Golf workout

[Titleist3]

Hi all,

Wondering if you can help me with putting some quick fire workouts into my week?

Monday:

Tuesday:
Off
Wednesday:
Play golf

Thursday:

Friday:
Off

Saturday:

Sunday:


What type of exercises do you recommend etc?

Cheers

 

[casuk]

Keen to hear the recommendations on this one too

 

[clubchamp98]

Hi all,

Wondering if you can help me with putting some quick fire workouts into my week?

Monday:

Tuesday:
Off
Wednesday:
Play golf

Thursday:

Friday:
Off

Saturday:

Sunday:


What type of exercises do you recommend etc?

Cheers

I do yoga at home from a cd it’s great for golf but hard at first , you do get used to it three times a week.
I also do it when watching TV ! do some exercises during the ad breaks , it’s amazing how many you can do using this method.
Cycling 30 miles three times a week . I am lucky I live on the trans Pennine cycle way.

 

[r0wly86]

Tough one to answer without knowing what you want to get out of it, what level of fitness/activity you currently do and what equipment you have to work with.

I could give some better advice if you answer those questions, but below is some general advice on what you may want to work on and how.

Flexibility, important to allow the body to fully turn. It will also mean you will have less chance of muscular injury and improve recovery time and length of career. You can do this with yoga or pilates or just a stretching regiment as part of your work outs.

Core stability, your core is absolutely everything in sport, all dynamic movements come through the core. The core isn't just your stomach as some believe it is the top of the legs, glutes, lower back and anterior abdominal (the inner muscles not the 6 pack muscles) Lots of exercises will work the core as well. Yoga and especially pilates will do a lot of core work. As will compound weight lifts like bench press, squats and deadlifts.

However you can target the core with good old planks. You don't need to hold for hours do sets of 30s, do low plank, and side planks in order to target the obliques.

Strength, if you want to hit the ball further then you will need stronger muscles. You don't want to bulk up to much as this will restrict your movement so avoid heavy weight, low reps. Ideally for golf you want to work on muscular endurance so your last shot is as physically as your first. 4 sets of 15 reps on squats, deadlifts and bench press will work pretty much every major muscle group.

Fitness, two ways you can do it. Lower level continuous cardio exercise such as cycling or running. Or HIIT (high intensity interval training) which is typically 30 seconds of maximum effort and then rest, repeat for 5 reps. This can be sprints, burpees, battle ropes etc. It's a lot harder to HIIT but you will get the same benefit of 10-15 mins HIIT as you will in hours of continuous cardio.

 

[Dibby]

Tough one to answer without knowing what you want to get out of it, what level of fitness/activity you currently do and what equipment you have to work with.

I could give some better advice if you answer those questions, but below is some general advice on what you may want to work on and how.

Flexibility, important to allow the body to fully turn. It will also mean you will have less chance of muscular injury and improve recovery time and length of career. You can do this with yoga or pilates or just a stretching regiment as part of your work outs.

Core stability, your core is absolutely everything in sport, all dynamic movements come through the core. The core isn't just your stomach as some believe it is the top of the legs, glutes, lower back and anterior abdominal (the inner muscles not the 6 pack muscles) Lots of exercises will work the core as well. Yoga and especially pilates will do a lot of core work. As will compound weight lifts like bench press, squats and deadlifts.

However you can target the core with good old planks. You don't need to hold for hours do sets of 30s, do low plank, and side planks in order to target the obliques.

Strength, if you want to hit the ball further then you will need stronger muscles. You don't want to bulk upto much as this will restrict your movement so avoid heavy weight, low reps. Ideally for golf you want to work on muscular endurance so your last shot is as physically as your first. 4 sets of 15 reps on squats, deadlifts and bench press will work pretty much every major muscle group.

Fitness, two ways you can do it. Lower level continuous cardio exercise such as cycling or running. Or HIIT (high intensity interval training) which is typically 30 seconds of maximum effort and then rest, repeat for 5 reps. This can be sprints, burpees, battle ropes etc. It's a lot harder to HIIT but you will get the same benefit of 10-15 mins HIIT as you will in hours of continuous cardio.

This myth is pervasive, but it needs to die and go away. Bigger muscles are not less flexible, and in most cases being bigger and stronger usually makes you more flexible. Being so big your muscles are physically touching each other would be a problem, but no one is going to accidentally turn into a bodybuilder without noticing - it takes a lot of work and substances to be like those guys!

I would also suggest that whilst strength and endurance are needed as prerequisites, power is what you want to be training for. It's no good being able to apply a lot of force slowly, as the golf swing is quick. Applying a slightly smaller force but faster will be more beneficial, but applying a lot of force very quickly will be best.

As has been said, without knowing your background, current condition and goals, recommending anything specific is hard.

 

[Roops]

Ok, if you want quickfire, it's difficult to beat the 7 minute workout. The best app I have found for it is the Johnson and Johnson one. Done properly, it's intense and lasts about 15 minutes with the warm up and warm down. You can add/remove/change exercises with the app. and tailor your workout.

As others have suggested, Yoga is difficult to beat for flexibility/core and balance. Even once a week is a benefit and I used to think it was a soft exercise, much harder than I thought.

 

[r0wly86]

This myth is pervasive, but it needs to die and go away. Bigger muscles are not less flexible, and in most cases being bigger and stronger usually makes you more flexible. Being so big your muscles are physically touching each other would be a problem, but no one is going to accidentally turn into a bodybuilder without noticing - it takes a lot of work and substances to be like those guys!

I would also suggest that whilst strength and endurance are needed as prerequisites, power is what you want to be training for. It's no good being able to apply a lot of force slowly, as the golf swing is quick. Applying a slightly smaller force but faster will be more beneficial, but applying a lot of force very quickly will be best.

As has been said, without knowing your background, current condition and goals, recommending anything specific is hard.

It is not a myth, every fitness instructor will tell you to incorporate flexibility training if doing high weight training. I can tell you this first hand as after bulking up for rugby and not doing a proper stretching routine my golf swing became far more restricted.

We are also not talking about becoming a body builder, but incremental differences if the subject put on 3kg of muscle around the upper body without stretching they will not be a body builder but will have a more limited range of motion. This may because of secondary effects like water retention and swelling of muscles which does happen if you lift heavy weights, or micro tears; DOMS, spasms (for instance the smaller muscles in the upper back can easily spasm when doing shoulder presses).

What can also happen is if you are lifting weights and you concentrate too much on one muscle group and neglect the opposite muscle so you become unbalanced this will also have massive effect on flexibility.

Of course putting muscle mass on doesn't mean you will become inflexible. But not managing your workouts so you put on muscles mass without lengthening the tendons and ligaments and keeping a good range of motion going will. This won't happen unless the subject does it, putting muscle mass on and ignoring the flexibility side will increase the inflexibility compared to being sendentary.

For the second point yes you do want power. Power and muscle mass are of course connected but they are not synonymous. Mo Farah has incredibly powerful legs but very little muscle mass. Plyometric exercises would be best for power, clap press ups or 1:4 count for your weight lifting.

The point I was making is that if you just add mass, through doing 3 sets of 8-10 reps at 60% 1RM and not strength through nucleation or endurance. Your strength will increase as will your power but your muscles will fatigue quickly. Golf is such a technical sport that fatigued muscles will result in more errant shots. 4 sets of 15 reps will add muscles mass and power but also endurance.

But it is unlikely that the OP wanted a breakdown of a full body multi-day weight regimen so I didn't bother explaining the whole process to him.

I stand by sticking to the 3 big compound movements on a 4 set 15 rep system, flexibility, core stability and HIIT is the best basic all round workout you can do. It will hit everything and keep you balanced which is the key

 

[ademac]

Just spend the time on practising your short game.
Throw in a 5k run or 2 a week and 20 minutes of stretching each morning will be plenty.
I'd say unless you are in terrible shape, working out wont improve your golf as much as practiing will.

 

[Dibby]

It is not a myth, every fitness instructor will tell you to incorporate flexibility training if doing high weight training. I can tell you this first hand as after bulking up for rugby and not doing a proper stretching routine my golf swing became far more restricted.

We are also not talking about becoming a body builder, but incremental differences if the subject put on 3kg of muscle around the upper body without stretching they will not be a body builder but will have a more limited range of motion. This may because of secondary effects like water retention and swelling of muscles which does happen if you lift heavy weights, or micro tears; DOMS, spasms (for instance the smaller muscles in the upper back can easily spasm when doing shoulder presses).

What can also happen is if you are lifting weights and you concentrate too much on one muscle group and neglect the opposite muscle so you become unbalanced this will also have massive effect on flexibility.

Of course putting muscle mass on doesn't mean you will become inflexible. But not managing your workouts so you put on muscles mass without lengthening the tendons and ligaments and keeping a good range of motion going will. This won't happen unless the subject does it, putting muscle mass on and ignoring the flexibility side will increase the inflexibility compared to being sendentary.

For the second point yes you do want power. Power and muscle mass are of course connected but they are not synonymous. Mo Farah has incredibly powerful legs but very little muscle mass. Plyometric exercises would be best for power, clap press ups or 1:4 count for your weight lifting.

The point I was making is that if you just add mass, through doing 3 sets of 8-10 reps at 60% 1RM and not strength through nucleation or endurance. Your strength will increase as will your power but your muscles will fatigue quickly. Golf is such a technical sport that fatigued muscles will result in more errant shots. 4 sets of 15 reps will add muscles mass and power but also endurance.

But it is unlikely that the OP wanted a breakdown of a full body multi-day weight regimen so I didn't bother explaining the whole process to him.

I stand by sticking to the 3 big compound movements on a 4 set 15 rep system, flexibility, core stability and HIIT is the best basic all round workout you can do. It will hit everything and keep you balanced which is the key

Still, disagree with a lot of this. Go look at elite weightlifters, incredibly strong and powerful, high amount of muscle mass yet incredibly flexible.

If fitness instructors are telling out the above, they either lack knowledge or are lying, go find a different fitness instructor.

My background for saying the above is being a high-level weightlifter previously (national and international competitions) and currently being a British Weight Lifting qualifed coach, so both anecdotal in terms of my experience and scientifically backed from my qualification.

 

[r0wly86]

Still, disagree with a lot of this. Go look at elite weightlifters, incredibly strong and powerful, high amount of muscle mass yet incredibly flexible.

If fitness instructors are telling out the above, they either lack knowledge or are lying, go find a different fitness instructor.

My background for saying the above is being a high-level weightlifter previously (national and international competitions) and currently being a British Weight Lifting qualifed coach, so both anecdotal in terms of my experience and scientifically backed from my qualification.

Got my wires crossed as I thought you were talking about bodybuilders not weightlifters so apologies.

Lifting weights in itself won't cause inflexibility that is correct with some rather large caveats. If you have full range of motion on your reps when you are training, recover properly and know what you are doing in general terms then you will be fine.

If you are your average Joe at the gym with poor form or at least not great form, with limited range of motion for your reps you can definitely "shorten" your muscles. Obviously weight lifters are very strong and powerful it is a sport designed for it. But the type of power and strength is not necessarily what you want in other sports.

I am a big advocate of sport specific training. Weight lifters are obviously geared for a few lifts of very heavy weights for competition. Golfers have to make multiple closed skilled swing using multiple muscle groups. A training regimen geared towards weightlifting could easily result in muscle fatigue later on in the round.

Also saying that weightlifters are powerful doesn't necessarily translate into weightlifting is the best way to get powerful. Such as elite runners are incredibly fit but running marathons is not the most efficient way of getting fit.

Looking at other sports where people have huge amount of power but can repeat for longer periods like rugby, football, basketball although weight training does take up a big part of their fitness they don't follow the same programme as a weight lifter does. Simply because their sports are geared towards different things.

Greater strength will result in greater power, but you can get greater power without increasing muscles mass significantly. Plyometrics are the best way to increase dynamic power.

I am currently training under a Harlequins Strength and Conditioning coach. IN rugby we see a lot of massive gym monkeys who are great for 20 minutes but we all know that they are going to run out of puff quite quickly because they haven't trained so that their muscles can operate at continual high output

 

[Dibby]

Got my wires crossed as I thought you were talking about bodybuilders not weightlifters so apologies.

Lifting weights in itself won't cause inflexibility that is correct with some rather large caveats. If you have full range of motion on your reps when you are training, recover properly and know what you are doing in general terms then you will be fine.

If you are your average Joe at the gym with poor form or at least not great form, with limited range of motion for your reps you can definitely "shorten" your muscles. Obviously weight lifters are very strong and powerful it is a sport designed for it. But the type of power and strength is not necessarily what you want in other sports.

I am a big advocate of sport specific training. Weight lifters are obviously geared for a few lifts of very heavy weights for competition. Golfers have to make multiple closed skilled swing using multiple muscle groups. A training regimen geared towards weightlifting could easily result in muscle fatigue later on in the round.

Also saying that weightlifters are powerful doesn't necessarily translate into weightlifting is the best way to get powerful. Such as elite runners are incredibly fit but running marathons is not the most efficient way of getting fit.

Looking at other sports where people have huge amount of power but can repeat for longer periods like rugby, football, basketball although weight training does take up a big part of their fitness they don't follow the same programme as a weight lifter does. Simply because their sports are geared towards different things.

Greater strength will result in greater power, but you can get greater power without increasing muscles mass significantly. Plyometrics are the best way to increase dynamic power.

I am currently training under a Harlequins Strength and Conditioning coach. IN rugby we see a lot of massive gym monkeys who are great for 20 minutes but we all know that they are going to run out of puff quite quickly because they haven't trained so that their muscles can operate at continual high output

Mind telling which one? I know quite a few of them. If you don't want to name them here, feel free to send a PM.

 

[Dibby]

Anyway, back to the topic, I wouldn't train a golfer like a weightlifter, but I would include some weightlifting in golf training.

Assuming skill practice is taking place already, at I high level I would base a golfers training around weightlifting for strength and power, postural strength exercises, plyometrics and low-intensity cardio (HIIT is a good tool, but a golf round demands a few hours of low intensity).

Specific mobility drils are overrated for the msot part, providing your strength training incorpoerates appropriate range of motion. The best way to get mobile is to work in that range of motion, rather than excessive mobility and rolling etc.. Quinn Henoch explains this really well, and has a good approach to this.


For those who say just practice and play golf, for a beginner this will work, but there is a reason the latest generation of pros have ridiculous clubhead speed. You still have to hit the centre of the clubface, but all strikes being equal, the more athletic faster swinger will shoot lower more often than not.

 

[r0wly86]

Anyway, back to the topic, I wouldn't train a golfer like a weightlifter, but I would include some weightlifting in golf training.

Assuming skill practice is taking place already, at I high level I would base a golfers training around weightlifting for strength and power, postural strength exercises, plyometrics and low-intensity cardio (HIIT is a good tool, but a golf round demands a few hours of low intensity).

Specific mobility drils are overrated for the msot part, providing your strength training incorpoerates appropriate range of motion. The best way to get mobile is to work in that range of motion, rather than excessive mobility and rolling etc.. Quinn Henoch explains this really well, and has a good approach to this.


For those who say just practice and play golf, for a beginner this will work, but there is a reason the latest generation of pros have ridiculous clubhead speed. You still have to hit the centre of the clubface, but all strikes being equal, the more athletic faster swinger will shoot lower more often than not.

I think we are pretty much in agreement lol, just hijacking the thread for a more detailed argument.

My suggestions were based on the assumption of time limits most people have and the OP probably doesn't want to be spending hours woking out.

So I suggested HIIT as you can get a good cardio workout done and dusted on 10 minutes.

Compound lifts rather than isolating muscles just to save time.

And core to channel it. For all of our massive posts I think we are pretty much singing from the save hymn sheet.

Obviously if the OP has more time and the inclination he could have a much more rigorous routine.

Coach is Andy down at quins

 

[ademac]

I'd like to see 2 amateurs off single figure hcp's do an experiment over 12 months.
One of them play once a week and do 3 good gym sessions, the other play once a week and do 3 good practice sessions, after 12 months see who is playing the better golf?

 

[Jasonr]

I'd like to see 2 amateurs off single figure hcp's do an experiment over 12 months.
One of them play once a week and do 3 good gym sessions, the other play once a week and do 3 good practice sessions, after 12 months see who is playing the better golf?

It would make a very good Golf Monthly magazine article as well. I am sure if GM offered a couple of players an opportunity they would jump at it.

 

[Dibby]

I'd like to see 2 amateurs off single figure hcp's do an experiment over 12 months.
One of them play once a week and do 3 good gym sessions, the other play once a week and do 3 good practice sessions, after 12 months see who is playing the better golf?

What about a 3rd one who does 1 1/2 of each?

It's not binary.

 

[drdel]

At my age 3 rounds a week is my workout

 

[ademac]

What about a 3rd one who does 1 1/2 of each?

It's not binary.

That would be interesting too.
I think its clear though that good quality golf practice is better at improving an amateur players game than gym work is and not just at beginner level.

 

[Dogma]

Stronglifts 5x5.

Give it a Google.

 

[Dibby]

That would be interesting too.
I think its clear though that good quality golf practice is better at improving an amateur players game than gym work is and not just at beginner level.

Serious question, in what way is it clear?
I thought most studies show that even with new equipment, whilst professional scores have dropped significantly, the average amateur handicap remains the same.

I would suggets that the most improvement and longevity in the game will come from a balance of both skills practice and beingphysically fit.