medicine ball upchucks for guaranteed speed?
So, I recently made the perfectly reasonable assertion that this exercise is guaranteed to get you faster. And I stand by it.
The thing with speed, its about 2 things-power and endurance. Endurance training comes from doing something a lot. So, if you run faster, a lot, you'll get faster. Power on the other hand, can be defined as strength multiplied by speed (although its contraction speed, or movement speed, not simply running fast). So, when it comes to running faster, you need to be able to accelerate (you need power) and you need to keep going (endurance). You can do all sorts of exercise to build these up, the traditional ones include hill repeats, flat sprints, acceleration runs (one of my favourites) and these all work on running faster during training. Repeat for however many you like, get enough rest and bingo. But, you will hit a plateau eventually. That's where the upchucks come in. The big thing with most sports which involve running or jumping is hip extension. That is, moving the hip joint from bent (like in a crouch position) into a straight up posture position. If you can do it fast, then you jump high, or accelerate fast or push over the other fella in the sumo ring.
Th basis of the upchuck is that drive from the hips. This power is translated through the body, via the long lever of upper body and arms with a smallish weight (in the vid it's a 4kg med ball which is plenty) accelerates that weight and propels it skywards. Personally I think it feels like being a human trebuchet and it's really satisfying and a lot of fun. Technically speaking, it's using the 'posterior sling'-the muscles and connective tissues running from your toes round the backs of the legs, hips, back, shoulders and arms. The full length of the body is connected in one big move, which makes it a great running exercise, because running is also whole body, not just the legs. Especially running fast.
Note well here though: it takes a strong core to do. You need to brace hard before the ball starts moving, do this right and you protect your back from extreme stiffness and future injury. For any power moves like this, I would advise you to be comfortable with strength exercises like squats or deadlifts first-you don't need to be a power lifter, but your core muscles need to know how to brace-this should be an unconscious action which only comes from practising it consciously.
Oh aye, two more things make sure you have headroom and for flips sake, watch the ball as it comes down and DON'T BE TEMPTED TO HEADER IT!
