Tips for Teaching the 3 Core Bulgarian Bag Movement Patterns

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Eleanore Walker
5 years ago
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Tips for Teaching the 3 Core Bulgarian Bag Movement Patterns The following tips will help you work with details and fine points of taking someone through the instruction process for the 3 core

Basic Movement Fundamentals: o Shoulder width o Wide stance (Wider than shoulder width) Much more lateral shifting o Narrow stance (less than shoulder width) Much more core involvement The Float o

1 Tips for Teaching the 3 Core Bulgarian Bag Movement Patterns The following tips will help you work with details and fine points of taking someone through the instruction process for the 3 core fundamental movement patterns with the Bulgarian Bag. Basic Movement Fundamentals: o Shoulder width o Wide stance (Wider than shoulder width) Much more lateral shifting o Narrow stance (less than shoulder width) Much more core involvement The Float o The float is consistent to all of these movements. The float is the time that the bag is moving with any or slight additional muscle assistance, regardless of joint angle. The float is important because this where you can rest and let the physics of movement work for you. During various phases of movements, momentum and gravity will keep the bag moving with little or no additional effort on your part, so, the term float is using to describe that part of the movement. Breathing Patterns o Depending on the style of movement, breathing could be anatomical; in other words as the chest expands during various movements, breathe in. As the chest compresses, breathe out. o Or, you can exhale forcefully on exertion during various movements. 1

2 Hip Involvement (Pendulum Effect) o The Pendulum Effect is the shifting of your body in the opposite direction in effort to use your body mass as way to accelerate the load (bag) without having to exert much additional force from your muscles. Grip Shifting Tension o Shifting tension in your grip is an advanced skill that you will acquire after many hours of bag use. o It is the ability to adjust grip tension on the main handles during actual performance of the various movements. Being able to do this will prolong your grip endurance and allow you to perform more volume of work before the grip completely fatigues and you can no longer continue. Core Fundamental Movement Patterns: Refer to the below Practice Points for The Spin, The Swing Snatch and Arm Throws. Every bullet point should be practiced to avoid adding too many components at one time and to enable a focus on each part of the movements. The end result will be a complete and correct movement pattern. The Spin: o Tri-planar movement o Full body involvement o Efficient loading and unloading Loading: Lengthening of the muscle. Unloading: We have to lengthen or load the muscle before we can unload and develop the contractile force. Why is this important? This is important because joint angles of specific movements may affect force production. So, learning the right technique, how to load muscles properly and developing the skills to perform the movement correctly can and will affect the amount of muscle recruitment generated for a specific movement. Maximum opportunity will then exist to attain the desired results. 2

3 Practice Points for The Spin: o Wide Wide stance involves much more lateral shifting and requires more leg and hip involvement. Dynamically shift left and right (like a lateral lunge). o Narrow Narrow stance involves more core loading, as having a narrow base of support doesn t facilitate lateral shifting, so more core and hip involvement are necessary to generate force. Arm Position o When moving the bag behind your head, it should feel like the bag is almost rubbing across your upper back. o Keep the bag low and close to the back of your head. o A good analogy is thinking you are combing your hair with your forearm. This combing motion should place your elbow angle in the correct position. Whipping Motion Around the Shoulder and Head o The whipping motion is a fast acceleration around your shoulder and head. o The force generated from the whip powers the float. o This movement involves timing and rhythm, so you work in a repetitive pattern, explosive then float, explosive then float for the given time or reps of the set. o Head and torso should rotate slightly to follow bag side to side as you whip or rotate the bag around your head. The Swing Snatch: o Posterior chain up-regulation Gluteus Hamstring complex Muscles of the back o Multiple inertial moments o Loaded acceleration and deceleration components 3

4 Practice Points for The Swing Snatch: o Wide stance Leg Position o Soft knee leg slightly bent (lock legs and then break the lock is usually a correct position). Use Half Snatch to Practice Movement of Flipping the Bag Overhead o Discussed in previous videos Hip Involvement o Shift hips backward or hinge at the hips. o Press through a flat foot with emphasis on pressing the big toe into the ground. This technique enables you, even though you are shifting back, to press through a flat foot for increased stability and stronger base of support (when the environment is a hard surface/non slippery); as well as increase muscle and facial tension through the feet, legs and core. Arm Position o Overhead Slightly bend arms overhead with the bag just touching the trapezius. o Between the legs Keep arms straight as bag is moving through your legs creating vectoral lines of force - so that the energy of the movement runs through your straight arms and through the bag. Head Position o Maintain a neutral head position. You should be looking straight ahead when the bag is overhead. o Look at the floor as the bag passes through your legs. Pre-Tensioning of Muscles to Create Rubber Band Effect. Gluteus and Hamstrings Recruitment o Should be used to break inertial movement when bag is between the legs. Then, once the bag is moving, activate arms and accelerate overhead. 4

5 Arm Throws: o Loaded rotational movement o Multiple inertial moments o Spiral line up-regulation o Loaded acceleration and deceleration components Practice Points for Arm Throws: o Narrow Stance (feet about shoulder width) Rotation o Perform full rotation with shoulder being perpendicular to hips as the bag is set on your back. o You should be able to see bag in peripheral vision on loaded side while bag is on back. Bag Position o Should sit roughly on opposite scapula What this means is that, if you are performing an Arm Throw to the left (toward the left leg), when the bag is on your back it should sit on the right or opposite scapula to ensure full torso rotation. Acceleration o Accelerate bag with wrists flicking motion right before flipping bag, and meet the bag with your back. Hip Involvement o Hips (Pendulum Effect ) or float of the bag should be in front of your body. 5

Static Flexibility/Stretching

Static Flexibility/Stretching Points of Emphasis Always stretch before and after workouts. Stretching post-exercise will prevent soreness and accelerate recovery. Always perform a general warm-up prior