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Scott's Golf Blog: Golf Fitness Tip - Charging Horse Stance

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Golf Fitness Tip - Charging Horse Stance

If you have read through my site, www.powergolftraining.net you will note that trained in the martial art of Pai Lum Kung Fu for eight years, and still to this day continue to work on much of what I learned. One thing that attracted me to the martial arts was the common sense fitness exercises. You don't need to join a gym and lift heavy weights to develop strong muscles. All of the exercises we performed at the school can be done anywhere.

For leg strengthening, we primarily worked on a variety of stances. One of the best of these stances is the Charging Horse Stance.





In the photo, I am standing in a Left Charging Horse Stance. To get in this position, stand with your feet shoulder width apart, hands on your hips. Take a step forward about one shoulder width, with the left foot. Keeping your back straight, let your body sink down as low as you can go. Ideally, you want to see the lower part of your back leg, in this case, the right leg, parallel to the floor. If you can not go that low, go as low as you can where it takes some effort to maintain the stance.

Hold this position as long as you can, then stand back up, and switch legs, stepping forward with the opposite leg. Start out by holding this position for 15 seconds for each leg, and work your way up to as long as you can, ideally for a minute with each leg. Always remember to keep your back straight!

This stance will help develop the strength of your legs, as well as balance. I also combine this stance with some work with a balance ball, dumbbells and body blades. Incorporating those items while working in this stance helps develop the balance even further by engaging the core muscles with more intensity.

Work this simple exercise into your routine and you will get fabulous results!

Scott Cole

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