Strengthen Your Core With Anti-Rotational Exercises

Since strength and power emanate “from the inside out,” improving core strength and stability is important to athletic performance.

Most sports require rotational movement (swinging a bat or hockey stick, throwing a baseball or football, etc.), so the development of rotational strength and power is an important consideration when training the core. Rotational exercises – e.g., medicine ball twists and lateral throws, kettlebell swings, and other “twisting” exercises – are training program components of virtually every athlete with whom we work.

Anti-rotational exercises require athletes to resist rotation when executing a specific movement while the application of an external force attempts to push or pull them laterally (rotationally).  Anti-rotational exercises are important because, in many sports – especially contact sports (football, basketball, soccer, and hockey come to mind) – it’s necessary for athletes to be able to maintain directional movement while resisting opponents’ contact forces that have the potential to “knock them off course.”

At our facility, we use the TRX Rip Trainer for most of our anti-rotational training. It has a safe and simple design, and is very user-friendly and versatile.  However, there are other exercise equipment options, and you can even make your own.

We incorporate a different anti-rotational exercise into every athlete’s training program, each week. Typically, we have our athletes perform 1 or 2 sets of 10 repetitions, from each side.

Here are a few sample exercises, with instruction and demonstration:

Anti-Rotational Press

Anti-Rotational Straight Arm Squat 

Standing farther from the anchor point increases the resistance and, subsequently, difficulty of the exercise. Moving the anchor point higher or lower helps the trainer target different areas of the core, and can also simulate a more “sport-specific” exercise (e.g., lower anchor point for hockey; middle anchor point for baseball; and variable anchor point for lacrosse).

Exercise selection can be varied, as many exercises can be performed with the addition of lateral resistance (there are also lots of TRX Rip Trainer exercises you can find on their website and elsewhere, online). Other examples are the standing row, military press, and straight-arm lunge; as well as “swinging” and “chopping” exercises.

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Strengthen Your Core With Anti-Rotational Exercises

Since strength and power are generated “from the inside out,” improving core strength and stability is important to athletic performance.

Most sports require rotational movement (swinging a bat or hockey stick, throwing a baseball or football, etc.), so the development of rotational strength and power is an important consideration when training the core. Rotational exercises – e.g., medicine ball twists and lateral throws, kettlebell swings, and other “twisting” exercises – are training program components of virtually every athlete with whom I work.

Anti-rotational exercises require athletes to resist rotation when executing a specific movement while the application of an external force attempts to push or pull them laterally (rotationally).  Anti-rotational exercises are important because, in many sports – especially contact sports (football, basketball, soccer, and hockey come to mind) – it’s necessary for athletes to be able to maintain directional movement while resisting opponents’ contact forces that have the potential to “knock them off course.”

At my facility, I use the TRX Rip Trainer for most of the anti-rotational training. It has a safe and simple design, and is very user-friendly and versatile.  However, there are other exercise equipment options, and you can even make your own.

I incorporate a different anti-rotational exercise into every athlete’s training program, each week. Typically, my athletes perform 1 or 2 sets of 10-15 repetitions, from each side.

Here are a few sample exercises, with instruction and demonstration:

Anti-Rotational Press

Anti-Rotational Straight Arm Squat 

Standing farther from the anchor point increases the resistance and, subsequently, difficulty of the exercise. Moving the anchor point higher or lower helps the trainer target different areas of the core, and can also simulate a more “sport-specific” exercise (e.g., lower anchor point for hockey; middle anchor point for baseball; and variable anchor point for lacrosse).

Exercise selection can be varied, as many exercises can be performed with the addition of lateral resistance (there are also lots of TRX Rip Trainer exercises you can find on their website and elsewhere, online). Other examples are the standing row, military press, and straight-arm lunge; as well as “swinging” and “chopping” exercises.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

Strengthen Your Core With Anti-Rotational Exercises

Since strength and power emanate “from the inside out,” improving core strength and stability is important to athletic performance.

Most sports require rotational movement (swinging a bat or hockey stick, throwing a baseball or football, etc.), so the development of rotational strength and power is an important consideration when training the core. Rotational exercises – e.g., medicine ball twists and lateral throws, kettlebell swings, and other “twisting” exercises – are training program components of virtually every athlete with whom we work.

Anti-rotational exercises require athletes to resist rotation when executing a specific movement while the application of an external force attempts to push or pull them laterally (rotationally).  Anti-rotational exercises are important because, in many sports – especially contact sports (football, basketball, soccer, and hockey come to mind) – it’s necessary for athletes to be able to maintain directional movement while resisting opponents’ contact forces that have the potential to “knock them off course.”

At our facility, we use the TRX Rip Trainer for most of our anti-rotational training. It has a safe and simple design, and is very user-friendly and versatile.  However, there are other exercise equipment options, and you can even make your own.

We incorporate a different anti-rotational exercise into every athlete’s training program, each week. Typically, we have our athletes perform 1 or 2 sets of 10 repetitions, from each side.

Here are a few sample exercises, with instruction and demonstration:

Anti-Rotational Press

Anti-Rotational Straight Arm Squat 

Standing farther from the anchor point increases the resistance and, subsequently, difficulty of the exercise. Moving the anchor point higher or lower helps the trainer target different areas of the core, and can also simulate a more “sport-specific” exercise (e.g., lower anchor point for hockey; middle anchor point for baseball; and variable anchor point for lacrosse).

Exercise selection can be varied, as many exercises can be performed with the addition of lateral resistance (there are also lots of TRX Rip Trainer exercises you can find on their website and elsewhere, online). Other examples are the standing row, military press, and straight-arm lunge; as well as “swinging” and “chopping” exercises.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

Purposeful, Goal-Oriented Training

One of our first action items, at ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE TRAINING CENTER, is to request that our new clients complete a questionnaire.  In addition to the usual, basic demographic information, I like to understand his/her past and present sport(s) participation, and level of athletic and training experience.  Most importantly, I ask them to list their training goals and objectives:  What do they want to accomplish as a result of their Strength and Conditioning training?  You should be asking yourself the same question.  Developing strength, speed, agility, and athleticism is great, as long as it helps you improve your performance in your sport(s) of choice (or, facilitates your “functionability” in your activities of daily living).  Additionally, understanding my clients’ goals is an important consideration in the development of their Strength and Conditioning plan.  Your training plan – including intensity, frequency, volume, exercise selection, nutrition, and rest & recovery – should be aligned with your goals.

It All Starts With Your Core.  It doesn’t matter what sport you play or, for that matter, if you even participate in sports at all.  A strong core is essential for virtually all functional movement.  And when I use the term “core,” I’m not just talking about abs.  I’m referring to the area between your shoulders and hips.  Rotational and Core Strengthening exercises should be an integral part of your Strength and Conditioning program.

Develop Strong and Powerful Legs.  Want to run faster?  Jump higher?  Throw the ball harder and farther?  Improve your bat speed?  Core and lower extremity strength and power is the key.  Whether you’re running, jumping, throwing, or hitting, your hips and legs initiate and generate the power.  And a stronger core and legs can also decrease the amount of torque on your shoulder when executing the throwing motion.

Be Smart With Your Cardio.  I work with a lot of athletes, teams, and programs whose idea of cardio training involves jogging a mile or two, a few days per week.  How do they think this approach is going to help them reach their goals?  I have no idea.  I won’t argue that every sport has an endurance component, but how many sports are played at a slow steady pace, without any intermittent bursts of strength and power?  Even distance runners benefit from incorporating High-Intensity Interval Training into their conditioning regimen, according to volumes of data.  Your training plan should include alternating intervals of high- and low-intensity cardio.  Generally, we use a 3:1 ratio (low:high) in most of our cardio training.

Be Wary of the “Boot Camp” Approach.  Training to the point of exhaustion/fatigue has become fashionable in some workout programs, even though there is no data that supports training to the point of exhaustion.  In fact, Sports and Conditioning research indicates that full muscular activation can be achieved before you reach the point of exhaustion.  Additionally, as fatigue sets in, technique tends to suffer.  Poor technique has been shown to compromise training results and increase the potential for injury.

Have a plan.  Follow your plan.  Your training should reflect the demands of your sport.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?