Brian Cain

INCREASE TEMPO AND PRACTICE QUALITY

briancain — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:00:18 +0000

I bet you want to increase your players’ abilities to play at a fast tempo? Play at a good pace? Be comfortable with being uncomfortable and survive and thrive in those games against those good programs where the game will speed up on you? If you want to survive and thrive on those games where the game speeds up on you, then you’ve got to do that in practice. And how you do that in practice is you do it with the stopwatch because the stopwatch doesn’t lie.

TIMING INFIELD PRACTICE

briancain — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:27 +0000

When programs take infield practice, some programs, use ten minutes other programs, get seven balls at each position and this is our infield routine. If you have a routine where people get a certain number of balls hit to them and it’s not under time, I recommend taking out the stopwatch. Put the stopwatch on it. Break from when you go “team” and you run out to your position, take infield and the watch stops when the last play at the plate is made and the catcher makes a tag. Start the stopwatch on the break of the team huddle. Stop the stopwatch on the catchers tag and see how quickly you can get through your infield routine.

EXCELLENCE IS A LIFESTYLE NOT AN EVENT

briancain — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:24 +0000

Excellence in your program needs to become a lifestyle not an event. We are not excellent once in a while when we do community service; we are excellent all the time. We are not excellent once in a while when we practice. We’re excellent all the time. It’s a “deserving to win” mentality.

One of the ways Irvine helped shift from a want to into a deserve to mentality was to measure the things that they were going to do and grade themselves vs a previously set standard of excellent effort.

I remember being at UCI in 2007 and we’re clearing off the infield after batting practice. Very go through the motions. I Said to Coach Serrano, “You want to win a national championship?” Absolutely. “Do you want your team to have more ownership of your program?” Absolutely. “You want your team to be more disciplined?” Absolutely. “You want your team to shift from want to, to deserve to?” Absolutely. “Look at the way they are clearing the field right now. Is that excellent?” What do you mean? Serrano Said, “Can we do that better than we’re doing it?” He said yes. “Then how come we’re accepting that instead of raising the bar for a standard of excellence?”

So we have them set the field back up and he grabs a stop watch because measurement equals motivation. He pulls up all the pitchers and gives them a system for clearing the field. Systems and routines have definite start and end points. He said everybody stand in front of the dugout on the dirt. When you say team and break from your huddle, you’re going to sprint and grab all the screens, you’re gonna put the screens away and when everybody comes back and their feet are back on the dirt, the watch stops. Let’s see how we do.

In the first day, they’re running over each other and two people are grabbing the same screen and it’s just unorganized chaos. Well, they then took ownership of it and everything changed. So now, weeks, months down the road, they’re clearing that infield and they are trying to set a record. They went from about five minutes to clear the infield to under 30 seconds. Simple. Measurement equals motivation.

The team took a boring monotonous task that every program in the country has to do and they made it a challenge. They said let’s start by winning batting practice and then clearing the infield. If we want to be the best team in the country, we want to deserve to win. Let’s start maximizing the things we can control and start doing them to the best of our ability while competing with ourselves.

Mental Imagery For Baseball-Softball Performance

briancain — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:02:37 +0000

Mental Imagery For Baseball-Softball Performance

This Brian Cain Peak Performance PODCAST is Cain taking a team through a mental imagery session the night before a game. He uses the four key aspects of a mental imagery session.

1. Relaxation

2. Confidence Conditioning

3. Mental Recall

4. Mental Rehursal

This is a must listen for any baseball or softball player that wants to get the most out of their ability.

You can pick up Cain’s PRIDE Program at http://www.briancain.com/cainproducts/peak-performance-system/

Here’s to you peak performance TODAY!

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WANT TO vs. DESERVE TO

briancain — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:00:48 +0000

I want to win. I deserve to win. One of the quick ways we’re going to shift from want to, to deserve to, is we’re going to be control freaks. We’re going to maximize the things that we can control. One of the things we can control is the effort with which we do the little things because we know that there are no little things.

When you take batting practice and have screens all over the field some programs have student managers or a facilities crew that comes to take the screens off the field. How many of you set that stuff up and break it down yourself? Now, if you’re going to do it, let’s be excellent. Remember that excellence is a lifestyle not an event and there are no little things.

MEASUREMENT = MOTIVATION

briancain — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:00:58 +0000

The First program I want to talk about is the University of California-Irvine Baseball Program. In 2007 UCI goes to the college world series and finish 3^rd. By no means was UCI the best physically gifted baseball program in the country or one of the eight best programs in the country that season. But they played the best when it meant the most, they had a team chemistry and synergy that was off the charts and had a belief in themselves that was very abnormal. Remember, to accomplish abnormal results you must act and believe in abnormal ways.

One of the things that they had was a buy in into the mental game and a language for everybody to use. One of the big things that Dave Serrano, their head coach who’s now the head coach at Cal-State Fullerton, talked a lot about and applies to any sport is measurement equals motivation.

If you want to motivate your athletes, you’ve got to measure things. The old adage give me your best effort, is no longer good enough regardless of what you are talking about. By using a stopwatch and recording a time of them running to first base out of the batter’s box you can gage their effort compared to their best time on record. It’s a measurement, it is quantifiable and they know. If you are throwing medicine balls, is it how many medicine ball twists can I do under time or if you want to go real high level, get a radar gun and as they are doing a medicine ball throw, we know what the velocity is, we know the effort that they are giving. Measurement equals motivation.

In an attempt to improve team chemistry, and to try and take UCI as a program from a mentality of wanting to win to deserving to win which is a huge physiological shift, Coach Serrano did some great things like clear the field under time, take infield and outfield under time and really start to measure his players effort.

Mental Conditioning As A Strength & Conditioning Coach

briancain — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:56:50 +0000

Mental Conditioning As A Strength & Conditioning Coach

This Brian Cain Peak Performance PODCAST is Cain discussing his keynote presentation at the 2012 Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association National Conference in Orlando, Florida on Thursday May 10, 2012. Cain discusses how you can separate yourself from the field of other strength and conditioning coaches by adding value to what you bring to the table by becoming Master of The Mental Game and teaching mental toughness as well as physical toughness.

This is a must listen for any coach or athlete that wants to get the most out of their ability.

You can pick up Cain’s PRIDE Program at http://www.briancain.com/cainproducts/peak-performance-system/

Here’s to you peak performance TODAY!

Click here to access the Brian Cain Podcast in ITUNES

Click here to leave a comment on my Facebook Page

Power Sleep – Must Watch For Any Coach/Athlete

briancain — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:44:24 +0000

Power Sleep – Must Watch For Any Coach/Athlete

This video is a presentation by Dr. James Maas or Cornell University about his book Power Sleep. I have always been a person who prided himself on being able to opperate at a high level with 6 hours of sleep routinely going to bed at midnight and getting up at 6:00am. What I found in reading Dr. Maas book and in watching this video was that I was cutting myself short of my potential by not getting enough sleep. Fascinating stuff. Hey, if you are going to spend a 3rd of your life in bed, you should probably know what is happening while you sleep? This video will be a quick crash course for you. It is not the most exciting video out there, if you fall asleep watching it, than maybe it was worth it?

Here’s to you peak performance TODAY!

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COMMON LANGUAGE

briancain — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:59 +0000

The mental game provides you with a common language. A lot of the feedback that I get from coaches that I’ve worked with is that I helped bring a language for them as a program to talk about some of these things that we often haven’t been able to talk about. Most programs leave the mental game to chance, they either figure it out or they don’t. They either have it or they don’t. They don’t realize the mental game, confidence, working with parents, fear of failure and distraction control are all skills that can be improved. They’re skills that can be taught. It’s like strength and conditioning for the six inches between your ears that control the six feet below them. It’s giving them the skill set to be successful not only in sport but in life as well.

Let’s shift gears here for a little bit. Let’s talk about programs and program development. I bet your reading this because you have program you’d like to try and improve and make better? I’ve worked with many programs that that have had great turnarounds.

Brian Cain The 5 L’s of Leadership Video

briancain — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:13:35 +0000

Brian Cain The 5 L’s of Leadership Video

This highlight video is of Brian Cain speaking on his 5L’s of Leadership. Live, Love, Learn, Laugh and Leave A Legacy. Please tweet @briancainpeak what you think the best part of this video is. This video was created by Kyle Bombardier of Game Day Video Productions. Please visit their website at www.gamedayvideoproduction.com for all of your personal highlight video needs.

Here’s to you peak performance TODAY!

Click here to access the Brian Cain Podcast in ITUNES

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http://www.briancain.com/briancaininnercircle/podcast/caindecabombo.mp4/