***PRESIDENT’S DAY SCHEDULE – The 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. sessions are canceled. All other sessions will proceed at their regular time – 9:30 a.m., Noon, 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. A new On-Ramp Group is also starting at 7:30 p.m. – it’s not too late to sign up!***
Workout of the Day:
Ten rounds, performed every 90 seconds, of:
2 Power Clean (use 85% or your 1-RM)
3 Burpees;
and then,
As many pull-ups as possible in 5 minutes.
Every time you come off the bar you must complete a 100 meter sprint before resuming pull-ups.
Rockstar members Justin and Susan at our one year anniversary party.
To Rotate or Not to Rotate?
Written by Mike Hom
There are a lot of arguments opining on the best way to train for sports or activities that require trunk rotation. Naturally, many advocate employing rotational exercises to provide a stimulus in which the trunk rotates quickly and/or with external resistance. On the other hand, others subscribe to the school of thought that you should primarily train to resist torsional forces. In other words, training to resist something that is trying to twist you by striving to keep your posture square and straight.
Let’s look at a more specific example. Let’s say you have a goal to hit a golf ball longer and straighter. You need to augment your strength to help get more power out of your swing. You might believe that exercises such as wood chops with a dumbbell or cable that simulate the movement you will be performing would be the way to go. While I might incorporate some of that in your program, I would place a priority on exercises that forced you to resist trunk rotation – such as one-arm kettlebell swings – to help strengthen your midline stabilizers and aid them in keeping your spine in a strong and neutral position.
I believe that both rotating and resisting rotation play a necessary role in a well-balanced training protocol, but in my opinion a priority should be placed on resisting torsional forces. Training to resist rotation more efficiently develops the musculature necessary to stabilize your spine and put you in an optimal position to transmit force from your core to your extremities.
For a great article on training for rotation with specific examples of how and how not to perform movements, check out Calvin’s two part series on Training for Rotation:
Part One
Part Two
Calvin, Maybe we could do some hammer-throw and discus training over the coming months and give your theory a test.
Not an expert myself by any means, but I agree with Mike’s idea about resisting rotation (although one always has to be open to learning and changing). The golf example, for example, is a good one. The golf swing shouldn’t be about trunk rotation; like most athletic movements it is about hip rotation. I’m sure there is some trunk rotation occuring, but for the most part the trunk should stay locked in with the hips and the hips should rotate to provide the power to the swing. Emphasizing trunk rotation is likely to lead to rotation in the lumbar, which is bad.