The Case AGAINST Anti-Rotation Training

Core training has been personified as anti-rotation training. The core as a functional instrument to propel the body is very anti- anti- rotation.

These myofascial meridians tells a story that says “The body is designed to move”. It doesn’t tell us that the body is designed to “Resist Rotation”.

#1 Anti-Rotation training is anti-movement. No movement never did anything.

A sport like swimming when rotation in many different forms is very crucial, I believe, anti-rotation only serves to stiffen up the body and restrict fluid movement. The best swimmers in the world are the best at being smooth, strong, and stretchy.

#2 Rotation Training doesn’t just involve the core, but it involves the whole body. The core helps move the rest the body forward and is important not to train in isolation but to train with the rest of the body.  Freestyle and Backstroke are built on these principles.

#3 Rotation is present in the fly and breaststroke. Rotation is the engine that is behind the scenes producing power. From a 3D point of view the deep muscles stretch out and pull in toward the center of the body (via psoas, QL, Hip flexors/extensors). They create a rotational tension that extends to the shoulders to produce internal/external rotation that connects to the core (via the spiral line).

Takeaway: Train the core with rotation! Play with weird positions in every which direction.

(i.e. If you have an athlete that struggles with stiffness this is important, especially overtime to have a steady drip of rotational training!)