• Will Leitch tells us that “figuring out which pitchers are least likely to get hurt and helping pitchers keep from getting hurt is the game’s next market inefficiency to be exploited,” but Leitch says little about the people who identify biomechanical risk factors in pitchers and keep them healthy… The Glass Arm (New York Magazine) • An in-depth look at how pitching velocity is changing baseball. Includes a very cool graphic that breaks down the complex kinematic sequence of pitching… Baseball 2013: Here Come the Flamethrowers (Wall Street Journal) • High school pitchers in Japan have been throwing hundreds …

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• Good description of Catapult Sports’ GPS tracking and heartrate monitoring system which is gaining adoption in professional and collegiate basketball, football and soccer… Sensors Log an Athlete’s Every Move—And Heartbeat (Popular Mechanics) • Gatorade maintains an active Sports Science forum. This article makes the point, very thoroughly, that athletes who consume too much protein during recovery run the risk of compromising their bodies’ ability to intake and absorb other critical nutrients like carbohydrates… SSE #107 Protein Consumption and Resistance Exercise: Maximizing Anabolic Potential (Gatorade Sports Science Institute) • Carnegie Mellon psychology researchers are examining the role background processing, our …

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• Ichiro Suzuki’s approach to training and the machines that he uses to increase flexibility and shoulder, hip, and pelvic function are eye-opening. The Secret Gym of Ichiro Suzuki (Wall Street Journal) • Axon Sports asks what the recently announced Brain Activity Map, the BAM project mentioned by President Obama in his State of the Union address, will mean for basketball players. Basketball and The BAM Project (Axon Sports) • The Charles Poliquin blog summarizes a review paper in International Society of Sports Nutrition on post-exercise nutrition. The takeaway: Eat before and after, and make smart choices. Tip561: The Post-Workout …

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• Are football clubs missing out on the potential to train the most important organ of all — the brain? Mind over matter: Soccer’s bid to train the brain (CNN) • Talent evaluators take note. Variables that are difficult to quantify and see — work habits, competitiveness, ambition, determination — often times end up being more important than physical talent in the long run. Stop Judging Talent; Start Nurturing Character (Daniel Coyle) • New measures are being taken by NBA teams to improve performance and player health. More advancements forthcoming. Next big thing in NBA analytics might be moving from …

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• Good luck competing with this guy for a header. How Cristiano Ronaldo scored his incredible headed goal against Manchester United in last week’s champions league showdown at the Bernabeu. How did Cristiano Ronaldo score his incredible header (Telegraph UK) • iPads will neither cause nor cure concussions but the NFL wants to put software on the tablet computers to immediately diagnose cognition after players take big hits. The league regulates what coaches and teams can do with tablets and this opens the door for more injury-prevention and health-related sideline apps. NFL turing to Apple’s iPad to diagnose concussions during …

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Portions of the following post have been adapted from a presentation given by Dr. Marcus Elliott at the American Sports Medicine Institute’s 31st annual injuries in baseball course. The course was chaired by Dr. James Andrews and attended by a number of baseball’s leading athletic trainers, biomechanists, physical therapists, sports physicians, orthopedic surgeons, physiologists, strength and conditioning coaches. This was Dr. Elliott’s second consecutive years presenting at the conference. Last year he presented on “concepts in lower body development of the baseball athlete”, and made the following cases: 1) Lower body development is essential in baseball and comparatively under-trained. 2) …

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The final installment in an AppliedSportsScience series. In part 1, P3 performance specialist Matt Aronson touched on the potential for PEDs in the NBA, specifically the parallels between the cultures of the MLB in the 1990s and the growing NBA resistance weight-training culture. In part 2, Matt examined the potential risk factors for NBA athletes being drawn to and relying on PEDs. In the following, Matt provides strategies for contending with the advantages that PEDs can provide. By Matt Aronson The P3 approach: Each athlete at P3 is put under the microscopic – we take a medical approach – acquiring …

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The second in an AppliedSportsScience series. In part 1, P3 performance specialist Matt Aronson touched on the potential for PEDs in the NBA, specifically the parallels between the cultures of the MLB in the 1990s and the growing NBA resistance weight-training culture. In part 2, Matt dives deeper into the potential risk factors for NBA athletes being drawn to and relying on PEDs. By Matt Aronson The scarce few athletes in the super-elite realm of the NBA, are truly amazing athletic specimens. Many NBA athletes are born with the most improbable of genetics: some can grow to be nearly 7 …

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The first in an AppliedSportsScience series, inspired by a recent ESPN truehoop.com post and the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency stating the NBA’s anti-doping program is insufficient, P3 performance specialist Matt Aronson examines the potential for PED use in the NBA. By Matt Aronson It’s another perfect day in Santa Barbara, California. Though you could never guess from the serene calm of empty streets and yet-to-be-opened store fronts, this is going to be a pivotal day in a young basketball player’s life. For this young man it is the day of his initial physical assessment at the Peak …

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The work ethic displayed at P3 paired with DeQuan’s self-belief, motivation and ability to utilize his athletic assets against NBA competition were ultimately the reasons he earned an roster spot with the Orlando Magic. Given that DeQuan relies so much on his movement capabilities we thought it would be interesting to show some of the science behind his athleticism and how he stacks up to the other NBA wings in our movement database.

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Last night, P3 athlete Jeremy Evans had one of most amazing displays of athleticism you will ever see on a basketball court. To perform this impressive sequence of athletic events, Jeremy utilized lower body drive, acceleration, length and the elastic properties of his muscles and tendons to story and release energy. While Jeremy’s length is not particularly unusual for an NBA player, his acceleration, elastic series properties and length relationship is truly unique. When Jeremy first showed up to P3, he was one of our better approach athletes (touched 12’2.5″ during approach vertical testing) and had a great deal of …

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