22 May Tall Kneeling Lunge Overhead Rotations
The thoracic spine and glenohumeral joint are two key components requiring mobility for the overhead throwing and striking athlete. Individuals participating in golf, baseball, tennis, volleyball, or lacrosse require high levels of upper body mobility in order to hit, throw, serve, or strike during competition.
What these athletes must recognize is that in order to perform the throwing, hitting, and striking movements associated with these sports requires certain joints within the kinetic chain to have an a certain level of mobility. If mobility limitations exists within certain joints of the kinetic chain, the ability to perform the athletic actions within the sport can be impeded resulting in a loss of power development, poor motor control, increased stress upon the body, and the potential for injury.
In order to prevent the aforementioned situations and provide a physical foundation to execute the requirements of the thrower and striker. It is of great importance to incorporate modalities and exercises to assist in the development of mobility within the required segments of the kinetic chain for these athletes.
Why It’s Important: Executing the overhead throwing motion and striking action of the rotary based athlete requires high levels of mobility within the Thoracic Spine and Glenohumeral Joint (i.e. Shoulder).
Target Area: Thoracic Spine and Glenohumeral Joint.
The Common Problem: Limitations in the thoracic spine or glenohumeral joint impede the athlete from executing the overhead throwing or striking motions in an efficient manner. The result of these limitations are less than optimal speed generation, a propensity to create compensatory movement patterns, an increase in stress placed upon the kinetic chain, and a higher incidence of injury.
The Solution: Implementation of modalities and exercises to develop and maintain the required levels of soft tissue extensibility and joint range of motion required for this athletic population.
Tall Kneeling Lunge Overhead Rotations
Set Up:
- Position the lower body in a kneeling position with the right knee in contact with the floor
- Grasp a dowel rod with both hands and extend the arms straight overhead
- Position the torso upright with the eyes looking forward
Action:
- Slowly rotate the upper body to the right while keeping the arms overhead
- Rotate as far as possible the right while keeping the torso upright and arms overhead
- Pause slightly at the end point of the rotation and repeat to the left
- Alternate rotating left and right for 10 repetitions
- Repeat the exercise sequence with the left knee in contact with the floor
About Performance Coach Sean Cochran: Sean Cochran, one of the most recognized performance coaches in sports today. A career spanning positions with 2 major league baseball organizations, over 12 years on the PGA Tour and work with top professionals including three-time Masters, PGA, and British Open Champion Phil Mickelson, future hall of fame Trevor Hoffman, and Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy provides Sean a proven track record of success. He has been involved in the production of numerous performance videos and authored books including; Performance Golf Fitness, Complete Conditioning for Martial Arts, and Fit to Hit. He has been a presenter of educational seminars for numerous organizations including the world renown Titleist Performance Institute.