One of the fastest growing segments of the golf industry is golf fitness. Golfers are now bombarded with a variety of fitness programs that will allow them to improve their golf games. Most of these programs tout so-called golf-specific exercises. While many of them will help increase range of motion in the long run and help the golfer to add a little strength, that is pretty much where they end.
If you truly want to improve your golf game in the long run, you need to train like an athlete. This does not mean you need to train like a professional or Olympic athlete, or even like Tiger Woods and Camillo Villegas. However, you do need to train your entire body, because simply training one body part to improve a weakness may result in a weakness developing elsewhere.
Here are a few steps to take to get started. First, have a physical assessment done. You can do this done by a physical therapist or personal trainer who is knowledgeable of golf swing mechanics and biomechanics, or do this at home. A physical assessment will identify the weaknesses in your body that may be holding back your golf game.
For instance, if you have a reverse pivot type of golf swing where you find it difficult to lift your arms, you will tilt your spine toward the target as a way of compensating for your inability to lift the arms by themselves. This is a lack of flexibility and strength in the shoulders, but more so in the smaller muscles of the shoulder. The reverse pivot may also be attributed to an inability to turn the hips properly, and instead you tilt them in the backswing, rather than turn them.
You can do a complete physical assessment to determine your strengths and weaknesses. Then, the next step is to develop a fitness program designed to focus on your weaknesses initially, but also one that will help you improve your overall fitness.
This is what I find lacking in most golf fitness programs. Most will not help you improve your overall fitness, because most of these programs do not have SIGNIFICANT strength and flexibility exercises included. Why? Because these programs assume that most golfers are either lazy, or just too busy to worry about their overall fitness. The focus of these programs is simply to give the golfer a quick fix, because, unfortunately, that is what most golf instruction attempts to do as well. As a result, most of them have you training with some tubing, balance balls, medicine balls, and maybe some light dumbbells, and that is it. Most of the routines will hardly have you break a sweat.
If you are a lazy golfer looking for a quick fix, then stop reading now. But, if you realize that improving your game takes some effort, then, you must also agree that improving your fitness requires some effort as well, and you should keep reading. However, don't be discouraged. You can significantly improve your fitness, your strength, your flexibility and even your cardio fitness, in 30 to 45 minutes per day. Furthermore, you can accomplish all of this at home. So, you save time and money by not driving to and from the gym, and spending money on a personal trainer.
You may ask how this is possible? The answer is with martial arts and yoga related training and exercise. People who study the martial arts and yoga find out almost immediately how beneficial they are to their fitness. While these programs have been utilized in eastern cultures for centuries, they are just now catching on in the West. Their benefits are many, yet there is no need to go to a gym and no need to buy expensive equipment.
There are also many parallels between excelling in the martial arts and excelling golf. Both require strength, flexibility, mental toughness, and the ability to focus and relax. The techniques in the martial arts and yoga will help you train like an athlete, not as a lazy golfer. So go and learn a bit of both now to improve your golf game and your overall health and fitness!
Copyright (c) 2010 Scott Cole
Scott Cole is a Hank Haney Pro Associate golf instructor located at Olney Golf Park in Olney, Maryland. He is also a 1st Degree blackbelt in the art of Pai Lum Kung Fu. For more information, visit scottcolegolf.com scottcolegolf.com and [powergolftraining.net].
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