JC's Musings

Gravitational Dead Spots

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What is a gravitational dead spot? In terms of strength training, I am using the term to refer to the zone where the effects of gravity are minimal on the load and therefore the involved muscles.

A-C = flywheel lateral shoulder training
D-F = dumbbell lateral shoulder training

Are there any gravitational dead spots in these frames?

Hopefully you said D as the dumbbell is parallel to the line of gravity, and it is not until the load is perpendicular to the line of gravity (F) that you and your muscles experience the full overload that the dumbbell can provide. Training from D-E easy, E-F a different beast.

So what? Well, there are no gravitational dead spots with flywheel training (FT) as it doesn’t rely on gravity to provide the overload. This is why flywheel systems were used in space to maintain the strength of astronauts.

Given this information do you see any potential benefits to flywheel training over free weight training?