Disclaimer: I would like to begin this article by stating that many of my ideas and approaches stem from my education from the Postural Restoration Institute. Through their integrative approach to movement and behavioral patterns, and the restoration of effective, triplanar, alternating and reciprocal function, I have extrapolated my own ideas and applications. The exercises outlined in this article would be best served following successful completion of some ground based PRI non-manual techniques, that I encourage readers to learn about by attending a primary PRI course.
As a movement coach who works with tennis athletes, I am often challenged in providing them better context on how to improve the loading phase of their stroke. Even my elite players have a habit of loading onto their forefoot as they decelerate into their ground-strokes, which shifts their center of mass forward prematurely. This sets off a cascade of undesirable biomechanical mechanisms, such as an unlocked foot, poor hamstring contraction to support the knee, anterior tilt of the pelvis, lumbar extension coupled with rotation, and an extended thorax, which ends up further affecting the shoulder girdle/neck.
In essence it is poor deceleration, as, in reality, a lunge is merely the transition from deceleration to acceleration. In a proper movement pattern, the heel should strike first, cueing the ipsilateral hamstring, adductors, and internal obliques to lock down the pelvis as it rotates over the femoral head, and keep the athlete’s center of mass back, at bay, before accelerating forward. These chains of muscle work together to also eccentrically load the external rotators of the pelvic complex, i.e., the ipsilateral glute max.
There are many causing factors behind this forefoot loading movement behavior, some postural driven, some visual driven, and some just poor coaching. Regardless of the reason behind it, it needs to be fixed in order to prevent injury mechanisms accumulating over the high volume of tennis strokes players needs to take. It also should be said that, biomechanically speaking, premature anterior loading promotes poor power production and is a less reliable strategy for consistent shot outcomes.
If you haven’t taken a PRI course before, what I am basically after with these approaches is introducing better mid-stance kinematics for my athlete. During mid-stance, or in this case, the bottom of a lunge, the ipsilateral ilium (hemipelvis) should be oriented (in all 3 planes) over an internally rotating femoral head. This is achieved with a chain of muscles including the medial hamstring, adductor group, internal obliques, and others (go to a PRI course!).
All of this occurs in conjunction with supination of the foot, to provide a locked foot and ankle as a stable platform. The issue with almost every athlete I work with is that their pelvis starts too far anteriorly rotated and abducted, and they have no sagittal control over their ribcage, nor frontal plane control of their pelvis. In addition, they don’t truly grasp how to achieve a supinated foot. This means none of the muscles listed above are contracting as they should, the hip doesn’t load properly, and the heel contact is too brief at best.
In solving the issue, I have had great success with these exercises with my athletes, as not only a positive transfer to rotational dynamics, but also ankle sprain prevention. One of my elite players, who historically would sprain either ankle almost every tournament, hasn’t had an injury in over 6 months of playing since we integrated this work in her program. I attribute this at least partially to developing this movement pattern, and providing a space for her to sense what it feels like to interact with the ground in a more efficient, stable manner.
Two of my “go to” lunge patterns for providing better context to my athletes involve using the ipsilateral heel as a direct reference for their pattern. Here is a summary of both:
1. Isometric heel referenced split squat: Place your athlete in a half kneeling position, with their front heel in front of a small step or box. Cue them to pull their heel back into the step, and to bring their contralateral hip forward, and ipsilateral hip backward as they exhale, followed by an inhalation. This should help them engage ipsilateral, medial hamstring and adductor, and contralateral glute, with extra emphasis on the frontal and transverse planes, as well as obtain better sagittal ribcage control.
Then have them reach their contralateral arm down and across towards the ipsilateral foot, and have them pull their ipsilateral arm backwards, cueing each arm action to initiate from the scapula. This should cue trunk rotation over the loading leg, as well as align the ipsilateral diaphragm’s central tendon in a more vertical manner, giving better pull, and helping rotate the spine in the ipsilateral direction. All of this means better ipsilateral leg loading and eccentric loading of the glute max. Once they have attained all of this, have them push through their front heel, keeping the hip alignment, and elevating their contralateral knee off the floor an inch. Have them hold this position for 20s, breathing in through the nose, and out the mouth. Repeat on the other side.
Summary:
- ½ kneeling
- Pull heel back
- Shift ipsilateral hip backwards, contralateral hip forwards
- Reach contralateral arm down and across
- Pull ipsilateral arm backwards
Facilitates: ipsilateral medial hamstring, adductor, internal oblique
2. Walking lunge with AFIR and trunk rotation: this is a more dynamic movement of the previous lunge version. The athlete will hold a light dumbbell in each hand. As they step with their right leg, they will contact the ground with their heel first. They will then sink into their hip, while reaching the contralateral arm towards the front foot’s toes, and reaching towards the floor with the ipsilateral arm, aligning their nose over the big toe. This is performed while exhaling, positioning that central tendon of the diaphragm, engaging the ipsilateral ab wall, and helping to attain acetabular/femoral internal rotation of the lead leg. At the bottom they pause and inhale through their nose. Upon initiating an exhale, the athlete will drive through the front heel and foot, transitioning into the other side as they step forward, landing on the contralateral heel, and repeating the process on the other side.
Summary:
- Heel strike first
- Shift ipsilateral hip backwards
- Contralateral hip forwards
- Reach contralateral arm towards front foot
- Reach ipsilateral arm downwards
- Inhale at the bottom
- Exhale as you transition by pushing through the heel
Facilitates: ipsilateral medial hamstring, adductor, internal oblique
I tend to find these exercises very fatiguing for their athlete due to the extreme attention to detail on reference sites we are working to achieve. For this reason, I rarely prescribe more than 3 sets of 6-8 reps per side, or, for the ISOs, 2-3 sets of 20s each side. Following the sets, or within a superset, I transition the athlete to a more ballistic rotational exercise, looking for transfer to a more power based, externally focused drill, with the only “internal cue” being the heel contact as they load.
About Colby Mamigonian
Colby is a New Hampshire native living in New York City. He currently is an independent trainer, and a physical preparation coach for elite junior and professional tennis players. A student of all things in relation to human performance and well being, Colby works to integrate PRI teachings, neuroscience, and psychological concepts in conjunction with applied physiology and anatomy with his clients and athletes to improve their movement behavior.
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