by

Tim Ferriss

Eric Cressey, Cressey Sports Performance — Tactical Deep Dive on Back Pain, Movement Diagnosis, Training Principles, Developing Mobility, Building Power, Fascial Manipulation, and Rules for Athletes (#675)

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Artist's rendering of Eric Cressey.
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“You screw up your taxes, there’s a way out of it. You screw up your body, you might have a lifetime of pain.”

— Eric Cressey

Eric Cressey (@EricCressey), MA, CSCS, is president and co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance, with facilities in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and Hudson, Massachusetts. He has worked with clients from youth sports to the professional and Olympic ranks but is best known for his extensive work with baseball players; more than 100 professional players train at CSP each offseason. He also serves as Director of Player Health and Performance for the New York Yankees.

Eric double-majored in exercise science and sports and fitness management at the University of New England and then received his master’s degree in kinesiology with a concentration in exercise science at the University of Connecticut. He has published books and video resources that have been sold in more than 60 countries. He regularly lectures both nationally and internationally, and his research has been published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. He serves as a consultant to New Balance, Proteus Motion, and Athletic Greens.

Eric’s free blog and newsletter can be found at EricCressey.com. You can also find Eric’s podcast at EliteBaseballPodcast.com.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Brought to you by Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, AeroPress 3-in-1 coffee press for delicious brews, and Athletic Greens’s AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

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#675: Eric Cressey, Cressey Sports Performance — Tactical Deep Dive on Back Pain, Movement Diagnosis, Training Principles, Developing Mobility, Building Power, Fascial Manipulation, and Rules for Athletes

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Want to hear another episode with someone who understands the magic of movement and mobility? Listen to my most recent conversation with Dr. Kelly Starrett in which we discussed how our environment shapes us, optimizing vital signs and range of motion as we age, why we should be walking and fidgeting more, why balance training isn’t just for “old” people, how to extend the end range of motion, simple corrective exercises, cultivating timeless movement in a busy world, breath as a mobilization device, and much more.

#664: Dr. Kelly Starrett — The Magic of Movement and Mobility, Training for Range of Motion, Breathing for Back Pain, Improving Your Balance, and More

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Eric Cressey:

Website | Training Facilities | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

SHOW NOTES

  • [06:08] The email responsible for this conversation.
  • [09:19] Why pinpointing the cause of lower back pain can be so challenging.
  • [20:22] Initial diagnosis through movement.
  • [22:59] How seemingly unrelated meds can exacerbate pain.
  • [24:38] Posture considerations.
  • [26:55] Addressing and correcting suboptimal patterns of movement.
  • [28:55] Resources for understanding movement screens.
  • [30:00] Ingredients that make up a lower back pain cocktail.
  • [34:42] Even with the greatest care, wear and tear over time is normal.
  • [40:19] Improving thoracic mobility.
  • [43:56] Conquering Quasimodo.
  • [45:14] Defusing deskbound damage.
  • [48:25] Practical exercises.
  • [53:37] Shocking controversies surrounding fascial manipulation.
  • [1:02:18] Role of the glutes.
  • [1:04:02] Strengthening the posterior chain.
  • [1:06:06] Power and strength vs. aging.
  • [1:08:57] Recommended reading.
  • [1:12:21] Medical diagnosis vs. movement diagnosis.
  • [1:24:53] How to ask the right questions when seeking treatment.
  • [1:34:00] Overrated exercises?
  • [1:35:39] What a movement diagnosis will look like for me.
  • [1:36:23] Infrasternal angle.
  • [1:39:06] Age and injury predisposition.
  • [1:41:58] “Get long, get strong, train hard.”
  • [1:45:34] The downstream effects of orthopedic interventions.
  • [1:48:21] Creating bulletproof athletes.
  • [1:52:42] Worst advice given often.
  • [1:55:29] What has Eric recently changed his mind about?
  • [2:00:06] Important upstream variables.
  • [2:02:38] Good stiffness. (Oh, behave!)
  • [2:04:49] Vetting reliable sources of information.
  • [2:11:39] How Brijesh Patel changed Eric’s career perspective and other parting thoughts.

MORE ERIC CRESSEY QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“We are big bags of water. And probably what’s happening with fascial interventions is that we’re changing the way that fluids move so that folks do have better gliding of tissues that are adjacent to one another.”
— Eric Cressey

“I hate it when people say, ‘I failed rehab.’ It’s like, ‘No, sometimes rehab failed you. You were trying and you just didn’t get the right coaching cue or the right intervention that you needed.’”
— Eric Cressey

“The hardest part is sometimes you have to counsel athletes away from something that they might really enjoy.”
— Eric Cressey

“Don’t specialize young.”
— Eric Cressey

“Try to find a way to do a wide variety of movements well into adulthood.”
— Eric Cressey

“You screw up your taxes, there’s a way out of it. You screw up your body, you might have a lifetime of pain.”
— Eric Cressey

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