If I said it before, I will say it now, I love band-resisted movements.
It is widely known that bands increase their force output the more they are stretched. It is for this reason that they are typically used. The best thing about bands, however, is they dampen momentum (depending on the set-up). Unless the movement is extremely slow, momentum is present in all movements and greatly influences the magnitude of the resistance against which we are working.
If the force we are generating is in the same direction as the momentum of the object we are moving, then momentum reduces the magnitude of the resistance. A good example of this is the concentric motion in speed bench. The faster you move the bar off your chest, the less force you have to overcome because of the increasing momentum of the barbell moving away from your chest, in the desired direction of movement. Here, momentum works with the athlete.
Momentum can work against you well. This occurs when the force you are generating (aka “effort”) is working against the direction of the momentum. This can be best felt when you compare two different versions of the back squat: one with a controlled negative and the other where you drop into the hole. Close your eyes and put yourself in each of these squats, right in the hole, when you are transitioning from eccentric to concentric. Feel how hard you would have to work to change the direction of the bar in the squat where you just drop into the hole verses the squat with a controlled descent. That increased effort is not due to more weight or increased gravity. It is due to momentum. The faster you drop, the faster the barbell is moving. The faster the barbell moves, in this case, the greater the momentum working against you. This is one of the main reasons why good bench press and squat athletes use a controlled negative.
Because of their ability to generate force without momentum, using bands in your trunk stability training allows you to address a very important attribute of trunk stability - speed. High performing athletes are able to express (#OPEX #JamesFitzGerald) many qualities of trunk stability (strength, power, endurance and speed) through a wide variety of movements, in a multitude of environments, each with different challenges. Coaches must, therefore, program to address each of these attributes to ensure that their athletes are maximally prepared and performing at their potential. Throwing in a bunch of crunches and some glue-ham raises at the end of the workout may burn up your “core”, but it won’t result in optimal trunk stability.
Trunk stability strength and power are typically addressed in many of the traditional strength training movements such as cleans, squats, and kettlebell swings. Trunk endurance, while often forgotten, and even more often, not trained for long enough durations, is most classically addressed in planks and side-bridges. Trunk stability speed, unfortunately, is often left out. This is where bands are invaluable.
With traditional trunk stability training for speed, such as med ball throws, the faster the ball is moving, the less effort the trunk has to generate to overcome the resistance. Momentum, in this case, makes it difficult to feel the trunk activation during the movement. With bands, however, there is minimal momentum and the magnitude of the resistance actually increases as the athlete goes through the movement. This makes it really easy for the athlete to feel the trunk activation, the value of which cannot be overstated.
Because the magnitude of the resistance increases through the range with band resistance, there is an added neurological benefit. In the case of the med ball throw, because the resistance reduces as athletes go through the movement due to an increase in momentum, their neurological activation will tend to drop off a little at the end of the range of the movement. This happens for two reasons. One, the athlete doesn’t have to work as hard to overcome the resistance because the resistance has decreased. And, two, the brain has to protect the joints. Because it knows that there will be zero resistance once the ball leaves the athlete’s hands, the brain must increase joint stiffness to prevent unwanted end-range jamming. If, as is the case with bands, there will be a consistent resistance, the brain will allow the neural activation to remain high. Because the resistance increases through the range of motion with bands, they brain will actually have to increase the effort. This is incredibly powerful in speed training and why bands should be used frequently when training Trunk Stability Speed.
This is not to say that throws are ineffective for speed training. Quite the contrary. Throwing exercises are incredibly important. However, if you haven’t tried it before, you will find that using bands is phenomenally effective for speed training.
Train Hard. Train Smart.
Richard Ulm, DC
#ProjectTrunkStability
#AthleteEnhancement
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