Tier 03 · Health Advisory Board
Tier 03 · Eric Cressey
Shoulder Health and the Overhead Athlete: Lessons from Two Decades With Elite Throwers
Most shoulder-pain protocols treat the symptom, not the system. Drawing on two decades training elite throwers — including the New York Yankees roster — Cressey lays out how shoulder health is built upstream of the shoulder, and what every desk-bound or overhead-pattern professional can learn from the best in the world.
Key takeaways
- 01Why shoulder pain is rarely a shoulder problem — and what it usually is
- 02The thoracic-spine and scapular foundations that elite throwers build differently
- 03The 'training around limitations' framework: what to do when you can't take time off
- 04The most overlooked daily inputs that compound shoulder durability
- 05When to push, when to back off — the discipline of long-term thinking
- 06How leaders can apply the same long-term-development lens to their organizations
Sample agenda
- 0–10 min — The shoulder is not the problem
- 10–30 min — Lessons from two decades with elite throwers
- 30–50 min — Training around limitations
- 50–70 min — Long-term thinking applied to shoulder durability
- 70–80 min — Q&A
Slide outline
- Slide 1 — Two decades, one through-line
- Slide 2 — Why most shoulder protocols fail
- Slide 3 — Thoracic spine and scapular foundations
- Slide 4 — Case studies: elite arms across a season
- Slide 5 — Training around limitations
- Slide 6 — Daily inputs that compound durability
- Slide 7 — Long-term thinking as a leadership trait