Patriot Health Digest
My favorite athletes are runners because of their powerful legs. Two years ago I started doing sprints in my routine after racing a young guy I use to coach who was going for the Olympic Team.
I got destroyed and it was a stunning defeat for me. This 26-year-old guy humiliated me and made me look slower than a snail at the age of 56. With that sort of performance, I knew I had to do something to avoid such embarrassment ever happening again.
A great exercise for better speed and power is the drive lunge. This exercise gives you an explosive movement that forms together both a knee drive and a reverse lunge. You will enjoy the exercise because it triggers your glutes, quads and gets your hip flexor to work correctly.
To start, stand up tall, then take a walk backward with your right foot to get into a reverse lunge. When you go down into the reverse lunge, keep your balance and allow your right knee to hover around two inches off the ground. Hold this hover lunge for about three seconds. Then get off your right foot to push your right knee up as hard and as high as you can. Keeping your balance and your knee up for about three seconds. Then return your leg to the starting spot.
The hardest part of the hover to lunge is keeping the hover spot in the reverse lunge. You will need strength and balance to stay in that position. However, a lack of mobility in your big toe joint or knee problems might cause issues in keeping that position. Many older men, me included, suffer from arthritis in their toe joints, so it could be hard to hold the hover. If you can not get low in the hover position, just go as deep as you can comfortably go.
The hover to lunge drive is among the more difficult exercises for an older man, but it is very gratifying when you able to do it right. Start doing it without weights. Do three sets of 5 reps for each leg, and really focus on stability and balance.
Author: Blake Ambrose
