Why Suspension Training?
Why suspension training?
Sebastian Gonzales DC CSCS Huntington Beach/ Orange County CA
I’ve been thinking of a perfect way to describe why suspension training is useful for sports injuries. I have found it is a great was to prevent sport injuries as well as helping an athlete increase their performance overall. The best thing I can come up with was something I told my wife.
“It is Unstable training for an Unstable world.”
What does this mean in a nutshell is?
Suspension training or even unstable surface training, such as Bosu balls and Airex pads are ways of creating unstable environments within a controlled setting where an athlete can learn to withstand these forces.
Within the past few months I’ve done suspension training, which is dramatically help me with my sports performance, which you can look up. My testimonial resides on the Socal MSBL website. Look up my name Sebastian or Seb Gonzales and you’ll see my stats for the Spring season of 2011. I am not trying to brag but this is just to prove a point… over the last 6 games of the season or so I incorporated instability training into my routine. Over those games my slugging numbers increased dramatically, as I hit 5 triples and a homerun. Like I said, you can look this up as proof and I’m a small guy at 5’7”, 160 pounds. By far the benefit of suspension training or instability training is it helps your body realized how to transfer energy. This type of efficiency of power can be helpful in most all sports.
Most of the power within a baseball swing comes from the lower body goes through the core area, which helps with translation of this power through the mid-back or thoracic spine, right before you throw your hands. The core or abdominal area should be trained as an area of stability. I feel I was able to transfer this power more effectively after my body was trained and told how to do so. Most people describe this type of training in this way:
“You are using muscles you didn’t know you had.”
In regards to prevention of injury, we are looking to increase joint range of motion and regional stabilization. Personally I feel many sports injuries, even the small tears, are overuse of origin and can be prevented if the proper movement is restored and strengthened. In my model for prevention of injuries I like to follow a principle called the “Joint by Joint Approach” the body. If you have a chance Google that phrase and read an article on it, basically what it says is this.
The body has an alternating series of mobile and stable joints.
Although not one is purely just for motion or stabilization, they do have primary and secondary jobs. The shoulder joint for instance is mainly for motion yet it requires some stabilization to hold the glenohumeral joint together. It is a ball and socket joint.
If a joint mostly used for mobility is stiff, the body will recruit motion from the surrounding joints, which were not made for the same job. The knee is a great example, which is usually for stabilization. If the ankle does not move properly rotational forces will be forced upon the knee, which can result in meniscal tears.
Suspension training can help with sports performance and prevention of sports injuries; not to mention the workout can be extremely hard but it will be only as hard as you make it. They are using muscles they have not used before.
If you have more questions about suspension training please e-mail us or look for other videos.
If you are interested in the different types of suspension training check out or other article. TRX and Cross Core 180′s “War Machine”?
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