I know you have a lot of questions when it comes to your fitness. Especially as it relates to your golf game. And as a golf fitness website, we have a lot of content and interviews with information on just about every topic imaginable. The problem is, where do you start?
Sometimes information overload can keep us from seeing the simple answers. That’s why in this episode, I wanted to answer some of the most common golf fitness questions that I get on a regular basis. There have definitely been some common themes that I have noticed from the audience, especially revolving around the following:
* Distance
* Back Pain
* Strength vs Flexibility
* Warming Up
* Nutrition
Therefore, we are going to break most of these down in this episode.
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The 4 top golf fitness questions:
1.) Is my regular fitness workout good enough to suffice for a golf fitness workout? (Does a golf work out differ in any way from any other sports workouts?)
* Depends on what your “regular fitness workout” consists of
* The term regular is the determining factor
* Many guys train improperly, focusing on the wrong muscle groups, don’t perform with very good posture, tempo or concetration of movement
* But I would say that yes, a good, well rounded fitness routine can suffice for a “golf fitness workout”
* The main areas of emphasis for me in a “regular” workout would be
* Posture
* Upper and lower body exercises (lean more toward lower body)
* A balance of front vs back exercises (especially strengthening glutes, hamstrings, lower back, shoulders, etc.)
* Full range of motion with all exercises to get both strength and flexibility
* Know what your goal is to help determine the type of workout
2.) What is more important…..strength or flexibility….for an older golfer? (How do I get stronger while maintaining flexibility and touch)
* I suggest it is strength
* Years ago, I did just stretching sessions, very little improvement
* Now, we do very little stretching in our programs, but my new clients notice a significant improvement in motion, strength and balance
* How long have you been stretching and how much improvement have you seen?
* Strength and flexibility are not opposites
* Strong muscles don’t have to be tight muscles and tight muscles aren’t necessarily strong muscles (I know lots of guys that have tight hamstrings, but if I were to have them do a hamstring curl or glute ham raise . . .)
* Look at them more as working together, stronger muscles have the ability to create better flexibility
* It’s your muscles that pull your bones and joints into positions
* It’s also muscles (in many cases) that have to relax in order to achieve a certain range of motion
* In some cases, muscles remain tight because they are protecting you from a weakness in other areas (shoulders, hamstrings, etc), thus, just stretching can do more harm than good (vulnerability)
* Of course there is a balance
* If you don’t strengthen properly you can develop tight muscles
* But without strength, your flexibility won’t add up to much on the course
* Unable to actually use the motion you have
3.) How do you train a golfer so that they are immune from back pain/injury?
* The back is tricky, this is an area that I want to dive into further in future episodes and put togeth...