Respect the intelligence of the body to perform

In my role as a consultant to the St. Anthony Baseball Academy in Ottawa, I am fortunate to be able to implement a specific approach of training based on motor preferences.

This scientific approach has been developing in Europe for about 30 years and was initiated by Ralph Hippolyte and Bernard Théraulaz. It highlights the uniqueness of each human being in his or her ability to make conscious or unconscious movements that use as little energy as possible while being as effective and efficient as possible. These movements are dictated by the nature of the individual, his life experience and interactions with his environment.

The observation is therefore that we are not exact copies of each other! It is enough to be at least an observer to see this evidence, even if only bodily. From the moment we accept that everyone is different, many things become clear! For example, it is easy to understand why one player succeeds very well in a certain gesture while another does not, despite all the efforts of the coach and the player himself! It also allows us to put into perspective the search for the perfect player! And yes, this one doesn't exist either! Beyond the simple expression "we all have our strengths and weaknesses", we must also look at our motor preferences and their specificities.

The good news is that it is possible to rely on one's motor preferences to adapt technical gestures that cause problems! But I'm talking about adapting the technical gesture by relying on the player's motor skills. I'm not talking about forcing the player to do the gesture, regardless of what his body likes or dislikes to do. Forcing a player to change motor preferences will inevitably lead to injury!

To illustrate my point, I suggest you look at the picture of his two pitchers: Blake Snell and Yu Darvish. By looking at their lower body, you can see the first notion of motor preferences: the aerial profile and the terretrial profile.

Snell is an aerial. He generates power from the bounce (leg extension - back muscle chain) . He uses a system called "mass-springs" and will prefer a physical preparation *mainly plyometric.

Darvish is a terrestrial. It generates power from the anchor (leg triple flexion - front muscle chain). He uses a "pulley system" and will prefer a *mainly concentric physical preparation. (*mainly does not mean only. The dominant plyometric or concentric will depend on the needs of the athlete to optimize his performance).

It is possible to say more from these 2 photos but the study of several videos would be more effective. The best being of course to make a physical evaluation in person. A motor preference professional will then be able to provide a multitude of details that will be very useful to the pitching coach, physical trainer, physio and mental trainer.

This is the strength of the motor preference approach: putting the athlete at the center of the training to allow him to reach his best level according to his body intelligence.