Rotational strength and power development - Post 5

Going Heavy & Light to develop and express rotational power

Having developmed good movement, technical proficiency in main lifts and built basic rotational stability we can move on to more specific development. While stability exercises like Palof Presses, planks etc will build a reasonable stability base and can be very effective with general population clients they have their limitations in developing true strength & power. To really develop and then express this force in any movement but in this case rotational movements we need to use heavy resistance.
Exercises that load our lateral sling (Jandas description of our lower right to upper left & visa-versa musculature and is very relative for force transfer and in particular rotational power) are the exercise that will help us develop this contralateral strength and thus allow us develop power. Exercises like split squats, reverse lunges, all sorts of steps ups etc. But there needs to be heavy resistance for true sporting transfer. This power may need to be expressed on the field with our own body weight or even against the mass of an opposition player. So while stability exercises will teach us how to use our deep trunk muscles and help transfer force from floor to bat or hurley or shoulder then we need to lift at ranges of 70% to 95% 1RM (1 rep maximum lift in any one exercise). It should also be remembered that Change of Direction (COD) on a pitch is also an expression of rotational & contralateral strength, power & speed. So this training is transferable to all aspects of field sport.

The exercises used are too wide and varied to get specifically into for now, it depends on the body shape of the athlete, their height, their sport, their strengths & weaknesses and also the time of the year. The time of the year is important, sometimes we can work on weaknesses but other times we should be emphasising strengths (in fact this should be most if the time).

To express the power we have we would generally use lighter implements. For instance Medicine Balls are a very useful tool for expressing rotational power. But how we use them can be really broken down as well to be as close as possible to the sporting movement we will perform on the pitch. Do we release the ball? How far away will the wall be? Are they one off ballistic throws or more extensive repeats. Your S&C Coach should be able to break these parts down for you and your sport.

So to simplify down even further and give a few examples for this continuing process.

• Build good basic mobility & stability
• Build basic compound, multi joint movements to a very competent level
• Develop High level Strength (while developing basic rotational strength and extensive training of plyometrics and med ball work)
• Develop a broad level of strength & power using the Force-Velocity Curve as a guide (Max Strength, Accelerative Strength, Strength-Speed, Speed-Strength & Speed) using compound & Olympic variations like Squats, Cleans, Deadlifts, Bench Presses at various speeds, weights and combinations.
• Develop unilateral strength (like as discussed, developing the lateral sling) using Unilateral exercises  like Split Squats, Split Jerks and express this power using medballs

This could all happen in 3-4 months of pre-season, it may happen over an entire year or it could take 3-4 years to reach this level. Its pretty impossible to be absolutely sure. The level of the athlete, their training experience, the sport and many other factors will dictate how fast we move along this Strength & Power Development continuum.

In the final post of this series we will look at programming and how it all fits in to a Field Sport S&C program.

If you want to know more about our Online S&C for Field Sport please look here https://www.personaltrainingballincollig.com/gaelic-games-online-program.html

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