The text that follows is adapted from the article by VF Tikhonov, PhD from the Department of Physical Education and Sport of the State University of Chuvashia (check it out if you are interested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuvashia), posted on the http://www.fgsrostov.aaanet.ru/ , Girevoy Sport site of Rostov, the city in Russia*. The authors were studying more than three hundred gireviks of different levels from 2002 and analyzed video records of various national and international championships. As the result they found some criteria of technical efficiency and economy of movement of GS lifts. In this particular article special emphasis is made on starting, or rack position.
Starting position (SP) determines the effectiveness of the consequent phases of the jerk. It is, as said by another Russian scientist A Ukhtomsky, the state of “operational rest”, and though there is no visible movement in that position, it signifies readiness to action.
If you look at the pelvis from the side you can picture it as an upside down triangle where the top is the hip joint. The body is naturally balanced on top of the pelvis, so that the lines of the projected forces of gravity from the anterior and posterior parts of the body end up in front and behind the feet respectively.
Observing the GS athletes, Tikhonov and his colleagues discovered two variants of starting position, one characteristic for beginners and another adopted by advanced gireviks.
The diagram above depicts ineffective SP. You can see that the line of projected force of gravity drawn from kettlebells down extends through the hip joint and further behind the knee, “forcing” the knee joint to flex, or bend. At the same time the weight of the athlete’s trunk and the head exerts extending force on the hip joint – bending backwards - and further flexing momentum in the knee joint. In order to keep the balance the athlete is forced to constantly strain flexor muscles of the back and quads. Novices instinctively bend the back, as well as bend and bring down the head. It allows bringing together projected lines of gravity of kettlebells and the trunk thus reducing the action of momentum of these forces. Inability to relax the deltoids and traps results in the inability to rest the elbows on the iliac bones of the pelvis. As the result inexperienced gireviks bend the knees and the back which, in turn, leads to excessive strain in those areas.
Starting position (SP) determines the effectiveness of the consequent phases of the jerk. It is, as said by another Russian scientist A Ukhtomsky, the state of “operational rest”, and though there is no visible movement in that position, it signifies readiness to action.
If you look at the pelvis from the side you can picture it as an upside down triangle where the top is the hip joint. The body is naturally balanced on top of the pelvis, so that the lines of the projected forces of gravity from the anterior and posterior parts of the body end up in front and behind the feet respectively.
Observing the GS athletes, Tikhonov and his colleagues discovered two variants of starting position, one characteristic for beginners and another adopted by advanced gireviks.
The diagram above depicts ineffective SP. You can see that the line of projected force of gravity drawn from kettlebells down extends through the hip joint and further behind the knee, “forcing” the knee joint to flex, or bend. At the same time the weight of the athlete’s trunk and the head exerts extending force on the hip joint – bending backwards - and further flexing momentum in the knee joint. In order to keep the balance the athlete is forced to constantly strain flexor muscles of the back and quads. Novices instinctively bend the back, as well as bend and bring down the head. It allows bringing together projected lines of gravity of kettlebells and the trunk thus reducing the action of momentum of these forces. Inability to relax the deltoids and traps results in the inability to rest the elbows on the iliac bones of the pelvis. As the result inexperienced gireviks bend the knees and the back which, in turn, leads to excessive strain in those areas.
How is efficient SP different? It is shown on the next figure. Ideally, the pelvis is balanced on the hip joint. The line of projected line of gravity from the bells extends in front of the hip joint and creates flexing forces in the hip joints – bending the trunk forward. At the same time the line of gravity from the head and the trunk extends behind the hip joint. This way the weight of the bells and the weight of the upper body are balanced on the pelvis. In other words the advanced athletes bend the trunk and deviate it backwards not because of the force of the kettlebells, but in order to balance the opposing forces over the hip joint. Similar balance is achieved in knee joints as well thus reducing strain of quadriceps muscles, and in ideal case when these forces are fully opposing each other the quads relax completely.Placing the handles of kettlebells on the heels of the hands, putting the elbows onto the iliac bones while knees are straightened and muscles of the arms are maximally relaxed reduce the excessive action of forces in these joints and improve the economy of movement. From this description it is obvious that flexibility of the hip joints is very important for achieving adequate starting position. According to Tikhonov, as a rule, athletes who don’t pay enough attention to the flexibility and mobility in the joints do not reach high levels in girevoy sport. Most of them remain at the level of CMS.
The authors come to the following conclusions.
1. The main source of trauma in GS is the attempt to get high numbers using strength. This leads to the excessive strain in the knee joints and lumbar spine.
2. Prevention of spinal strain can be achieved by proper compensation of the various forces exerted on the spine or.
3. The solution lies in the improvement of the technique.
*The Sources of Trauma in Exercises of Girevoy Sport. (Источники травматизма в гиревом спорте). Tikhonov VF, PhD. State University of Chuvashia. Downloaded from the site of Federation of Girevoy Sport of Rostov District, http://www.fgsrostov.aaanet.ru/ .
3 comments:
Interesting article.
Good work yesterday, too. I read earlier on your blog that the oa jerk is very popular among Russian gs-practitioners. A post on approaches to the oa jerk in gs-training would be very interesting (where to fit it in in a gs-programme etc). Hope you don't think my demand is rude :-).
No, it's not rude. On the contrary, requests and sggestions are greatly appreciated. I will ask around.
When I was training with Dmitri I had to do oaj with heavier bell at the end of two arm jerks and main set of snatches.
Yep, thanks as always.
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