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Writer's pictureDave Hedges

Anatomy Trains, Families and Kettles

Now, it’s been nearly a full week since my last post. You most likely feel like I’ve been ignoring you, hell, I’ve not even been that active on Facebook. This is all down to that one factor in your life that you can’t control, Family.


Don’t get me wrong, my family are awesome, but why do they all have to have christenings, birthdays, anniversaries, engagement parties and house moves all at the same bloody time, it’s very inconsiderate, I’m a busy man! All joking aside, I’m actually enjoying the distraction. I’m actually taking time off next week, don;t worry all classes and training sessions are still on, I’ve enlisted the help of two trusted allies……

So back to this post. Checking into Facebook I noticed Eric Cressey had but up a new post, his articles are always worth a read. This particular article is titled “Strength Training Programs: Integrating the Functional Back Line for Pelvic Stability and Performance Enhancement” which immediately sparked my interest. You see, I read Anatomy Trains for the first time a few years ago and have been fascinated ever since. Because I grew up immersed in the martial arts, I never had the slightest interest in isolation exercise, body building and all that. I wanted to train my body in the same manner I would use it in a fight. I knew that a punch or kick used the entire kinetic chain from the ground, into the hip and out through the striking limb, it was drilled into us by my Karate coach and later instructors. But there seemed to be little available in the gyms to back it all up.

Thomas Myers released the first edition of Anatomy trains in 2001, I wasn’t involved in this line of work then, I was in the Hotel & Catering trade. My training was Martial arts, Mountain Biking and Bodyweight. Gyms just didn’t do it for me and still don’t to this day. It was in 2005 that I was changing over to the coaching profession, it was also the time that I wrecked my back and discovered the Kettlebell. A few years on again and I met Tony Walsh a Rolfing Practitioner that I go to for a tune up from time to time. It was Tony that introduced me to the fascial system and Myers work. I wish I’d known about it sooner, I probably would have changed the way I train and never would have been injured to start with! I believe that Myers Anatomy Trains are of incredible importance to anyone in athletics. Understanding them and applying them in a gym environment can and will change the way you look at training. individual muscle groups are useless on their only, they are only links in a chain, lines of tension as my Wing Chun coach would say. Reading Myers work you can actually see how his train lines so often match the lines of tension created by powerful, efficient movement.

When I see articles from top coaches, such as Cressey, referencing Myers, I just have to read and compare their understanding and interpretation with my own. This post talks about Pelvis stability and performance enhancement by training what Myers calls the “Superficial Back Line”. In it the author shows a couple of nice exercises specifically for this line. I’m sitting here wondering, surely the force vectors and loading patterns of the single arm kettlebell swing and snatch are as good as you’re going to get for the back line. After all the loading does follow that diagonal pattern from one shoulder and down back of the opposite leg. At full extension the body is open and relaxed, but at the back of the swing, surely the SI joint is closed as you sit back into the hip.

It certainly is food for thought, I’ll have to get Tony on the phone and get his opinion.

In the mean time, here’s the article, just click on the image and you’ll be whisked over to Eric’s site:.


Regards

Dave www.WG-Fit.com

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