04 Sep Kneeling Medicine Ball Power Performance Exercise
Increasing rotary speeds in the throwing or striking athlete is contingent upon the efficiency by which you execute the swing or throw and the ability of your body to generate power. Increasing the power outputs via power performance exercises is one component the athlete can utilize to increase throwing and striking speed.
- Improves Your: Rotary Speed
- Target Area: Core
Why It’s Important: Increasing rotary speed equates to improved power production for the throwing and striking athlete. In order to develop higher levels of rotary speed requires the development of power within the kinetic chain and within rotational movement patterns. The integration of these two components will provide the rotary athlete an opportunity to improve their speed production within throwing and striking movement patterns.
The Common Problem: The athlete will typically lack the power within the body to maximize speed development within rotary movement patterns. When the body lacks the ability to generate power, the athlete may attempt to develop speed in an inefficient manner. These types of adjustments typically throw the mechanics of the swing or throw “off” and actually decrease speeds.
Solution: Increasing the power outputs of the muscular system via specialized training will develop the ability of the body to generate more speed. The development of improved power outputs from the body will allow the athlete the opportunity to increase speeds within during athletic actions simply because the body has more power and the potential to do so.
Kneeling Medicine Ball Side Throw
Setup:
- Kneel 2-3 feet away from a concrete wall or rebounder
- Grasp a 3-6 lb. medicine ball with both hands
Action:
- Rotate torso away from concrete wall
- Set medicine ball next to hip furthest away from wall
- Rotate torso explosively towards the concrete wall
- Release medicine ball into the wall
- Catch medicine ball on return from the wall
- Rotate to starting position and repeat for 8-10 repetitions
- Repeat exercise in opposite direction
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 10 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.