It is well known that we lose muscle mass and strength as we age. Something many people are not aware of is that we lose muscle power — the ability to produce force quickly — faster than we lose muscle mass and strength. This is why incorporating explosive leg exercises for golfers is so important for maintaining performance and health.
While some decline is eventually inevitable, we can do a huge amount to slow or even reverse this trend. To do this, we must have some “explosive” training in our routine. Even amongst fitness enthusiasts, very few adults do this!
Jumping is a really simple way to incorporate explosive training for the lower body. Maintaining powerful legs is key for long-term golf and general health.
If you are concerned about the impact from jumping, you can land on a low box. This hugely reduces the height your body accelerates from before landing, meaning far less impact stress. The box does not need to be very high at all, as we are using it to decrease landing stress — not to see how high a box we can jump onto.
If jumping is completely out of the question for you, the next exercise I suggest trying is “speed squats”. Sit down to a box or bench under control, then explode up as quickly as possible. You can use a light weight, or no weight. This will still allow you to train the fast twitch qualities of the legs, while being a bit less stressful than jumping.
(Impact stress is actually a good thing, but we must scale it to our ability and readiness level).
I generally recommend incorporating high speed exercises like these 2-3 x week, for 3-5 sets of about 5 reps. It is imperative you are well warmed up before engaging in these exercises.
In the programs on the Fit For Golf App, you will always see one of the Dynamic Warm-Up routines being done before any explosive activities.
