Rotational Sequencing and Power - Part 2

If you missed part 1

Continuing on from part 1, we're now going to focus on the steps to develop correct rotational sequencing and power.

Jason Glass puts it perfectly when he says, "You have to earn the right to rotate".

Dynmaic rotational movements are highly coordinated and technical movements, and they require great deals of strength, stability, mobility, and coordination.

You would never take a new athlete and throw them in the squat rack with 2x their body weight. 

Instead you'd progress them and groove the squat pattern until they show proper mechanics, strength, mobility, and stability.

Just as so, an athlete needs to exhibit proper stability and mobility before they can move on to dynamic rotational movements. 

If you do not have the proper stabilization and strength in a static position, than performing dynamic rotational movements will just lead to dysfunction, improper sequencing, and increased risk of injury.   

The same goes for adequate mobility.  Rotational movements require a great deal of mobility especially in the thoracic spine, internal/external hip rotators, and ankles. 

Just like having limited stability can create issues; a lack of mobility will not allow the athlete to reach their maximum power, sequencing, and again will increased risk of injury. 

So to earn the right to rotate, it is important that we as coaches make sure we evaluate our athletes to ensure they possess adequate levels of stability and mobility.

Mobility

When testing and evaluating mobility, it is important to make sure there are no major limitations or differences between sides of the body.  The athlete should exhibit adequate levels of ROM in the major joints, and through total body movements. 

If there is a lack of mobility or ROM in a certain joint or side of the body, you know you must plan to attack that area with proper mobility drills.

Thoracic Spine - Athletes need to have adequate rotation and extension in the thoracic spine.  When looking at ROM, the T-spine should be able to get 30 degrees or more of rotation, and the athlete should be able to get proper extension from the T-spine without stealing it from the lumbar spine.

Make sure to use mobility movements that keep the lumbar spine fixed, so selecting an exercise that "locks" the lumbar spine down ensures it will not be involved with thoracic spine movements.

Hips - The hips are a very mobile joint, so you must evaluate it in many different movements and angles.  Flexion (120+ degress), extension (15+ degrees), adduction, and abduction are important, but even more important for rotational athletes is internal and external rotation. 

With rotation occuring in the transverse plane, internal and external mobility and strength become very important.  Here is an article on hip internal rotation, and here is one on glute medius mobility (largely external rotation).

As an athlete loads during rotational movements, the rear hip goes through internal rotation and front hip external rotation.  As the athlete starts to un-coil the rear hip now goes through powerful external rotation and the front hip absorbs into internal rotation.  If there are extreme limitations or restrictions into either of these movements you will see compensation patterns arise, spinal rotation instead of hip rotation, and loss of power.

Also, just as in overhead throwing, if the tissues surrounding the hip aren't kept healthy and happy, they can get beat up from these movements.  So, if we have a rotational athlete, ensuring we are getting adequate time spent on soft-tissue and mobility of the internal and external rotators is extremely important.

Ankles- The ankles are just like the hips, a very mobile joint.  The ankles require a great deal of dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, inversion, and eversion. 

Kneel next to a wall, with one foot 4 inches away from ithe wall.  Keeping the heel on the ground, press the knee towards the wall.  If the athlete cannot touch the wall, the athlete lacks dorsiflexion (A large percentage of people lack dorsiflexion).  They are probably compensating linear movements because of this lack of dorsiflexion and are not getting proper foot and ankle function.

The athlete should also have atleast 20 degrees of inversion and 5 degrees of eversion.  As we will go into later, many rotational movements (and most movements overall) require movement around the ankle joint to help transfer force or transfer rotatation to allow better positions.   

Many great improvements are seen when athletes take off their shoes.  I'm not recommending going straight in to a barefoot badass, I'm hinting at do warm-ups and select exercises barefoot to help improve the function on you feet and ankles.

Stability

The athlete also needs to show proper stability and strength in not only the transverse plane, but also the frontal and sagittal planes.  Here are some exercises athletes need to show proper stability before they should progress to higher velocities or resistance of rotational movements.

Bird-Dog - This is actually a test from the FMS, called rotary stability (see rotary = rotation! You need this).  You are looking to see if the athlete can maintain correct posture and stability while performing this exercise. 

If they consistantly wobble, sway, or lose position, then they need work on improving their bodies stability.  This opposite arm-leg movement stresses the fascia lines of our body in a very rotational way.  Test both sides, and note any differences.



Push-Up w/ Arm Reach - Like the Bird-Dog, except now the athlete has smaller areas of contact with the ground, thus stressing more need for stability. 

From side or behind views we should not see a major shift in body position.  They athlete should look the same as they do in the starting position.  Again test both sides and note any differences.



Inverted Bridge w/ Arm Reach - The previous two tests assessed anterior stability and the anterior muscle slings.  The Inverted Bridge w/ Arm Reach will test posterior stability and the posterior muscle sling.

Set up a bar or rings about 4.5 to 5 feet in the air.  Grab the bar and assume a lifted bridge position, so that your stomach is flat like a table.  Make sure the athletes takes a shoulder width apart grip, and sets their body, core tight - glutes squeezed - shoulders pulled back, for the movement. 

Remove one hand from the bar, and reach towards the opposite shoulder, just as you did in the push-up.  The athlete should be able to maintain position without major shifts or swings.  Test both sides and note any differences.



Glute March - The Glute March will also test the posterior components of the body, with more emphasis through the glutes.  We need this stability and strength throught our glutes because the glutes are the engine that fuel our powerful hip movements. 

The athlete starts in a glute bridge position, the athlete then "marches" in place, alternating between lifting legs.  This will show any weaknesses throughout the glutes and lumbopelvic-hip complex.  Notice any differences between sides as usual.

Cable Chops and Lifts  - Finally we move to Cable/Band Chops and Lifts.  This is a great way to move from static stabilization to more of a dynamic stabilization.  The core and hip stability are challenged to transfer the weight thoughout this movement.  Use both tall kneeling and half kneeling variations to challenge unilateral stability and strength.

Stay tall throughout this whole movement; think about not becoming "shorter".  Also keep your hips and pelvis square, and let your shoulders and arms move the weight throughout the range of motion.  Keeping your torso square allows the force to be transfered through your core and hips onto your arms.






Like we touched on at the beginning, athletes need to master these stabilization and mobility exercises before we throw them into dynamics and loaded rotational movements.

If they do not possess these qualitites before starting dynamic rotational movements, then we are setting them up to added dysfunction on improper movement patterns, injury, lessend performance, and oh did I mention injury! 

It never pays to rush into exercises because they are cool and fun.  Take the proper progression and steps to set your athletes up for the long run.



Part 3 will dive into adding speed to rotation, really the meat and potatoes of what we think of when improving rotational abilities.  


Until then Go Get 'Em!

Rotational Sequencing and Power - Part 1

We watch many different athletes, sports, and activities and don't always realized the connections many of these have to each other. Take a look at these athletes and see what they have in common.

 

Not only do these athletes make these movements look so smooth and effortless, but their movements are very similar despite the major differences in their sport. 

So what is it do they have in common?

Rotation!  Rotational movements occur in just about every sport we play.  Except for just plane old linear movements like sprinting or jogging, every other sport we participate in requires a great deal of roational sequencing and power. 

Say you're playing football, it's 3rd and 3, late in the 4th quarter and you're on defense.  The offense runs an outside zone play and you take an angle to cut off the running back at the 1st down marker. 

You collison the running back with your head in behind of him (come one, get your head in front!), just shy of the 1st down marker.  He has momentum and so do you, but who's gonna win?  Well it comes down to a number of things, but a big one being your rotational strength and power. 

Who's gonna win this battle!?

The one with more rotational power! 

See when you collide, the running backs momentum creates a high force in the transverse plane of your body.  You must counter this force with high rotational force opposite of where he is going. 

Unless you have adequate rotational strength and power, the offense will move the sticks and win the game.  But if your training regime exposes you to proper rotational training, you'll make the tackle, save the day, and get asked out by the best looking girl in school!

So to make sure you get asked out my the hottest girl in school, you need to make sure you get to working on your rotational power.  I mean it's been studied that if you have lots of roational strength, you get asked out by better looking girls...it's science. 

What is Rotational Movement

Rotational movements take place in the transverse plane.  The transverse plane involves movements around a fixed axis.  For most movements this fixed axis is our spine, and we rotate and move around the spine to create a rotational force. 

Rotational movements involve a specific series of movements and motions that allow us to transfer the highest amount of forces.  This proper sequencing is very critical in high performance. 

In fact a study was done by the Titleist Performance Institute showed that the biggest difference between professional golfers from amateur golfers was their ability to develop roational speed and proper sequencing. 

The development of higher rotational speeds is a pretty obvious difference as higher rotational speeds = further distance on shot.  This is would be similar to the main difference between NFL receivers and non-NFL receivers is speed. 

But the sequencing is a little surprising.  The professional golfer showed a smooth, efficient sequence from muscle group to group throughout their swing, while the amateurs showed a sloppy, incorrect pattern of sequencing. 

Many would think that the rotational sequence of hitting a golf ball would pretty consistant among all people, but that's not the case.  Just like many other techniques, correct rotation patterns needs to be taught and learned. Rotational sequencing is an important skill to be learned and is essential for increasing ones rotational speed and power. 

How Rotational Movement Works

Thomas Meyer's book Anatomy Trains has been a huge influence in the development of myofascial understanding and training.  It is a must for anybody studying kinesiology.  In it Thomas shows how the body is intertwined with connective tissues, and these tissues cross over the two halves of the body to create a crossed connection, very useful for rotational movements. 

As you can see from the picture below your myofascial lines cross over the body to create significant connections from opposite sides of the body.  Just one of the many outcomes from these findings is many times problems in a shoulder are caused or could be improved by focusing on the opposite hip or ankle.

Not only that, but we something called Muscle Slings, that also cross over the body.  Jason Glass is in the forefront of rotational biomechanics and training.  He has discussed how we have posterior and anterior muscle slings. 

The posterior sling run from the lats (and really starts up at the posterior shoulder) - thoracolumbar fascia - glutes

The anterior sling run from the external obliques - internal obliques - adductor complex. 

Muscle slings play a key role in developing and transfering rotational forces.  They help to load and unwind forces and because of their design and attachment points, they are perfect for rotational movements.

           Anterior Muscle Sling                                                         Posterior Muscle Sling

These slings are also responsible for specific actions and movements during rotational exercises.  Here they can be seen 

The Anterior Sling - Flexion and Rotation

The Posterior Sling - Extension and Rotation 

To go along with this, each sling as a particular role in loading and unwinding forces.  The majority of loading falls upon the extension patterns, so the posterior sling.  The majority of unwinding falls upon the flexion patterns, so the anterior sling. 

Picture a golf swing.  The backswing is the loading portion, and the posterior muscle sling loads up the body for the downswing.  Then during the downswing, the anterior sling takes over and unwinds the force built up by the posterior sling to bring the club through the ball.

Not only that, these slings are also involved in decelerating rotational movements.  So when you're slowing down and stopping say a pitch, swing, or discus throw, your muscle slings will work to decelerate these motions safely.

Now that you know what goes into rotational movements, we also need to know a proper progression on how to create this rotation and the requirements/skills athletes need before starting an intense rotational program. 

In the next part of this series we will go into the stability and mobility requirements/progressions needed to safely and effectively perform high speed and high load rotational movements.  Until then Go Get 'Em!

Like, Dislike, Agree, Disagree, WORLD CHANGING, or a big turd; whatever you feel, leave a comment below and let me know!

Weekly Recap - Women's Edition

For this week's recap I'm doing something a little different.  I've done a nutrition edition and now I'm going to do a women's edition!  My girlfriend has been asking for info, websites, articles specifically catered to women by women, so I took the time to round-up the best I knew. 

I have two sisters, both were outstanding athletes and both went into the coaching, fitness, and athletics career field.  They are strong, independent, intelligent women who lead many by example.  My mom and dad provided great leadership and guidance for my sisters, but many young girls out there need more positive role models and women to look up to.  Sometimes they need more than just their parents, they need real, down to earth role models to guide them; not most of these wrinkly, dinkly models who could get knocked over by a stiff breeze.

I also had the privelage of working under Sara Wiley at the University of Minnesota.  Sara was named the NSCA National Strength Coach of the year in 2007-08.  She is an extremely smart and innovative coach, plus you won't find better prepared athletes than hers, and the results show.  She can also squat more than 90% of the guys I know, so she can kick some ass too!

Here is a great list of role models, sources, and information for any woman out there.  And this is not just for women, I reference many of these women for information week in and week out.  Truly a great list for ya today.

Websites

Girls on Target - Saree Zweifel.  I might be a little biased here because she is my sister, but screw it.  Saree runs her own business called Girls On Target in San Diego.  It's a program for girls (high school and younger) to develop fitness, confidence, healthy friendships, empowerment, and motivation.  She impacts young girls lives each and everyday in a profoundly positive way.  You should see the energy and passion she exudes, it's contagious. 

Girls Gone Strong - My girlfriend loves this website and the message it uses.  She prides herself on being a girl gone strong, and trust me when she punches me I feel it! 

Five x3 - Emily Socolinsky - Another great website that promotes strength and intensity for women.

Liz Dialto - Liz stives to changes peoples lifestyles, and create a life of self-improvement and happiness with yourself.

Sirena Bernal - Great website for nutrition tips, recipes, and workout ideas.

Eat, Lift, and Be Happy - Neghar Fonooni.  Preaches to enjoy life, and everything in moderation.  Don't need to restrict or limit yourself in anything.

Survival of the Fittest - Jen Sinkler big on natural movements and being in touch with the nature.

Julia Ladweski - A mom who is also a world class powerlifter.  Gives great advice in becoming as strong as you can be, and not being afraid to move heavy weights.  You'll be amazed how strong you can be.  She was also a college strength coach for years, and now directs Parisi's youth speed school.

Molly Galbraith -  Co-Owns J&M Strength and Conditioning.  Amazing resource, continually puts out great, fun info.  Truly a source I look to week in and week out.

Nia Shanks - Her sites called lift like a girl, great info and she has a program called the Beautiful Badass that promotes you can be strong and powerful, while not giving up your beauty.

Loving Fit - Tatianna is an ex-professional figure skater.  She focus' on something she calls Unit Training, basically creative full-body workouts.

Cassandra Forsythe - Cassandra is a expert in nutrition and female fitness.  She has her doctorate in exercise science and is a registered dietician.

Articles

Jennifer Petrosino Interview - Elite FTS

Get Your Period Back - Cassandra Forsythe

Strength Through Female Eye - Lauren Brooks - How strong are you?  Here are some standards to compare just how strong you are.

Tales of a Fit Mom - Julia Ladweski

Why Women Should Lift Heavy - Nia Shanks

5 Strong, Smart, and Sexy Female Fitness Phenoms - John Romaniello

Being a Woman is Not a Disabilty - Amy Wattles

What Women Should Never Do When Getting In Shape (Part 1 of 6) - Juliet Deane

Somebody Doesn't Belong

Go Get 'Em!

Breakfast Scrambler

The Culprits

3oz - Turkey, Lean Ham, Turkey Bacon
1/2 - Onion
1/2 - Bell Pepper
3 - Eggs
1/4  Cup - Salsa
Coconut Oil

Optional but Recommended
1/4 Cup - Mushrooms
1/2 Cup - Broccoli
1/4 Cup - Guacamole
4-6 - Asparagus Heads
2oz - Cheese - Mozzarella or Hard Cheddar

1. Start by putting a little coconut oil in a frying pan.  Then add in your choice of meat and vegetables.  I typically put in about 3oz of meat, 1/2 an onion, 1/2 green pepper, and if I have any mushrooms and broccoli.  Cook those up until they get a good crisp (~2min).

2. Now is a good time to throw in your spices and herbs.  I always toss in a couple shakes of cinnamon, garlic, cheyenne pepper, and italian herbs.  NOTE: If your using a fatty meat, you don't need to use a lot of coconut oil.  If your using chicken, turkey, or ham then use more coconut oil.

3. After the meat and veggies look good, crack in some eggs.  I typically use between 3 whole eggs, yes the whole egg, EAT THOSE YOLKS!  At this point you can cook your eggs however you like: sunnyside up, over easy, an omelet, scrambled, etc.  I do scrambled, but will spice it up sometimes with something different.

See the  Face! It's hard not to

smile when making this

4. If you are using cheese, now is the time to add it.  Add the cheese at the same time as you add the eggs

5. Cook until the eggs are done how you like it, and plop onto a big ole plate.

5. Now is the time to top this monster with homemade guacamole (definitely recommended) and salsa.

I highly recommend you play around with ingredients and mix things up.  Easy things like cheese, different meats and veggies are easy things to mix around and add some variety to your taste buds.