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February 06, 2012
Explosive Energy: A Guide To Golf Fitness With Plyometrics

When people think of plyometrics, they usually remember high jumpers and the like, who use plyometrics to increase their ability to jump. However, there are plenty of sports where the use of explosive energy from plyometrics can bring benefits. What we will explore in this plyometrics guide is golf fitness and how you can apply plyometrics to improve your game.

The Explosive Swing

It might not seem like a high jump might have a lot in common with a golf swing, but in fact, they do. Just as when a high jumper lowers his body, pulling back for your golf swing loads your body with energy, waiting to be released. The swing is like the jump, and just as plyometrics trains high jumpers to better convert that energy into power, this golf fitness guide for plyometrics should get you interested in using those exercise techniques to improve your game.

For The Lower Body

When you twist your body for a swing, you load energy not just into your upper body, but into your lower one as well. As a result, we will approach the lower body first in this golf fitness plyometrics guide. A good training regimen starts with weight training to build both the upper and lower body, then adds simple plyometrics exercises to get your body used to releasing energy. The easiest exercise to describe in this brief plyometrics guide for golf fitness is the sprint. Sprints are classic plyometrics, where your body learns to release power quickly while running. Two sets of 15 to 30 yard sprints work great to start with, working up to 10 sets of 30 yard sprints as you improve.

For The Upper Body

Since it’s important to train the upper body for the swing as well as the lower body, this plyometric guide for golf fitness will also cover the sorts of upper body exercises you need to do. One of the best plyometric exercises is to have a partner stand above you while you’re on your back, and have them drop a medicine ball down. By catching it and throwing it back, you teach your arms to better focus its power outwards, which will translate into a stronger swing on the golf course. This simple game of catch should result in games on the golf course. So, as you can see in this brief plyometric guide for golf fitness, there are simple plyometrics exercises that can be applied to the upper and lower body which will result in greater ability to put power into your swing when you’re golfing.