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.
Functional Strength Training for Golf
What a run Tiger has had of late, winning again at Firestone Country Club over Stewart Cink in a playoff. And if you didn't know immediately following the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Tom Lehman took the U.S. Ryder Cup team over to the K Club in Ireland. The entire team left for two days of practice before heading back over in September for the main event.
The last few weeks we have discussed static and dynamic stabilization training for your golf swing. We also discussed to concept of cross-specificity in relation to the exercises in your golf specific fitness program. This week we will introduce the third and final component of strength training for golf, and that is functional strength training.
Functional strength training has become a "buzz word" in relation to sports specific training. Often times the amateur golfer feels if they are performing a "functional exercise" then they will find it beneficial to their golf swing. This thought process is not necessarily true and misconstrues the correct definition of functional training.
As a result it is necessary to define functional training in order for it to be used correctly in your golf fitness program. Functional training simply states the body functions as a unit to create movement (movements such as swinging a golf club). As a result, to develop your body for your chosen sport (i.e. golf) it is necessary for you to train the body as a unit. The mantra for functional training can be "integrate movements of the body by your muscles, rather than isolating a single muscle in your training."
For example, in order to execute the golf swing, you must incorporate your entire body. As a result of the golf swing being a "total body movement" (i.e. functional movement) the strength training exercises utilized to improve your body for your golf swing, should incorporate all the muscles involved in the golf swing. Functional strength training accomplishes this goal by training your entire body.
Often the concern by many individuals in relation to functional training centers upon the questions: can I still get in shape, loose weight and tone-up with functional strength training? The answer to this question is yes! And better yet you are improving your body in relation to the golf swing at the same time.
A functional strength training exercise I have found to be ideal for golf is the medicine ball side-to-side rotation. The exercise places you in an "athletic position," forces your lower body to stabilize the movement, creates rotation in the core and incorporates the upper body.
Begin the exercise with feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, body upright and hands clasping a medicine ball.
Maintain an upright body position during the entire exercise and keep your elbows bent at 90 degrees.
Begin the exercise by rotating your entire torso to your left. Continue to rotate to the left until your shoulders are perpendicular to your hips.
Create the rotation with your core and keep the arms in a static position. Return to your starting position and repeat the movement to your right.
Increase the speed of the rotation as you get more comfortable with the exercise.
Return to the starting position and repeat for 8 to 15 repetitions.
Remember in order to improve the golf swing it is best to utilize functional strength training exercises.
Previous blog entries:
08/15/06 Develop Strength the "Right Way" for Your Golf Swing
08/08/06 Want to Maintain the Angles in Your Golf Swing?
08/01/06 Utilize Strength Training to Maintain Your Spine Angle
07/24/06 Strength in Your Core to Drive the Golf Ball Farther
07/11/06 Use Progression to Keep Improving Your Golf Swing
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
