With Coach Kennedy
It’s here, official or not, once June rolls around we call it SUMMER in Canada! And with summer comes outdoor activities (as mentioned in our last Movement of the Month) like walking, jogging, hiking, swimming, tennis, golf, baseball, football and the list goes on. One KEY factor in enjoying the summer is staying healthy and injury free, and a great way of doing this is to include some sort of prepping prior to jumping into your sport or activity. Also, have a training regiment that’s specific to what you do. As I always say, if you want to look like a body builder you should train like one and if you want to move like an athlete you should train like one. Training like an athlete and expecting to look like a body builder won’t cut it and vice versa.
We all know a strong “CORE” and mobility are key factors in staying healthy, as are functional strength and stability. Remember, stability is the foundation to movement efficiency so before we start moving we need to be able to sequence the entire body, head to toe, to work as one. This means making sure the mind, soft tissue, muscle, fascia and nervous system are all primed and ready to go, and if so, you’ll stay injury free and have a much more enjoyable summer. One way we can do this is by performing some simple full body movements that can be done literally anywhere, to allow the entire kinetic chain to work as a unit.
This leads me to this month’s movement, the SIDEKICK-Through. This is a great exercise to help the body learn to work as a unit, just as it was meant to. It requires functional strength, endurance, mobility, stability, flexibility and intra and inter-muscular coordination to make it all come together in one smooth fluid motion. Amazing how much a non-weight bearing exercise can challenge so many aspects of exercise. And, in the future, this movement could be coordinated with other movements of the same nature to create a “FLOW” – a continuous moving into and out of movements with no pausing. It’s a FLOW of movements. Remember to apply the exercise based on your client’s fitness level. In other words, regress and progress as required.
Execution:
Position yourself in a quadruped stance; hands under the shoulders, knees directly under your hips but slightly raised off the ground, and your toes into extension with a neutral spine.
Phase #1: Begin by externally rotating your body to your left side, simultaneously lifting your left hand off the ground and taking your right leg off the ground and side kicking it through to your left side as well until your body ends up in a supine position. At this point, you should be balanced onto your right arm and left leg. The left arm and right leg are fully extended.
Phase #2: Reverse your follow-through and bring your body back into the quadruped position you began in. Repeat on the other side.
Exercise Protocol:
This exercise can be done for reps or timed depending on its purpose. It is appropriate for prepping and as a main exercise in your programming.
Questions? Contact Coach Kennedy at kennedy@coachkennedyonline.ca
