Off-season
What are you doing for your golf game while the snow is here? Did you struggle with back pain while golfing this past season? Here is a game plan for you to take this off-season to reduce your risk of injury next season and improve your performance by improving your swing mechanics.
If you have wondered what to do to reduce the frequency of low back pain while golfing next season, the off-season is the best time for you to do this. Here are some of the best tips I can give you to prepare for next season.
- Participate in other athletic activities
- Do rotational specific workout routines
- Train your nervous system for higher club head speed
- Stretch/mobilize the right areas of your body
- Strengthen the weak areas of your body
Let’s break these down a little more in detail.
- The game of golf is a ballistic athletic event, one of the fastest of its kind. There is no way around it. It has been proven that this game is not just a game you can do anytime with no preparation. Those who participate in other athletic activities perform better on the course. So this winter plan to do one activity a week. That can be anything from your thanksgiving Turkey-bawl, snow skiing down the mountain, basketball at the local VASA, or even running around with your kids or grandkids.
- Do you workout regularly? Do you workout with the basic strength training regimen; Free-weights, lifting machines, weighted cables? Switch it up this winter. Do some more functional training. Coach Jason Glass, a TPI fitness coach has a great 16 week fitness program designed for rotational athletes. I highly recommend going through his LoadXplode training program this winter. You’ll see gains in your first weeks back to the course come spring 2020.
- Have you unlocked your nervous systems top speed yet? Did you know there is more to high club head speed then just large and past muscles? Your Nervous system could be holding your highest club head speed and the SuperSpeed Training system has found a way to unlock the nervous system speed you didn’t know you had. Their training system has a 100% success rate for increasing your club head speed in the first 6 weeks. Used among many of the top PGA pros on tour. Notably Phil Mickelson, if you follow him on social media you’ve seen him use these. Give this a try, you will keep longer drives.
- How flexible are you? Do you know you need to stretch but don’t have the proper guidance or know what do stretch? Well, here is some guidance. Here is guidance for the most common injury among golfers; low back pain. When you are not golfing, what do you do? Do you sit down for most of the day at a desk or in a car? Do you know you have a tight upper back or tight hips? If you have experienced low back pain while golfing, you probably have eight tight hips or a tight upper back, or both. For golf, we want to see at least 60 degrees of rotation in both hips and 50 degrees of rotation in your upper back. Here is a way that you can test this on yourself. If you don’t reach that rotation that you want in your hips or upper back, here are some stretches that you can do at home, daily. Do them and re-test yourself weekly/monthly and see yourself progress.
- Have you wondered where you need to strengthen to be like Kepka of Tiger? Well here is a tip; When it comes to golf, Glutes are King and Core is Queen. Especially for episodes of low back pain, you need to work on strengthening your glutes and core to stabilize your back. Here are a few exercises you can do this winter to prepare for next season. When it comes to strength and golf, you don’t need to be even close to competing in the strongest man competition, but adequate strength will help you game significantly. In general, work on improving the big 3 movements: Deadlift, Back squats and Bench press. You can also add single leg squats, single leg deadlifts and vertical jump.
There you have it. A basic guide to what you can do to improve your golf game in the golf season, when snow is covering everything. Brainstorm with this and see your game improve next season. Reach out to me if you would like more details of what you can do specifically.