Your trunk is your internet connection

We often use the analogy that your trunk is your internet connection and your limbs represent the hardware, referring to the limbs role of initiating motion or applying force into the ground while the trunk transmits these forces.

An example would be the arms that begin the movement of a jump (i.e. momentum) before transferring the energy through the chest and abdominal area, ultimately delivered to the legs to enhance a jump upwards. It is why you can jump higher with your arms than without.

Unfortunately, several exercises like the leg press, do not involve the trunk musculature as much as an axially loaded (fancy science word for something oriented vertically) exercise like squats. Recently, even fitness industry experts like Mike Boyle have abandoned squatting for single leg movements because they involve more lower body activation.

I agree that a single leg exercise like lunge has more relative leg activation due to less trunk stimulus (i.e. the weight on the shoulders is generally less). Unfortunately, several studies and my own coaching experience has shown that this trunk strength is more of a deciding factor in elite athletes' performance than leg strength.

Sports specific training not that important

BY DR. PHIL WAGNER

Because we train dozens of pro baseball players and high school volleyball players, I’m always shocked by the surprise of others when they discover we can also train water polo, soccer, or any other sport. What is far more important than training a specific sport is training the individual’s particular needs.

Sports do require a certain level of specialized training. Water polo players need to maintain hip flexibility due to the repetitive nature of treading water, but so do baseball players to improve their rotational range of motion for more power. Furthermore, female soccer players can reduce their ACL risk through the same hip benefits. With these overlapping needs, the main difference in training athletes from different sports becomes clear; train the weaknesses of each individual first.

At Sparta we use the Vertical Jump on a Force Plate (see Sparta Point 10/28/09) to diagnose the individual, both improving their performance and reducing their injury risk. Following this analysis and subsequent individualized training, we sprinkle in some sport specific skills, such as medicine ball throws for water polo, sprinting for baseball, and agility technique for soccer.

After coaching teams at both UCLA and Cal, I am convinced that coaches can still attend to these individual needs within team workouts. However, a good coach or trainer is required. The coach or trainer should work primarily with athletes, as this population requires different psychological cues and loading schemes (how much weight, rest, etc.). These coaches should also have undergone some sort of rigorous certification or training, which is rare considering personal trainers and cross fit instructors can get certified as coaches in a mere weekend.

With the proper experience and education, coaches can individualize the specific cue for the same exercise, allowing different athletes to gain unique improvements simultaneously. One athlete may need to be more upright during a squat, while the other athlete may need to keep their heels on the ground better.

The concept of individualized and sports specific training becomes much less daunting when compared with the task of finding coaches or personal trainers that only train athletes, as well as having the experience/certification to develop these unique creatures.