JC's Musings

Why Fly?

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Flywheel training, exerfly, how to use a flywheel

As with any form of resistance training you need to know its benefits and limitations, flywheel resistance training (FRT) is no different. The best thing you can do if you haven’t already, is get on a device and give it a go. If you don’t have access then the things you would likely notice are:
1)       The more you put into the concentric phase the more you get out of the eccentric phase i.e. transfer/conservation of angular momentum and energy
2)       The eccentric phase is accentuated as the flywheel wants to release this energy and return to its original state as fast as it can
3)       Generally there are no pauses between phases or repetitions so be prepared for the constant workload
4)       FRT relies mostly on the effects of angular momentum rather than the effects of gravitation (traditional strength training), thus the reason it was used in space to preserve muscle strength. So you can use a flywheel from on top, below, on the side, and the resistance for the most part will be the same
5)       It can be safer and require less skill i.e. tend to be less degrees of freedom. Take the squat for example as shown in the picture, you can take load off the back by using the waist harness and focus overload to the legs with minimum technique requirements
6)       Note the above can be a disadvantage in terms of having more degrees of freedom/complexity, which means greater involvement from the agonists, antagonists, fixators and synergists

Have I missed anything? Let me know.