Old article on Rich('s body)
My post on all the fun stuff from this year's Athletics Magazines is almost ready and will be posted tonight :) In the meantime, I just wanted to share this 2006 article from Susan Slusser regarding Rich's body - while it does talk about injuries, it's still a discussion about Rich's body, and in that way it is still fabulous. Also, it quotes Rich speaking in almost entire paragraphs, which is a rare treat.
Harden not pumped up about theory
Susan Slusser, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Few players are as pleasant and friendly as A's right-hander Rich Harden, but there is one topic guaranteed to get his blood boiling: The idea that his rigorous workout program has somehow contributed to his three trips to the disabled list since the start of the 2005 season.
Harden, who is currently on the DL with a strained muscle in his lower back (under the rib cage), spends much of his time both in the offseason and during the season working on his conditioning -- specifically in order to stay healthy. He had surgery on his left shoulder during the winter and went through some tough rehab, again in an effort to prevent injuries. Within the A's organization, it has been suggested that perhaps the weight-lifting has led to the injuries.
"Yeah, it's really frustrating when people think I lift too much or I'm trying to get big just to look good," said the A's top starter, who is expected to be out another two or three weeks. "I'm not trying to be on the cover of Men's Health, that's just a cheap shot. I put all my time and effort into being in the best possible physical shape for baseball. Everything I do is very specific for baseball and for pitching. There is a lot of thought put into it."
Baseball is a funny sport, though, slower to adopt new training techniques than other sports and with a lingering suspicion about pitchers lifting weights, a practice that was once thought to make pitchers "muscle bound." One person with the A's noted that pudgy Joe Blanton doesn't ever get injured and added that maybe Harden should mix in a burger or two. Manager Ken Macha pointed to '70s pitcher Mickey Lolich as an example of a pitcher who didn't take care of himself, yet never got injured.
Of Harden, Macha said, "This is a well-conditioned athlete. It's a shame he gets hurt like that."
Harden agrees that a little extra body fat would be a good thing and A's conditioning coach Clarence Cockrell said that extra body fat helps with energy level and "right now, Rich is so lean, it doesn't help his body recover as quickly. The bigger he is, the more durable he will be." Harden, who is 6-foot-1 and weighs about 200 lbs, came into camp with just four percent body fat and tried to add some more, then got food poisoning and lost weight, instead.
"Leaner people tend to have little muscle tears," Harden said, mentioning former teammate Tim Hudson, whose physique is often compared to Harden's. "And I just feel better when I'm a little heavier."
Harden's injuries, like Hudson's, tend to be around his torso -- an oblique strain, a lat strain and now the lower back/ribcage area. Like Hudson, Harden has a smaller frame than most hard throwers -- Macha called them "little guys with max effort." That's why Harden does so much work to make sure he's well balanced (pitching builds up one side of the body more than the other, which can cause problems) and that his mechanics are sound.
The weight lifting and other condition work Harden does -- which includes track work and flexibility exercises -- are to help with stamina over the course of the season. According to Cockrell, weight lifting, especially leg work, is also important for Harden's fastball.
"If Rich didn't lift weights, he wouldn't have his velocity," Cockrell said. "When he wasn't lifting, his velocity went down. That's part of what he is, and Rich knows it."
Team orthopedist Dr. Jerrald Goldman doesn't believe there is a correlation between Harden's workouts and the muscle strains.
"People ask if (the three DL trips) are because of the weight lifting, but I don't believe it's a cause that would explain it," Goldman said. "When you look at it, Bobby Kielty also gets these kinds of injuries, and he doesn't look like a beach god."
A's assistant general manager David Forst pointed out that Harden was unable to do his normal lifting this past winter, because of the shoulder surgery, further lessening the possibility that his current injury has anything to do with strength work. This injury is probably just a freak thing -- Harden was twisting one way and reached back to try to field a comebacker barehanded at Texas last month and felt a twinge in his lower back. If anything, Cockrell said, the fact that Harden couldn't do his usual rotational workouts this winter might have contributed to the problem.
Proper stretching is not an issue, either. Harden does rotational exercises for his torso and plenty of work to maintain flexibility, and he also does active-release techniques and deep tissue massage to keep loose. He's extremely flexible, in fact, putting the back of his hands on the floor to demonstrate. He conducts much of his winter work with Canadian sprinters who are Olympic hopefuls, and his sessions are monitored by personal trainers.
So Harden is as baffled as anyone why he has spent more than three months on the DL in the past year. He is so fed up, his usually sunny disposition has been much less in evidence.
"I've never had problems my entire career," he said. "I just have to try to figure something out. If this were hockey, I'd throw my skates on and go, but these (injuries) are so specific to pitching, I can't do that. And there's nothing worse than not being able to play. You don't feel like part of the team when you can't help out. I mean, this is my job. I want to go out there.
"I don't want to be known as that guy who's always hurt. I don't believe I am. People try to come up with theories -- me, too. But it's not me, my body is not just going to break down. So it's just really bad luck."
Harden not pumped up about theory
Susan Slusser, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Few players are as pleasant and friendly as A's right-hander Rich Harden, but there is one topic guaranteed to get his blood boiling: The idea that his rigorous workout program has somehow contributed to his three trips to the disabled list since the start of the 2005 season.
Harden, who is currently on the DL with a strained muscle in his lower back (under the rib cage), spends much of his time both in the offseason and during the season working on his conditioning -- specifically in order to stay healthy. He had surgery on his left shoulder during the winter and went through some tough rehab, again in an effort to prevent injuries. Within the A's organization, it has been suggested that perhaps the weight-lifting has led to the injuries.
"Yeah, it's really frustrating when people think I lift too much or I'm trying to get big just to look good," said the A's top starter, who is expected to be out another two or three weeks. "I'm not trying to be on the cover of Men's Health, that's just a cheap shot. I put all my time and effort into being in the best possible physical shape for baseball. Everything I do is very specific for baseball and for pitching. There is a lot of thought put into it."
Baseball is a funny sport, though, slower to adopt new training techniques than other sports and with a lingering suspicion about pitchers lifting weights, a practice that was once thought to make pitchers "muscle bound." One person with the A's noted that pudgy Joe Blanton doesn't ever get injured and added that maybe Harden should mix in a burger or two. Manager Ken Macha pointed to '70s pitcher Mickey Lolich as an example of a pitcher who didn't take care of himself, yet never got injured.
Of Harden, Macha said, "This is a well-conditioned athlete. It's a shame he gets hurt like that."
Harden agrees that a little extra body fat would be a good thing and A's conditioning coach Clarence Cockrell said that extra body fat helps with energy level and "right now, Rich is so lean, it doesn't help his body recover as quickly. The bigger he is, the more durable he will be." Harden, who is 6-foot-1 and weighs about 200 lbs, came into camp with just four percent body fat and tried to add some more, then got food poisoning and lost weight, instead.
"Leaner people tend to have little muscle tears," Harden said, mentioning former teammate Tim Hudson, whose physique is often compared to Harden's. "And I just feel better when I'm a little heavier."
Harden's injuries, like Hudson's, tend to be around his torso -- an oblique strain, a lat strain and now the lower back/ribcage area. Like Hudson, Harden has a smaller frame than most hard throwers -- Macha called them "little guys with max effort." That's why Harden does so much work to make sure he's well balanced (pitching builds up one side of the body more than the other, which can cause problems) and that his mechanics are sound.
The weight lifting and other condition work Harden does -- which includes track work and flexibility exercises -- are to help with stamina over the course of the season. According to Cockrell, weight lifting, especially leg work, is also important for Harden's fastball.
"If Rich didn't lift weights, he wouldn't have his velocity," Cockrell said. "When he wasn't lifting, his velocity went down. That's part of what he is, and Rich knows it."
Team orthopedist Dr. Jerrald Goldman doesn't believe there is a correlation between Harden's workouts and the muscle strains.
"People ask if (the three DL trips) are because of the weight lifting, but I don't believe it's a cause that would explain it," Goldman said. "When you look at it, Bobby Kielty also gets these kinds of injuries, and he doesn't look like a beach god."
A's assistant general manager David Forst pointed out that Harden was unable to do his normal lifting this past winter, because of the shoulder surgery, further lessening the possibility that his current injury has anything to do with strength work. This injury is probably just a freak thing -- Harden was twisting one way and reached back to try to field a comebacker barehanded at Texas last month and felt a twinge in his lower back. If anything, Cockrell said, the fact that Harden couldn't do his usual rotational workouts this winter might have contributed to the problem.
Proper stretching is not an issue, either. Harden does rotational exercises for his torso and plenty of work to maintain flexibility, and he also does active-release techniques and deep tissue massage to keep loose. He's extremely flexible, in fact, putting the back of his hands on the floor to demonstrate. He conducts much of his winter work with Canadian sprinters who are Olympic hopefuls, and his sessions are monitored by personal trainers.
So Harden is as baffled as anyone why he has spent more than three months on the DL in the past year. He is so fed up, his usually sunny disposition has been much less in evidence.
"I've never had problems my entire career," he said. "I just have to try to figure something out. If this were hockey, I'd throw my skates on and go, but these (injuries) are so specific to pitching, I can't do that. And there's nothing worse than not being able to play. You don't feel like part of the team when you can't help out. I mean, this is my job. I want to go out there.
"I don't want to be known as that guy who's always hurt. I don't believe I am. People try to come up with theories -- me, too. But it's not me, my body is not just going to break down. So it's just really bad luck."