UB Sports Performance

🔹MOVEMENT MONDAY🔹

▪️PVC Hinge▪️

A hinge is a movement from the hips while maintaining a stiff trunk and neutral spine. Hinging is a skill that lays the foundation for many training techniques and movements, and it cannot be overstated how crucial it is to properly understand the hinge.

The PVC hinge is a drill that provides proprioceptive feedback to the athlete through contact with the PVC. It is a simple and effective tool that can be applied to anyone from novice to elite athletes.
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How to perform the PVC hinge:

1️⃣Place a PVC pipe along your back maintaining 3 points of contact: back of the head,mid-back, and tailbone.
2️⃣Unlock your knees then forget about them - this is a hip-dominant movement.
3️⃣Sit your hips back towards the wall behind you, keeping a neutral spine and hips high(back like a tabletop).
4️⃣Drive your hips to the sky while maintaining a rigid core and return to the start position.

Try it out and let us know how it goes!


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Developing thoracic mobility can aid athletes in achieving optimal positions required for their sport and diminish the risk of injury.

Try this sequence of exercises to improve thoracic spine mobility:

1️⃣ Cat-Camel

A) Inhale - This movement is initiated by slowly dropping the chin and tucking your hips underneath you. Push the floor away and draw your belly button to the ceiling.

B) Exhale - Reverse the movement starting in the mid back; sink your belly
button to the floor.
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2️⃣PVC Prayer Stretch

A) Inhale - Grab a PVC pipe with palms facing towards you, elbows supported, and hands slightly wider than shoulder width.

B) Press elbows down into the bench, pack your ribs and pelvis together, and then sit your hips back to your heels.

C) With each breath, deepen the stretch.
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3️⃣Frog Pose T-Spine Rotations

A) Set knees wider than your hips on the ground.

B) Plant your forearm and push the floor away from you. Firmly place your other
hand on your ear.

C) Exhale as you rotate your spine to look towards the ceiling.




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🔹MOVEMENT MONDAY🔹

▪️Snap Down▪️

Snap Downs are an effective tool for teaching proper landing and loading mechanics. In this context they are implemented as a warm up activity preceding low level plyometrics and linear acceleration.

Benefits include:

✅ Reinforcement of basic landing mechanics.

✅Potentiation of musculature associated with propulsion and absorption during locomotion.

Stir the pot is a plank progression that challenges the athlete to maintain a neutral spine and pelvis while articulating from the upper limbs. This movement is a useful means for developing dynamic stabilization of the lumbo-pelvic and thoraco-scalpular complexes. Improving this strength quality will aid in :

⬇️Diminishing risk of injury.

⬆️Enhancing movement efficiency.

How to perform this exercise:
1️⃣Place your elbows and forearms shoulder-width apart onto a stability ball
2️⃣Put your feet behind you, tuck your toes, and rise to a plank position
3️⃣Press your forearms into the ball and brace into a neutral spinal and pelvic position.
4️⃣Make small circles with only your arms clockwise and counter-clockwise

Try it out and let us know what you think in the comments!


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