Spiral Strength

[Shane]

What is spiral strength?

Thanks

[Coach Tran]

It is the stuff you gain from practicing CST correctly. ;)

[Shane]

Thanks, and could you explain in more detail, and perhaps an example?

Thanks

[Coach Tran]

Examples:

Intu-Flow®: arm waves and shoulder screw

Prasara: Forest Yoga Kinetic Chain and leg swoop

Clubbells: Mills

FlowFighting®: Coach Brandon Jones' Right Cross

Exercises: kip ups, screw push ups, "yin/yang pull ups"*, "Dragon whips it's tail Pistols"*.


* (Exercises I created for my 4x7 Circuits)

[Adam Steer]

Hi Shane,

I only have a minute, but thought I might at start pointing you in the right direction. The place to start to find your answers is with Thomas Myers and his Anatomy Trains (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0443063516?ie=UTF8&tag=momenperfocoa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0443063516). In it he talks about how the musculoskeletal system natural works in unison along certain well defined "lines" or "tracks" to create movement or to stabilize structure. One of these lines is the spiral line (imagine a train track coiling around your body). Spiral strength is the efficient, unified and correct activation of the muscles along that spiral line. It becomes very important for movements such as twisting or stabilizing in unilateral movements (such as being balanced on one leg or one arm...).

Hope that gives you a start.

Cheers,
Adam

[Shane]

Thanks Coach Tran and Steer.

[Stillness_moving]

The spine moves in a wave, and when wave rotates it is then a spiral. Power from the core (or spine) ripples out to the limbs as the body rotates, which makes each limb a spiral. It's not some magic technique, it's just acknowledging what's already happening when we do any motion. By acknowledging our inherent fluidity, it allows us to consciously cultivate rippling and spiraling for greater ease and power.

[Joseph David]

The spine moves in a wave, and when wave rotates it is then a spiral. Power from the core (or spine) ripples out to the limbs as the body rotates, which makes each limb a spiral. It's not some magic technique, it's just acknowledging what's already happening when we do any motion. By acknowledging our inherent fluidity, it allows us to consciously cultivate rippling and spiraling for greater ease and power.
Nicely said :)

[Shane]

Nice post Stillness_Moving. It would seem to me that most conventional body building strength work (isolation) would work against spiral strength and would be very counter productive to an athlete.

[Stillness_moving]

I agree. As Coach Sonnon would say, great athletes are created despite their training, rather than because of it. I think being good at just linear excercises gives a false sense of confidence, because someone has all this power but it is not connected to their core. Like shooting a cannon out of a canoe, as I believe I heard Scott say a while back. I feel very lucky to have found a system that is based much more closely on how the body actually works. I was starting to discover some of this stuff on my own through books and personal exploration, but to see my half formed notions stated in concrete terms and backed up with science has been life changing.

[sebastian andrew]

Greetings everyone:
This is fascinating stuff. I appreciate your posts SM and yours as well, Shane. I am trying-with difficulty-to visualize the wave...rotation/spiral rippling out to the limbs effect.I'd like to be able to relate it to, say, baseball and my son's training in that regard.I hope this thread continues....

[rutherford]

Greetings everyone:
This is fascinating stuff. I appreciate your posts SM and yours as well, Shane. I am trying-with difficulty-to visualize the wave...rotation/spiral rippling out to the limbs effect.I'd like to be able to relate it to, say, baseball and my son's training in that regard.I hope this thread continues....

You've named a sport that is full of spirals. Pitching and batting are big spirals.

In pitching, the knee opposite the pitching hand is raised up and the hips rotated. This creates a big store of energy. With the stride the front foot lands flatly and this energy is loaded into the structure. This energy is transfered up from the lower spine and hips as the trunk goes from extension to flexion as you bend forward at the same time rotating. The chest and shoulder come forward as the shoulder rotates internally, accelerating the arm and hand towards home plate.

The follow-through is a deceleration phase that puts the pitcher in better field position as well as protect the pitcher's joints and connective tissue from stress.

What most people who haven't pitched don't see is that the big spiral of pitching is not significantly different from the smaller spiral of throwing, it's just increasing the energy moving through the same body parts. When learning to pitch, you have to be able to hit the strike zone with a basic throw with proper mechanics. Then you might add a six inch drop step. Finally, move up to a full wind-up and stride.

The skills build off of each other as more energy is loaded and transfered through the structure.

Good outfielders are excellent at getting into position, catching the ball, storing that energy and redirecting it towards another field position.

You'll find difference in batting style. Many batters will hold their hands quite a bit lower from their shoulder than A-Rod or Jeter. But, you'll find all the good batters have very similar swing rotation, and batting mechanics are perhaps the best place to watch the body coiling up energy and then unwinding. The lead foot step, hip rotation and all the way up to the shoulder shrug and pre-swing hand position is storing energy.

[Coach Gostnell]

Good outfielders are excellent at getting into position, catching the ball, storing that energy and redirecting it towards another field position.

And when you see that, either live or televised, it's just a Thing of Beauty. :)

[Stillness_moving]

Very, very well said, Rutherford, extensive analysis of those movements. And flow is definitely a Thing of Beauty, Jeanne (I think it deserves capitalization too.) Seeing fluid and integrated movement never gets old, unbroken flow is mesmerizing.

As for visualization, Terry, I've found that can only get me so far. There's nothing better than actually doing it. Or trying to do it and being thoroughly stiff, though I always learn something from that too. The place to start, in my opinion, would be with Intu-Flow®, especially arm and spine waves (though the whole thing is amazing.) When I used to see wavelike motions like those performed well, I thought it was a convincing illusion. But once I started doing the movements and getting some degree of fluidity with them, I began to see that it is linear motion that is an illusion.

Aside from the fact that we're mostly water, waves are automatic with integrated motions because starts from the core muscles and then is propagated to more and more to distal muscles (those that are away from the core.) The exact order depends on the activity, of course, but this means the core fires before the rest of the spine, which fire before the shoudlers, which fire before arms, which fire before forearms, which fire before the hands (and similarly down the legs.) That is actually a little simplistic, because when the arm muscles are firing, the shoulder muscles may still be doing some work, and the forearm may be starting to do work. So it's really a matter of the relative amount of muscle activation. It's a sequence, but one where all the parts blend into one another. The parts flow together, surprise, surprise.

I have to warn you, Terry, that it can be a bit disconcerting to start being aware of moving in a fluid fashion. It changes the way you think, because your self-perceive changes. As Scott would say, thoughts come from feelings, and feelings come from a combination of breathing, movement and structure. So be prepared for unfamiliar feelings come from apparently nowhere. Also, it's easy to associate effort with power, so the ease of flow can feel a lot like weakenss at first. And sometimes you really are weaker, at first. I've had times where I've integrated movement and become instantly stronger, but I've also had times where I started using muscles I wasn't used to using, and I could only do the movement ever so small and gentle while maintaining my newfound integration. So for you and your son, don't be disconcerted if your power or accuracy goes down at first. It takes time for the body to recalibrate. Be very careful of pushing into the realm of slop after good form (newly found or not) deteriorates. It's really easy to do.

From the Soma,
Eli

[Shane]

Great post SM.

[sebastian andrew]

[QUOTE=Stillness_movingwith ....Intu-Flow®, especially arm and spine waves (though the whole thing is amazing.) When I used to see wavelike motions like those performed well, I thought it was a convincing illusion. But once I started doing the movements and getting some degree of fluidity with them, I began to see that it is linear motion that is an illusion.
Eli:
Well said. Very succinct. I am still using WW-Intermediate level.After seeing what passes for "warm ups" on the field I intro'd Stefan to the beg. mobility exercises esp. for shoulder and elbow.In his 2nd or 3rd year in BB at SS position,the biggest kid in the league came up and hit a rocket that bounced once on its way out of the infield between SS and 2nd. Not having enough time even to be scared he stuck his glove out, snagged it- or perhaps was snagged by it-and in 1 motion turned completely around in the air and slung the ball to 1st getting the batter by several steps-no time for thought.It was as if the hit contributed to the motion in total since altho he had a decent arm this throw was not only accurate but like a bullet. It'd be great to consciously cultivate this.
Rutherford:
Thanks for the time spent in your reply.Load and transference/waves and spirals like an internal kinetic chain?This has helped tojump start my understanding.

I think that I'm going to purchase Intu-flow and some 10 and 15 lb. CB's for us.

[rutherford]

No, thank you for helping me get excited that Baseball will be back in two months.

You and your son have a great time!

[sebastian andrew]

No, thank you for helping me get excited that Baseball will be back in two months.

You and your son have a great time!

My pleasure. I had the definite feeling that you were at least a fan if not a coach.Great defensive plays were my favorite when I played in my youth, and still are.