Golf is actually a ballistic game that requires you to play on one side. Of course, you would be planning to improve your game ever after you finished a game; and that’s how a world-class golfer thrives in an ever-competitive environment.
As we see people are interested in improving their game and unfortunately, they hardly care about their fitness. Moreover, it’s a topic that hardly gets attention.
This article talks a lot about why a Golfer should follow fitness exercises and what type of exercises can be followed for maximum output.
Why a Golfer should Exercise?
Why a golfer needs to waste the time on exercises instead of improving their shots is the common immature question asked by many. But, hardcore players like Rory Mcllroy, Justin Thomas, and Tiger Woods are found to be paying some attention to fitness. The question here is why they should get into fitness workouts if they aren’t improving their game?
The first benefit of golf fitness is keeping the weight under control. Weight plays an important role not only in golf but in other phases of a person’s life. Apart from controlling weight, other benefits of golf fitness are fatigue reduction on the course, speeding up, powering up the swing, gathering control over the swing, and preventing injuries on joints and glutes muscles.
Moreover, when it comes to golf fitness, one doesn’t need to spend two hours each day in a fitness gym to attain the fitness goal. All a golf fitness need is just 20-30 minutes of proper workout thrice a week.
As mentioned above in this article, injury prevention is the goal of any golfer out there who swings their club at 100-130mph. The worst part about the injury in golf is it might force you to take a temporary or, worse, a permanent break from the game. The proper practice would help you lower your fat shots and joint injuries related to it. Proper fitness workout could help you achieve the injury prevention goal along with proper practicing sessions.
Let us now talk about a man who holds the record for longest drive shot in the history of golf. Mike Austin was 64 when he hit his longest drive shot in history, which made it to the Guinness Book of World Record back in 1974. The yards covered by the tee shot was 515, which is 64 yards past the hole at Winterwood Golf Course in Las Vegas.
Do you think adding power to the swing comes just from practicing regularly?No, not exactly, for such long shots, one needs to have enough stamina and power. For stamina and power, one needs to achieve proper fitness. However, wind speed at the time Mike swung his club played a beneficial role in placing his name in the world record book.
From the millennium year, Tiger Woods holds the unofficial record for the longest tee shot, which is 498 yards at Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii back in 2003. The official PGA tour longest drive record is 476 yards that belong to Davis Love III.
Whatever, hitting 64 yards past the hole still needs one of two shots back to the hole. I think, what’s the point in that shot except for the record? Along with speed, you need control over your ball. You know golf is a game that doesn’t only involve your club and your arms; it requires your whole body from tip to toe. Every muscle counts! That’s how you get to control the golf ball precisely to land on the greens.
Strengthening your glutes muscles, shoulder muscles, your arms, and other things would help you achieve the controlled shots in your upcoming tournaments.
There are many benefits like the above that golf fitness workouts could bring to your game. Here we listed some fitness exercises you can do with or without visiting a nearby gym.
In general, our bodies can be categorized as the upper and lower. Hence our suggestions for golf fitness have an obligation to follow the same track. However, golf requires both parts of your body to work in symphony. Now keep on with the article and find out the fitness workouts specifically categorized for games like golf.
1. The Goblet Squats:
The goblet squat is a popular toning workout followed by millions across the globe. This workout primarily concentrates on the gluteus muscles, (Gluteus Medius, Gluteus Minimus, and Gluteus Maximus). These are the muscles that make up the sides of one’s hips and the buttocks. The Goblet Squats is to strengthen those muscles and help to tone them. I know what you are thinking about; Doctors can still jab an injection in your butt. You are not going to be the Hancock.
How to do it?
Start with Dumbell that weighs between 15-20 lbs. Lift it close to your chest with both hands and stand up straight. Make sure your elbows are not spread wide apart instead of tucking to your sides. Now, start squatting. Do 10 reps of Goblet Squats twice or thrice.
2. The Glute Bridge:
The Glute Bridge is a popular one and the one that looks a little awkward, but that’s fine, it has many benefits like those squats.
This Glute Bridge workout is for those who can go with the squats because of bad hips.
Like the Goblet Squats, this Glute Bridge is specifically for the gluteus muscles. Along with the gluteus, this bridge workout would also help in maintaining the abs and burning out some fat from your belly.
How to do it?
Rest your body down facing upward. Bring your knees upwards and feet touching the ground (∠90° to be exact). Once you are in position, lift your center part of the body, the hip upwards towards the ceiling. Make sure, your shoulders and feet are touching the ground and holding your weight. Literally, you need to put your rest of the body between your shoulders and feet. Do ten reps. 2 or 3 times during the workout.
You can use a Swiss Ball/Physioball too: Everything goes by the above format in here too. However, instead of keeping your feet down to the floor, you are resting them on a Swiss ball.
Use your hands for more grip by resting your palms flat to the ground. Use the Swiss Ball only when you think you a little more height could bring a difference to your workout.
3. Lateral Lunges:
Do you know what keeps you on the ground standing after a powerful swing? It’s the balance in your legs, stability and strength in your hips. Without those three things, you would rather do a side flip with your club or get a sprain in your hips. Lateral Lunges is for developing Strength and stability in your hips and legs.
How to do it?
Remember, it is important to maintain your hip and knee alignment while doing these Lateral Lunges. Get your feet together and stand up straight at one end of your workout mat. Push out your hands together in front straight to your chest;
it’ll help your balance your posture while doing these Lateral Lunges. Now step your right leg to your right as far as you can and shit your while upper body weight to the right and balance it on your right hip. Keep your position for three to five seconds and get back to normal.
Now do the same with the left leg. Do these Lateral Lunges for 10 reps on each leg two or three times during your workout. Remember, don’t move your other leg, because that’s what you call lateral Lunges.
4. The Seated Rotation:
Seated rotation is one of the common workouts you can do anytime because it’s not confined to the gym or workout timing. Seated rotation is a rotational exercise which is done for increased torso mobility requirement. This particular exercise helps you maximize and improve bending, twisting, flexing and extending movement.
How to do it?
There are many ways you can do this seated rotation. Sometimes, this seated rotation doesn’t want you to be seated always. This is basically a warm up workout one can do on the go. Though the proper way of doing a seated rotation is by doing it while sitting, one can do this one standing too, when the hip hurts.
Better use a bench to sit up straight. Bring your knees together. Use a towel or any soft sponge-like thing to support your knee if it hurts. The upcoming steps can be done without any types of equipment but it’ll be better if you use one like a golf club, which can fit between the crooks of your elbows. There are two different ways of using the equipment.
Hold a club at your back with your elbow crooks. You can see your palms hanging free in the air, so pull them both and place them on your stomach. The other may be holding a club at your back slightly below your neck with your palms.
Once you get done with the club part, rotate your torso to the one side without giving a shit to your hips. Hold it for a couple of seconds and return back to the original position. Now do the same to the other side. Do 10 reps of seated rotation, I’m sure you’ll feel your bending and flexing getting better within a couple of weeks.
As we are done with the lower body, now we are about to deal with the upper one, the torso.
5. Cable Horizontal Rotation or Side wood Chop:
The Cable Horizontal Rotation otherwise knowns as the Side Wood Chop workout involve a resistant cable or a cable machine and heavy pulling. The main objective of this workout is to transverse abdominis muscles that involve in twisting of one’s waist. Along with the transverse abdominis muscles, this workout also concentrates on your arm strength. Strengthening the above muscles will help you swing your club by putting your whole weight rather than just the arms.
How to do it?
This workout will be effective if you choose to do it standing up straight beside the cable. Bring your hands upfront like 90 degrees holding the cable of a cable machine or a resistant cable. Now, with the help of your shoulder and upper body rotate your hands to pull the cable to the other side. Do 10 reps 2 or 3 times during your workout. Most of all, remember to keep your arms straight throughout this Cable Horizontal Rotation.
6. One Arm, One-Leg Dumbbell Shoulder Press:
One Arm, One-Leg Dumbbell Shoulder Press! Now that’s what I call the mouthful. This workout is for strengthening your shoulders, triceps, and abs together to maintain the tone of your body and improve your golf swings.
How to do it?
If you are new to weight lifting, for god’s sake stop showing off and, go with small dumbbells like 8-10 lbs. Stand up straight and lift a dumbbell with one hand. Let us consider you’re on your right arm with this workout. Bring the dumbbell next to your head and hold it; your arm should resemble a 90-degree angle.
Now, you are going to lift one of your legs and balance your whole body on it. You can choose to go with either of the legs. Lift your chosen leg slightly and hold it. Now raise and lower the dumbbell to the ceiling. Once you finish ten reps change the weight over to the other hand and other legs. Repeat the whole process 2 or 3 times.
7. The Bent Over Row:
If you have ever been to a power gym you might have seen some hardcore doing this workout with a stern face. No, you are not here to be a hardcore gymer, you are here to improve your health to improve your golf game.
The bent-over row involves either a dumbbell or barbell. This workout aims at a lot of muscles in your body. However, you primarily feel it on your upper back, biceps, and shoulders. This is a muscle-building exercise. So, you can use this one to show off.
How to do it?
Again I must remind you that if you are new to weight lifting, start with a small one like 10-20 lbs. This workout involves a couple of dumbbells or one barbell and a 45-degree bending.
Start with standing straight. Let us consider you made a smart choice and chose dumbbells. Lift one dumbbell with each hand and make a 45-degree bend through your hips. If you’re straining to keep those weights next to your hip, that’s not how the workout is done, bring it down straight to your chest facing the ground. If you see your weights clinging to each other, be a relationship spoiler here and, bring them apart to your shoulders’ wide.
Now lift both the weights simultaneously to the sides of your body without lifting the body back. You may look like an ostrich in this position and that’s the right posture of this workout. As a mantra for all workouts, do ten reps 2 or 3 times.
8. The Handwalks:
Have you ever heard of Golfer’s Elbow? That would be the worst injury ever happen to a golfer. Some common symptoms of a golfer’s elbow are stiffness in the elbow, pain and tenderness felt at the inner side of the elbow, tingling that radiates to the little finger, and weakness of the entire hand and wrist. This hand walks might look like something out from one of Evil Dead Books. Creepy! But it helps strengthen your elbow muscles and help ’em get some stretch.
How to do it?
Stand upright and I know that’s the first step of most of the workouts. Now bend forward and place your palms on the ground. Once you are all your fours walk with your hands first to a push-up position and then get your legs to walk up to your hands. Now do those 10 reps and 2 or 3 times. As I said, ‘it’s creepy’, better do this one when your dog is not around you.
We are at the end now. There are many such workouts like 90/90 Hip Stretch, Medicine Ball Parallel, and Perpendicular Throw. We have here mentioned the workouts that yield more benefits to your game without spending much time in the gym. One of the most common things about starting fitness workouts is quitting them. Don’t do that, and that’s our kind request. As a golfer, you might feel the difference in your fitness within three or maybe four weeks from starting the above-mentioned workouts. Better keep them on until you feel the stretch.
