Strong Principles - Episode 2: Unlocking Rotary Power with Zach

In this episode of Strong Principles, hosts Rob and Zach delve into rotary-specific strength training, a specialized approach to fitness designed for athletes in sports requiring rotational movements like golf, baseball, tennis, and even football. Zach, the expert in this field, shares his journey into rotary training, sparked by his own golf-related injuries and his pursuit of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) certification.

The conversation kicks off with Zach highlighting the importance of rotary training not just for improving athletic performance but also for injury prevention and longevity in sports. He explains that traditional strength training often overlooks rotational movements, leading to imbalances and increased risk of injury, especially in one-sided sports like golf.

Rob emphasizes that effective rotary training isn't just about generating power; it's equally about the ability to decelerate that force. Zach illustrates this with examples of common golf swings, explaining how a lack of deceleration control can lead to imbalance, poor shots, and injuries like lower back and shoulder issues.

They discuss the common deficiencies Zach sees, primarily in the lower back and shoulders, often stemming from sedentary lifestyles. Rob raises an interesting point about balancing the imbalances in high-level athletes, noting that sometimes an imbalance is what makes them exceptional. Zack explains that while he aims to fix most imbalances, he carefully considers the athlete's specific sport and movement patterns, ensuring that strength work doesn't compromise the unique mechanics that contribute to their performance.

Zach outlines his training philosophy, emphasizing the importance of a movement assessment to identify an athlete's "fitness handicap." He explains that by improving key indicators like explosiveness, strength, mobility, and balance, an athlete's physical capabilities can directly translate to better in-game performance and a lower actual handicap. He stresses the crucial role of strengthening the glutes, core, and upper back as foundational muscle groups for rotary athletes.

The episode concludes with a broader takeaway: rotation should be a component of every strength training program, regardless of whether you're a high-level athlete. Incorporating rotational movements can enhance fluidity, prevent rigidity, improve mobility, and better prepare the body to handle impact in daily life, ultimately contributing to overall well-being and preventing age-related stiffness.

[00:00:00.000] - Larry
All right. Welcome back to Strong Principles, episode 2. I'm here with Rob and Zack, and we are here just... We're going to talk about Zack's specialty, which is?

[00:00:10.330] - Zach
Yeah. So it's rotary-specific training, that, rotary-specific strength training, why it's so beneficial for any rotary athlete. The main one I target is golfers, but this would apply to a football quarterback, baseball pitcher, tennis player, any sport that requires rotary.

[00:00:25.860] - Rob
And when he's saying rotary, he's talking about rotation. Rotation, yeah. And a lot of people believe believe that rotation. When you get to the fundamental of movement patterns, some people believe rotation should be one of those patterns. I just think if you can't do one of those patterns, you're not rotating first.

[00:00:42.360] - Zach
You're not going to rotate properly.

[00:00:43.340] - Rob
That's why I just put it right. But It's very important. A lot of people don't do it.

[00:00:48.110] - Larry
Yeah. So, Rotary. Take me through a rotary workout that you'd be looking to do.

[00:00:53.580] - Zach
Yeah. I'll start with what the program should look like. A, and we talked about it in our first episode a little bit, is we always start with an assessment. So the assessment is geared towards golfers.

[00:01:06.510] - Rob
Well, before we even go into that, let's get into the importance of the rotation. Okay. And then what muscles are used, because a lot of times what happens in a rotation is that you can't stop the rotation, which causes injury a lot of times. They're not strong enough. Even when they go to rotate and they create that force, they can't even stop it. It goes too far, causes problems. Correct.

[00:01:30.690] - Larry
Could we get into how you got into rotary? Okay, yeah. Why is that important? Why should we care?

[00:01:38.440] - Zach
Yeah. I'll just give you a background then on why I got into it. But basically, when I started working for Rob, I played golf all through high school. Actually, this is a big reason why I wanted to get into it. I initially started going to school for physical therapy, and golf caused a lot of the injuries or the issues that I have because it's a one-sided sport. Oftentimes, what we see is you You get lower back issues, elbow issues, knee issues, hip issues. For me, I had tight, lower back. What happens is oftentimes the two big muscles on your back, the erectors, for a right-handed golfer, the right one gets way larger because you're in this side bend and you're rotating and only turning one way. Basically, I had stopped playing, and then I had a client approach me about training for golf. Then that's when I went in. The certification that I got was TPI, so Tidal's Performance Trainer. Basically, they talk all about… I had I have a decent background on just what good strength training looks like, but they opened up a lot about what strength training should look like for golfers.

[00:02:36.620] - Zach
When I came back from it, it was really good. They talk a lot about the assessment and how you assess people and then how to fix a lot of the imbalances. But When I came back with it, basically, it exploded. I had a lot of clients who were interested in it, and then we started the golf power lab program at VeroStrength. And then, yeah, it's been a full book ever since. But basically, the reason I started and the reason why a lot of golfers, I think, will start is Because of injury, we want to be able to play this game forever or whatever game you want to play, and injuries are going to hold you back from that. And so oftentimes you get an injury, you go to an orthopedic or you go to a doctor, and they just try to fix the injury. They don't try to fix the actual underlying issue or the movement pattern issue or teach you how to create it. Again, we talk about sustained effect that will allow you to play forever. So that's how I got into it.

[00:03:21.880] - Rob
Yeah. When Zack first came to us, I thought it was a really good idea, but then there was just downstream effect of when he comes in and then he's starting to teach these rotational exercises, we start to realize, Oh, our regular program is really biased to certain planes of motion, and we're all starting to get a little bit of rigidity build up, and we need to add rotation because that's really important as you get older. That's even an effect that our regular program, too.

[00:03:46.630] - Larry
When you're looking at that scenario with the rotary workouts, baseball, golf, you're really looking at a sport that's really one-sided rather than, let's say, judo. Judo, you may do throws on both sides. So that really wouldn't apply?

[00:04:07.900] - Zach
It would still apply. So when we look at rotation, all right, so let's talk about then why strength is That's what is so important in rotation. So when you look at rotation, there's a lot of different forces that are created. So the way I basically spend is there's a horizontal force. So that's just if I just turn my body to the right, turn my body to the left. There's a vertical force, which is pushing up and down, squatting, hinging, right, same thing. Then there's also, I call it a lateral force. Basically, it's when if you were to take your left shoulder and move it higher than your right shoulder or vice versa. You have this tilt, this side bend. You can think of all the muscles that are working, obviously a lot in the core, but when you have tilt or a lateral force, There's obliques. When you have vertical force, there's glutes, hamstrings, quads. Then when you have a horizontal force, there's a lot of shoulder, external shoulder rotation. The lats are involved. There's a little bit of tension in the pack at impact. If you're doing a throw throwing sport, even if it is both sides, those same forces are still being applied to the ball.

[00:05:06.210] - Zach
So even if you are not one sided, you still need to be able to create those forces efficiently and without injury. So you need to be able to make sure that the right muscle groups are firing the way they should when throwing the ball. And then also getting rid of inbalances. If one side can throw further than the other, again, that's a perfect indicator. Rotation training could work for you.

[00:05:27.800] - Rob
Yeah, and Zack, wouldn't you say it's not even the ability to produce the force to rotate, but it's the ability to decelerate that force, too. That's just as much. It's just as important. That's a lot what people don't think. When you see him working on it, you can tell what he's working on is that, Oh, he's working on them to be able to handle the deceleration.

[00:05:44.410] - Zach
That's where strength training becomes so important. Let's just take a banded rotation, for example. If you just have anybody come in, and this is the labels right now on media. They'll put, All right, here's the three best exercises for golf. It's a banded rotation. It's a med ball throw, and it's a slam. Okay, great. Great exercises for golf or for tennis or whatever it is. But they have no idea how to contract or tense up to even stop the band from coming in. So it's yanking them in. Their med ball throw is coming from all Are there arms? Are there med ball toss is coming from all arms. So that's where strength training comes in is, are your muscles, or is your movement good enough? Are your muscles good enough to basically be able to decelerate, to be able to isometrically control the weight, to be able to eccentrically control the weight or whatever movement you're doing.

[00:06:36.360] - Larry
Yeah, it's interesting. So you're saying in a golf swing? Yeah. I won't demonstrate because I don't want to embarrass myself. But you're swinging. So you're saying once you hit the ball, you should be looking to decelerate?

[00:06:51.140] - Zach
There's a deceleration that occurs. And so that's why so many people that I see, if they swing a golf club, they fall over the place. We We look at balance. Yeah, you could just say it's balanced, but it's also deceleration. Are you able to control your muscle groups enough to be able to decelerate the golf club to be able to finish your stance?

[00:07:10.850] - Rob
Yeah, because it looks at, Hey, they're really flexible, but they're able to handle that flexibility. So they got strength to decelerate it. You're not trying to cut the swing or the power short or the momentum, but you need to be able to handle that going. And being strong helps you do So if you look at it like there's a board of power that comes up, or you could say a board of strength, board of power, really.

[00:07:35.480] - Zach
So if it's this arc, so top of the golf swing, there's this arc, and then obviously at the ball, the arc is at its highest, but then the deceleration is coming down. If you can't decelerate, there's this no come down. And then what's the effect? Injury, off balance, a bad shot, if we're looking at from just a game level. So it's extremely important.

[00:07:54.830] - Larry
Totally would not have thought of that. I would just be like, just beat the shit out of it.

[00:07:58.160] - Zach
Just hit it as hard as you can.

[00:07:58.940] - Larry
Yeah, and go, right? Because you want to drive it as far as possible. But yeah, the follow through, right?

[00:08:05.240] - Rob
That makes sense. It's like your obliques are and all your internal abdominals are in there. They have to be able to not only rotate, but they have to be able to slow that rotation down. So they have to be able to isometrically create a ton of tension. So there's quite a bit going on in rotation.

[00:08:20.590] - Larry
So what injuries do you see most? Or maybe not injuries, but deficiencies.

[00:08:25.080] - Zach
Deficiencies, yeah. Issues. A lot of lower back and a lot of shoulder. And this is in all sport. And because in life, we just sit a lot of sitting, a lot of on our phone. So the shoulders tend to round forward, the lower back tends to tilt underneath. And so then you go to just jump right into your sport, whatever it may be, if it's a rotational sport, and you try to make a proper turn, well, now you're set in this really bad position, and you're trying to force your muscles into the other position, your ligaments into the other position. And then we see issues with shoulders and hips and lower back, mainly.

[00:08:57.090] - Rob
I got a question. So, Zack, when you're working in a golf and you see that they have a major imbalance from side to side because so much rotation going one way, and you go to balance them out, does that affect the rotation? Yes. Now, in a positive way or in a negative, what do you got to do to watch out for How do you see that?

[00:09:15.430] - Zach
Yeah, so it can affect it negatively. I think that's where a lot of media is not figured out yet. So a lot of these golf programs are coming out, and they don't understand that. If you overload somebody on it... Actually, just the other day, I was looking at a program, and they were talking about how a super heavy back squat or super heavy deadlift is more beneficial for golf. Well, yes, because it's going to get you stronger. But also, do you realize the effects that a heavy deadlift will have on somebody who maybe has to play the next day or tomorrow? I would look a lot at what your practice routine looks like, what your playing routine looks like for golf, and then I would build your workouts around that. Whatever sport it is, you would build your workouts around that. Now, when it comes to the inbalances in training them, specifically, The three muscle groups that I look at first, and this is my philosophy on it, is the lats have to be strong, the upper back, the core has to be strong, and the glutes have to be strong. When we assess those, if one glute fires harder than the other, if one lat is stronger than the other, or one shoulder can't externally rotate like the other, or the core is weak, there's an imbalance, and we have to fix that.

[00:10:19.910] - Zach
If you fix those and just get both sides just as strong, no, you won't cause any issues. But if you were to throw somebody into a compound lift or something where they're not unilaterally are early moving or doing any type of excessively work to balance out those sides, then yes, it would affect their game. The actual specific fixing of any imbalances that they have wouldn't. It would just improve.

[00:10:42.810] - Rob
Okay, because then I'm Speaking on strength helps everything until it doesn't. There's a part where strength is going to help just about every sport, but then you go too far and then you create a rigidity, then it could cause-That's, yeah. But when we're getting back into The imbalances. A lot of times, a lot of high-level athletes, the imbalance is what makes them-So good. Yes. Take a baseball picture for me. You got to be careful about that, probably, right? Exactly. Are you always real keen to paying attention to?

[00:11:12.850] - Zach
100%. When they first come in for me when we do the assessment, I also asked for a video of either their pitch, their throw, their golf swing, or their tennis swing, because I want to see how their body moves. And so what you brought out, a pitcher is a perfect example. His right arm is always going to be able, if he's a right-handed pitcher, always going to be able to externally rotate far more than his left arm. I can do all the work I want on getting that left arm further. It's just not going to reach there. But I wouldn't want to necessarily do so much strength work that you build this rigidity and the right arm now can't externally rotate as much as it should or reach back as far as it could in the back of the throw.

[00:11:47.980] - Rob
Because you lose some speed.

[00:11:48.800] - Zach
Because then you lose speed. There's a lot of elasticity to the training, too. When it comes to any of those sports, though, again, the same forces are created. Can your tendons and ligaments handle Are you creating those forces? Can you decelerate properly? Are you creating those forces correctly? So the assessment tells me all that, and then I can, A, if there's an imbalance, I have to fix them, but then we can actually start to train for the sport.

[00:12:11.070] - Rob
Yeah. I'm assuming, and I've seen you do it. I'm not assuming, I already know, is that you see their speed swing, their speed of their swing. So you know what's going on with that.

[00:12:20.960] - Larry
So I'm assuming the goal of all this is really it isn't necessarily to make their game better. Maybe it is, but But it's more to be able to make their playing life longer.

[00:12:36.000] - Zach
Yeah, and it will make their game better. Okay. A hundred %. So what we use, the assessment we use, let's just use golf, for example. So in golf, I don't know either of you guys play, but in golf, there's something called a handicap, and that's not like your knee. That's how many strokes over par you would be. So let's say you have somebody who's a five handicap. That would be a good player. So what we do is when I do an assessment, What TPI does is they give you a fitness handicap. And so once I take you through that assessment, it will tell me, let's just say, for example, you're a five handicap, but your body is a 15 handicap. So if you're coming to me right now, I would tell you that the best golf you could ever play would be at a 15 because your body is holding you back. But if we train and get some of these indicators better, whether it be more explosiveness, whether it be more strength, whether it be more mobility or balance, all of a sudden that fitness handicap starts coming going down, and we see a direct correlation between that and your actual handicap coming down, so specifically for golf.

[00:13:34.040] - Zach
So yes, it is for longevity, but also, I think more so people see the benefits of it right away, right in the game.

[00:13:43.290] - Rob
So it's basically like, Hey, your performance is being stifled, but we can release it once we do these things. Yeah, exactly.

[00:13:52.060] - Larry
So do you ever see anybody, maybe at first they take a hit on the game, but then it's like something clicks and it's like, Oh, yes. Okay.

[00:14:01.140] - Zach
Yes, absolutely. A lot of that has to do with especially people who haven't trained before because they're sore or because they maybe feel like they're a little bit tighter. If you're sore, my chest is really sore, I feel like I'm a little bit tighter, it goes away. It gets better, it gets stronger. All of a sudden, the soreness starts going away. We talked about in the last one, soreness is not a good indicator of doing a proper workout, but it's going to happen at first, especially if you haven't worked out.

[00:14:26.540] - Rob
Sometimes you got to go backwards to go forward. But do you see sometimes maybe Maybe they come in with bad mechanics and you're like, All right, we got to retool these. Because once you get good with bad mechanics, you most likely have to go backwards, retool it to go forward. Correct.

[00:14:41.400] - Zach
Exactly. That's why oftentimes we see somebody play bad in the beginning. So let's say you hit a ball, but I keep using the shoulder, for example. What is a good example? Let's say you hit a ball, but you can't get your external rotation in your right shoulder and your right-handed golfer past 90 degrees. And you got to get it past 90 degrees in order to be able to what we call shallow at the golf club. So it's where the golf club comes almost behind you in a way to be able to deliver to the golf ball. But you've hit a ball your entire life with an extremely tight, internally rotated right shoulder, and you know how to hit that ball with an extremely tight, internally rotated shoulder. Now, all of a sudden, I give you more mobility. Your lats stronger, your core stronger, your glutes stronger, you're turning better. Timing is going to be off. Oh, your timing is all off. They're like, Oh, dude, this is making me way worse. It's like, well... And that's also, too, why I like to work with... If we can, if they have an actual golf coach, a swing coach, I'm not a swing coach.

[00:15:30.300] - Zach
I tell people that all the time, but I can get your body moving right. Then go work with the swing Coach, and he can actually fix these adaptations that we've created and get you back to hitting that golf.

[00:15:39.110] - Rob
So the swing Coach, that's basically the golf pro that's on-That's the golf pro.

[00:15:42.280] - Zach
So he works specifically on their swing. So I don't mess with any of that. And that's why oftentimes I ask for a swing video or a tennis video for whatever there is, so I can just see it and be like, okay, I know what we're working with, and I know what you're trying to do. You can train for that. But ultimately, and this is why strength and rotation is so important, if you don't have the strength or if your body is not moving properly, it's going to lead to issues down the road. That swing is not going to be sustainable. So if I see a flaw in the video, sometimes I'll bring it up and just say, you're going to see this down the road. I have to fix this.

[00:16:13.090] - Larry
Yeah, it makes a little sense.

[00:16:14.680] - Rob
It's good. Yeah, man, I learned.

[00:16:17.360] - Zach
But yeah, so if you want to get into to golf-specific training or rotation-specific training, first thing you should do is a movement assessment. I would recommend getting a TPI coach or some sports fitness coach, they should take you through an assessment. The main muscle groups that I would recommend targeting would be the glutes, the core, and the upper back. And so if you're targeting those, just strength work. Good strength work, a lot of times leads to better mobility. So yes, there's a lot of stretching involved and stretching that you'd want to receive. But if they take you through an assessment, you're targeting those three main muscle groups, and you're feeling better, then you're on the right track for a good program.

[00:16:54.420] - Larry
Big shots, watch out. Yes. Big shots, champion.

[00:16:57.500] - Rob
That's awesome.

[00:17:00.670] - Zach
That's good. Yeah, we're good. Anything else you guys want to know?

[00:17:04.590] - Larry
No, I think I'm good.

[00:17:05.850] - Rob
You already passed anything I already knew.

[00:17:07.680] - Larry
Yeah. Being not a golf savant, that's all I got.

[00:17:11.710] - Zach
But I think one of the biggest takeaways before we close here is that In my philosophy, and I think it's more in our philosophy now, too, is that there should be some rotation in your strength program. Even if you're not a golfer, even if you don't play any of those sports. Some rotation helps with fluidity, stops with rigidity, right? And It helps you be more mobile. It helps you to handle impact better. I think rotations should be involved in every single program as well. It doesn't have to be at a super high level. It can just be some accessory work at the end. It doesn't have to be a focused day, but there should be some rotation involved.

[00:17:45.440] - Rob
Yeah, it's definitely one of the big movement patterns that you have to keep in and do quite often.

[00:17:50.620] - Larry
Yeah, it makes sense. It makes total sense because I could tell you right now, I got zero rotation.

[00:17:54.790] - Rob
Well, most people don't because what you do is you get stuck in planes of motion, and when you're really going to rotate, Unless you're following some program or you're with some coach that's going to have you do it, you're not going to do it.

[00:18:05.900] - Zach
You don't realize how much you can't rotate until you try to grab something in the back of your car. You got to turn your whole head and everything. You look like a robot.

[00:18:13.470] - Larry
That's why all people look like that.

[00:18:15.930] - Rob
Exactly.

[00:18:16.250] - Zach
That's why the old guys get the walk where their hips are tucked underneath. They start walking all funny. They can't move. Again, that goes back and see it with a lot of golfers. They got to train the glutes, lats, and core.

[00:18:27.320] - Rob
We'll dive into some more of that stuff as we go through.

[00:18:30.510] - Larry
We're going to have to get into that because I don't want to be walking like that. I'm on my way.

[00:18:36.030] - Zach
This has been Strong Principles. Thanks for tuning in.

[00:18:38.930] - Rob
All right.

[00:18:39.680] - Larry
Awesome. Thanks, everybody.