Rotary Power for Sport Performance

During a competitive season and indeed in specialized sport camps, athletes gain proficiency from structured skill practice and tactical instruction. However, often repetitive skill rehearsal produces some good initial results but then hits a ceiling and skill execution plateaus. This is true for all athletes, no matter how gifted they are. Even those who picked the right parents and can achieve a high level riding their genetics, will eventually hit the same ceiling. I have seen players struggle at the high school level until they are educated about sport conditioning. Likewise I have experienced many pro athletes who flounder at the pro level until they buy in to training, after which their careers flourish to unexpected heights.

In the fitness world, ‘core’ strength has become a very common buzzword. In sport, you are definitely only as strong as your weakest link, and for most athletes this is the core or speed center, which includes abdominals, low back and hip musculature. For a solid base of support which is capable of transferring power through the kinetic chain, you need to build strength from the center of the body out to the periphery, as opposed to preferentially working on the muscles you can see in a mirror! However, enhanced skill execution and sport power cannot be optimized with traditional floor based sit up exercises.

In the past core development has been attempted through the utilization of floor based exercises such as crunches, sit ups, leg raises, rope crunches, and back hyperextensions which predominantly isolate ab muscles. However, the speed centre must be developed with the intent of improved performance. Nothing on the court, field or ice is done in isolation. Isolation exercises will hurt your sport performance and lead to injury. Strength exercises must incorporate the entire body and accelerate through various joints, activate all muscle groups and move through varied planes.

In most multi directional sports such as baseball, football, hockey and tennis, skill execution draws upon the initiation and transfer of power from lower body, through the torso to upper body and sport implement. Whether in the weight room or on the playing field, make note that your brain does not think in terms of muscles but rather thinks in terms of whole body movement. At Twist Conditioning we coach with a “toe to fingertip” emphasis. No matter what muscle group define the exercise (i.e. back, shoulders, chest etc) we ensure the exercise lifting style requires the athletes to recruit muscles, in the correct order, from ankle through to wrist. This holds true for rotary power exercises.

Transfer

Throwing (football, softball, lacrosse) striking (hockey, tennis, golf), and kicking (soccer) sports all can benefit from stronger and more effective torso rotation. Examining the mechanics needed to optimize sport skills, rotary power is the key link from the weight room to the playing field. Preferred exercises use a closed chain position (standing up on your feet), weight shifts both laterally and horizontally (to pre-load the rear leg) and transfer of weight to lead leg at a high velocity. When working movement around the spine, through a transverse plane, initial exercise prescription uses slow controlled movements, for time under tension to optimize strength and hypertrophy gains. Moreover, slow controlled movements on both the positive (concentric) and negative (eccentric) phases of the lift decrease the risk of injury.

Think of swinging a tennis racket or throwing a ball from your hand. The commonality is loading the legs to sum power from the legs, through the hips to the core and onwards to the shoulder complex. ‘Triggering’ the hips will transfer explosive power through the core. I like to use weighted Fit Balls and Safety Toner strength tubing that allows powerful explosive strength training without having to decelerate at the end of the range of motion as is necessary with free weights. These tools accommodate full ranges of motion, whole body skill movements and explosive, high velocity training. Core rotation begins with a strength emphasis and controlled speeds, and finishes (later in the program cycle) with quick countermovements focussed on power initiation. At this stage, athletes are performing core plyometrics. Look for plyometrics to be covered in a future Sports Camp Federation column.