This anti-rotation hold is a total body-stabilization exercise designed to strengthen your stabilizing muscles in the shoulders and core. A strong core is essential for a successful backpacking adventure as the Earth will throw many unstable challenges to your core as it shifts throughout all three planes of motion.
Anchor a light band into a structure about chest height, or you can use a friend to hold it for you! Your shoulders should be “locked”. To lock your shoulders press them down and together; feel a nice stretch in your chest. Hold the band with both hands in front of your chest. Play around with the distance to get moderate resistance. Pull your core in and engage your glutes. Slowly extend your hands away and feel the same hand / Glute engagement. Adjust your distance for resistance. Don’t let your shoulder and hip complex move out of alignment. Also remember to check your neck posture from the text-neck posture. Start light on resistance and aim for 12 repetitions with a set for both sides. The tempo means one second of timing to extend, two seconds of an isometric hold after full extension, and four seconds for retraction.
The tempo 4/2/1:
- 4 eccentric: movements that lengthens muscles at the same time it is being contracted (lowering weights & the downward motion of squats).
- 2 isometric: muscle contraction without movement.
- 1 concentric: movements that shorten muscles while producing force (the contraction).
Progression
- Max out at 20 reps and 1 set for each side (2 sets) for moderate choice of band resistance.
- Further progression with increasing the number of sets to 4 (2 for each side).
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