FRC for Powerlifters

Functional Range Conditioning for Powerlifting # To my fellow sumo deadlifters: I’ve found this FRC drill to be very useful if you feel weak coming off the ground or find that your knees tend to dip inward on your setup. # 1) Place yourself in a half-kneeling position and align your thigh in the angle at which you normally set up. # 2) Place your fist on the inside of that knee and push that leg outwards for a 2 minute long stretch. # 3) Take a deep breath in and gradually adduct your leg inwards against your fist (PAILs contraction). You want to slowly ramp up tension upon the lengthened tissues on the inside of your thigh. Make sure to brace your abdomen with a strong contraction, squeeze the glute on the other leg and irradiate tension from the rest of your body into that leg. Hold for as long as possible. # 3) Relax, and begin your RAILs contraction by abducting your hip (actively pushing it outwards) into your newly acquired range. Additionally, push your foot down hard into the ground and spread the floor as you typically would during a sumo deadlift. Hold for as long as possible, re-establish your 2 minute long stretch and repeat. --- Being able to exert hip abduction and extension strength at the base of a deep sumo setup position can be tough. There are many medial thigh and deep gluteal muscles with multi-planar actions that vary depending on their positions (adductor magnus, adductor minimus & others). Your piriformis, obturator internus, superior and inferior gemelli all externally rotate your hip when your thigh is relatively EXTENDED. Calling upon these muscles to externally rotate the hips and contributing to spread the floor at the base of the sumo setup when your hips are FLEXED is therefore difficult. That’s why FRC is such an appropriate training tool in this scenario--you’re placing yourself into positions where your muscles are anatomically not very efficient at performing a particular action. So you make those muscles practice that very task by applying tension in those difficult positions. This results in acquiring more range and getting stronger in that newly acquired range. #ExpandControlCreate

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