’ve put in the leg work to get them right in the first place. In a lot of ways we never intended it to be a rehabilitation DVD, it was more of a prehabilitation thing, but we get more emails from people saying, “This has cured my chronic hamstring problem.” Or, “I don’t have that neck pain that I used to have.” It’s cool how it worked out because you know me, people know me as kind of a upper shimmy guy. I do a lot of shoulder stuff. Bill knows back stuff like nobody I’ve ever met. Mike has it huge on back and knee pains. We kind of put all our heads together and got a couple of strength coaches and physical therapists together and looked at it both proactively and reactively. Together we put together this product that’s done really well and people have responded well to it. I’m glad it worked out that way. The bootcamp side of things is maybe a market that we haven’t explored fully but I think it’s a market that can really benefit from it.
Big time! I think with all trainers, they workout themselves and as with a lot of trainers, they know that there’s no shortage. As a Perform Better presenter, you know whenever you have people demo or show things there’s no shortage of people that can’t touch their toes or get into a deep squat. A lot of us know there’s people that could personally use this product to get the hip, ankle, t-spine mobility that a lot of people are lacking so that we can actually show our campers and clients exactly what to do and how to do things in the right way. In Men’s Health, you had a particular move called the Microwave that I thought was pretty cool. People are always looking for a 35-40 second golden nugget. Can you take us through the Microwave and show us the benefit?
They asked me if I had to pick one stretch to use to get guys moving in the right path. I wind up telling them that I wouldn’t stretch, I would do something a little bit more dynamic. So what I ended up going with was a high knee walk into a lunge, then a Spiderman with hip lifts and overhead reach. So if you do the math on all of it what it really comes down to is when you do the high knee walk, you’re getting stretches on the posterior aspect of your hips. So hip exterior rotators, hamstrings, gluts all those. Doing the lunge, you’re going to get a good stretch on the trailing leg, hip flexors and adductors a little bit. As you go out into the Spiderman, which is kind of an offset lunge, you’re going to get some groin stretch, a little hip flex on the length of that back side. We do the overhead reach, and take that top arm up, you get some shoulder rotation, some elbow extension, some thoracic spine flexibility and scapular posterior tilts. You drop back down and go to a hip lift. From the same position you get some hamstring length and more groin flexibility so in the process you’ve covered just about everything that you need to get aside from maybe ankle mobility and potentially hip internal rotation. Do that for 4 to 5 reps over the course of 35 to 40 seconds and be a lot looser maybe not right where you need to be but that’s about the best I’m going to be able to do on one exercise.
You can always pull the toe back on the hamstring stretch to get the ankles going a little bit.
Exactly! You can just add to it. Try to find stuff like that. At the end of the day, you never want a one size fits all thing, you want to make sure that things are right for different people. That’s something that may not work for someone who has a history of flexion intolerance or back pain. That hip lift’s going to give them trouble when they go into lumbar flexion. It may be a problem for someone who’s got a flat 2 lesion in their shoulder or the external rotation on that arm gives them trouble. So you try to match things to people injury history and work with whatever is right for them.
I love it! Well, I know that Eric’s probably got to get back to doing some more coaching here so we can conclude the call here. Eric, can you take us through where people listening can find your blog or website to best learn more about you and what you are doing?
Sure thing. I’ll give you 2 websites. The first is www.ericcressey.com which is just my home page and I publish a daily blog there as well as a newsletter. It’s all free so you can hook up there. There’s some pretty cool bonuses that people get for signing up for the newsletter. I’ve got a pretty lengthy dead lift tutorial that some people have really liked. Then, likewise for facility information go to www.cresseyperformance.com and that’s for our location up here just West of Boston.
Just to recap. We touched on a good number of things today but with Eric’s new program Show And Go, it is the exact programming that he’s using with his clients and it’s now available to the masses. You definitely want to check it out. It’s super complete and it’s guaranteed to help you get stronger, leaner and in better shape. Total fitness, not just gaining muscle, gaining more flexibility, becoming more mobile and improving tissue quality. All the things you need to be really fit. Then again, Assess And Correct, which is pretty much the bible of assessing and correcting the concerns and then fixing them, especially valuable to the group exercise owner because of the fact that most bootcamps will typically not take the time to do this type of stuff and you’ll have immediately separated yourself from the competition. If you know how to identify an issue, fix it and keep people safe – you know we talk all the time about trying to get people to be lifetime customers – tough to do this when they are hurting and you can’t keep them safe. I can’t recommend both of these products enough! Eric, thank you so much for your time today and please let me know how I can ever return the favor along the way.
Right on! Thanks for having me BJ!
My pleasure, buddy!
