Hips & Girdles

In a quick conversation with my daughter early this morning we were discussing throwing the shot put. She is interested in throwing the shot (she's in 6th grade) and is supposed to learn over the next few practices to see if she has what it takes to throw. I briefly reminded her that she not only needs the strength from her shoulders but it is her legs - in particular her hips that give her the power and for her to focus on using her hips when she is doing the shot. If you think about it, the hips are involved in every aspect of sports and is the main source of where your power comes from. Taking that in to consideration, a solid exercise program MUST involve the hips structure in some fashion. If someone just did a multi-joint lower body movement like a deep knee bend (squat or leg press for instance) or some form of deadlift they would satisfy more than half their requirements for providing the largest muscle group thorough stimulation. Second to the hips is the shoulder “girdle” which is extremely important in every aspect of athletics and daily life and should be worked thoroughly with some type of overhead pressing movement, therefore a workout consisting of a set of overhead presses for 15-20 all-out repetitions followed by a set of stiff-leg deadlifts for 35-50 repetitions should nail if for most people - everything else like pushups, curls and maybe a pulldown would be "extra" and more than likely, not necessary on a constant basis. - Fred Fornicola