How to Implement Golf Fitness Exercises into
Your Golf Swing Improvement Program
Over the last few weeks at BioForce Golf, we have
had many questions about golf fitness exercises.Questions
such as: are these type of exercises beneficial
to someone who has had a lower back injury, what
are the best types of exercises to improve my
clubhead speed, and what flexibility exercises
can improve my back swing?Through many of our
free daily golf tips on our website, we have provided
answers to these questions and many more.
One
area of golf fitness I get quite a few questions
about revolves on how to implement golf exercises
into a golf swing improvement program.Many of
the individuals who come to our site are not experts
in "working out." I've written my golf-specific
exercise manual, YOUR BODY & YOUR SWING, to
help you develop a program for yourself.Probably
one of the most-asked questions is: how do I go
about introducing certain exercises into my golf
fitness program?At times, certain individuals
are unable to perform an exercise in its basic
form.
They are either out of shape, suffering from
an injury, or too stiff to perform it correctly.
A Russian Twist may be too difficult for a beginner
to execute correctly. It takes great core strength,
endurance and flexibility to complete the exercise
to the limit.In this type of situation there are
"baby steps" you can take in terms of implementing
such exercises into your golf fitness program.I
like to call this the "position, movement, tolerance"
training guideline. This is an easy methodology
to follow in terms of implementing exercises into
a training program.We'll use the Russian Twist
exercise in my book, YOUR BODY & YOUR SWING,
as an example.When you are implementing a golf
fitness exercise(s) into your golf swing improvement
program, you must be able to place the body in
the correct starting position of the exercise.For
example, if I were to have you perform a Russian
Twist, first I would ask you to place your body
in the correct position for the exercise.
In this situation it would be knees slightly
bent and placing your torso in a position where
the "abs were turned on."Hold it Right There!Just
placing your body in the correct position for
an exercise requires effort from the body. If
you were able to place your body in the correct
position, I would then ask you to "hold" this
position for a certain amount of time. This would
indicate you are strong enough to add movement
to your golf fitness exercise. On the other hand,
if you were only able to hold the starting position
of the Russian Twist for 15 seconds before your
lower back started to bother you, this is an indicator
to me that this is where we begin your golf fitness
program. I would have you "hold" the start position
of this golf exercise for a certain number of
seconds and sets. This would, over a period of
time, develop more strength and endurance in those
golf muscles.
Once we have reached a good "hold" time on a
golf exercise, we then progress to adding "movement"
into the equation. Movement simply stands for
range of motion (how much movement you can do).
Every golf exercise has a certain range of motion
you move through to get the greatest benefit for
your golf game.In the Russian Twist example, a
full range of motion would be a full shoulder
turn to the left and right of center. Again, at
the beginning you may be unable to make a full
shoulder turn. So what do we do? We slowly work
on increasing the "movement" within the golf exercise
until you are at a point of full range.As with
the idea of "position," we do the same with the
idea of "movement. " We gradually increase until
you have achieved a full range of motion in the
golf exercise. Once this is achieved, we move
on to the final stage of implementing a golf-specific
exercise.The final stage of implementing any golf
exercise into your golf swing improvement program
is "tolerance."
Tolerance can be defined as performing the correct
number of sets and repetitions of a golf exercise
for it to be beneficial to your golf game.No Pain,
No Gain!The idea of "no pain, no gain" does not
work in this situation. Rather, you want to be
able to perform a self-prescribed number of sets
and reps of every golf exercise in your program.
This prescribed amount of work is up to you, the
individual golfer, and what you feel is best for
your body.Too little work will provide you no
benefit. Too much work or following the "no pain,
no gain" mind-set can increase the possibility
of injury greatly.You need to use your best judgment
on every golf exercise in your program. This will
allow you to perform each golf exercise with the
correct technique, develop (maybe over time) the
correct range of motion of each golf exercise
in your program, and finally take each exercise
to "your own level of tolerance."It is very easy
to implement golf exercises into your golf swing
improvement program. Follow the simple rule of
"position, movement, tolerance," and this should
help you dramatically in the development of your
golf fitness program.Once you've mastered the
exercises and routines in your current exercise
program, you'll be ready to take it to the next
level, a more advanced program.Sean CochranAbout
the AuthorSean Cochran is one of the most recognized
golf fitness instructors in the world today.
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