We are pleased to announce that Sean Cochran, a nationally renowned golf fitness instructor and the personal golf fitness trainer to 2005 PGA Champion Phil Mickelson, has joined PGA.com as a fitness advisor. Cochran, who also has served as strength and conditioning coach for the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres major league baseball teams, will write a weekly fitness blog that will appear exclusively on PGA.com. He'll update it a couple of times a week, telling you about how to achieve better fitness, life on the road -- and in the gym -- with Lefty, plus answer your questions about fitness and how it can help you play better golf. More of Cochran's articles and his acclaimed fitness aids are available at his web site, www.bioforcegolf.com.
Use Progression to Keep Improving Your Golf Swing
The third major of the year is quickly approaching. It is hard to believe the PGA Tour season is well into the second half. Some big events still exist on the schedule and don't forget about the Ryder Cup at the K Club this September.
Over the past weeks we have been discussing the aspect of balance and the golf swing. Again, a term we hear oh so often when it comes to golf. I have, in addition, found the relationship between balance and the golf swing is at times misunderstood.
Once we understand the relationship between balance and the golf swing, it becomes a much easier concept to grasp, as well as develop. To this point we know balance is the ability of your muscles and nerves to maintain the proper alignment and center of gravity during movement.
Relative to the golf swing we know it is the ability of the body to maintain the proper postural alignments and your center of gravity during all phases of the golf swing. This all points to the notion that balance in the golf swing is a component of your body rather than the golf swing itself.
Understanding this concept tells us, "Hey, if we want to improve the balance in our golf swing, the way to go about it is through improving the balance capacities of our body."
This is accomplished through golf fitness balance exercises.
Over the last couple of weeks we got on the right track of improving our static and dynamic balancing capacities with a couple of exercises.
If you have added these exercises into your golf fitness program, you may have found them challenging. In a couple of weeks, as many of my golfing clients attest, you will notice a positive difference in your golf swings from these exercises.
Over time if you continue to perform these two balance exercises they will eventually become easy. Why is this the case? It is simply a process of adaptation. Our bodies are great at adapting to the external stimuli placed upon them.
For example, when you jump into a cold lake. The water is very cold at the start, but eventually your body adapts and you don't even notice the temperature of the water. The same can be said of balance exercises or any other golf fitness exercise.
Eventually your body adapts to the exercise and the benefit from the exercise becomes less. What are we to do when this occurs?
We simply use the principle of progression.
Progression is the implementation of exercises that progressively force the muscles and nervous systems of the body to work harder.
This will result in us continuing to receive benefit from our balance exercises and golf fitness program as well.
How do you create a progression with your balance exercises?
We simply create more instability in the training environment of the exercises. Let's use the Single Leg Cone Reach exercises as an example.
You begin this exercise by balancing on one leg, foot flat on the ground. The actual balancing on one leg makes this exercise very challenging at first, but eventually it will get easy.
Once this occurs we must progress the exercise to a more challenging level. The progression for this and any other balance exercise is accomplished by simply placing your balance foot onto an unstable surface.
The unstable surface creates more instability in the execution of the exercise, forcing the muscles and nerves of your body to work harder. This allows for the benefits of the exercise to continue and show up in your golf swing.
Tools I use to create progressions and instability in balance exercises are half foam rollers, foam pads, physio-balls, and BOSU balls. All of which can be found in local sporting goods stores.
So remember: balance is a component of your body. Improving your balance capacities assists in your golf swing, and once an exercise becomes easy it is necessary to add in a progression.
Previous blog entries:
07/04/06 Dynamic Balance Exercises
06/27/06 Two Types of Balance are Key to Your Golf Swing
06/20/06 Balance in Your Golf Swing Leads to More Power
06/13/06 Getting Yourself Ready for a Round of Golf
06/06/06 Joint Range of Motion and a Fluid Golf Swing
05/29/06 Flexibility Exercises to Help with Those Tight Muscles
05/23/06 Guidelines for Your Golf Flexibility Program
05/16/06 Assess Your Flexibility First
05/09/06 Better Golf Exercises to Improve Your Swing
05/02/06 Developing a Repeatable Golf Swing and Your Body
04/26/06 Increasing the Clubhead Speed in Your Golf Swing
04/18/06 How To Prepare for Your Round
04/17/06 Swing Faults are Not Really Swing Faults
03/27/06 You can improve balance in your swing
03/24/06 Improve Your Flexibility and See Results in Your Swing
03/20/06 Your Body is the Foundation of Improving Your Golf Swing
