Chapter 31: Manipulation Movement 2 - The Practice of Natural Movement

Bipedalism has enabled humans to free their hands to develop both throwing and catching abilities to a level that’s unique to humankind. Scientific evidence shows that early humans started throwing objects two million years ago. This enabled us to transition from being scavengers who threw rocks to defend ourselves from predators to being highly skilled throwers of handheld weapons, which turned us into successful predators in our own right. In fact, the transition from tree-dwellers to effective hunters on land and on foot has caused the anatomical structure of our shoulders to evolve to become more adept at throwing than at hanging from trees.

Although other primates also possess basic grasping and throwing abilities—as well as proportionally much greater physical strength compared to humans—their skill in those areas is nowhere near the level of expertise and performance humans can achieve in throwing and catching, especially when we have specific training. For instance, some athletes achieve a throwing speed of up to 90 miles per hour.

However, throwing is not only about power or the speed and distance that you can generate; it’s also often about the accuracy and timing of the trajectory before it reaches the intended target. Such expertise exists in no other animal but humans, who can strike a moving target at a distance.

Today numerous recreational activities—ball games and competitive sports—are based on the skills of throwing and catching. Though such activities are far different from the original practical purpose of stopping targets at a distance or making them fall so that we can move close enough to grasp them, it’s not surprising that modern humans have maintained an innate drive to practice throwing and catching skills in a different form.

Whereas some sports involve only the throwing aspect and only with the aim of throwing at a maximum distance—the javelin, discus, or shot put throw, to name a few—most sports involve both throwing and catching, with speed and accuracy playing a much greater role than power alone. For instance, in sports such as volleyball, you use hands and arms to catch and throw the ball simultaneously; in tennis, ping-pong, or squash, you use a racket for the same purpose. The object must be “caught” not to end its trajectory but to redirect it, which is a creative and highly entertaining way to bridge the gap between the actions of catching and throwing.

The Natural Movement approach focuses on the practical applications and outcomes of catching and throwing, even though those movements also benefit many of the structured games we play for recreation. The ability to throw and catch accurately—such as when exchanging a rope or a piece of equipment—is an aspect of physical competency that firefighters and rescue teams are well aware of. The benefits extend to brain function and emotional balance for several reasons, first because throwing and catching practice demands alertness and responsiveness and engages cognitive skills, and second because it’s fun and often done cooperatively. Throwing hard may help release negative emotions, whereas striking, such as in chopping wood, is proven to dramatically increase testosterone levels, which is essential to functions in males.

While throwing accelerates an object to initiate an airborne trajectory, catching intercepts the object to decelerate and terminate its trajectory, and sometimes to deviate and redirect it. Both skills are obviously physically active; however, throwing is more active in the sense that we determine the trajectory of the object we throw, which in turn determines what our movement is going to be to ensure that trajectory, and usually we stay attentive to the trajectory of the object after we release it. Catching is more passive in the sense that we must be attentive to the predetermined trajectory of the object the moment we identify it, which determines our movement so that we can grasp it.

Throwing and catching are not necessarily associated in the real world or in practice. For instance, a catch doesn’t necessarily follow a throw, and a throw doesn’t necessarily precede a catch. However, throwing and catching have something in common in that both actions require an ability to anticipate trajectories and coordinate eyes and hands with accuracy and impeccable timing, sometimes with similar movement patterns done in a reversed sequence. Both skills require fine motor control and great levels of focus, alertness, reactivity, and accuracy to be performed efficiently. For this reason, they’re often done in partnership. Practicing with a partner also develops a greater sense of cooperativeness and attention to others.

You can throw with one or two arms, and you can hold the object with a variety of grips. Most people tend to have and use a dominant hand, which is fine, even though ambidexterity is always highly desirable, and we train both sides in MovNat training. The most common approach to throwing and catching is to be in a standing stance, either in one spot or while moving, although you can throw and catch from other positions. The more body segments and muscles that participate in accelerating or decelerating the object and the greater range of motion we practice, the more effective and efficient we are at throwing and catching. This explains why these two skills are an effective means to learn to use the legs, hips, and midsection appropriately for producing powerful motion or safe deceleration of external forces; these movements improve health and mobility of the back, hips, and shoulders.

Throwing

 

Technically speaking, throwing is the action of launching an object into the air. You train throwing patterns to use them for a variety of practical reasons:

• To aim at hitting a target to damage, injure, or kill it (in which case the object becomes a “projectile”) or make it fall

• To intimidate as a means of self-defense

• To pass an obstacle (such as throwing a bag across a stream)

• To enable someone else to catch something valuable or useful (such as food or a piece of equipment)

In Natural Movement, you grasp the object by hand and throw it without the help of any tool. You also can occasionally throw objects with your foot, but this strategy is inefficient compared to using your hand.

The Natural Movement throwing patterns are not limited to propelling objects to make them airborne; other throwing patterns include striking with the hands or fists in combative situations or striking with an object or weapon also for combat applications or with tools for work. The motion patterns that generate power are similar, except that in some cases the object remains handheld instead of being released into the air. Both throwing a punch and chopping wood with an ax are throwing patterns. By extension, explosive pushing or lifting movements aimed at fighting an opponent are throwing techniques and actions, yet we learn them in wrestling and grappling.

Although you should start learning all throwing techniques from stationary standing positions, you can add extra momentum by stepping or moving in the direction of the intended trajectory and target before the throw or by throwing your whole body off balance in the direction of the intended trajectory and target.

Because velocity is generated sequentially through diverse body segments, the continuity of the throwing motion is highly important with all throws of a certain intensity (either in terms of weight of the object, the distance of the trajectory intended, or both). You shouldn’t pause after you’ve started the motion, just as you shouldn’t pause after starting a lift or jump. Instead, focus on constant acceleration of the body. However, the goal is not always maximum distance or impact, for instance when you’re trying to prevent damage to the object when it lands or to improve the chance that the catcher will receive the object successfully.

Following through is the last part of every throw. When you throw something, in most cases your goal is not just to get rid of the object you’re holding; you expect a particular outcome, such as hitting a target. Maintaining focus on proper follow-through upon releasing the object eliminates the tendency to decelerate or to disturb your position in a way that would affect the precision of the intended trajectory or the amount of power you wanted to generate before releasing the object.

Catching

 

The practical reasons for catching are generally more protective than the reasons for throwing, such as grasping an object, decelerating it, and holding it firmly and securely to prevent it from getting damaged, lost, or even caught by someone else. Another possibility is to catch an object to pass it on to someone else by handing it off or throwing it to them, usually immediately after the catch is secured. By extension, the action of hitting an airborne object to deviate it from its original trajectory is a form of catching, but it doesn’t include the grasping action. (Imagine an object is coming at you fast and unexpectedly with the potential to harm you, but you raise your hand or arm to deflect it.) Another technique is to catch an object with the arms as well as the whole body in a jumping action with the purpose of pressing down the object between the body and the ground.

Both throwing and catching rely on efficient gripping and the efficient management of combined center of gravity for heavier objects. However, the grip is especially important in catching because the interception of the moving, airborne object demands an extremely fast and accurate reactive grip response. You also need an extremely fast and accurate perception of the inertial force of the object—the force it exerts due to its motion—upon grasping it, so you can effectively decelerate it and end its velocity. A key aspect of efficient catching is to reduce impact to avoid injuring the body (especially the hands and back) upon contact.

Optimum positional control is key, including moving the body through space to catch from the best spot possible, but also in the most effective position. The heavier the object or the greater its velocity, the more it can produce a hard impact on the hands and body. To ensure a smooth deceleration of the moving object and make catching as efficient as possible, you must lengthen the displacement of the object upon contact, which means you rotate your body or take additional steps to increase the range of motion and your amplitude of movement as you grasp the object.

Catching has significant benefits to eye-hand coordination, which is the process by which vision guides the timing and movement of the body to enable the hands to grasp an object. Eye-hand coordination requires great mental alertness before the object is thrown, and great mental and physical responsiveness the moment the object starts its trajectory. Therefore, eye-hand coordination, positional control, and spatial awareness relative to the trajectory of the object are not the only aspects that matter in successful catching. You also want a minimum reaction time between the stimulus and your physical response, which is especially essential when the object is moving rapidly over short distances. The mental alertness and responsiveness you developed in catching practice are important benefits to brain function that carry over to many situations of life.

Equipment and Practice

 

The choice of equipment for training in throwing can be practically any object, depending on the application or outcome you’re seeking. Objects used for catching are more of an issue; you should avoid using sharp objects for obvious reasons. Beginners should practice with relatively light objects that have an even weight distribution and that the thrower can grasp relatively easily. Medicine balls are perfect for both throwing and catching, and they’re sufficiently cushioned to prevent injury in case uncontrolled contact with the body happens in catching practice. Strict beginners who lack technique, alertness, and responsiveness should avoid hard and heavy materials, such as metal or rock, because they can easily hurt their hands or crush their feet. Overall, it’s best to start with objects that are easy to grasp, that are relatively soft with a smooth surface, and that are not too heavy. Advanced practitioners may train with heavy, rough rocks or any odd object that challenges grasping.

Note that you don’t necessarily need a partner to train for throwing, but you always need a partner to train for catching! The beauty of this cooperative practice is that you train not just your technique but also your ability to stay focused, alert, and responsive.

If you’re on your own, just use the throwing techniques. You can choose the distance, the weight and shape of the object, the level of accuracy, and the number of times you throw. However, when you practice with another person, you and your partner need to agree on these variables to make the practice is sustainable and enjoyable for both partners. The thrower becomes the catcher and vice versa every time the object flies in the air. The partners must be equally attentive to how they throw to each other, being mindful of being a good partner and helping the other practice in the best manner possible in a safe way. When practicing with a partner, throwing and catching techniques can be mixed—for instance, a thrower might do a Chest Throw, whereas the catcher might use a Rotational Catch.

Getting Started with Throwing and Catching

A simple way to start throwing and catching is to use small, light objects such as balls or dowels/sticks. This form of practice doesn’t rely on physical strength or endurance, and it challenges the mind more than the body. The key points are to stay focused, breathe in a relaxed and ample way, and eliminate all unnecessary tensions while maintaining alertness, responsiveness, eye-hand coordination, timing, and accuracy. Although this practice is quite playful, it’s also more than a game, as the ability to throw light objects with precision or to secure a quick and effective catch can be essential to certain situations, such as when you need to catch the end of a rope, a pair of keys, or a light piece of equipment.

Solo Practice

If you don’t have a partner, begin with basic one-handed throw-and-catch practice. The goal is not to turn yourself into a master at juggling several objects at a time; you’re just trying to get a sense of trajectory, timing, and accuracy in throwing and catching with both hands. Following are some of the variations you can use:

• Short distance, fast throw and catch between both hands, with an extremely brief contact event (the time spent grasping the object).

• Overhand (hand in supine position) and underhand (hand in the prone position) throw or catch.

• Swinging motions of the arm when throwing and catching.

• Spinning the object in the air.

• Throwing and catching from diverse positions or change position (squat, kneel, lie down) each time you release the object and before you grasp it.

• Long vertical trajectories, catching with the same hand that threw the object or the opposite hand. While the object is airborne, add movements on the spot before you make the catch, such as spinning 360 degrees, doing side steps, going into a Front Sprawl and getting up.

• Throwing at a distance (forward, backward, sideways), running, and catching.

• Throwing a ball against a wall and catching it after it rebounds.

 

Partner Practice

Practicing in partnership is more realistic and cooperative than practicing alone. In the first few basic drills, the primary goal is to ensure a stable, predictable path of the dowel and a continuous, fluid, relaxed back-and-forth motion between partners.

 

1 Stand a few feet from your partner. Your partner throws the stick with their right arm toward your right arm, which is called a Cross Throw. (Your partner could also straight throw from their right arm to your left arm.) Your partner uses a relaxed, ample single-arm motion, maintains good posture, and doesn’t have unnecessary motion from the rest of the body. Their opposing arm stays down and relaxed. The goal is for your partner to help you catch the object by generating an elliptical (rounded) path that’s aimed at your hand, with the dowel staying vertical. (It shouldn’t tilt significantly.) As you see the stick going airborne, start raising your hand to catch with a relaxed arm.

2 Straight Catch the stick by grabbing it in the middle. (Optionally, you could Cross Catch it by grasping it with your left hand even though it’s moving toward your right hand.) The softer and more accurately you catch, the better and quicker you’re able to throw back the same way to facilitate an effective catch for your partner.

3 Optionally, you can internally rotate your catching arm.

 

4 In this photo, the dowel was thrown horizontally instead of vertically, with the same concern about ensuring a stable and predictable path.

5 When you’re efficient at the basic drill, start looking progressively more sideways (downward or upward), relying on peripheral vision to both throw and catch accurately.

SAFETY NOTE

 

Make sure to start with a slight change of your line of vision; otherwise, you might catch the dowel with your face rather than your hand.

   

6-7-8 Throw and catch from diverse positions. Next, change positions without pausing and while maintaining a continuous, smooth back-and-forth throw and catch.

SAFETY NOTE

 

Never make the object tilt and spin forward, as it could hurt your partner’s eyes or face!

 

Progressions

Following are some suggestions for enhancing your partner practice for throwing and catching skills:

• Throw in unpredictable ways by varying timing (the catcher doesn’t know when you will throw); trajectory (path of the object goes upward, downward, sideways, forward, or elliptical); and position (the object tilts or spins while airborne.

• Spin around 360 degrees on the spot immediately after throwing and before you catch again. You also can Front Sprawl and get back up.

• Throw to the side to force the catcher to step sideways.

• Engage in a conversation, or ask your partner to perform basic mental math while both partners ensure smooth and continuous back-and-forth throw and catch, which stimulates very different parts of the brain simultaneously.

• Close the distance a little and throw back and forth quickly in a straight path for increased responsiveness.

• Widen the distance between you and your partner. Catching is easier at a greater distance, but efficient throwing is more challenging than when the partners are closer together.

• Run while throwing and catching.

Open-Arm Rotational Throw

Commonly known as an overhand throw, the Open-Arm Rotational Throw is the technique that enables the greatest acceleration of light objects, and you use it to throw for distance, precision, or both. (You also can use it for impact upon landing.) You use this throw when an object is too heavy to throw with an extension of the arm on the side, or it’s too light to be thrown efficiently with two arms. The shape and weight of the object are essential for this particular throwing technique; the object should be compact and light enough for you to hold in a single hand. You also can use this technique with longer objects that can remain stable while airborne, such as spears. You can spin objects through a movement of the wrist to enhance their airborne stability. (This works best with nonspherical objects.) Practical applications of this technique include having to throw an object over an obstacle to prevent someone from grasping it, to toss an object to someone else, or to damage something by causing a heavy impact on it.

You can perform this throw from a standing position or while walking, running, or jumping. You can use other positions, such as while balancing or even swimming, but the efficiency might be compromised based on how much rotational hip power you’re able to produce.

It’s important to train this movement as a single, natural, fluid motion rather than trying to break it down. Before we consider the motion of the whole body in this throw, let’s look at the two main upper-body and arm motions that should take place as you throw:

 

1 External rotation of the torso on the same side as the throwing arm

2 External rotation of the shoulder of the throwing arm

Start in a wide side stance facing perpendicularly to the direction of your throw; align your shoulders to the target or direction of your throw. Slide your front foot a few inches backward—enough to enable complete backward and forward rotation at the hip to ensure maximum hip power output; it also ensures your balance at the end of the throw in a shoulder-width Split Standing position. You also may lift the heel of the front foot to remove some friction and prevent any resistance to the hip rotation. Extend your back arm as you extend your front arm, making sure that your arms align in the direction of your throw. Your front foot is opposite to the throwing arm. The torso and shoulder should open in external rotation on the throwing side. Even though the arm action is not the primary reason for accelerating the load, with a longer arm action you can produce more acceleration. For the maximum distance or impact, pull the arm back as far and as dynamically as you can (to increase the stretch reflex) because the farther back you can retract the shoulder and the more you can rotate the arm externally, the more velocity you can generate.

Optionally, you may start with your shoulder in internal rotation with the arm bent, your hand and shoulder aligned, and your elbow at the back, which is known as the thumb-down position; then extend your arm fully before externally rotating your shoulder in a front-back-front swinging motion. It can be very useful if you swiftly rotate your hip, torso, shoulder, and arm toward the back before the forward throw because this movement supports the production of the greatest velocity possible by enabling the upper body’s tendons and ligaments with a tremendous amount of stored elastic energy through the stretch reflex. If you’re throwing on the spot without stepping momentum before you throw, you might want to use a back-to-front body-weight shifting motion to add power to your throw. If you’re aiming at a target, keep a line of vision in this direction.

   

1 Once the power from the hip rotation has been unleashed, swiftly rotating the arm, shoulder, and torso rotation finishes producing peak velocity. Shifting body weight from the back leg to the front leg (as in the photo) also contributes to the velocity. As you produce rotational power in your torso as you swing your arm, you unleash all power in a whipping motion of your arm. Your elbow moves in toward the direction of the throw ahead of your forearm and gripping hand to generate a greater forward whipping motion as your throwing arm fully extends.

2 Finish fully rotating your torso while fully extending the arm in the direction of the throw. Release the object at a point and angle that ensures the trajectory you intend. If your aim is maximum distance, release your grip as your arm reaches a 45-degree angle. Don’t forcefully swing your opposite arm to add power; not only does doing this not add power but it can easily throw your movement and balance off.

3 Follow through by watching the trajectory of the projectile and where it lands. If you have thrown with maximum power, your body keeps moving diagonally even after you’ve released your grip. You naturally lean forward at the end of your throw with your torso still rotating, the throwing arm going down and in toward your front leg, and your opposite arm extending to the back.

Once you have good control over this technique in a standing position (or if you have enough space behind you to do so), you may add momentum by shuffling sideways before the throw, which is explained later with the single-arm throws with heavier objects.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

Although it’s always good practice to train both arms, most of us have a dominant arm. You can use the weaker arm in practice, but in real-life situations, always use the stronger, more skillful arm.

 

Single-Arm Throws with Heavier Objects

You can throw heavier objects with a single arm, although there is a point where something becomes so heavy that it’s not sustainable to throw with a single arm, and you must use both arms to support the object. As a matter of fact, it’s possible to use both hands to hold the load using any of the single-arm/one-handed techniques shown here.

You can’t throw medium-weight objects at great distances, but you can throw them short to medium distances with sufficient enough precision and impact.

With greater weight often comes greater bulk, which means objects become too voluminous to be held with the fingers and must be supported with an open-hand grip. While it may still be possible to open the arm (the photo in which the object is extended to the back and side) to add range of motion and power to the throw, it can be tricky and counterproductive for two reasons: It might pull your arm down and even make your upper body lean down with it (as in the middle photo), and it might roll off your hand as you try to balance it while going through a wide-arm motion.

 

The solution is the One-Handed Rack, which is shown in the next set of photos. In this position, you fully flex your arm with your hand just in front of the shoulder, so the object is close to the body for efficient combined center of gravity. This position prevents the weight of the object from pulling the forearm down, which would either pull the object off support or alter the intended trajectory of the throw. Optionally, you can raise your elbow and shrug your shoulder to press the object against the side of your neck and face, which facilitates keeping the load steady before you release it. Another important detail is that since the grip is more supportive than grasping, you want to keep your fingers spread to widen the gripping surface and maximize grip control.

Obviously, though, if you rely on only the arm to produce force, you’ll have very little power and won’t throw very far. The following strategies generate much greater levels of acceleration, mainly through body-weight shifting and rotation. Although you can combine the two, it’s preferable to dissociate them in the beginning because it can be tricky and counterproductive to associate them without having mastered each method separately first.

Single-Arm, Back-to-Front Push-Press Throw

One of the two main ways to generate power when throwing with a single arm from the Rack hold is to use body-weight shifting, with the body leaning backward at the beginning of the throw and forward at the end.

 

1 From a Split Stance with the object held firmly in the Rack, bend your rear leg that’s on the same side as the load-bearing arm; your knee is bent, and your thigh is perpendicular to your torso. Your lead leg is straight with the foot pointing in a forward direction. If the weight is significant, maintain a vertical torso; otherwise, you may allow a slight backward lean to add to the forward momentum. You may optionally extend your free arm forward or at an angle to add a better sense of alignment with the intended target.

 

2 Strongly push off your back leg to generate power, which shifts your body weight to your front foot. Keep maintaining a stable Rack at this point. Your hips rotate to enable your back foot to keep shifting body weight to your front foot rather than trying to produce additional force through rotational hip motion.

3 Just before you finish shifting all body weight onto your lead foot, begin to extend your arm to throw the object while staying focused on the intended trajectory and point of impact.

4 Propel the object in the air by powerfully extending your arm. The angle of your arm determines the airborne trajectory of the object. Depending on how much momentum you’ve produced, you may follow through with a forward step.

Single-Arm Rotational Press Throw

This method relies exclusively on the power that you generate through hip rotation. This throw is wonderful training if you lack rotational hip power, especially because you do it with the resistance of the load. To learn to harness rotational hip power, you must refrain from adding power from body-weight shifting as in the back-to-front method; you avoid leaning backward and forward (or at least you don’t lean in any significant way). Regardless of the amplitude of your hip rotation, your body weight should remain equally distributed on both feet from start to end.

Start to learn to control rotational hip power with a partial, 90-degree rotation in the beginning, progress to a complete 180-degree hip rotation, and finish with a rotational stepping motion of the rear leg. The one-arm Rack hold remains the same regardless of the amount of rotation. Ultimately, you can do all techniques that use rotational hip power with varying degrees of amplitude and velocity, depending on how much force you need to produce.

 

1 Start in a Side Standing position with your hips aligned with the direction where you intend to throw and your feet pointing perpendicularly to that direction. The ball of your lead foot ideally aligns with the heel of your back foot.

2 Swiftly initiate a strong hip rotation that turns your back hip all the way toward the front to its end range of motion. Start extending your arm just before you reach the full rotation. Both your feet must simultaneously pivot to pointing forward in the direction of the throw to enable hip rotation.

3 Fully extend your arm and throw. You may slightly lean forward at the end of hip rotation, although the rotation rather than the lean generates most of the power.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

I like to lift the heel of the lead foot to remove some friction and facilitate complete hip rotation.

 

Push-Press Throw and Catch

The Push-Press Throw and Catch are similar in pattern to the Push-Press Lift. The difference lies in the fact that you release your grip in the throw, and you extend your arms at diverse angles depending on the trajectory you intend rather than extending them vertically overhead. If the object isn’t too heavy, you can hold it at chest level rather than shoulder level, usually when you intend a power throw in a straight horizontal line.

Like the Push-Press Lift, the throw relies mostly on lower-body strength, but upper-body strength plays an important role, especially if the object is relatively light and must be thrown forward horizontally at a great speed, in which case the throw may rely mostly (or sometimes exclusively) on upper-body strength.

While pushing through your legs at an angle may add power to your throw, it also shifts the combined center of gravity beyond your base of support and forces you off balance into a step forward, which might not always be possible. You must learn to Push-Press Throw first while maintaining standing balance in one spot upon release before you learn to use body angle and forward stepping to maximize power output.

The Push-Press Catch is the reverse sequence, with your arms starting to decelerate the object before your lower body does. Physiologically the muscular effort in the arms is like the downward motion of the Press-Up, and in the legs it’s like the downward motion of the Squat Get-Up; so, you’re not actually pressing and pushing because the effort involves eccentric contraction. Ultimately, you can do both throwing and catching movements using more or less lower-body range of motion and power, depending on how much force you need to produce.

Throw

 

1 Begin with a hip width stance in front of your partner and hold the object you intend to throw in the Rack at shoulder level with your elbows tight to your body. Flex at the hips and knees to wind up for the throw. Squat about a one-quarter of the way down and move quickly.

2 Stand up explosively and extend your arms to direct the path of the object toward your partner’s hand. In a partnership practice, you should aim at an elliptical trajectory that ends at the hip level of your partner, so your partner can raise their arms to catch it at about head level.

 

3 Alternatively, begin in a Staggered Stance and wind up by flexing your rear knee and shifting your weight behind you. Allow the ball of your lead foot to lift as you shift.

4 Shift your weight onto the lead foot and extend your rear leg explosively while extending your arms to direct the object toward your partner’s extended arms. Allow your weight to shift more onto your lead foot by flexing your lead knee, which affords you more distance to absorb the energy of your partner’s return throw.

Catch

 

1 Prepare to catch the object by standing with good alignment and extending your arms. Watch the object as its trajectory nears, and prepare to maximize the gripping surface area by spreading your fingers and slightly bending your elbows. You want to progressively train yourself to stay relaxed with your arms down so that you raise your arms only at the last moment.

2 After grasping the object, decelerate progressively by flexing your arms, hips, and knees.

 

3 If the object is significantly heavy, or for practice, you may fully flex your hips and knees to finish in a Deep Squat.

4 When the forward force of the object is great, you may step backward with either foot to a Split Stance to lengthen the distance and time between the moment you grasp the object and the moment its velocity is brought down to zero. Conversely, when the trajectory is too short, you may step forward to catch it.

5 Be sure to maintain hip width alignment for stability if you catch in a Split Standing position.

Front Swing Throw and Catch

The Front Swing pattern is when you use a Hip Hinge pattern to generate power through hip extension (or “hip swing”) and accelerate an object, which usually aims at throwing it but can also be used as a way to lift an object to a Chest Carry, a Shoulder Carry, or even a Head Carry. When you do the Hip Hinge with a load—that is, you’re holding a heavy object in your hands with your arms extended—the Front Swing becomes a highly potent way to harness and develop power output at the hips, with benefits to any skills involving the Hip Hinge.

You use the same pattern to catch a moving object and decelerate it only if you perform the movements in reverse motion. Both acceleration and deceleration actions can be done independently as a throwing or catching action. In the absence of a training partner, you can maintain constant grip on the object (usually thanks to a handle) and repeat the Front Swing pattern repetitively and without a pause. This exercise, well known as the “kettlebell swing” (which can obviously be done with diverse types of objects), is a very effective way to develop power endurance. However from a practical movement standpoint, what you’re actually doing is no less than replicating a throwing and catching action minus the grip release upon hip extension or the grasping moment before hip flexion.

The downside is that it doesn’t help develop the precision required for accurate throws at a distance or help develop the grasping accuracy and timing, eye-hand coordination, alertness, and responsiveness essential to catch effectively and efficiently.

Another important aspect of this movement pattern is that the load travels dynamically over a relatively long distance—from the front of your body at about chest level to behind it at about knee level, or the other way around—so you can effectively accelerate and/or decelerate the load. There are several consequences to this.

• Managing the combined center of gravity requires impeccable positional control throughout the movement, as it shifts faster over a greater range of motion.

• The accelerating or decelerating forces tend to pull the load away from your hands, which requires that you have more friction and strength in your grip than you need with other throwing and catching movements, which helps you develop them.

No Handle Versus Handle and Progression

Both working with an object with a handle and working with an object without a handle have value. It’s more challenging to ensure gripping on objects that don’t have a handle, which develops your ability to create and maintain efficient grip regardless of the object; this is more realistic and better for real-world physical competency. However, objects with a handle enable greater grip friction and make it possible for you to manipulate heavier loads, which benefits the development of power output. Another difference is that although a handle doesn’t lengthen the range of motion the body goes through (or minimally so), it does lengthen the distance traveled by the combined center of gravity because the center of mass of the object stands farther away from the body; the effect is that acceleration and deceleration are maximized. The last advantage of the handle is that you can swing with a single arm, which is impossible otherwise (except if the object is really small, in which case it’s also relatively light and should be thrown or caught using a different pattern).

The Front Swing pattern is a complex movement that becomes inefficient under heavy load or when the grip is challenging. It’s quite difficult to learn efficient form when you practice with a partner who’s also learning.

I recommend you first learn efficient mechanics by practicing the movement on your own with a light load that has a handle, so you can maintain a constant grip and practice the front swing several times in a row; replicate both the throwing and the catching patterns each time with no pause in between. This way you can focus on efficient pattern rather than struggling to secure your grip at the expense of proper form.

When you’ve established efficient form, first increase the load of the object with a handle before practicing with an object that doesn’t have a handle. If you start with an object that doesn’t have a handle, make sure that it’s relatively light.

First, let’s consider aspects of the movement that must remain constant throughout both the throwing and catching actions:

• This is a Hip Hinge pattern with full hip flexion and slight knee flexion, not a Squat, which involves maximum hip and knee flexion.

• Maintain a neutral spine, abdominal tension, and breathing. Avoid lower back flexion at the bottom of the backward swing, or lower back hyperextension when you reach the lockout position as you stand. A slight extension of the neck to maintain a forward line of vision is necessary for efficient accuracy and timing in both throwing and catching.

• Keep your shoulder blades retracted with your arms fully extended. Depending on the object, you also might need to exert additional inward pressure on the object perpendicular to its trajectory to help grip friction.

• Your arms contribute, but not excessively.

• Keep your shins vertical.

• Manage the combined center of gravity with close to equal weight distribution at the center of your feet. Don’t shift it to your heels when you Hip Hinge, or you might fall off balance backward. Don’t let your weight shift to the balls of your feet when you extend your hips unless you want to triple extend (which means including the ankles) to throw with maximum power with the body at a forward angle.

If you don’t need to produce maximum force at a given time, you should do the technique with less amplitude and velocity. To produce power, the velocity of your movement matters more than the amplitude of it; of course, maximum power production stems from both velocity and amplitude.

Throw

 

1 Begin with the object in front of you by grasping it with both hands on the sides of the object and standing up fully with good alignment. Mentally check out the aspects of your movement that must remain constant throughout the motion.

2 Initiate the swing motion by either pushing and slightly lifting the object forward through the shoulders or bumping the object forward by thrusting your hips forward, then immediately hinge at the hips while you fully extend your arms. Without the distance created between the object and your body, your arms and the load lower straight down as you Hip Hinge. The forward distance enables a backward swinging motion of your arms following the Hip Hinge and the backward acceleration of the object following an arc trajectory.

3 Flex at the hips first and then slightly flex at the knees as the object descends and passes through your knees. If you’re seeking maximum deceleration or acceleration force possible, flex your hips to the maximum to drive your rear as far backward as you can, so the object can travel as far behind you as possible. With the proper amount of hip and knee flexion, at the bottom range of motion your shoulders should not be overly forward relative to your knee position as your forearms reach the inside of your thighs and your torso position is nearly parallel to the ground. (In the photo, the forward swing has already started). The whole action sets you up for a more powerful forward swing and acceleration. If you intend to throw with accuracy, keep your neck slightly extended to maintain a forward gaze and line of vision; tilting your head as you swing forward may be too late to anticipate your trajectory, angle, and point of release, and the result could be that you become destabilized. Otherwise, you may keep your neck neutral and maintain forward eye position.

4 Immediately after reaching maximum backward range of motion and distance (load), explosively drive your hips forward, allowing the object to follow the same arc trajectory in reverse. To effectively translate the kinetic energy of your extension into the object, be sure to keep your arms straight and relaxed as the object accelerates to chest level. Strongly contracting your glutes enables a more powerful forward hip drive. Finish fully extending your knees and hips to a locked-out position with additional tension in the abdominal and glute muscles to ensure a neutral spine, vertical body position, and balance. As your arms elevate, release your grip on the object at an angle and point that depends on the trajectory you intend it to follow, usually around shoulder level if you train with a partner. If you’re throwing a relatively heavy object to the maximum distance, the first Front Swing might not reach peak velocity or height and produce enough acceleration to throw an effective distance. In this case, don’t release your grip yet, and use the existing momentum created by the first swing to generate even greater momentum for the next swing. If you’re training solo with constant grip, let the object elevate to about chest height. Because you’re not releasing it to a throw, you should experience a “floating” moment as the object’s velocity drops down to zero. Wait until you feel gravity starting to pull the load back down to resume backward swinging motion.

Catch

 

1 To catch the object, fully extend your arms forward to lengthen the distance between grasping and decelerating. Because of the elliptical shape of the object trajectory, the force upon impact is not as high as with a horizontally straight trajectory.

2 Ensure a smooth grasping moment by slightly bending at the elbows when the object contacts your hands and before you initiate the Hip Hinge.

3 Push the object back to full arm extension; then immediately Hip Hinge to swing the object down.

4 Load your hips and legs through the Hip Hinge as you also decelerate the object through the upper body until the object comes to a stop. If you intend to throw back or swing back (solo practice with constant grip), push the load as far behind you as possible while maintaining spinal alignment to wind up for your return throw or swing.

Throw and Catch Progressions

 

Progressions involve varying the intensity and complexity (or both).

To increase intensity, use heavier objects or throw for greater distance, height, speed, or impact—or combine several of these variables. For instance, intensity in terms of speed may have to do with how many throws you can perform in a limited amount of time or how fast you run toward the object to grasp it; intensity in terms of impact may have to do with how powerfully you can slam an object or strike a tool. As a rule of thumb, when an object becomes too heavy to throw or to be caught by someone else at a certain distance, it’s wise to consider carrying it or displacing it by other means.

To increase complexity, manipulate objects with an uneven shape or weight distribution or that challenge grip. Throwing for accuracy, including hitting a target, reaching over or through a given surface, or throwing so that the object lands and stays on top of a surface. When throwing for accuracy, you may use sharp objects such as a knife, ax, or spear. (You would never try to catch these objects.) When you’re practicing with a single arm, you can increase complexity by switching sides. You can throw objects toward or catch objects coming from multiple directions. You can throw the object with a spin that makes it rotate while airborne and makes it more challenging for the catcher to grasp efficiently. Last, throwing and catching from diverse positions (ground, hanging, balancing positions), in between positional transitions, or as mixed-skills movements (running, swimming, jumping, and so on while throwing or catching) elevates complexity to the greatest level.

Complexity in throwing and catching can become addictive. However, make sure to keep a certain level of realism in the diverse drills and challenges you come up with. High levels of complexity can be very fun—such as with complex juggling drills—but there’s a point where high levels of manipulation complexity become very time-consuming and detrimental to the attention developing actual practical skills requires, yet without adding to your capability relative to realistic real-world demands or scenarios.

Although combining a certain level of intensity and complexity in throwing and catching is sustainable to a point, it can easily reach a threshold above which practice becomes overly challenging as well as unsafe. The heavier an object becomes, the more difficult to throw or catch it becomes. However, variables other than weight, such as how complex the movement pattern is, how difficult to grasp the object is, and how complex the environment where you’re doing the movement is, contribute to increasing the challenge. There’s a point where you must make a choice between increasing intensity with heavier objects while not increasing complexity and increasing the diverse aspects of complexity while reducing the weight of the object manipulated, as high intensity and high complexity manipulation do not go hand in hand.