Wall March Variations for the Win
Written on Might 19, 2022 at 7:46 am, by Eric Cressey
At present’s visitor put up comes from Cressey Sports activities Efficiency – Florida coach, Dylan Lidge.
Wall marches are drills which were used generally through the years within the energy and conditioning and monitor and subject communities. Sadly, many coaches don’t admire how a lot you’ll be able to construct on the fundamental wall march to show plenty of completely different motion competencies.
This closed chain train can be utilized in warm-ups as a extra dynamic motion. As an amazing “bang on your buck” warm-up, it supplies glute activation, hip flexion/extension, ankle mobility/stability, foot place consciousness, and even scapular protraction/upward rotation. It additionally teaches an athlete the sensation of a stacked place, which is vital for producing pressure effectively. To not point out, this is a superb solution to educate athletes dash mechanics, primarily throughout acceleration.
To carry out the Glute Wall March, stand upright together with your palms towards the wall at shoulder top. Push the wall away as if you’re on the high of a push-up. Subsequent, take a number of steps again to get right into a ahead lean whereas maintaining your heels on the bottom. This needs to be round 45 levels, as this place permits an athlete to provide extra horizontal pressure into the bottom, which is required throughout acceleration. From there, raise each heels off the ground and transition to the toes of the ft (similar to doing a calf elevate). Flex one hip and permit the femur to boost till it’s perpendicular to the torso. The shin angle of this leg ought to match the torso angle. Dorsiflex the ankle to match the angle of the femur. In the meantime, the other leg needs to be straight. We see “triple extension”, or extension by means of the hip, knee and ankle; this may create a straight line from the pinnacle to the heel and reaffirm the “stacked”place. Cue the athlete to push into the wall with excessive intent. So as to push the wall, the athlete should put pressure into the ground or “drive the ground away.”
Listed here are some key advantages:
Glute Activation
Pushing the ground fires the glute, which pulls the hip into extension. The Glute Wall March places the athlete in hip extension they’ll get to on the sphere. Proudly owning hip extension on this place is an effective way to prep an athlete to carry out on the sphere or within the gymnasium, and defend towards extreme arching by means of the low again, which can create backbone discomfort/accidents.
Hip Flexion
The core stability the wall supplies assists an athlete throughout hip flexion, which is once we typically see compensations in posture, akin to extreme lumbar flexion and extension. Particularly with athletes who show poor lumbopelvic management, this place can set them as much as personal their hip flexion.
Ankle Stiffness
Ankle stiffness is critical for athletes to show elasticity whereas working or altering course. In the event you’re searching for a drill to enhance ankle stability or to enhance your “bounce” throughout plyometrics, give this a attempt.
Foot Orientation
The orientation of the foot on the ground is in late stance throughout the Glute Wall March. It is a nice solution to construct an arch for many who have flat ft. An adaptation many pitchers develop is a flat arch with the intention to entry pronation as they drift off the rubber. General, late stance is ready to bias supination, which will help counter these in extreme pronation.
Scapular Protraction/Upward Rotation
The serratus anterior is necessary for driving the “rotation” facet of scapular upward rotation through its protraction capabilities. Athletes, particularly those that throw overhead, want to have the ability to get the scapula “round and up” the rib cage with the intention to with the intention to each create a great ball-socket congruency at lay-back, and likewise to succeed in thee arm overhead and end out in entrance.
Operating Mechanics
The Glute Wall March permits an athlete to really feel the place they must be in throughout the acceleration section of a dash. Throughout acceleration, athletes should apply horizontal pressure into the bottom. This requires a ahead lean. Because the glute wall march is closed chain train, it supplies stability for the athlete to really feel the required ahead lean throughout acceleration.
Luckily, we’ve got a number of variations we are able to use to bias our coaching towards completely different advantages. Right here they’re:
Glute Wall March Isometric Holds
Isometric holds are an effective way to get an athlete to really feel a place. Usually, we’ll program three five-second holds on either side – though you would additionally do 30s/facet if you happen to’re trying to actually reap the tendon well being advantages of this drill.
Glute Wall March ISO – Supinated Forearms
This has all the advantages of a glute wall march iso maintain, nevertheless it’s a straightforward solution to sneak in a forearm stretch in a inhabitants that usually lacks elbow extension and forearm supination.
Glute Wall March 1-2’s
As soon as an athlete understands what a stacked place ought to really feel like, progressing to this variation can enable them to place extra pressure into the ground. A typical cue is to fake the legs are “pistons of an engine.” This promotes the sensation of leg drive throughout acceleration.
Wall Assisted Load and Explode
This dynamic variation will help an athlete really feel extra intent of driving the ground away. It’s an effective way to assist an athlete use the bottom to provide pressure whereas sustaining a stacked place.
As you’ll be able to see, these drills deserve a spot in your coaching applications, whether or not it’s warm-ups, arm care, motion coaching periods, or as a filler in between energy coaching or energy workouts!
In regards to the Creator
Dylan Lidge serves as a Power and Conditioning Coach at Cressey Sports activities Efficiency – Florida. Previous to becoming a member of the employees, Dylan accomplished an internship at CSP-FL in the summertime of 2020. He graduated from the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in Kinesiology. He’s at the moment learning on the College of Illinois-Chicago for his MS in Kinesiology with a focus in Biomechanics. At UIC he holds a place as a trainer’s assistant in an train approach course, in addition to an teacher for a private health course. In 2019, he interned with the UIC Power and Conditioning employees aiding with the baseball workforce. Dylan has coached baseball on the collegiate, highschool, and youth ranges.
