Fitness Friday: Improving Your Balance
When I watch professional golfers, one of the things that most impresses me is the balance they maintain throughout the swing. The best of them move back and through without any hint of lunge or wobble.
Check out these clips of Justin Rose’s swing at the 2021 Masters. His swing is smooth, balanced and under control.
I aspire to that level of balance.
In recent weeks, I’ve added a couple of new sets to my routines specifically designed to help with my balance, as described in the video below. They seem effective and don’t take much time. Even better: I’ve already got the kettle bells and medicine balls.
The first drill involves standing on one leg in a golf posture while passing a 15lb kettlebell from hand to hand. It is harder than it looked at first. I can usually get through six or seven pass-offs before I start to lose my balance.
The second asks you to pass a weighted ball from hand to hand overhead while standing on one leg. The trainer warns that it’s not a good drill for folk with shoulder issues; fortunately, I don’t have any of those yet.
Even if you don’t have any gear, you could still work on the third drill in the video, which involves standing on one leg while moving the head side to side and up and down.
I’ve found that the weight shifts in all three of these drills — while maintaining posture standing on one leg — require a slightly different core and lower body strength than I’ve been developing with my regular sets. I have a strong core and lower body, but my strength is more up-and-down than side to side.
Of all the drills I looked at, these fit into my three-times-a-week kettlebell and dumbell routine the best. Take a look on YouTube for some more.
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