Instagram Three #1 (Rotation)

March 27, 2016

New series launching on the blog…Instagram 3.

Where I will give three takeaways that I feel are important from some of my most popular Instagram posts. A deeper look inside my brain if you will. It’s scary in there so buckle up!

Note: You do follow me on Instagram right? STOP…don’t proceed until you click, follow and learn. INSTAGRAM MOJO

Instagram Slide Scroll Down…

Greg Rose is a great friend and movement mentor. Creator of the TPI Titleist Performance Institute. If you know golf you know this brand. Well, golfing sorta involves rotation 🙂 Just a bit. And if you can’t rotate efficiently and you rotate anyway, things can go horribly wrong in your swing and your body. That’s bad.

So let’s jump into the deep end of the pool shall we..

  1. Power lives in the transverse plane. Transverse plane is the rotation plane. Stand and twist your body from left to right. There ya go. The transverse plane is made up of the other two planes; sagittal (front to back) and frontal (side to side). If you can’t rotate efficiently you use more of the other two planes. You generate power from the wrong place. When you do that a few things happen: you immediately get slower and you make yourself vulnerable to injury and fatigue. Tip: If you have a chronic musculoskeletal injury investigate how well you rotate. Stand with feet together. Rotate left as far as you can and right as far as you can. Be careful not to lean backwards! That’s cheating. Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater! Is there a difference? Start there…
  2. Yes, strength is good. But strength without control is dangerous and sloppy. Here’s the kicker, if you make an athlete more efficient in movement you naturally make them stronger. You get stronger without actually trying to get stronger. That’s just cool and smart. Effort is not the same thing as efficiency. Yes, you can work hard to accomplish a task, but working smarter is the key. You can force yourself to throw farther or jump higher, but when you relax and let go of excess tension you become more efficient. Tip: Rotation is ultimately about relaxation.
  3. I say, I say, your T-Spine is stuck boy! One of the biggest blocks to rotation is lack of mobility in your thoracic spine. It’s supposed to rotate a lot. If it doesn’t, you take that movement from somewhere else, most often the lower back and neck. Path of least resistance 101. The neck and back move more as compensation and begin to hurt from overworking. They get really upset when they have to work more. They tell you by hurting. PAIN is the attention getter! If your lower back and neck hurt spend some time on your thoracic spine mobility. You just might feel better everywhere else. ‘Where you think it is, it ain’t.’ -Ida Rolf

Here’s a sample of just one way to open it up the T-Spine. Thread that needle baby!

Check out my podcast interview with Dr. Rose here….STOP CHASING PAIN PODCAST