What’s the foundation of a good golf exercise program? And how can you build on it to maximize all the benefits that come with exercising?
These are important questions. We say the ultimate objective of exercise is to improve movement.
Movement is the body’s ability to navigate in every direction with control of all of the body segments. To achieve fluid movement, it is essential to maintain postural alignment while being dynamic — and that’s often easier said than done.
Why is it that people who spend so much time exercising and doing sports have so many problems with their body? Problems such as chronic neck and back pain, shoulder impingement, runner’s knee, Achilles tendonitis and golfer’s elbow are common when the focus of exercise and sports mechanics fail to prioritize efficient body movement. And nowhere is this better observed than in golf.
Golf is a challenging game that requires the ability to produce and control twisting forces throughout the body segments, with proper timing and rhythm. That’s a big demand, and why following an effective golf exercise program is so important.
The muscular-generated explosive force that produces astounding clubhead speed must also be absorbed in order to avoid damaging joints and soft tissue. Failure to move efficiently with good postural alignment and control eventually diminishes performance and takes you out of the game.
Attempting to train with weights or basic body exercise programs may help you get stronger, but will not enhance the movements necessary for golf.
Yes, strength training is important, but it must be preceded by exercises that incorporate the building blocks of postural alignment, balance and control:
- Movement
- Joint mobility
- Stabilization
- Coordination
- Integrated whole-body movements
The GOLFFOREVER golf exercise program is unique in its design and attention to movements required for the game. The same exercise program that protects and rehabs your body is the same program the enhances power and performance. Every exercise within GOLFFOREVER has a specific purpose that plays a role in the bigger picture to enhance movement efficiency.
Let’s look at two foundational exercises in GOLFFOREVER, which are the expressions of movement that will help build a powerful swing, body control and durability.
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Hands and Knees Upper Back Spine Rotation:
This fairly simple exercise, performed in a crawling position, promotes mid back rotation and the ability to make a more complete backswing.
Golfers who experience low back pain often demonstrate a significant lack of motion in their upper back and, as a result, over-rotate their lower back during the swing to compensate. Failure to correct this imbalance leads to further low back damage and compensations in other parts the body.
This is a perfect example of an exercise that addresses a movement deficit to restore body function. No amount of weight training or conditioning will correct this — it can only be addressed with an isolated exercise like the Hands and Knees Upper Back Rotation:
Step Ups:
This is a slightly more challenging exercise, which is performed while standing to develop knee and hip extension strength as well as balance.
From an injury-prevention perspective, it develops the lateral hip and surrounding knee musculature to better absorb body weight and help with spine alignment and support. From a performance perspective, it builds hip extension force and lateral weight shifting ability for a more powerful swing.
GOLFFOREVER videos detail and illustrate the proper execution of every exercise, always explaining its purpose. When exercises have purpose, you’re more likely to do them and stay with the program. This is what makes GOLFFOREVER soeffective!
We invite you to sign up for a free trial to see our comprehensive golf exercise program in action. It won’t just change your golf game for the better — you’ll see the effects in the the rest of life, too.
Bill Fabrocini, PT, CSC is a clinical specialist in orthopedic physical therapy and a sports performance training coach. Mr. Fabrocini has also written numerous articles that have been published in prominent journals including the National Strength and Conditioning Journal and the American Council on Exercise Certified News. Learn more about Mr. Fabrocini here.