USC Baseball Coach Training with Star Trac Master Trainer Thomas Tadlock Part 3

[SMF1307]

When he is doing the pull-up varation on this machine. Should he not lock out his arms for this will take the stress off the bicep muscles and but them on the elbow joint. Please respond.

[thomastadlock]

When you throw a baseball or swing a bat, you rely on the strength of your tendons and ligaments to hold your joints together while fully extended. Sometimes it can be beneficial to carefully stress these tissues in fully extended positions.

[SMF1307]

So your telling me you should put stress on your ligaments that you can not strengthen. To me when ever you swing a bat or especially throw a baseball you are putting overdue stress on your ligaments. And the only way to repair them is rest. There is no other way to "strengthen" ligaments. Only stretch them out.

[thomastadlock]

The idea is not to load your ligaments up as much as possible, but rather to carefully bring them to their end ranges of motion under a reasonable load. This facilitates neuromuscular education to the musculature that articulates and supports the joint in fully extended positions. "When ligaments are strained, they invoke neurological feedback

signals that then activate muscular contraction and this appears to play a role in joint position sense." J Musculoskel Neuron Interact 2004; 4(2):199-201

[thomastadlock]

The goal is not to cause a plastic change to the ligament, but instead stimulate the epiligament layer to facilitate stronger muscular stability in fully extended positions. Hope this clarifies things.