6/6/07

Swing Mechanics

What are the most popular sports during the spring? Probably golf, tennis, baseball and softball (maybe even badminton for all you cookout crazies). What do all these sports have in commom? They all involve a hand held implement and they all involve swinging that implement. Now most people like to get better at their sport. In order to get better at their sport they have to improve different aspects of their game. One aspect to improve upon is the swing. And this is where as a fitness professional I must step in.
I see some crazy things in the gym. And one of the craziest things I see is people working on their "swing" inside the gym. They're using barbbells, cables, bands, whatever they can get their hands on. And then they're trying to actually replicate the swing. They hear and read about sport specific training and believe they have to replicate the movement exactly. Well, you know what's happening? They're actually screwing up their swing mechanics. Rather they should be working on the muscles or types of movements that are involved in their sporting movement. In this case it would be: rotational mobility of the hips, stabilization of the lumbar spine, thoracic mobility, rotator cuff strengthening, etc.. Save the swing work for the drivivng range, batting cage or tennis court.

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