443: Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus on Propulsion Dynamics in Athletic Movement

Today’s podcast features Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus. Bill Hartman. Bill Hartman is a physical therapist and in-demand educator with his modern approach to human mechanics and training. Chris Wicus is a health and performance professional with 15 years of experience, a former professional ultimate frisbee player, and a 2nd-degree black belt in karate. He has coached a wide variety of athletes across 17 sports and has been mentored by many top experts in the field. Bill and Chris host the “Reconsider” podcast together and speak on various cutting-edge approaches to human movement in a way that prompts thinking on existing processes in the field, and how to move forward with current understandings of training and biomechanics. One key link between on-field performance and weight room training is the dynamics of propulsion through the gait cycle. Bill and Chris often use the example of cutting mechanics—going into and out of a cut—which applies to sprinting, jumping, throwing, strength training, and directional changes, highlighting human movement as a series of turns, rotations, and gait phases. Today's podcast dives into the dynamics of propulsion and the gait cycle, linking field performance with weight room training. Bill and Chris explore "into and out of the cut" mechanics as they apply to sprinting, jumping, throwing, strength training, and directional changes. They compare change of direction to acceleration and top-end speed while discussing propulsion's impact on breathing, reciprocal motion, orientation, performance, and injury prevention. This was a truly illuminating episode and one that garners numerous notes and insights. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Main Points 00:55- Propulsion Phases Influence Cut Maneuvers in Motion 8:23- Agility, Relative Motions Training, and Links Between COD and Acceleration Ability 24:28- Late Stance Propulsion for Enhanced Velocity Performance 27:35- Optimizing Performance Through Relative Motion Training 43:42- Proper Breathing in Optimal Performance Training 56:05- Enhancing Control Through Relative Motions in Split Squat 1:04:31- Pelvic Pressure Dynamics and Squatting Depth 1:15:30- Oscillatory Impulse Split Squat Training for Athletes 1:19:03- Explore Bill's Model on UHP Platform Quotes (2:15) “Propulsion is moving forward through space in contact with the medium” - Bill Hartman (9:32) “For you to move what you perceive to be straight sideways, that is actually a turn away from the ground contact” - Bill Hartman (10:50) “Everything is a turn. And that's why one of the dirty words would be a sagittal plane. Because when we're talking about dynamic movement, we're moving on helices” - Bill Hartman (13:50) “There's lots of time accumulated with these IR demands with like a 5 10, 5 pro agility, whatever. So that's going to prime you. My assumption would be I would see better starts and accelerations and I would see better shorter sprint performance. But like you had even mentioned intuitively, 200m maybe wouldn't be as good as I need to display ER, I need to be off the ground. That lives in the opposite place from like an agility drill” - Bill Hartman (16:40) “The sharper the cut, the, the, the, the greater your capacity to have to slow down so you can actually, actually change directions. And so this is an acquisition of relative motion in internal rotation which could have a beneficial effect… if we were just doing say a flying 20, that's a whole different story because the amount of relative movement that you would, that would be required in that circumstance is actually less” - Bill Hartman