Swinging a golf club takes strength in the muscles surrounding your hips. The rotational power, which impacts how far you’re able to hit a ball, comes from the muscles in your legs and hips. Hip adduction is when your thigh is moved towards the centerline of your body, and hip abduction is when you lift your thigh out and away from your body. Strengthening your hip adductor and abductors will help stabilize your torso during your swing and improve your golf performance.
Benefits
Having adequate strength in your hip adductor and abductors will increase how far you’re able to hit the ball and will also help you remain consistent with your swing mechanics. As your muscles get tired, you can lose the proper technique of your swing. Increasing your strength will allow you to play longer without getting tired. Having adequate strength in your hip muscles also decreases your risk of injury, as noted in Scott M. Lephart’s 2007 study on exercise’s impact on golf performance.
Hip Abduction Exercises
The muscles that are responsible for performing hip abduction are your gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, tensor fasciae latae and gluteus maximus. You can develop these muscles with lying hip abduction and standing cable hip abduction. Lying hip abduction is done while lying on your side on a mat. With your legs straight and stacked on top of each other, lift the top leg straight up towards the ceiling. Increase the intensity by wearing an ankle weight. Standing cable hip abduction is performed by standing perpendicular to a low cable pulley unit and attaching the cuff of a cable unit to your furthest ankle. Keep your far leg straight as you lift it up and out to your side.
Hip Adduction Exercises
The muscles that adduct your hip joint include the adductor brevis, adductor longus and adductor magnus. You can develop these muscles with lying hip adduction and standing cable hip adduction. For lying hip adduction, lie on your side like you did for lying hip abduction. Position the foot of your top leg on the floor in front of the knee of your lower leg by bending the top knee and setting the foot flat on the floor. Keep your lower leg straight and lift it up towards the ceiling. Standing cable hip adduction is similar to the standing abduction exercise, but involves attaching the cuff of the cable to your closest ankle and pulling that leg across your body.
Training
To effectively build strength in your hip adductor and abductors, fit your hip exercises into your workout regimen two days per week and on nonconsecutive days. If you’re doing other leg exercises, like squats and lunges, do those at the beginning of your session with your hip adduction and abduction exercises scheduled at the end. Complete each exercise for three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions. Adjust the resistance you’re using, whether it’s by adding ankle weights or increasing the load on the cable pulley unit, so that your muscles get tired within the 10 to 15 repetition set.
References
Writer Bio
Kim Nunley has been screenwriting and working as an online health and fitness writer since 2005. She’s had multiple short screenplays produced and her feature scripts have placed at the Austin Film Festival. Prior to writing full-time, she worked as a strength coach, athletic coach and college instructor. She holds a master's degree in kinesiology from California State University, Fullerton.