To improve hitting and throwing skills many sports such as baseball, golf, boxing, MMA and tennis, athletes do various midsection or core rotational exercises. Many of these exercises are effective and some even duplicate what the athlete does in execution of the skill in competitive play.
However, if you look closely at the technique used in executing the hitting and throwing skills by most athletes, it becomes obvious that the core rotational exercises have little benefit. As a result the athlete sees little if any improvement in his ability to perform better on the field, court or ring.
The reason for this is that many athletes, when they execute the hitting or throwing action, rotate the trunk as a unit (hips and shoulders together) rather than in sequence. As a result the core muscles undergo static contraction to maintain a firm or stable spine.
In order to utilize the core rotational muscles (abdominals), hip rotation must precede shoulder rotation. The actions must be separate not simultaneous. When the hips and shoulders rotate at the same time they involve mainly the hip joint rotational muscles rather than the core muscles.
In such cases, the rotational exercises do very little to improve performance. They do develop a stronger core (stability) which in turn, can allow for greater transfer from the legs to the arms. But the rotational exercises do not strengthen the muscles in a manner that allows them to contribute additional force that can be used by the athlete.
Understand that rotation of the shoulders (when they follow hip rotation) can contribute up to 50% of the total force generated in many throwing and hitting actions. The contribution is only about 33% of the total force if the legs are also strong contributors to the total production of force. Thus, the total force developed depends on the technique used by the athlete.
This is another example showing the need for technique analysis and then correcting technique if it will produce better results. After this is possible to develop and use general and specialized exercises – dynamic correspondence exercises – to develop the strength needed in the rotational movement.
Understand that all rotational exercises do not duplicate what the athlete does in execution of a throwing or hitting motion. There is much variety here. In addition, the effectiveness of the exercise depends upon what the hips do prior to the shoulders going into action.
To learn more about the sequence of actions that should take place in a throwing or hitting movement, supported with sequence pictures taken from organic digital film, see Build a Better Athlete.