I spent last weekend in Kansas City for the ninth annual Fitness Summit, which is both my favorite fitness event of the year and a great opportunity to visit my family. My mother and two brothers live there, along with two sisters-in-law and six nieces and nephews.

One of the those nephews is a 15-year-old who, I believe, is now the tallest member of my immediate family. He’s 6-foot-2, and according to his dad, already throws a fastball in the mid-80s for his high school’s junior varsity team.

But, because his hitting is less advanced than his pitching, he never gets a turn at bat. Yes, even as a 15-year-old, he’s a specialist. A designated hitter takes his place in the batting order.

You probably think I’m going to rail on how the DH has…

Tags: Tags: al, all-star game, baseball, designated hitter, nl, st. louis cardinals, world series

I remember the first time I forced myself to think about exercise science in a critical way. It was the late ’90s, and I was just getting settled into my new gig as fitness editor at Men’s Health magazine.

I’d spend the previous six years at Men’s Fitness, but the two jobs couldn’t have been more dissimilar. At the Weider magazines, more often than not, we got training information from people who used it. Bodybuilders supplied workouts to the bodybuilding magazines (in theory; the writers themselves often came up with the actual programs), and at Shape and MF we relied on trainers who worked with celebrities and athletes. Proof that it worked came from the physique or performance of whoever they trained.

MH, though, liked to have a research-based angle to everything it covered. I could see the need when it came…

Tags: Tags: baseball, correlational studies, fitness research, mark young, mens fitness, mens health, steroids, weider

Two nights ago, I took my son and older daughter to see a AAA game at Coca-Cola Park here in Allentown. The local team, the tragically named Iron Pigs, lost to the Syracuse Chiefs, 3-2. But I didn’t care about the outcome. It was a beautiful night in a beautiful park, and we got to see a mostly well-played game. 

The kids at first were disappointed that we weren’t going to get to see real major-leaguers; they’d heard that the Iron Pigs are affiliated with the Phillies, and somehow got the impression the Phillies were coming up here to the Lehigh Valley to play a game. 

So I had to explain the difference between major- and minor-league ball, which is surprisingly difficult to do. I started out with some simple math: If we estimate that there are 900 major leaguers (30 teams times 30 players,…

Tags: Tags: baseball, baseball movies, dominican republic, iron pigs, minor leagues, sugar

A year ago, my right knee was in such bad shape that I could barely run. I had to wear a knee brace for almost everything I did, including golf. 

In September, Keith Scott, a physical therapist, used ART to dig the knots out of my quads and hamstrings and give me back most of the function in my right leg. But the real key to my recovery was the set of rehab exercises Scott suggested.

The workout was fairly simple:

• Foam rolling
• Body-weight squats
• Squats while squeezing a basketball between my knees, to work the adductors (inner thigh muscles)
• Glute bridges, first with both legs, then with one leg at a time
• Hip-flexor stretches
• Lateral band walks, to target the abductors (outer hips and thighs)

My first introduction to foam rolling came back in 2003, when I was editing Mark Verstegen’s Core Performance. I’d never really done it with any enthusiasm or…

Tags: Tags: baseball, functional training, injuries

Two months ago, I decided to join some friends in an adult baseball league for geezers 45 and older. This represents a huge leap of faith for me. I haven’t played on any organized team, in any sport, in at least 15 years, and that was slow-pitch softball. I haven’t played baseball on a team since I was 12. I’ve never swung at a breaking ball, never gotten a sign from a third-base coach, never tried to hit the cutoff man from the outfield.

My friends tell me I’ll do okay — I’m in decent shape for a 52-year-old, and it’s not like the pitchers are going to buzz 90-mph fastballs under my chin. My biggest fear is that I’ll go the entire season without a hit, but they assure me that nobody’s that bad. 

I hope they’re right. My sports career includes some moments of epic suckitude, and I’m too old…

Tags: Tags: baseball, cell phones, personal, shopping, sports authority

Back on the original Male Pattern Fitness, at the original louschuler.com, I wrote from time to time about steroids, particularly steroids in baseball, and most particularly the Golden Age of steroids in baseball, when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds all crossed the 60-homer line at points in their careers when they should’ve been in steep decline.

(There’s no easy way to search my archives, but I did find this post, analyzing the career trajectory of another blatant juicer, Rafael Palmeiro.)

Early on, I thought the most logical starting point for Mark McGwire’s steroid use is the 1995 season, when his slugging percentage jumped up to .685, the highest it had ever been for a season in which he played 100 or more games. By comparison, in 1987, his Rookie of the Year season, he slugged .618. He was 31 in ’95,…

Tags: Tags: baseball, mark mcgwire, sports, steroids