How To Stretch For a Big Swing

It is very important to maintain proper muscle length. The best way to maintain muscle length is to stretch. There are two types of stretching: 1) static flexibility- holding a stretch for a specified length of time to increase muscle length, 2) dynamic mobility- stretching through movement through a full range of motion to increase muscle mobility. Together they are effective at increasing muscle flexibility and mobility. Now what is the difference between muscle flexibility and mobility?

• Flexibility is the length to which a muscle can be stretched and held, while mobility is the length that a muscle can be stretched during movement.

Ideally, in golf, a muscle should have both flexibility and mobility, but mobility takes precedent because this is where injury often happens. If a muscle does not have proper mobility, extreme movements (i.e. the golf swing) stretch the muscle beyond its current level of mobility. Dynamic stretching is best performed prior to activity and effectively prepares the body for activity by exciting the nervous system. Static stretching is best performed post-exercise and enhances recovery following activity by desensitizing the nervous system. Using both of these types of stretching will help you keep your muscles long and make you golf movements more powerful.

Week #2 Workout Video

Here is week #2 of the "10 Weeks To a Longer Drive" program. More exercises, good song, and another step toward A MONSTER DRIVE!!

Improving Muscle Tissue Quality: Part II

By improving the quality of the tissue that moves limbs and joints, the body can move through a proper range of motion, thereby reducing the onset of pain. In addition, with the added range of motion comes more stiffness in the muscle and more potential energy.

Now I know you’re probably saying “isn’t stiff muscle injury prone?” The answer is : No. Tight or shortened muscles are bad. Stiff muscles are powerful and strong. A stiff muscle can store a ton of energy while being stretched through a full range of motion, and use that energy to shorten the muscle with a powerful contraction. In other words that muscle is like a really thick and strong rubber band. For this rubber band to maintain function, though, it must steer clear of scar tissue, muscle adhesion, and collagen breakdown. The most effective way to do this is with massage. Manual massage by a professional massage therapist is best, but often expensive. The next best resource (and a whole lot cheaper) is with a foam roller.

Foam rollers come in different densities and sizes. Softer rollers are better for beginners because they do not disrupt the tissue as much and are more bearable. A more dense foam roller is more painful but it is also more effective for releasing the bound up tissue, thereby allowing recovery to happen more readily.

For great self massage tools check out the PB Elite Foam Rollers.

Improve Muscle Tissue Quality: Part I

The muscle in your body is much like a rubber band. Some are thick and strong, others are thin and weak. When in good health, it stretches and recoils. Now, let’s say that rubber band is broken and the ends are reattached with a piece of string. Now when that rubber band is stretched, it will be stretched everywhere except for where the string is. Now when a muscle is strained, whether slight micro tears or a full blown tear, it develops scar tissue. This scar tissue becomes much harder, like the string, and does not move freely. That scar tissue restricts movement, causing large amounts of strain on the surrounding muscles and joints, often causing further injury and pain.

10 Weeks To A Longer Drive! Week #1

Follow me as I give you a new workout every week to help increase your drive by Spring 2009! Workouts will focus on flexibility, mobility, strength and power. Each week we will progress to more difficult and golf specific exercises. So lets get to it!

Golf Fitness Goals

Many common movement restrictions in golfers are tight hips, obliques, lats and pecs, weak upper back and glute muscles and poor ankle mobility. These restrictions are usually due to reoccurring muscle damage and the lack of flexibility work. Also, over compensation of more dominant muscles causes weakness in important movement and stabilizer muscles. Injury often occurs because the more dominant muscles get fatigued and the smaller, less dominant muscles cannot handle the stress of the movement. Common injury areas are the knees, hips, lower and upper back, and shoulders. Stability in these joints is very important for a lengthy, productive season! This leads us to the main goals of an off-season golf training program.

1. Improve muscle tissue quality in the prime movers involved in the golf swing.
2. Increase joint mobility or stability in joints that do not have proper movement or support from surrounding muscles.
3. Develop strength and powerful, explosive movement patterns relating to the golf swing.
4. Increase endurance to make consistent swing patterns through a full round of golf.
   

These are the areas that can have the greatest impact on your golf game. A well designed golf performance training program should effectively and efficiently target all of these areas.

First Things First!

The main goal during offseason performance training is to strengthen weak points in your movement. This can be done with a golf coach, a golf performance trainer, or preferably both. Getting periodic lesson with a knowledgeable golf coach is the best way to refine habits in your golf swing, however, getting golf lessons alone only goes so far. A golf coach is going to ask you to perform movements and get into positions that you may not physically be able to handle.


Enter performance training. Stay tuned!

What Happened To My Golf Game?

In the sport of golf, the off-season is usually the time when your game goes down the drain. The cold weather forces you inside. Your dedication to the sport dwindles because there is no opportunity to play or practice. You don’t practice movement and study technique as much. By the time spring rolls around and the greens dry out, your golf game is like a bear coming out of hibernation, wobbling and stumbling as it tries to remember how to walk. The first month or two is spent just establishing the level of play that you went into the winter with. With a new set of clubs as a Christmas present, and your first outing of the season with a potential client, topping and slicing your way through 18 is not exactly the best way to attack the new season.

Visit www.thenewfit.net for professional personal training. Our trainers are experts in golf performance and have a program for you at a price that's right!

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Golf is a tricky sport to train for and it really depends on where you live and play as to how you train. Being as golf can be a seasonal sport or a year round sport it makes it hard to establish a solid periodized program. If you live in Florida, you probably play year round. If you live in New York, you probably only get about 7 months of play. Now for the New Yorkers, it is easy to establish an “offseason” training program because there is going to be minimal play (if any), which leaves only the driving range to work a training program around.

Ever wonder how the pros train to get and stay at the top of their game? Stay tuned to my blog as I take you step by step on how to design and implement an effective off-season golf specific training program.

Tiger's Rehab

Checkout what tiger is doing while he is injured! Are you doing all you can to be the best golfer you can be?