Fitness for Your Game

January 2007 - Posts

• Building Your Back

  By Kelly Blackburn A fully developed (taut but flexible) upper, middle, and lower back can carry you a long way in golf. In addition to reducing your chances of injury, back strength is essential in generating clubhead speed and getting the most out of the effort you put into your swing. To get the most out of your back exercises, think of the back as three separate regions: The upper back. Consisting primarily of the trapezius and sub-scapula, this region rotates with the shoulders and is the axis on which all upper body turning is based. The middle back or latissimus dorsi. The transition region of the back between the turning upper body and the steady lower body. The lower back or lumbar region. This area absorbs a great deal of pressure from address through impact and follow-through. Each of these regions has specific needs. In the next few sections, I recommend some strengthening exercises that work each region to give you a maximum golf benefit. Upper back Rub your hand across your shoulder and down your back to your shoulder blade and you can feel the primary muscles of the upper back. These muscles help set the club on the backswing by assisting in the turn. They are also instrumental in generating clubhead speed on the downswing by uncoiling the upper body. The following are a few exercises to help strengthen this critical muscle group: Upright rows: While standing with dumbbells in each hand (palms facing the body), slowly lift the weights straight up toward your chin as if a bar or tether were connecting the dumbbells. To do this exercise properly, keep your elbows out and your hips tucked under slightly to support your low back. Then slowly lower the dumbbells until your arms are straight down, keeping your elbows slightly bent. Depending upon your current fitness level, repeat this exercise 10 to 20 times without pausing. Pops or catches in the shoulders are bad signs. If you feel anything painful or unnatural in the joint, stop immediately. Shoulder shrugs: While standing with your arms hanging at your sides holding dumbbells, slowly raise your shoulders. Draw your shoulder blades close together and move in a seamless circular motion as though you were drawing the letter C backwards. Depending on your current fitness level, repeat this exercise 10 to 20 times without pausing. Shoulder Shrug Lateral pulldowns: A machine exercise where, from a seated position, you hold the handles above your head with your palms facing away from you. Pull downward, keeping your head as still as possible and using your sub-scapula muscles (lateral muscles located in the center of your back) to slowly pull the weight until your hands reach your shoulders. Then slowly extend the arms upward, returning to the original start position. Do this exercise pulling the bar in front of your face to chest level. You can also increase the intensity of this lift by altering your hand position on the bar, moving your hands closer together or farther apart depending on how you feel. Depending on your current fitness level, repeat this exercise 10 to 20 times without pausing. Lateral Pulldowns If you find you must drop your head or roll your back to perform this exercise, you're trying to lift too much weight. Form and fluidity are the keys to gaining maximum benefit from this exercise. Middle back The next set of exercises strengthens and tones the latissimus dorsi, which is the large muscle in the center of your back below your shoulder blades. The lat is sometimes called the swimmer's muscle because it is so well developed in championship swimmers. The lat is also the first upper body muscle that must change direction when the lower body initiates the downswing. Although most golfers may never achieve the development of an Olympic swimmer, strengthening the middle back is critical for your health and for your golf game. Consider the following exercises: Seated mid row: This machine lift is one of the best middle-back strengthening exercises you can find and one definitely worth incorporating into your normal workout routine. Sitting down with your chest against the upright pad, you do this exercise by holding the grips in front of you and pulling the weight directly toward you, keeping your elbows low to your sides and your back still and straight. Without stopping or pausing, slowly return the weight by extending your arms back to the start position. Depending upon your current fitness level, repeat this exercise 10 to 20 times without pausing. Seated Mid Row Rowing: If your gym has a rowing machine , I recommend using it for a number of reasons. In addition to being a great cardiovascular workout, rowing with resistance develops middle back and leg strength, both of which are critical to good golf. Rowing is one of the most highly recommended strength and conditioning exercises that you can add to your workout program. A good 20 minutes on the rowing machine can do wonders for your back and your heart. Rowing Machine Lower back It isn't a universal rule that all golfers have lower back problems; it just seems that way. A disproportionate percentage of golfers suffer some ailment of the lower back. These ailments can range from fatigue and an occasional twinge, to more serious compression and nerve problems in the lumbar region. The list of pro golfers regularly treated for lower back problems is long and distinguished, and includes such notables as Fred Couples, Davis Love, Ernie Els, Greg Norman, and Larry Mize. The pros hit hundreds of balls a day and put enormous pressure on their lower backs. Some of their problems are unavoidable, but you don't have to suffer that same fate. Most of the lower back problems amateur golfers face result from poor posture and a lack of strength and conditioning in the lower back. You can cure both those faults. The following are some exercises to help you strengthen the most frequently injured area of the body for golfers. Back extensions: Sitting on the horizontal bench, place the center of your back on the back pad. Then, keeping your back straight and bending at the hip, contract your abdomen and lean backward, slowly lifting the weight in one smooth motion until your body is fully extended. Without pausing, reverse directions, returning to the start position in an equally slow and smooth motion. Depending upon your current fitness level, repeat this exercise 10 to 20 times without pausing. This low back extension is an excellent strengthening tool for the lower back region. It is also a disaster waiting to happen if you try to lift too much weight, lift too quickly, or try to perform too many repetitions. I certainly recommend adding this lift to your workout, but do so with extreme care. You can easily injure the area you want to strengthen. Back Extensions Low prone lifts: For a no-frills lower back exercise that isn't likely to cause you any problems or worries, lie flat on your stomach with your legs fully extended, and slowly raise your legs, keeping your hips and upper body firmly on the ground. You can hold this lift for several seconds, then slowly return your legs to the ground. Depending on your current fitness level, repeat this exercise 10 to 20 times without pausing. Low Prone Lifts None of these exercises should hurt. If you feel any pain or discomfort in your lower back, stop lifting immediately and consult a physician. The possible problems in the lower back are many and varied, and you don't need to take any unnecessary chances. Posted Jan 19 2007, 02:58 PM by Kelly Blackburn with no comments Filed under: Kelly Blackburn, Fitness, Middle Back, Upper Back, Lower Back, Lateral Pulldowns, Rowing, Shoulder Shrugs, Upright Rows, Seated Mid Row, Back Extensions, Low Prone Lifts

• The Flexible Golf Body

  By Kelly Blackburn Golf requires flexibility in all parts of the body. Tight muscles restrict and slow down the motion needed to effectively swing the golf club and as we age, muscles aren't as naturally flexible and supple as they were in earlier years. That means older golfers must work harder just to maintain the same level of flexibility they had in their twenties and thirties. Keeping flexible requires a great deal more than simply warming up with a few stretches at the first tee before a round. Golfers who want to improve their games need to take flexibility training as seriously as hitting practice balls or working on the putting green. Here are some reasons why: Stiff muscles and tendons in the trunk and lower body inhibit proper setup and cause golfers to slouch. You can't make a proper golf swing from a poor setup, and you can't set yourself in the proper position at address without some degree of flexibility. Making a proper shoulder turn is impossible if your deltoids (the shoulder muscles), pectoralis major (the chest muscles), obliques (the stomach muscles), and latissimus dorsi (the upper back muscles) are stiff and unresponsive. The backswing is a turn of the upper body around the relatively stable lower body. Upper body flexibility makes that turn possible. The biceps, triceps, wrist and elbow flexors must also be flexible in order for the arms to work properly in the swing. You may have heard the phrase "releasing the golf club". This term refers to the point in the swing when the wrists, elbows, shoulders, and hands work together to generate the greatest clubhead speed at the exact moment the club makes contact with the ball. In order for those body parts to work in this synchronized fashion, each muscle group in the arms and shoulders must be flexible. Stiff arms lift the club and make a slashing, violent, and technically incorrect swing. Supple arms swing the golf club fluidly. The hip flexors and adductor muscles must also remain flexible if you want to swing the club efficiently. Because the lower body initiates the downswing and provides the stable base on which the entire swing is structured, having a full range of motion with these muscles is critical. Making a good golf swing also depends on a flexible back and abdominal muscles. These opposing muscle groups are stretched to their limit in golf and players must go to great lengths to stretch these muscles properly. If you don't, poor golf is the least of your worries. You can fix a bad swing. A bad back can last forever. Posted Jan 12 2007, 02:53 PM by Kelly Blackburn with no comments Filed under: Flexibility, Kelly Blackburn, Fitness

• Stretching Your Torso

  By Kelly Blackburn After every strengthening exercise, you need to stretch the area you just worked. But you should also stretch your torso before a round of golf in order to keep the muscles loose and warm before calling on them to execute golf shots. The following are some on-course and off-course stretches for the torso that can keep you limber and ready to play. The back Just as the muscles in your back are sometimes hard to identify when you're lifting, they're equally hard to stretch. But you have to try. Nothing prepares you for golf like a few good back stretches, such as: Cat stretch: The simplest stretch for the back is the cat stretch. With a Golf Fitness Stretch Trainer (a professionally designed stretching aid), a strap, belt, or towel for assistance, stand with your feet together and bend at the waist until your legs and torso form a 90-degree angle. Holding both ends of the Stretch Trainer with the center portion of the strap under your feet, round up your back as high as you can, simulating a mad cat. Pull on the strap for resistance as you round and stretch the upper and middle muscles of the back. Hold this stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Cat Stretch You can practice a slight variation of this stretch on the course prior to a round. Simply hold a golf club across your knees and focus on rounding your back upward as far as possible. Cat Stretch with club Low trunk stretch: This stretch requires the assistance of a Golf Fitness Stretch Trainer or similar strap. Lying flat on your back with your legs straight, place the strap beneath the arch of one foot, pulling the leg completely upright with the ends of the strap. Extend the opposite leg downward. Hold both ends of the strap in the opposite hand of the leg that is lifted. (If your right leg is in the air, hold the ends of the strap in your left hand and vise versa.) Extend the other arm away from your body. Then slowly rotate the raised leg across the extended leg as far as possible without your shoulders leaving the floor. After you reach the maximum stretch point, turn your head in the opposite direction of the leg until you're facing the arm extended on the floor. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and repeat with the opposite leg. This stretch does wonders for your lower back, but be careful: Extending too far in this stretch can cause damage to the sciatic nerve in the lower back. If you feel any pain or discomfort while doing this stretch, stop immediately. A good rule of measure is to drop the right leg across the body to a 10 o'clock position and the left leg to a 2 o'clock position. This is perhaps the best lower trunk stretch any golfer can practice. You should work this one into your regular daily routine. Low Trunk Stretch Lower back stretch: To stretch those hard-to-reach muscles in the lower lumbar region, once again, lie on your back with your knees up and your feet flat. Then wrap the Stretch Trainer around your hamstring and pull your leg as close to your chest as possible without lifting the other foot, hip, or your shoulders off the floor. Finding this stretch may take a few seconds, but after you do hold it for 15 to 30 seconds with each leg. Lower Back Stretch The midsection You may not normally think of your abs as an area that needs stretching, but after a good workout you will find that nothing feels better than a good abdominal stretch. Consider the following choices: Abdominal stretch: You can stretch your upper, middle and lower abdominal muscles with one simple exercise. Lying flat on your front side with your leg fully extended, bring your hands to your sides as if you were preparing for a push-up. Slowly straighten your arms and push your chest and head upward, but keep your hips firmly on the ground (see Figure 9-20). You can feel this stretch throughout the abdominal region. To intensify the stretch, tilt your head back and look to the sky. Hold this stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. You'll feel better for the rest of the day. Lower Back Stretch Oblique stretch: It may have been a tough muscle to find in the crunch exercise (See the section "Energizing the abdominals" earlier in this chapter), but stretching the lateral oblique is easy and it feels great. You can perform this stretch anywhere, and especially before every round. Simply hold a club over your head with your left hand on the hosel (clubhead) and your right hand near the grip. Then, with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly flexed, lean your torso to one side, keeping your head between your extended arms throughout. After you lean as far as you can (and stretch the lateral oblique for a full 30 seconds) slowly straighten up and repeat this action on the other side. Lateral Oblique Stretch When you age and gravity begins its mischief on your torso, your golf game will suffer if you don't stem the tide. The exercises in this chapter can set you on your way to better golf as you age. Plus, you'll feel better than you have in 20 years. Posted Jan 05 2007, 02:50 PM by Kelly Blackburn with no comments Filed under: Flexibility, Kelly Blackburn, Fitness, Torso