THE SCIENCE OF
CUDIT® MUSCLE MOVEMENT
Dr. Philip N. Lombardo, PT
PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, PES, CES, NFHS, USATF and CUDIT Founder, Coach Lisa, discussing muscle movement phases of the swing through CUDIT Concentric Hitting
DR. LOMBARDO
In the development stages of The CUDIT® Concentric Hitting Coach Program, Coach Lisa made it her mission to study the science of the swing by connecting to the source. One of the these sources was Dr. Lombardo to discuss the muscle movement phases during the swing.
In her discussions with Dr. Lombardo, it had become clear that eccentric and concentric muscle movement combined with a clean kinetic chain of energy would create the most powerhouse swing as a baseball or softball hitter.
This video was filmed during her mission in developing CUDIT.
CUDIT Concentric Hitting was developed based on the explosive nature of a mechanically sound swing. That begs the question, "What Is Concentric Muscle Movement?"
The concentric phase of muscle movement is the contraction and shortening of the muscles required to perform a specific movement. After being loaded in the eccentric phase (TBD), the muscles are returning to their normal length through the concentric phase. This adds a massive amount of force behind any movement that had been loaded and released. The eccentric and concentric phases of muscle movement are crucial for explosive power in most sports.
RUBBER BAND: The concentric phase would be the release of the stretch.
THE VERTICAL JUMP: The concentric phase would be the upward movement in the jump.
THE HITTER'S BOTTOM HALF: The first concentric phase would be when the batter enters their body weight shift at toe touch.
LET'S TAKE THE HITTER'S CORE: The concentric phase would be the release of the batter's core on rotation.
LET'S TAKE THE HITTER'S TOP HALF: The concentric phase would be the shoulder muscles, arm muscles, and upper extremity release whipping to the ball at contact.
Circuit Targeting Eccentric and Concentric Explosiveness in The Baseball or Softball Swing
LOAD
TO
EXPLODE
One of the most important aspects of training mechanically sound muscle movements in the swing is to break the body into three parts.
The CUDIT Course teaches three segments of the body to target for an explosive, yet clean, swing.
In this video, you will see Coach Lisa discuss the role of the core and the upper extremity during separation while instilling a clean stride.
So, what is eccentric movement?
Eccentric muscle movement occurs when muscles are elongated in response to a greater opposing force. For example, a load in the bottom half during the swing. The energy that is absorbed by these muscles during the eccentric phase can be converted into elastic spring energy which can be reused by the body. This contributes to creating a Kinetic Chain throughout the body during the swing.
RUBBER BAND: The eccentric phase would be the stretch before the release.
THE VERTICAL JUMP: The eccentric phase would be the squatting down before jumping upward.
THE HITTER'S BOTTOM HALF: The eccentric phase would be the loaded back side and squat compression in the back hip on the load and the front hip on the leg lift.
THE HITTER'S CORE: The eccentric phase would be the tightening of the core in separation a.k.a. split (Step 2 of CUDIT Concentric Hitting).
THE HITTER'S TOP HALF: The eccentric phase would be the tightening of the shoulder muscles, arm muscles, and upper extremity in their launch position.
L. AC. Joshua Goldstein and CUDIT Founder, Coach Lisa, discussing the amortization phase of muscle movement and it's impact on the baseball or softball swing.
JOSHUA
GOLDSTEIN
L. AC.
In studying the science of muscle movement, it became clear that timing was crucial in order to transfer power effectively and efficiently.