COLUMN OF KNOWLEDGE

Sport-Specific Training for the Links

By Lisa Troyer
The summer months have finally arrived, and many avid golfers in our community have gotten quite a few rounds in already, particularly those who are not classified as “fair-weather” golfers. If golf is your sport, now is a great time to think about exercises specific to improving your game.

Golf is primarily a skill-based activity that requires a high degree of hand-eye coordination, flexibility, and strength. Your drive is a high-effort, power movement that can be performed more safely and forcefully with proper physical conditioning. Because a golf swing is one of the most complex and unnatural actions in sports, it is difficult to design specific developmental exercises for it. Excellent results have, however, been attained by strengthening and stretching all the major muscle groups.

If you want to take the strain out of golf, you need to expand your repertoire of sports-conditioning exercises. If you have tight chest muscles, limited flexibility in your torso, strained shoulders, and a sore back, that repertoire should not only include strength training, but also Yoga and Pilates should be a major consideration. Yoga and Pilates are not just for women. Some of the greatest athletes in the world are including these challenging movements in their exercise routines.

Golfers habitually bend and twist over and over again while straining their backs and shoulders, forming muscle imbalances and inviting injury. Aren’t you interested in using the force of trunk rotation instead of the brute force of aching muscles to drive a golf ball?

Incorporating Yoga and Pilates movements into your exercise regimen is a sure way to increase freedom of movement, build core strength, enhance performance, and reduce risk of injury. As a fitness professional, I am not in a position to be a “swing doctor,” but I can facilitate increases in range of motion and torso strength to enable you to perform a superior swing.

A golfer’s healthy posture begins with full-body strength, flexibility, and maintenance of muscle balance. Asymmetry is pervasive among golfers. The shoulder, biceps, forearm, and upper back tend to develop more on a golfer’s dominant side. The stronger muscles are tighter, but the weaker muscles are more flexible.

An efficient golf swing requires full range of motion of the spine and ribs, shoulders, adductors, abductors, forearms, and wrists. Flexibility increases the range through which golfers can swing and reduces the frequency of tears and strains in ligaments and tendons. With that in mind, what exercises can you perform to improve flexibility, strength, and balance in these areas? Yoga and Pilates!

Yoga can loosen tight muscles and ease tissue restrictions to enable a more fluid swing. In addition, Yoga improves mental focus. This helps many golfers who struggle with the mental hazards of the game.

Using Pilates exercises to strengthen your center, or “powerhouse,” will help lengthen the torso and improve posture. Strengthening the core will also reduce the incidence of back pain. The concentration required can improve a golfer’s mental and physical game. Your golf swing comes from the strength and flexibility of your “powerhouse.”

Whether you have 5 or 20 rounds in this season, it is never too late to improve your game. Your goal may be to add distance to your drive, to take 5 strokes off your game, to alleviate a chronic back-shoulder ache, or to simply overcome a mental block. If so, now is a good time to incorporate a training regimen that will teach you to quiet your mind and let your subconscious control the physical prowess you are sure to create.

If you have any questions regarding your game or you would like more information about Yoga and Pilates and how they will benefit you, feel free to e-mail me at fitnessfanatics@msn.com. In the meantime, hit’em straight!