efficient sporting
performance on top
of abnormal
movement patterns”
A common misconception in sport is that if you train a part, the whole will become better. This is only true if the part you are training is the weakest link in your kinetic chain. If your arm or leg is stronger than the core it attaches to, it will not be able to generate maximum force because it is working off a weak base … in this case to increase the power output of the arm you need to train the core.
If your hip is stiff and does not extend well, when you are running your leg muscles will be fighting the stiffness in your hip with every stride, this means that the body is absorbing the force generated by its muscles, meaning there is less force available to propel the body forwards. This causes the athlete to become tired much more quickly, especially when you consider that the average person running for 1 hour will move each hip about 6000 times … in this case, specific stretches to increase hip movement and exercises to build strength will have a massive impact on running performance. This would be a far more efficient use of time than doing another run. If you are working on any other part of the kinetic chain other than your weakest link, you are wasting your time.