Saturday, March 13, 2010

Multi-Directional Movements: Base Positions

As I have been outlining my Hierarchy of Coaching Success, we have started with the big picture and keep delving deeper.  As we got to outlining the strategy, I categorized multi-directional movements.

The "base" category really isn't movement, it's the exact opposite. It's important however because athletes are moving into and out of this position .  Many movements are initaited from a static or quasi-static base position.

Many coaches use the term athletic base to describe the common, closed stance, hip/knee bent, "ready" position.  You can see it through-out many different sports.  In this position we find that the athlete is standing with the feet, hips and shoulder in-line, and they are generally facing the action.  They usually have obtuse angles at the knee and hip with the shoulder slighty anterior to the knee depending on sport and relative body segment lengths.  Their weight is distributed to the ball of the foot and they are in a balanced position to react in any direction.

This isn't the only "athletic base" position however.  In many cases, setting up in an "open" or "split" position is advantageous to that sport or the next action needed.


The split athletic base is often used defensively when the athlete either wants to direct the movement and/or is likely to move in a certain direction.  Its also common as seen in the photos above as a position thats moved into to execute a sporting action.
So from a training perspecive this means a couple of things when I have analyzed a sport and know we need this.
Train to be in the position.  This means the athlete needs the range of motion, joint stability, and muscle strength to be the proper position for efficeint movement.  Mobility and strength work come into play.  Exercises like squats and lunges have a place in developing this.
Train to get into this position.  If the athlete is moving and has to get into a base position, there is the deceleration load on the body.  Training for the eccentric strength and stability demands can have a big impact on an athlete's performance.  We will do this through progressively demanding drills that use speed, assistance, reaction, and external loads.

Train to get out of this position.  Athlete's also need to get to the next demand and usually want to do it quickly.  Here we need to make sure they can generate a high rate of force development from the position with weight training, medicine balls, plypmetrics.  We also want movement efficiecny, so I will execute movement drills from these positions and may use; resistance, weight vests, and reactive conditions if appropriate.

Base positions don't seem exciting or sexy to train, but it's critical.  Many one on one battles are won and lost when an athlete can get into or out of a base position faster than another.  What base positions are your athletes in?  How do they get into and out of them?  Are they still doing it well near the end of the game?  These questions, and addressing the training needs will help your athlete.

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