Don't Make These 5 Golf Fitness Program Mistakes
One pet hate I have about the image of a Personal Trainer has been created by shows like The Biggest Loser, PTs with names like Commando and the boom of the Bootcamp industry.
In many ways today's rant is an attempt to separate myself from that image and that group.
(I would never yell at a client nor would I push them until they vomit or need an ambulance...makes great TV though I guess...? Insert sarcastic face)
But rather than get stuck on me, my reputation and my ego I will use the rant to help you avoid 5 common mistakes people make when designing their own Golf Fitness Programs.
(Today's rant is inspired by this great article on the TPI website: 5 Reasons Why Self Directed Golf Fitness Programs Fall Short by Ryan Blackburn)
And, in a fairly self-serving way I will do my best to convince you that you could do with my help...
Already convinced? Apply HERE to become a client: http://www.golfersedgept.com.au/online-performance-coaching/
OK. Let's get into it...
If you are reading this it is highly likely that:
a. You are serious about improving your game and;
b. You recognize the value of fitness in improving your golf performance.
If you are regularly getting to the gym already with Golf Fitness in mind, I applaud you. But chances are, you are relying on a Self-Designed or Generic Exercise Program rather working with a Qualified Golf Fitness Professional.
Something is better than nothing right? Only to a point...
The exercises you are doing in themselves may be OK. But put them in the context of your own individual strengths and weaknesses and its entirely possible to do yourself and your game more harm than good. Or, at best, get little to no beneficial result from all your hard work.
Why is this? What are the possible mistakes you are making?
(This is the part where you may be able to recognise your mistakes and correct your own Self-Designed Program, or simply realise you need some professional guidance if you want real results...)
Mistake # 1. A Lack of Corrective Exercise
Corrective exercise is not the end-goal. It's simply the bridge between where your body is now and where you need to get to to perform safe and effective strength and power training (the fun stuff!).
All we are trying to achieve with corrective exercise is to get the golfer to be able to perform basic movement patterns required for golf (and life), without pain, without compensations and without asymmetries (differences between left and right sides).
Then we can get into the fun stuff...
Why does your Self-Designed or Generic Exercise Program lack corrective exercise...?
Well, it's almost impossible to screen and assess yourself. (No one starts working with me without first going through a Golf Fitness Screen & Assessment.) If your own program is not based on an objective movement screen then it is doomed from the start and you have no idea where to start with correctives...
Example: Can't touch your toes with straight knees? Those heavy dead lifts you are doing could be causing more harm than good...
"...Self-programmed workouts often consist of what you like to do, not what you need do. Don't neglect the fundamentals...." (TPI on Twitter)
Mistake # 2. Improper Use of Stretching
It is clear that improving your range of motion can benefit your golf swing. But there are two issues with Self-Designed Programs here...
First, if you have a restriction somewhere in your body it is generally there for a reason (often a lack of strength or stability in another area of your body). The body tightens up to compensate for weakness or instability. So stretching the tight area without addressing the weak or unstable area will get you nowhere.
Second, most people on Self-Designed Programs stretch the WRONG MUSCLES. If you stretch muscles in your body that feel 'nice' to stretch, that are already over-lengthened you will make imbalances worse. Stretching must focus on your own individual tight muscles, which will feel really nasty to stretch...
(this goes back to the assessment issue to figure out which ones YOU need to stretch...)
Mistake # 3. Rushing into Power Training
Everyone loves box jumps, kettle bell swings and throwing medicine balls around right? It's fun, you work hard, you can really feel it. And these are great exercises for golf...
But you must have the required POSTURAL STABILITY to cope with moving FAST in the gym.
Most Self-Designed Programs lack enough focus on postural stability exercises because people find them boring or believe they are unimportant.
You have to earn the right to do power training. Power training without enough flexibility, stability, and motor control is dangerous.
This is where those movement screenings and corrective exercise I mentioned above come in. GET SCREENED. Fix your problems first.
Mistake # 4. Not Training in all Three Planes of Motion
There are three planes of motion that the body can move in:
- Sagittal (front to back)
- Frontal (side to side), and
- Transverse (rotation).
Most traditional gym training is Sagittal; forwards or backwards. Most exercises in Self-Designed Programs are in the Sagittal plane. Lunges, squats, deadlifts, pushups, rows, etc...
A lot of "golf specific training" has headed too far in the other direction and made everything in the Transverse plane (all rotation).
Here is all you need to know: Yes golf is a rotational sport, but movement occurs in all three planes of motion at every joint in every phase of the swing.Therefore your exercise program needs to reflect this and test out your stability, strength, flexibility and power in all three planes of motion!
Mistake # 5. Isolation Instead of Integration
If you are currently doing a Self-Designed 'split program' that breaks the body down into parts to isolate each day (chest, back, shoulders, legs), then you need to review it. Today.
In golf, (and in life) we want all your muscles working together as an integrated unit. Therefore, its is completely counter productive to isolate out muscles and work them by themselves...
(unless for a corrective purpose, after which they should be integrated back into a functional movement pattern...)
Hopefully these 5 Mistakes have given you some food for thought to analyse and improve your own Self-Designed Golf Fitness Program.
Need my help with Screening, Assessment or Program Design? Read more and apply HERE: http://www.golfersedgept.com.au/online-performance-coaching/
Andrew "Individually Designed" Ransom, The Golf Fitness PT