Stiff Isn't Always Bad
Stiffness tends gets a bad name. It is generally thought of as meaning inflexible and at risk for injury during exercise. But, being stiff at the right time is crucial to protect one from injuries like an ACL tear as well as helping one's ability to stop quickly and change directions. The great thing about stiffness is that you can hear its rhythm; such as the quick, explosive sound of a skater sprinting towards a puck. This rhythm is even more crucial in upper body movements like slap shots and poke checks because the shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body. The scientific term is scapula-humeral rhythm, the coordinated action of the shoulder joints during arm movement. This rhythm allows the shoulder to move through its full range of movement, while keeping the arm centrated.
A 2007 study out of the Brain Tree Rehabilitation Hospital and University of Connecticut used a unique rehabilitation tool, the body blade, which requires you to generate oscillatory movements of the upper extremity. The authors found that the blade helped shoulder instability, specifically by strengthening the muscles that keep your arm in the joint, as well as improving the response to rapid positional changes. So just like the sprint towards the open puck, this tool requires rhythm, the rapid alternation from reciprocal inhibition to coactivation.
Reciprocal inhibition refers to the firing of the agonist muscle (the one shortening to produce movement), while simultaneously inhibiting the opposing antagonist muscle. It's like taking your foot off the brake to drive faster. On the other hand, coactivation occurs when both of these opposing muscle groups fire in an attempt to protect the joint. The central nervous system (CNS) shifts between reciprocal inhibition and coactivation of antagonist muscle, depending on the circumstances.
We use the body blade as a warm-up on upper body and trunk workouts, just like skips and jumps before a lower body workout. If you cannot get access to a body blade, another option is throwing a light medicine ball against the wall overhead. The concept is similar; rapid, oscillating movements of the shoulder complex that simultaneously teach precise moments of stiffness through movement. Ideally, like the blade, you can bring your arm through all different planes and ranges of motion to teach stiffness while moving. Here are four exercises to develop stiffness.
OH MED BALL stiffness drills: OH MB Throw: See Above
Stiffness for movement drills: A-Skips: 'A' SKIP is the double hop on the support leg. Each hop should only be a couple of inches off the ground, but there should be two of them: the first as the active leg recovers and active ankle steps over the knee and the second as the active leg is decelerated into the ground. When done correctly, both feet should hit the ground at the same time
Stiffness for upper body: EXP Push-up: Begin in a push up position, proceed into a push up and as you rise back into the starting position, leave the floor explosively with your hands and decelerate on the landing.
Plyometric stiffness variations: 8 sec. Depth Jumps: Use a 6' plyo box. For 8 seconds you will jump with both feet aggressively onto the box and then back down to floor. The goal is to attack both the box and the floor and accomplish as many touches as possible in 8 seconds
So, rethink your judgment and prejudice against being stiff, it will help your rhythm and likely save you from injuries in the future.
