As sunny days and warmer temperatures approach, many golfers are itching to hit the links and their driving ranges and enjoy and improve upon their game. Strengthening and conditioning their bodies is the best way for golfers to ensure they are prepared to play their best and that they avoid injury as they dive back into their game. Using an UltraSlide slideboard to build core strength, increase balance for the weight transfer during your swing, and condition the muscles that allow for rotational power and speed helps golfers to perform their best and safely enjoy their favorite sport.
How Slideboards Help Golfers Prepare for Golf Season
- Core Strength: Working out with a slideboard allows the lateral movement necessary to strengthen core muscles for side-to-side and rotational movement.
- Balance in Weight Transfer: Ensuring that slideboard training is incorporated into your workout regimen will help to ensure your body remains stable and strong while carrying out your swing.
- Rotational Power and Speed: Training the muscles in the midsection with slideboard exercise helps golfers develop the strength and speed they need to effectively rotate through their swing with power and speed.
Core Strength
For golfers, the muscles around your body’s midsection (or your “core”) play an important role in having a powerful and effective swing. Core muscles provide the stabilizing force needed to ensure you can swing without getting off-balance, and also help to protect your spine through the movement of swinging. Working out with a slideboard allows the lateral movement necessary to strengthen core muscles for side-to-side and rotational movement. Slideboard exercises that condition the core such as glute bridge curls, inch worms, and body saws are very effective in engaging core muscles in a way they aren’t used to and conditioning them to provide improved support and stability.
Balance in Weight Transfer
The lateral exercise that can be performed with a slideboard engages and challenges the stabilizer muscles that support the larger, dominant muscles that are counted on for many activities. By building and strengthening these stabilizer muscles, your body can enjoy an increased level of balance that can significantly enhance your swing. As your body’s weight transfers from your starting stance to the right (for most individuals) as you move through your backswing, and then to the left as you push through to hit the ball, you are executing a very quick shift in balance. Ensuring that slideboard training is incorporated into your workout regimen will help to ensure your body remains stable and strong while carrying out your swing.
Rotational Power and Speed
Just as important to a golfer’s swing as a balanced stance is a powerful and fast rotation of the middle and upper body. Rotational power from the core is especially important to golfers, as they count on driving energy from the lower body through the upper while carrying out their swing. Training the muscles in the midsection with slideboard exercise helps golfers develop the strength and speed they need to effectively rotate backward into the backswing and forward into the downswing dictates the ball speed and driving distance.