I read a great article by a smart man called Tony Reynolds. It is amazing how some people are able to put into words what you have been trying formulate into something rational in your brain for a while.Well, my latest revelation in the field of athletic performance enhancement happened as I was reading Tony's article on horizontal loading. I have been trying to figure out ways to explain and argue the reasons why we should focus so much more on loading and resistance that challenges the movement system horizontally.
Now when you really start analyzing which directions force is being produced, you can not get around the fact that a lot of loading happens horizontally. For example, a tennis player coils his/her body in rotation during forehand or backhand and then releases a powerful movement when hitting the ball. How does the force production vector look like here? Which direction is force being produced?
How often does the tennis player need to produce force vertically as in a vertical jump?
Even a quick change of direction on the field produces a diagonal force production vector, not vertical. But would it also mean that the faster the change of direction is, the more horizontal the plane of the vector would be?
So, if horizontal loading is such an important part of athletic movement, why are most of the training movements performed only in a vertical vector?
I have been amazed how well athletes respond to cable or resistance band exercises that challenge them in different ways than squats, presses or other movements that are heavily based on gravity and thus mostly vertically loaded.
The teaching of this for me was basically that the direction of resistance specific to sport, the vector of loading, is another important thing to analyze before starting a movement conditioning program.
It is so nice to learn new things. I just got a million new exercise ideas just by clarifying that concept in my own head. Poor clients!
Enjoy the weekend!
Tommi
PS:"The least of learning is done in the classrooms." Thomas Merton
