Hi all,
I wanted to start a topic to discuss sprinting posture improvements without actually working on sprinting posture... This relates to pitching in that we expect to see sprinting like motions within a pitchers drive mechanic. I've said for a while now, how can my DD have sprinting posture when pitching if her sprinting posture is bad to begin with???
I started discussing the foot hyperarch mechanism by Chong Xie in a couple other threads (1 and 2), but it wasn't really the right place to introduce the topic.
Background
A while ago, I discovered a late push pattern in DD's drive mechanic. The late push pattern is a pattern in-which her drive leg delays applying force to the rubber until well after her hips get out front of the rubber. This is a result of using the quads instead of the glutes to drive. The delayed push is not only slow, but it forces her foot to stay on the rubber for an extra long period of time. Staying on the rubber that long then makes it very difficult to acheive a key pitching checkpoint, drive foot separation from the rubber at or before the arms reach 3 o'clock.
Here is a visual of poor rear hip extension due to the late push pattern (hip does not extend, rear leg extension is late, using legs for forward motion instead of glutes):
This discovery has taken us on a long journey into the world of glute activation (glute activation thread, model pitcher database). We spent several months working with glute strength experts to strengthen DD's glutes and made great improvements in strength. However there was minimal improvement in running or pitching mechanics.
Through the help and guidance of the good Lord, the search for a solution continued. I came across Chong Xie's research on foot hyperarch (HA). After doing a lot of research on him and the mechanic, we took the plunge and began working with his mechanics. We are only 7 weeks into the process and are starting to see great results that I wanted to share. It will take some time for this to roll into pitching and sprinting mechanics, but I am confident in the next few months, we will see it.
The underlying basis of his research is that people's feet have both a relaxed and active state. In the active state, peoples glutes fire automatically based upon nerve sensations in the foot. The active state isn't well suited for daily walking and activities so the foot goes into a relaxed state in which the glutes are not active. Unfortunately in today's world of comfortable shoes, paved sidewalks, and general comfort some people learn to do athletic movements with their feet stuck in the relaxed state....
With this in mind we learned the HA mechanic and began working on exercises to strengthen the feet. I am very happy to show the results thus far.
Results
Here is an overlay of her running with and without the mechanic <link>.... There is an obvious difference.
[video]https://youtu.be/WS7SOu8MOEU[/video]
What might be less obvious is that she is running with about the same cadence. This means she has become faster without even changing her running turn over rate <link>.
[video]https://youtu.be/LR22m2YfhCo[/video]
This jpeg shows the difference in distance between the two after 20 steps.
This jpeg shows the improvement in running form, and I can't stress this enough. We did absolutely zero work on running form improvement.
While her feet aren't strong enough to do this when sprinting or in her drive mechanic, I have high hopes that soon the changes will creep in.
Conclusion
With all this, I say to you. If your pitcher is not making progress in her drive mechanic or maybe she is heavy footed or slow, consider that maybe she has an underlying problem that is bigger than pitching. She might generally be "quad dominant" and her glutes might not be activating correctly.
Look into Chong Xie's research. It could be rewarding even beyond pitching improvements.
Chong Xie's instagram site
The Secret of Athletecism Please manually fix the link!!! The site is HTTP not https!!!
The Secret of Athletecism Please manually fix the link!!! The site is HTTP not https!!!
For some reason the link keeps adding an (s)...
Index
How to assess quad dominance? Originally discussed in this thread (link).
How to do HA and see it's working
How to train HA
The late push pattern description
The late push pattern graphic
Digging in using toes vs. pushing from ball of foot
Example of locked ankle vs not
Two ways to propel forward (good vs. bad)
Graphic of two different sprinting mechanics
Key pitching checkpoints
Unexpected symptoms of a poor drive mechanic
How the glute issue affects a hitter
I wanted to start a topic to discuss sprinting posture improvements without actually working on sprinting posture... This relates to pitching in that we expect to see sprinting like motions within a pitchers drive mechanic. I've said for a while now, how can my DD have sprinting posture when pitching if her sprinting posture is bad to begin with???
I started discussing the foot hyperarch mechanism by Chong Xie in a couple other threads (1 and 2), but it wasn't really the right place to introduce the topic.
Background
A while ago, I discovered a late push pattern in DD's drive mechanic. The late push pattern is a pattern in-which her drive leg delays applying force to the rubber until well after her hips get out front of the rubber. This is a result of using the quads instead of the glutes to drive. The delayed push is not only slow, but it forces her foot to stay on the rubber for an extra long period of time. Staying on the rubber that long then makes it very difficult to acheive a key pitching checkpoint, drive foot separation from the rubber at or before the arms reach 3 o'clock.
Here is a visual of poor rear hip extension due to the late push pattern (hip does not extend, rear leg extension is late, using legs for forward motion instead of glutes):
This discovery has taken us on a long journey into the world of glute activation (glute activation thread, model pitcher database). We spent several months working with glute strength experts to strengthen DD's glutes and made great improvements in strength. However there was minimal improvement in running or pitching mechanics.
Through the help and guidance of the good Lord, the search for a solution continued. I came across Chong Xie's research on foot hyperarch (HA). After doing a lot of research on him and the mechanic, we took the plunge and began working with his mechanics. We are only 7 weeks into the process and are starting to see great results that I wanted to share. It will take some time for this to roll into pitching and sprinting mechanics, but I am confident in the next few months, we will see it.
The underlying basis of his research is that people's feet have both a relaxed and active state. In the active state, peoples glutes fire automatically based upon nerve sensations in the foot. The active state isn't well suited for daily walking and activities so the foot goes into a relaxed state in which the glutes are not active. Unfortunately in today's world of comfortable shoes, paved sidewalks, and general comfort some people learn to do athletic movements with their feet stuck in the relaxed state....
With this in mind we learned the HA mechanic and began working on exercises to strengthen the feet. I am very happy to show the results thus far.
Results
Here is an overlay of her running with and without the mechanic <link>.... There is an obvious difference.
[video]https://youtu.be/WS7SOu8MOEU[/video]
What might be less obvious is that she is running with about the same cadence. This means she has become faster without even changing her running turn over rate <link>.
[video]https://youtu.be/LR22m2YfhCo[/video]
This jpeg shows the difference in distance between the two after 20 steps.
This jpeg shows the improvement in running form, and I can't stress this enough. We did absolutely zero work on running form improvement.
While her feet aren't strong enough to do this when sprinting or in her drive mechanic, I have high hopes that soon the changes will creep in.
Conclusion
With all this, I say to you. If your pitcher is not making progress in her drive mechanic or maybe she is heavy footed or slow, consider that maybe she has an underlying problem that is bigger than pitching. She might generally be "quad dominant" and her glutes might not be activating correctly.
Look into Chong Xie's research. It could be rewarding even beyond pitching improvements.
Chong Xie's instagram site
The Secret of Athletecism Please manually fix the link!!! The site is HTTP not https!!!
The Secret of Athletecism Please manually fix the link!!! The site is HTTP not https!!!
For some reason the link keeps adding an (s)...
Index
How to assess quad dominance? Originally discussed in this thread (link).
How to do HA and see it's working
How to train HA
The late push pattern description
The late push pattern graphic
Digging in using toes vs. pushing from ball of foot
Example of locked ankle vs not
Two ways to propel forward (good vs. bad)
Graphic of two different sprinting mechanics
Key pitching checkpoints
Unexpected symptoms of a poor drive mechanic
How the glute issue affects a hitter
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