Lower Body Rotation...or Discovering Your Hips - Part 2
18 Aug 2010
by Joey Diovisalvi
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In an earlier post, PGA Tour Player Jason Gore demonstrated an exercise dealing with lower-body rotation. Jason was performing the rotation exercise with our 8 pound double handled ball held between his knees.
Pictured is LPGA Tour player, Liz Janangelo working with Coach Joey D at the GolfGym Academy performing the same exercise with a slightly different twist (no pun intended....well maybe).
While on her back and her legs bent at 90 degrees, and the 8 pound ball held in her hands, Liz is rotating her lower body and upper body in opposition against resistance.
Start with your arms fully extended with the ball in front of your sternum and your knees facing straight up. Rotate to one side, (legs/knees in one direction and arms in the opposite direction) hold for a beat and repeat on the other side. Consider that movement to both sides as one repetition.
If 8 pounds feels too heavy to complete the movements properly, try a 4 pound ball or a small dumbbell. As we always say...it is better to perform 3 or 4 good repetitions than push 8 or 10 poor ones. Oh, one more thing, remember to breath during the exercise. We tend to hold our breath while performing exercises with resistance. Proper breathing is very important to optimum performance.
This is a great exercise to help you feel the upper/lower separation, and as you perform 8 - 10 repetitions, you will also strengthen your core muscles, glutes and legs which are firing to hold the positions and retain good balance.
Good luck with this one.