DVRT BLOG: IT IS ALL IN THE FEET

By Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner

Master DVRT, Master RKC, MFF Coach, OS Lead Instructor

Honestly, this may be the most boring and/or beneficial article you read regarding DVRT Ultimate Sandbag rotational training. It’s about your FEET! Read on if you dare (or have a foot fetish). 

DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is a system with an intelligent and progressive series of movements and exercises that cover all planes of motion. For many of us, the rotational training component of DVRT is the sexy stuff that gets us in the door. Another draw to DVRT for me was the contrast between relatively basic movements like the Bear Hug Squat against more complex movements like the Rotational Clean Press. The mix of simplicity and complexity sings to my personality. I’m a simple man constantly driven toward progression. 

 

I am not naturally gifted in the coordination department. It takes me hard hours of practice to obtain some base proficiency in a skill. One of the lessons I learned as a skateboarder, was that I needed to own the basics before I could step up to more difficult tricks. You need to get solid at ollies before you can bust kickflips. In my martial arts practice, you shadow box or perform katas slowly to master the movements before it’s time to add speed. These approaches are even more relevant in regards to strength training and Ultimate Sandbag use. Unfortunately, it can be all too easy to skip the essentials with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training. When we miss a crucial step to try something that looks sexier, we risk losing the true benefit of the exercise itself. 

This brings me to the heart of this article. Here is one of the BIGGEST things I see done incorrectly when people are doing DVRT rotational exercises:

THE FEET ARE WRONG!

Boring huh? It’s true though.

There are two key points in the setup of all DVRT rotational movements. 

1. We are looking for INTERNAL ROTATION in the hip as we move. 
2. We are creating force from the GROUND UP. 

Folks, our feet sell us out if we are doing this wrong. It is easy to set up correctly when we are performing a relatively simple movement like a rotational deadlift, but it all goes to hell when we jump straight into rotational clean and presses. Remember my skateboard analogy. We need to own the ollie to own the kickflip. 

 INTERNAL ROTATION:  I’ll walk you through the proper foot setup for a rotation deadlift. My feet are hip width apart, with the USB parallel to my right foot. I am internally rotating my left leg at the hip and pivoting on the ball of my left foot. As I lift the USB and pivot to the center, I now have my feet facing forward and I am in a traditional USB deadlift position. We then begin to pivot and hinge to the other side. The USB will land parallel to my left foot and now my right leg will be internally rotated and on the ball of the right foot. 

 What most people end up doing is simply turning their entire body so they have actually just turned direction and not rotated. 

 GROUND UP.  All to often the pivoting leg isn’t utilized during rotational movements. A person’s focus becomes the lead leg. What we’re really looking for is to drive through the pivoting foot. For those martial artists out there, imagine throwing a right cross without using your right foot. Not only would the force of the punch be greatly diminished, you would be off balance. Unfortunately, the weight of the USB can help maintain balance and we become focused on the wrong goal. Drive through the foot as you pivot!

That’s simple yet vitally important advice to boost your rotational training. Check your feet!

Let me know how it goes. 

Thanks for your time. 

Die Mighty!

-Fury

Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner’s superhero headquarters is Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. Fury’s also a Master DVRT, Master RKC and an Original Strength Lead Instructor. He is available for classes, semi-privates, instructor training and programming at MFF. Fury also does online training and is available to teach workshops. 

Visit coachfury.com, facebook.com/coachfury Instagram@iamcoachfury and Twitter @coachfury for more info.