Legs: The Foundation for Explosive Driving Power
Jason Krantz
Virtually all sports
abide by the belief that "speed kills". The best athletes in many
sports also tend to be the fastest, most explosive athletes. While many of
these athletes have extraordinary skills, they also have superbly conditioned
bodies with a lot of attention begin given to leg training, as for good reason.
Legs serve as the foundation for all explosive athletic movements, and the golf
swing is no exception.
While all movement and
power originates from the abdominal and lower back region (the
"Core"), these forces can be greatly dissipated if there is not a
strong base to stabilize, balance and push from.
Imagine trying to hit a 300+
yard drive while standing on one leg. You would be hard pressed to develop
significant power because you are not fully involving your legs to help in
maintaining balance on both the backswing and follow through. You also would
not be capable of achieving a full and powerful weight shift.
Being an ex-Division 1
track athlete, virtually all of my training time was spent on total body
explosive lifts, core training and lots of leg training. Most of the power I
currently have I directly attribute to doing the right exercises to develop
total body power. I spend a lot of time and energy focusing on my legs because
I know that they pay huge dividends when it comes to creating power.
Unfortunately, most of
the individuals that I work with are not very enthusiastic about training legs
and discount the overall benefit, both from a performance and health
perspective, of these types of movements. Many people think leg training
involves either playing basketball or running on the treadmill. This does not
cut it when it comes to enhancing golf performance.
Legs are probably one
of the most difficult muscle groups to work out for a few reasons:
- They are the strongest
muscles in the body, meaning they can lift the most weight. Lifting more
weight makes a workout much more intense and physically demanding.
- Your legs are weight bearing
muscles, meaning that if you are sore there is no way to get around the
soreness besides waiting for recovery to happen naturally.
However, the benefits
are extremely significant:
- Training legs properly
results in tremendous increases in general athletic power. This is
especially true for the golf swing, as you develop a nice, strong base
from which you can generate explosive power.
- Training your legs with even
moderate intensity results in significantly more calories being burned
compared to a workout of similar time for your upper body.
- Proper leg training will
significantly increase your strength and power in the rest of your muscle
groups. The process for this is as follows:
- Intense leg workouts cause significant stress to you
body. Your body responds to this stress by releasing various hormones that
will make it recover and come back stronger so that the next time around
it will be better suited to handle the stress you give it.
- One of the main hormones that is released through
this process is testosterone. Testosterone is the hormone responsible for
a wide variety of things, among them building muscle.
- The testosterone that is released into your blood
stream after a good leg workout reaches all muscles, meaning that all
muscles receive the benefit of this hormone, even though your legs did all
the work.
- Proper strength training will
allow the younger, developing athlete to safely realize his maximum
physical potential and power. The mature athlete will better maintain the
current strength levels he currently has. The older athlete will
significantly decrease the rate of muscle loss and power reduction that
occurs naturally due to the aging process.
- Greater strength in your legs
will significantly increase your overall endurance. As your legs get
stronger regular things like walking and jogging take less energy to do
because of your increased strength.
- Significant increases in bone
density. Loading your skeletal structure with forces greater than it is
use to results in additional bone being developed in order to compensate
for this additional stress. For older individuals, leg training can help
significantly in maintaining bone density in the hip joint, which is a
common source of fractures and breaks. Our bodies are incredibly skilled
at adapting to change, so take advantage of it and build your bones.
- Increased joint strength and
dynamic flexibility. Tight hip flexors are a common source of lower back
pain and limited rotation in your swing. Properly executed compound leg
exercises executed over a full range of motion are an excellent way to
address tight hip flexors and develop excellent dynamic flexibility. These
movements are also great at developing and maintaining health joints.
- Increases in your baseline
metabolism. Baseline metabolism is how many calories you would burn a day
even if you did nothing at all. It is the minimum amount of energy needed
to live. As you condition your legs your baseline metabolism will raise,
meaning you will burn more calories a day even when you are doing nothing
at all. Supporting your torso all day takes a lot of energy.
- Strong legs help with
everyday life too, as you will have an easier time walking up and down
stairs, lifting heavy loads (since you should be lifting with your legs),
and just being mobile in general.
Jason is the founder of Sonic Boom Golf, a golf conditioning company devoted to improving golf performance through enhanced physical conditioning. He draws his knowledge of power and strength development from his years of training under some of the best strength and conditioning programs and power coaches the USA has to offer. He was a Division 1 track and field athlete, running the 100/200m sprints for the University of Oregon, which is one of the most storied collegiate track programs in the country, birthplace of Nike and home to the legendary Steve Prefontaine. The training techniques and principles that allowed Jason to be a great sprinter also allow him to develop incredible power in his golf swing. As a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Jason uses his expertise in power development, practical knowledge and real world performance enhancement experience to ensure that all his clients realize maximum golf performance improvement in a minimum amount of time. Jason is a power golf specialist, typically averaging over 340+ yards off the tee. He has a maximum recorded swing speed of 151 MPH, maximum ball speed of 213 MPH and longest drive of 402 yards.
The articles at GolfFitnessProducts.net are for informational purposes only and are not intended to substitute for direct examination and exercise prescription by the appropriate health professional. It is strongly recommended that you do not perform any exercise program without the consent of your personal physician.
