If you want to be the best you can at golf, then you have to be fit for it. Not just ordinary fit, but fit for golf. The four key elements of a golf fitness plan are designed to help you achieve that.
That means that your strength and flexibility training must be golf specific and work the muscles and joints that you use when playing golf.
Most ordinary golfers are not fit enough to play properly, which is why many of them seem to be getting injured so often. The golf swing places a lot of strain on the joints and muscles of the back and the shoulders, and is not a natural movement for the human body.
In order to be able to swing properly, your body must be trained how to do it. It is not that you are necessarily unfit, but the stress that golf places on your body necessitates a special kind of fitness training that is golf-specific.
A Golf Routine Uses Rotational Movement
A fitness plan designed to improve your fitness to play golf should have four key elements, the first two at least being specific to golf and perhaps on or two other athletic sports that require a rotational movement.
Golf specific strength exercises are best carried by making the movements associated with golf with an added resistance, such as dumbbells or medicine balls.
The golf-specific flexibility exercises can be a simple as a stretching exercise carried out in a rotational movement. The benefit of including these types of exercises in a golf fitness plan is that the muscles that you use when playing golf are strengthened, and the rotational capacity of your joints is increased. You will be able to swing faster and hit the ball farther.
It will also include an element of stamina training to improve your ability to get round eighteen holes of golf without any problems, and a nutritional program to ensure that you have the energy for it.
Without proper nutrition, your blood sugar levels can drop rapidly under the stresses and strains of a round of golf, and your fitness will not matter if you lack the fuel to keep you going.
Golf-Specific Strength Exercises Need Little Equipment
There are many golf-specific strength exercises you can use to improve your overall game and that anyone can carry out, irrespective of age. There is little required in the way of equipment, and a prime example needs only one dumbbell and a chair.
Sit in the chair with your chest and head high, and your arms straight out in front of you holding the dumbbell. Rotate as far round to the right as you can, then do the same to the left. Do this twenty times and stop. That one exercise can make a big improvement to your swing.
A simple golf specific flexibility exercise is to hold your right hand out in front of you (if you are right-handed). Take your left hand and place it under your right wrist. Now pull holding your left hand under your right wrist and turn as much as you can as you follow through. Hold the position for 15 seconds then repeat twice more. That’s all there is to it.
That follow through stretch will improve your flexibility on your swing, particularly the follow through These two exercises are typical of those that can help you to improve your core strength and flexibility and to generally improve your golf game. Added strength means that you can hit the ball harder, and increased flexibility gives much more range of movement.
Walking Improves Your Stamina For Golf
You can improve your overall stamina by walking faster than you normally do on course. If you measure the time it normally takes you to walk a given distance on the course, then increase that speed by 10%-15% and walk for about 15-20 minutes.
You can do this on the course, on the street or on a treadmill. After a while there will be a noticeable improvement in your stamina and your ability to get round 18 holes without problems.
Nutrition - You Play How You Eat
Nutrition is a different matter, and should be considered as part of a unified fitness plan. Until that comes, however, you should eat a good meal of protein and carbs before each round, and have an energy bar or two available for quick energy during the round.
These are the four key elements of a golf fitness
plan, and you are advised to seek the services of
a professional golf fitness trainer to put a complete
plan into practice. The benefits to your game will
be obvious, and it won’t be long till you are
hitting farther, swinging easier and lasting longer
than ever before.
For more Golf Fitness information , read the Perform Better Golf Blog, published daily by Mike Pedersen.
About the Author: Mike Pedersen is one of the top golf fitness trainers and conditioning experts in the country, author of the Ultimate Golf Fitness Manual, and founder of several online golf fitness and exercise websites.
Check out his golf exercise dvds, training programs, and workout products, and his new and proven Golf Fitness System, specifically designed to improve golf specific strength, flexibility, coordination, and overall golf swing mechanics!
