Golf core fitness does not come from a gym. Let’s get that straight right now before we start discussing what it is. Whatever it is, you do not get it by pumping iron or trying to get that treadmill turned up to maximum.
It doesn’t happen. All that achieves is big muscles and the ability to walk very fast round the golf course. In fact you are training to be a caddy, not a golfer!
That’s not what you want, is it? You have to think about what core golf fitness is. Not what your stereotyped thinking of fitness is, but what is fitness for golf. How fit do you have to be to play golf?
You don’t have to be able to lift heavy weights to play golf, but must be supple and swing a club explosively in almost a 360 degree arc. In other words, you have to be fit for golf.
What is Fitness for Golf?
What is meant by core fitness for golf is that all the muscles in your arms, shoulders, back, buttocks and thighs have to be strong with respect to the movements that they have to make during your golf swing.
In order to understand a bit better exactly what that means just consider for a moment what muscle strength is. Physiologically it is the ability to contract rapidly. Muscles stretch and contract. The faster they contract the stronger you are.
The more they can stretch the more energy you can store in them, much like energy is stored in an elastic band that you stretch. Let the band go and see the power it can generate. That’s how catapults work.
Your muscles are like catapults. Stretch them then let them go and contract them as much as possible and you can generate real explosive energy and force.
It’s All in the Power of your Levers
Do that with your backswing, with your muscles stretched to the maximum – every single muscle that you use in your swing – then release that power in your downswing and your follow-through while contracting your muscles as fast as you can, then that power that you generate through your swing and into the ball using the lever of the club and the weight of the club head can be awesome. That’s what core fitness can do for you.
I can hear you thinking now… How can I do that? How do I get the core fitness that can make my swing wind up like a spring just ready to be let loose? Easy!
It doesn’t need a gym, no hot sweaty training sessions hour after hour. No way! All you need is some simple inexpensive equipment like a dumbbell, and medicine ball and a length of exercise tubing you can attach to a door and swing with. “What, swing with tubing?” I can hear you right now.
Tubing, Dumbbells And A Ball Are Better than Weights
Well, yes – attach the tubing to a door, hold in your hands then try to swing your arms as if you were swinging a golf club. Do that a few times against the resistance of the tubing and you will soon begin to build up strength in every muscle you use when playing golf.
You can do the same thing with a dumbbell in your hands. Use that as a golf club and make a few swings. You don’t have to do it for hours. Just a dozen or so repetitions each day and your core strength will build up.
However, fitness is more than just strength. To get that coiled spring or stretched elastic band working to its maximum you have to be flexible. Try a few flexibility exercises and then back to your swing again.
You have to improve your stability (using an exercise ball is very effective) and awareness of exactly what your body is doing during that rotational swing movement that your body needs to be trained to achieve.
Stabilization and timing is all important, and working
on your core golf strength and flexibility will provide
you with the overall core golf strength that you need
to perform to the best off your ability.
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 training 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!
