Train Your Body’s ‘Slings’ to Increase Throwing and Striking Power
Overhead and striking athletes are always looking for ways to improve their athletic activities in the weight room. While adding ankle weights to your wrists or ankles for punches and kicks, or replacing a regular hardball with a weighted one for throws may not always be the best means to this end, re-enforcing our natural movement and biomechanics is!
The best bet we have of improving our ability to throw is to elevate our movement efficacy by targeting the body’s slings and supporting structures with a few specific exercises.
The Anterior Oblique Sling
This “sling” is responsible for rotating the torso or lower body during throwing and striking activities. The sling represents the interdependent relationship between the groin and the obliques (for kicking), and the shoulder and the obliques (for throwing). The shoulder speaks for itself, but what is often a missing link in people’s ability to throw are oblique muscles that do not fire in sequence. The obliques help to rotate the torso and facilitate the stretch-reflex that allows us to pull the ball back and then whip it through the air. When the obliques don’t work, the muscles surrounding the shoulder complex have to work extra hard and this can lead to long-term repercussions.
So, training the obliques to activate better during rotary activities (transverse plane) is a good place to start when training to groove an efficient throwing pattern. Unfortunately, performing set after set of the Side Plank isn’t the key to success here.
Use the Oblique Swiss Ball Roll or “Baby Drill” (shown in the video above) to engage the rectus abdominus and target the obliques in a pattern that will better translate to rotation. In this drill, crush the Swiss ball between your palms and knees in the 90/90 position. Maintain the “crush” while rotating the body (including the head and neck) as far to the side as you can manage without tipping over, and return to the center position. All limbs must remain in contact with the ball at all times.
[youtube video=”7TrHqgxeTtc” /]The Cable Press
Although hardly a novel exercise, the Cable Press is a great tool because it helps to build stability and resilience at the extreme end-range of throwing. Because much of our pressing movements while training require the pinning down of the scapulae we miss out on improving our ability to protract. Considering the strength-endurance relationship, this exercise is a great solution to this problem because it provides the opportunity to prepare for the rigors of high velocity repetition at the end range (or point of release) of throws.
The exercise also doubles as an anti-rotation and anti-extension exercise, which adds to its performance value. Furthermore, because it teaches healthy scapula protraction it can also help guard against excessive torque at the elbows and shoulder that tend to plague individuals who do not get good scapula movement.
The Facepull
The Facepull is an underused tool for throwing performance. Because hyperactive lats tugging downward on the scapula and humerus are common in throwers, the Facepull can help to quiet the lats and teach the scapula to move along the ribcage unrestricted. With the elbows at shoulder height the effect of the lats on the humerus is greatly reduced, and the rhomboids and traps are left with full influence over the movement of the scapula. It also provides a passive “stretch” to the rhomboids and other thoracic extensors at the bottom position, giving the scapulae more practice with traveling along the ribcage. Moreover, the extension-type postures seen in individuals with hyperactive lats can be reduced simply because the lats are encouraged to momentarily disengage.
[youtube video=”TCz2BIMlgbw” /]Supine Rolling
This exercise is another look at the anterior oblique sling. When it comes to strikes and throws, supine rolling is another helpful tool that can help identify issues that are already present in the shoulders or hips as well as preventing them from appearing later.
This exercise analyzes upper and lower-body rotation and can expose where the individual may strain extra hard at the pecs/shoulder or groin/hip-flexors to generate enough force to rotate the body (punch/throw or kick). Instead of straining at those joints, what we would like to see instead is for the obliques to engage and help to flip the body over with much less overall effort.
To perform the exercise for the upper body, lie on your back with your arms up and head slightly off the floor. Pretend to be paralyzed from the waist down. From here, initiate the rotation of your upper body with your arm and attempt to roll over onto your stomach.
To perform the exercise for the lower body, lie on your back with the arms relaxed on the ground overhead and pretend to be paralyzed from the waist up. From here, flex the hip of the working leg and attempt to use it to lead the rest of the body into rolling over onto your stomach.
For those who get stuck on the way over (as I do in the first example while going to my right) or who exemplify a lot of strain along the way, having a coach analyze where you have trouble in the movement can help you better hone your training to improve your overall ability to rotate and prevent problems down the line.
[youtube video=”J5zQ0sGqKO0″ /]READ MORE:
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Train Your Body’s ‘Slings’ to Increase Throwing and Striking Power
Overhead and striking athletes are always looking for ways to improve their athletic activities in the weight room. While adding ankle weights to your wrists or ankles for punches and kicks, or replacing a regular hardball with a weighted one for throws may not always be the best means to this end, re-enforcing our natural movement and biomechanics is!
The best bet we have of improving our ability to throw is to elevate our movement efficacy by targeting the body’s slings and supporting structures with a few specific exercises.
The Anterior Oblique Sling
This “sling” is responsible for rotating the torso or lower body during throwing and striking activities. The sling represents the interdependent relationship between the groin and the obliques (for kicking), and the shoulder and the obliques (for throwing). The shoulder speaks for itself, but what is often a missing link in people’s ability to throw are oblique muscles that do not fire in sequence. The obliques help to rotate the torso and facilitate the stretch-reflex that allows us to pull the ball back and then whip it through the air. When the obliques don’t work, the muscles surrounding the shoulder complex have to work extra hard and this can lead to long-term repercussions.
So, training the obliques to activate better during rotary activities (transverse plane) is a good place to start when training to groove an efficient throwing pattern. Unfortunately, performing set after set of the Side Plank isn’t the key to success here.
Use the Oblique Swiss Ball Roll or “Baby Drill” (shown in the video above) to engage the rectus abdominus and target the obliques in a pattern that will better translate to rotation. In this drill, crush the Swiss ball between your palms and knees in the 90/90 position. Maintain the “crush” while rotating the body (including the head and neck) as far to the side as you can manage without tipping over, and return to the center position. All limbs must remain in contact with the ball at all times.
The Cable Press
Although hardly a novel exercise, the Cable Press is a great tool because it helps to build stability and resilience at the extreme end-range of throwing. Because much of our pressing movements while training require the pinning down of the scapulae we miss out on improving our ability to protract. Considering the strength-endurance relationship, this exercise is a great solution to this problem because it provides the opportunity to prepare for the rigors of high velocity repetition at the end range (or point of release) of throws.
The exercise also doubles as an anti-rotation and anti-extension exercise, which adds to its performance value. Furthermore, because it teaches healthy scapula protraction it can also help guard against excessive torque at the elbows and shoulder that tend to plague individuals who do not get good scapula movement.
The Facepull
The Facepull is an underused tool for throwing performance. Because hyperactive lats tugging downward on the scapula and humerus are common in throwers, the Facepull can help to quiet the lats and teach the scapula to move along the ribcage unrestricted. With the elbows at shoulder height the effect of the lats on the humerus is greatly reduced, and the rhomboids and traps are left with full influence over the movement of the scapula. It also provides a passive “stretch” to the rhomboids and other thoracic extensors at the bottom position, giving the scapulae more practice with traveling along the ribcage. Moreover, the extension-type postures seen in individuals with hyperactive lats can be reduced simply because the lats are encouraged to momentarily disengage.
[youtube video=”TCz2BIMlgbw” /]Supine Rolling
This exercise is another look at the anterior oblique sling. When it comes to strikes and throws, supine rolling is another helpful tool that can help identify issues that are already present in the shoulders or hips as well as preventing them from appearing later.
This exercise analyzes upper and lower-body rotation and can expose where the individual may strain extra hard at the pecs/shoulder or groin/hip-flexors to generate enough force to rotate the body (punch/throw or kick). Instead of straining at those joints, what we would like to see instead is for the obliques to engage and help to flip the body over with much less overall effort.
To perform the exercise for the upper body, lie on your back with your arms up and head slightly off the floor. Pretend to be paralyzed from the waist down. From here, initiate the rotation of your upper body with your arm and attempt to roll over onto your stomach.
To perform the exercise for the lower body, lie on your back with the arms relaxed on the ground overhead and pretend to be paralyzed from the waist up. From here, flex the hip of the working leg and attempt to use it to lead the rest of the body into rolling over onto your stomach.
For those who get stuck on the way over (as I do in the first example while going to my right) or who exemplify a lot of strain along the way, having a coach analyze where you have trouble in the movement can help you better hone your training to improve your overall ability to rotate and prevent problems down the line.
[youtube video=”J5zQ0sGqKO0″ /]READ MORE:
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