News
3 great kettlebell moves for golf
Continuing our fitness series with the LPGA's Belen Mozo, here are three kettlebell exercises you should add to your golf-fitness routine. Here are the details:
1. ) Kettlebell halo: Holding the handles with the bell inverted in front of your face, rotate the weight around your head keeping your torso as still as possible. This exercise improves upper-back mobility and shoulder strength while training your core to stabilize the trunk as you move. It will help you swing a golf club on plane and decelerate it post impact while reducing the risk of injury to the soft tissue around your shoulder sockets or the bones of the cervical vertebrae. Remember to rotate the bell clockwise and counterclockwise.
2.) Kettlebell swing: From a standing position holding the bell with one hand so it hangs between your feet, hinge your hips into a squat and let the bell swing back so it moves under your body. Then stand up quickly so the bell rocks upward at least as high as your head. Feel like your hips thrust forward as you go from squatting to standing. This exercise helps train the butt and hip muscles to give your a power boost in your downswing. It also strengthens the shoulders allowing you to decelerate the club safely. As an added boost, it's a great cardio workout, especially if you do it in intervals such as 30 seconds of swings followed by 30 seconds of rest, etc. Remember to swing with each arm and be careful you don't graze your knees with the bell.
3.) Kettlebell bottoms-up curl-to-press: Holding the handle with one hand at your side, perform a hammer curl until the bell becomes inverted, and then do an overhead shoulder press before reversing the sequence back down. Continue to perform until you can no longer hold the bell in an upside-down position. Switch arms and repeat. This exercise is great for grip strength, as well as making the forearms and shoulders stronger. You'll be able to swing through the rough more powerfully and help protect your elbow joints from soft-tissue injuries such as tendinitis.