A golf fitness program should have a comprehensive plan to maximise your total golf performance. By improve it means your improved capability to safely make a dynamic swing that is biomechanically sound, avoiding any injury that might occur and give you the maximal distance you want with each club. A good basic golf fitness program (as well as tips from various golf fitness articles) will include exercises to boost your flexibility, strength and balance, which are quite significant in the game.
Flexibility
Are you flexible? Or more technically, have you were given suitable muscle length in multiple planar movements which make up the golf swing? If you are not working at it, you could be denied at how small flexibility you have. The classic anomalous planar static stretches ( 20+ seconds long held in one position ) are not the first flexibility exercises golfers should always use when trying very hard to improve their golf specific flexibility. The golf swing moves in multiple planes all simultaneously with the transverse ( rotary ) plane dominating thoughout. Golfers should so work to boost transverse plane mobility with exercises.
The stiffness of our tissues is skyrocketing with our age, so our flexibility is lessening with each year that goes by. We are nevertheless, in a position to maintain or perhaps reverse our decreasing flexibility with consistent and correct stretching methods. What I see most often when working with hurt patients and clients needing to avoid injury are muscle length impairments and imbalances in the hip and spine musculature. Frequently the disequilibrium in length can be ascribed to imbalances in strength of their opponents ( the muscles that oppose their action ). So so as to normalize length, you’ve got to also normalize strength. Too much of one and not enough of the second is a recipe for potential injury.
To make an excellent switch on the ball we wish to get division between our upper and lower body. If controlled, the separation will create power like how a spring creates energy when wound and let go. There’s maximal coil in the back swing when the rotation of the hips is sort of limited and the upper body is permitted to revolve further ( shoulder turn ). This is assisted by flexibility in the thoracic spine and shoulders. There’s maximal uncoil as the hips turn toward the ball and there’s some lag time before the upper body follows.
A rule is the shoulders should turn twice so far as the hips. So if the hips turn 40 5 degrees, ideally the shoulders should turn 90 degrees, which puts your mid-back facing the target. To make an ideal turn there must be transverse plane revolution. This happens in the hips, in the spine / ribs, in the shoulders and the neck. Gaining motion or flexibility in these areas is crucial to form an environment for a good turn on the ball. It is crucial to understand which area ( s ) you might need specific work to improve.
The golf swing doesn’t just occur in the transverse plane, however. It is also on a forward bending axis that needs length in the hamstrings ( back of the thigh ) from address thru impact and then length in the hip flexors ( front of the hip ) at the finish to avoid multiple swing faults and compensations, that might finally lead to injury.
Strength
Again we need balance between the length and the strength of our tissues. If you have a great turn as explained previously but do not possess good hip or trunk rotary strength, you could have difficulty making a strong uncoil as well as even staying stable over your feet. With a lessening in hip / trunk stability you’ll also see a rise in the amount of sway, slide, and other numerous lower body compensations that at last bring your club off plane and thus do not give you ideal ball striking capacity.
“Core strength” is a buzzword in the fitness and rehabilitation industries and has made its way into the mainstream. It is sweet to see fitness and rehabilitation pros using more core stability exercises as a bedrock for strengthening diverse other body parts. If we are not robust at the core, we won’t be as robust away from the core. Core stability helps to give us the ability to transfer power in the transition area of the golf swing-from coil to uncoil. It’ll also give us protection from wounding the low back, the commonest golf injury I see scientifically.
The core is made up of numerous muscle groups. Most critically the core is formed up of the three layers of abdominals and the lumbar paraspinal muscles but may also include the lateral hips, the gluts, and the pelvic floor. When specifically strength coaching the core for golf, it is much better try and mimic the swing as much as humanly possible. In other words use rotational movements when able like oblique crunches on a physioball, rotational lunges and wire system diagonal patterns.
A golf specific strength-training program should also include exercises for the shoulder and hip rotators. There’s a pattern here ; rotational strength is critically vital to improve power off the tee and supply protection from injury including though not restricted to rotator cuff tendonitis, tennis / golfer’s elbow, lower back pain and hip bursitis.
Balance
To stand over the golf ball and progress through the golf swing, where weight is at first balanced then transfers right in some measure and then back to the left about totally finishing with 90-95% of your weight on the left leg, a substantial amount of balance must be attained. I see lots of recreational golfers unable to finish the golf swing mostly because they cannot stand confidently on that left leg ( for right handed players ). If the body knows that it can not basically stand on one leg for any period of time, it will avoid it. And without the smooth weight shift transitions, the bio-mechanics of a good swing cannot be achieved, thus making compensations that can end up in swing faults, mishits and most likely injury.
So as to improve your capacity to transfer weight onto your finishing leg, practice at home just standing on that leg. Progress this by standing on that leg while the rest of your body revolves to the finish position and rather more so by standing on an uneven surface like a pillow or couch cushion. Functionally, when you’re practicing on the range or playing a round, try and hold your finish position for at least five seconds or until the ball returns to turf. This may make a significant difference in your capacity to confidently finish your swing, which then reinforces your consistency and power.
To enjoy this game more, use more golf specific fitness found on trusty sources like articles and others. Even a little work will increase your general fitness and will help your golf performance. It helps to have somebody trained in the biomechanics of the golf swing and in strength and conditioning to guide you thru a safe and successful program ( like the Bend physical therapy program in Oregon ).
