The Mountain Climber Exercise is a great exercise for building your strength and endurance in your core.
The Mountain Climber Exercise forms part of the Golf Strength and Endurance series of innovative and dynamic exercises that are designed to efficiently increase your stabilising strength – supporting proper body alignment, movement patterns, and energy transfer within the golf swing, and helping to prevent injuries.
Figure 1. Mountain Climber Exercise Video.
Steps
- Start in a push-up position – with your hands and toes on the ground, your legs and back straight, forming a straight line from your ears to your ankles. The heels of your hands should be beneath your shoulders with your palms flat on the floor.
- Lift your left foot and bring your knee up under your chest.
- In one fluid movement, swap the position of your legs, thrusting your left leg back as you bring your right knee under your chest.
- Repeat the movement to bring your left knee back to your chest. That’s one rep.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Keep your back straight and your shoulder blades pulled down throughout – keep them away from your ears. Press the whole of your hands firmly into the floor
Keep your abdominal muscles engaged throughout.
Keep your head in a neutral position, with your eyes looking at a point on the floor under you.
You should feel it working your abdominal muscles, hip flexors, chest, shoulders and back.
Variation
If you find this exercise too difficult at first, or you begin to tire and lose form part-way through the set, then try moving one leg at a time, up towards your chest and then back to the high plank position.
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