When
I was an intern at the University of Minnesota back in 2009, I had the
opportunity to work under renown S&C coach Cal Dietz.Cal is known for his Tri-Phasic training
principles, and within the tri-phasic program he has taken The French contrast
method and brought it to public awareness.
The
French Contrast was originally developed by the French track and field coach,
Gilles Cometti, but it has been Dietz who has taken this method and molded into
a digestible piece of for S&C coaches.
The
concept of the French Contrast is it’s a combination of complex and contrast
methods, molded into one.The idea is to
use 4 exercises, to push the physiological responses of the athlete and train
all along the force-velocity curve.
Here
is Dietz chart from Tri-Phasic as his parameter for developing a French
Contrast.As you can see, you go from a
heavy compound lift and follow it up with a plyometric activity (complex
training).Then you perform a power
movement with about a 30% load (contrast training from main compound), and
finally finish it up with an Accelerated or Assisted plyometric activity.
(Photo Credit: Triphasic Training - Cal Dietz)
As I’ve gone through years and years of playing around with
the French Contrast, I’ve made some modifications in terms of order, rest
periods, different names, and specifications for certain types of
athletes.Much is still the same, but
what I tend to do now is just travel right down the F-V curve, but I also allow
30-40 seconds between each exercises – Deitz recommends only about 5-10 seconds
of rest.
So here’s what our typical template will look like.
Now with many exercises, you can’t always perform an
assisted method, so in those cases this is what our template looks like.
Now most templates I’ve seen on the French Contrast are the
exact same, and lack some specificity to the athletes adaptation needs.The lower body protocol is typically the
approach I see, but as you will see we’ve rounded up a small sample of
protocols we’ll use for specific adaptations or for specific athletes’ needs.
Before we start, understand the French Contrast is not for
novice athletes – it’s for athletes with some solid experience and good levels
of strength.With that being said, I
still use this with young athletes (9-10th Grade) who have been with
me for sometime and exhibit proficiency in their movements.On the other hand, just because I have a
Senior in college or a professional athlete, doesn’t mean I’ll use the French
Contrast – again as long as they exhibit quality movement and have solid
strength levels I’ll program some different French Contrast protocols - it comes down to demonstrating movement competency rather than just purely age.
Lower Body Protocol
1. Back Squat
2. Hex Bar Jump Squat
3. Hurdle Hops
4. Band Assisted Jump Squat
Upper Body Protocol
1. Swiss Bar Bench Press
2. Explosive Bench Push-Ups
3. Supine Med Ball Punch
4. Band Assisted Push-Ups
“It’s not
whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back up”
“If you fall
seven times, get back up eight”
Or from the ever
wise, mini Buddha esque, Chumbawamba
“I get knocked
down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down!”
Oh the 90’s,
what a great time to grow up, but back to my point…
We continually
hear about how falling is not important, but rather making sure you
get back up. But I’m here to flip the switch and stress the
importance of falling.
First let’s
clarify; this isn’t about failure or defeat like these quotes
underline, but rather what this article is about learning to fall and
land properly.
Why Would I
Need to Learn to Fall?
Why should you
practice falling or landing? Well why do we crawl before we walk,
and walk before we run? Because it is a safe and natural progression
to teach our bodies to learn our limits and give us feedback on many
athletic qualities. Also learning to fall will help when you see Rachel McAdams at the bar, and don't tear your ACL when you fall head over heels.
Oh Rachel, you don't have to be
thinking of me all day
Watch little kids
on a playground and you’ll see them jumping off different objects,
testing the limits of how high they can land and fall from. It is a
form of learning the stresses our body can handle safely, and gives
our CNS a tool for reference.
While I don’t
have an exact number, I would be willing to bet that over half of
athletic injuries occur during landing after a jump, trying to break
a fall, or stops and/or changes of directions.
What do all of
these have in common?
They are types of
landing, falling, decelerating movements. Athletes don’t get
taught how to land, stop, fall, or tumble. We get caught up in
developing vertical leaps, sprinting speed, power, and strength; but
often lose sight of the importance of learning stop or decelerate
these movements.
Recently Dan John
wrote a great article, here,on T-Nation , and in it he stated,
“28,000
Americans in the 50+ age range die yearly from fall related
injuries.”
Are you kidding
me, 28,000! If this doesn’t give a case for learning to fall and
land, then I don’t know what does.
So I’m going to
break down the remaining parts of the article into two parts, landing
(on your feet), and falling to the ground (tumbling).
Landing
We often see
athletes jumping onto 60” boxes, doing crazy dunks, or exhibiting
other great feats of athleticism, and we say, “I want to do that”.
So what does somebody do? They start doing intense plyometrics,
jumping on and off high ass boxes, and try to copy these athletic
movements.
What we tend to
forget is how these athletes got to where they are. We need to take
a step back, and learn the basics of landing before we try these
jumping feats.
Athletes need to
learn they can only produce as much force, as they can safely absorb.
Dynamic movements
like jumping, sprinting, bounding, etc involve our body taking in
high amounts of eccentric forces and then returning concentric forces
back out. The amount of force we return back out, depends on how
effectively and safely we take force in.
Our body is not
dumb, and it is not going to allow us to jump 30 inches high if we
can not safely land from 30 inches. Whether you leans towards, or
away, from the whole ancestral thing, our body does not want to put
itself in a situation where it might be injured.
So whether our
paleo past is still very present in our brain and nervous system,
where injury meant being an easy meal for a saber tooth, or whether
you believe we are different - evolved beings, it does not matter,
Injury = Bad!
Our body is going
to do whatever it takes to prevent injury. It has a whole mess of
protective mechanisms and it knows what its limits are. So thinking
you can go jump 40 inches is not going to happen if your body hasn’t
learned that it can safely land from that high.
So for athletic
performance, learning to land is very important. Altitude landings,
depth drops, and box landings have been around a long time in terms
of athletic development. It is nothing new to train with those
methods to elicit high eccentric and braking forces, in attempts to
develop higher power and speed outputs.
Adding in landing
drills to a regular progression in the weight room will enhance an
athlete’s eccentric strength, proprioception, education of dealing
with high forces, and develop proper body positioning and mechanics.
More than
increasing athletic potential, learning to land has very high injury
prevention benefits. Landing drills have made a big push into ACL
prevention programs, as many ACL injuries occur from landing and
stopping actions.
Stepping off a box
and landing correctly is a key quality we need our athletes to
exhibit. If an athlete cannot land without knee valgus, proper foot
– knee – hip tracking, or a smooth, efficient, and quiet landing,
then that athlete is lacking in certain qualities. Jumping right
into an intensive program will put this person in harms way, and will
be promoting dysfunctional movement patterns.
It is important to
make sure athletes can land in various situations – double leg,
single leg, lateral, and backwards. These are all movements that
will be stressed in sports, and learning how to absorb forces at
these angles is extremely important.
Here is a whole
series of landing exercise progressions that will develop proper
landing mechanics, positioning, and eccentric loading.
The goal with each
of these exercises is to stick the landing quick and quietly. That
is a main coaching cue for us, but of course we are looking for other
signs during the landing.
Do the knees track
over the foot or do they track inside (knee valgus). Are the
athletes able to stick the landing, or are they adding in extra
little hops, or shifts in body weight. If so, the height or distance
may be too much for them to handle.
Are they
initiating the landing with the balls/forefoot, or is their heel
slamming into the ground. Again this is a sign that the eccentric
force is too much for the athlete.
Finally we want
the athlete to absorb the force quickly. This means we want them to
stick the landing as fast as they can. We want them to stabilize and
control the landing ASAP! The more time, bending, or movement it
takes to land means the athlete is losing eccentric forces through
this extra movement or time. Again this is preparing the athlete for
the extremely high demands and short contact times of plyometrics and
athletic movements.
Falling
Piggy backing
everything discussed in learning to land, is learning how to fall.
Learning to fall or training this skill, in my book, is essentially
tumbling. Somersaults, reverse somersaults, shoulder rolls, reverse
shoulder rolls, handstands, and side rolls.
I know what you’re
thinking; you won’t catch me dead doing those girly things. I’m
gonna get my ass back in the squat rack!
Well if you play
in any team sport or coach team sports, then you should definitely
reconsider.
How does tumbling
help in team sports?
It put athletes in
a position of falling, and teaches the body how to contort, twist,
and position itself when faced with similar situations during a game.
In sports like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and rugby,
athletes face many instances where they are falling or being taken to
the ground, and not knowing how to deal with the situations leads to
injury.
Tumbling is an
easy and safe way to learn the skills of falling. These tumbling
drills involve a great deal of mobility, stability, spatial
awareness, body coordination, timing, and rhythm. These are all very
valuable qualities that will help athletes, not only fall safely, but
will also carryover to other aspects of athletics.
Going back to Dan
John (can’t reference him enough!), tumbling is also a great way to
build “armor”.
He’s talked
about how athletes, during the off-season tend to get “soft” and
un-prepared for the poundings a sport will put on them.
These ground
collisions during tumbling mimic body contact, collisions, and the
physical tolls an athlete takes during games. It is a great way to
“toughen” up and prepare the athletes body for competition.
Despite it being
comical to watch some athletes try these drills, it really isn’t
all that funny that we have athletes that cannot perform simple,
basic exercises that 4 and 5 year olds can do with ease.
As a coach, you
will quickly see that your best athletes are the best at these
tumbling moves. I have observed that the best athletes I work with
tumble with the greatest grace, control, efficiency, and are overall
quiet and light during these movements.
Finally I like
tumbling movements because not only do they teach my athletes how to
safely fall and land, but also how to get back up! Like the quotes
at the beginning of this article, it is essential for athletes to get
back onto their feet after being on the ground.
You hear it all
the time during games
“Get Up!”
“Stay on Your
Feet!”
Whether it’s a
linebacker being cut blocked, a volleyball player going down to dig a
kill, or a basketball player getting knocked down going to the rim.
These athletes need to get back up and get back involved in the play.
You see it all the time, an athlete is slow to get up, and his or
her team ends up paying the consequences.
So we get the best
of both worlds, we learn skills to stay on our feet, but if we do
happen to go to the ground, we learn how to do so safely and then how
to transition back onto our feet.
These are
essential athletic skills that are typically overlooked. Great
benefits will be had to youth, high school, college, and elite
athletes, but also the regular, everyday person. It will help
tremendously in athletics, but also as people age, how not to become
part of that staggering 28,000 statistic.
In the video below
is a series of the different tumbling drills you can use with your
athletes. I highly recommend using a nice big gymnastic type mat
(much bigger than the one in the video) or using grass, turf, or a
gymnastics surface for these drills.
Look for proper
movement and sequencing from the athletes. The movements should be
efficient, smooth, and quiet. Loud thuds mean the athlete is not
moving through the landings efficiency and lack in stability,
mobility, and body control.
Finally look for
smooth transitions back to their feet. Like we touched on, this is
also a drill to develop getting back on ones feet. Cue each tumbling
movement to be smooth, quiet, and to get back on their feet as quick
as possible.
Ground Floor
If you coach young
athletes, these skills and drills really do need to be in your
program. They are essential for proper development and skills that
will benefit them later on. When coaching youth athletes, I like
drills that don’t require much equipment, and teach valuable
qualities/skills naturally, without the athlete having to think much.
These drill kill many birds with one stone, and are fun and
challenging.
If you coach high
school to elite athletes, I still feel that these skills would bear
some great benefits. They might seem silly or weird, but get over
it, they work. A couple drills during a warm-up or finisher are more
than enough to progress in this area.
So feel free to
take some advice from the great Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and
start working on,
“Free, Free
Falling!”
And as always Go Get 'Em!
Like, Dislike, Agree, Disagree, WORLD CHANGING, or a big turd; whatever you feel, leave a comment below and let me know!
Alright time to conclude this series on Rotational Sequencing and Power. In case you missed the first 2 parts check them out here, Part one, Part two.
In this final part we are going to go into the details of the correct sequential patterns to enhance rotational power, efficiency, and safety.
Proper Sequencing
Rotational movements require proper sequencing of the body through various parts. This does not happen naturally for all athletes, and must be taught.
Athletes need the proper kinetic linking and sequencing to allow athletes to reach their maximum potential. Athletes need to learn how to
Load from the ground up
Lead movement with hips
Sequence energy through joints/muscles
Movement should look like a whip
Be able to separate hips from upper body and shoulders
Take a look at these pictures again and look at the athletes hips compared to their shoulders
Their hips lead their upper body and shoulders. They get their power from their hips, and they use the mobility and stability to transfer that power to their implement.
This, in a nut shell, is rotational sequencing.
The athlete loads up using thier hips and posterior muscle sling, and then unloads from the ground up, snapping their hips to transfer this force through their anterior muscle slings and onto the upper body and shoulders.
As we touched on in part 1 (TPI Rotational Sequence), this proper sequencing is what separates amateurs from the elite. Learning how to load and unload using the correct sequential pattern is key to creating more rotational power and speed.
Tony Mikla, during a webinar, dicussed how he trains two Olympic discuss throwers of very similar strength, speed, power, stability, and mobility standards. Except one of the throwers out performs the other by significant amounts.
How is this possible? They possess the similar physical abilities, but their performances are very different.
Dr. Mikla noted the difference was in the sequencing of these two athletes. Athlete A out performs Athlete B because she better utilizes the power she generates from her hips.
She doesn't have energy leaks and has proper sequencing from the ground up through her hips, onto her thorax, and finally to her arms.
Athlete B doesn't sequence correctly. She might have her torso lead first and then the hips and shoulders come next, simultaneously.
This funk it sequencing doesn't allow her to fully utilize the transfer of forces through her kinetic chain.
Essentially sequencing is technique, and proper technique separates athletes in all sports. We teach proper technique in all other exercises, but often times do not for rotational exercises.
We need to teach rotational movements and use progressions just like we do with all other exercises.
Getting After It
I like to use med ball variations when training rotational power as they allow for great velocity. Use the rotational stability exercises mentioned in part 2 for gaining strength and stability. This step cannot be skipped! If you do, you are setting your athletes up for injury. Progress correctly!
Use dynamic med ball work for enhancing rotational power and sequencing. No need to use an overally heavy med ball, 6-12lbs will typically do for most rotational movements. Remember, besides the shot put, sports do not use heavy implements, it's about creating higher speeds and forces into our movements.
Lateral MB Punch
I find this as the easiest progression to teach to correct sequential pattern. With the med ball close the body it reduces any kind of lever arm, and makes the whole movement easier to perform and learn.
Load the ball in the back armpit, while also loading up the rear leg and posterior muscle sling. Press through the ground with the rear leg and lead the movement from the hips, through the torso, and finally through to the shoulders through to the ball.
Lateral Scoop Throws
Now we take the ball and place it away from the body. This creates more torque, but also allows a good picture of the sequence of the kinetic chain. Load up the back leg and transition from the ground up, through the ball.
Parallel Scoop Throws
Parallel throws really separate the hips from the shoulders. It's a little tougher to get the hips to rotate thoroughly, but requires great amounts of mobility in the T-Spine, hips, and ankle. It also requires great strength and stability through the hips and trunk to get adequate rotation and power.
Split Stance Lateral/Parallel Scoop Throws
The split stance take the hips slighty out of the movement, but it forces the athlete to create rotational force through a unilateral position. The hips must be stable, and the athlete must keep a solid base for rotation to revolve around.
Lateral OH Slams
OH slams place the load in a different position and challenges the athlete in a top-down pattern. This puts a ton of stress on that anterior muscle sling, and will really lengthen the lateral components of the body.
Lateral Med Ball Slams
Another great OH movement to challenge top-down and the long lateral lines of the body.
Lateral Shuffle MB Punch
Now that we've established a solid base of rotational movements from a static position, we now move towards dynamic movements.
In sports, often times rotational movements require the athlete to continue to transfer force from the momentum and movement already built up. So here we start with a single shuffle pattern into a dynamic lateral punch. Kind of like the glide technique in the shot-put.
Use the momentum and speed built up to transfer that force into the rotational movement. The same sequencing and patterns still apply even though the speed of the movement is greater.
Crossover MB Punch
I've helped coach a couple of kids for sport showcase type events like pro-agility
(5-10-5), 60 yard dash, and L-Drill (3-cone). These drills require crossover steps, and this drill simulates gaining power and movement from a crossover position.
Moving Crossover MB Punch
Next we like to move into our moving crossover and punch movement. Just think about how many times athletes are required to cross their feet over in their sport. Baseball, soccer, football, basketball, and volleyball all require athletes to crossover into a sprint or some other movement. Here we get to work on that quality.
MB Drop Step Punch
This is something fun and challenging for your athletes to do. It really challenges spatial awareness, coordination, and 180 degree rotational qualities. This has tremendous carryover to throwing events, basketball, and any sport that requires these types of turns (DB in football, Centerfielder turning on a deep fly ball, etc)
Well there you have it. That's the series on developing rotational sequencing and power. Learning the correct pattern of rotational sequence might be separating you and your athletes from further success, oh and like I said before, developing rotational power = hot women asking you out for dates, it's science!
So take and use what you can and as always Go Get 'Em!
Like, Dislike, Agree, Disagree, WORLD CHANGING, or a big turd; whatever you feel, leave a comment below and let me know!
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.
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!
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