I just found out yesterday that we should stop doing rotational
medicine ball movements because they are bad for your back. Now that I have
recovered from the initial shock I am trying to figure out what I am going to
do to train the athletes I work with, the programs I consult with and how do I
explain to the thousands of athlete’s that I have coached over the years that everything
we were doing was wrong! Obviously I have to eliminate rotational movements because
some noted guru misinterpreted or took some science or pseudo science out of
context and then passed it on to a group of coaches. The group of coaches
happened to be baseball conditioning coaches, maybe not the most enlightened
group, but very impressionable.
Let’s put this silly and absurd idea to rest immediately, rotational
movement are not bad! Just like anything it is dependent on context, mode and
where they are placed in the training program. Remember there are three
cardinal planes of movement, sagittal, frontal and transverse and the body must
be able to move through all three planes without restriction at will. A
significant amount of force reduction against gravity occurs in the transverse
plane, therefore to prevent injury avoiding rotational movements would be a
huge mistake. Modes of exercise like medicine
ball, kettle bell and stretch cords enable rotational movements to be trained in various
patterns that can prepare the body for the demands in the specific sport or movement
you are preparing for.
Rather than focusing on the danger of rotational movement
take at look at the composition and make up of your core training program. I
firmly maintain that if more than 15% of your core work is done in seated,
prone or supine positions that you need to revise your program. Stress standing
work and moving work in all three planes of motion that 
prepares the body for
the forces encountered in the sport. Train the so called anti gravity muscles
in postures that stress those muscles the way they were designed to be
stressed. For baseball to not train rotational movements would be negligent. I
am convinced that the plethora of oblique injuries that have occurred in pro
baseball over the past several years are due to incorrect training design – too
much isolated abdominal work done in supine positions. There is not enough rotational
work standing to improve the deceleration ability of the muscles of the
trunk,
especially the oblique’s that function to decelerate the highly ballistic
actions of hitting and throwing. If it is done it is done almost exclusively
with cable machines that do not stress the deceleration phase of the movement. Remember
a simple rule of thumb – you are what you train to be. You do not play in a
phone booth, sport and life is ballistic, reactive moving though wide ranges of movement
in demanding postures, don’t eliminate rotation build your program around rotation.
tim
“words create image and image create action” When I first heard this statement it was from a s&cc. speaking to the generalgym public I believe. “One man cannot practice many arts with success” –
I see it all the time, a general fitness club goer will pick up a 45lb plate, plant the feet and start ripping up the back then onto prone scorpians, back squats etc.. after driving a desk all day long.
Chuck Wolf put it best ‘let the hips follow the shoulder/ shoulder follow the hips.
Carl Valle
I think rotation at the lumbar junction is the issue people have…most rotate from the shoulder and the lumbar area is rather straight….people want to be different.
Will Kirousis
Vern,
No no no. It’s not rotational moves. Those are kinda bad. It’s those darn diagonal rotations that will just instantly destroy human beings. In fact I recently learned that if some one does a diagonal rotation the instantly combust into flames and turn to ash.
Now how it is exactly that we evolved as hunter gatherers over the millenia and never diagonally rotated or rotated – heck, moved transversely in any way… because we would have spontaneously combusted I dont know…
Ok… That was over the top. But the point stands. suggesting a movement is bad or should not be done is wild. Look at the system people!
Dan Hubbard
Vern,
What was their argument for avoiding rotation? Did they give a blanket statement that rotation is bad and never do it, or did they qualify it?
Josh Hostetler
I believe he is referring to Stu McGill’s work. The concept is that you must first release the t-spine and stabalize the Lumbar to provide the individual to create the majority of the movement from the T-spine. Sahrmann also has a great deal of research out there clarifying the optimal randges of motion segment by segment through the spine and her research also backs that done by McGill. They believe that our sedentary lifestyles have resulted in pore postoral alignment that wouldn’t nececarily have been present in the hunter gatherer days. Their protocalls do allow for rotational movement but only after the proper movement patterns have been reastablished.
Scott Belger
Vern – I enjoy reading your website and you provide good information for coaches and athletes. However I noticed you dog Baseball from time to time. Most Baseball comments are blanket statements and not true for most Baseball coaches and/or Baseball organizations. I just listened to Dana Cavalea speak on functional strength in Chicago. He amongst many/most Baseball guys are on board with this functional strength concept. Please don’t let your apparent inability to successfully hit and throw a Baseball drive your Baseball comments concerning strength training.
Thanks,
Scott Belger
Robert Troch
>>
Amen to that. I distinctly remember (at least 10 years ago) something you said at one of your “Building the Athlete” seminars. You were down in Australia watching one of the track athletes go through all kinds of stability ball “core” exercises. Then she would go out to train on the track and didn’t run any faster. Hmmmm.
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The group of coaches happened to be baseball conditioning coaches, maybe not the most enlightened group, but very impressionable.
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Most Baseball comments are blanket statements and not true for most Baseball coaches and/or Baseball organizations.
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