TOUR Life: Instruction
Part 2: In-season golf flexibility training
By Sean Cochran, Special to PGATOUR.com
Last week we started the development of your in-season golf fitness program. Recall the goals of your in-season fitness program are to keep you on the course (i.e. injury free), assist in the improvement of your game, and maintain the physical gains developed in the off-season.
He has been involved in the production of numerous golf fitness videos and books including Core Golf Fitness. He has authored numerous articles with publication credits in Golf Digest, Sports Illustrated, and Golf Magazine.
In addition to working with Mickelson, Cochran has worked with LPGA Champion Hee Won Han, U.S. Open Champion Corey Pavin, world-renowned golf instructor Rick Smith and short game expert Dave Pelz.
Cochran continues to speak at seminars and clinics around the country on golf fitness. In his free time he enjoys golf and surfing. He resides in Del Mar, Calif.
To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs, click here
As we have stated earlier, golf fitness training will become tertiary in terms of importance at this time of the year. The reason for this "shift" in importance is more time should be spent playing and practicing than in the fitness room. But on the same note, negating your golf fitness program completely can be detrimental to your golf game.
To accommodate for the additional playing and practice time spent we must decrease the amount time spent on your golf fitness program. Again, this does not mean we stop training completely, but rather lower the volumes of work.
For example, rather than spending three days a week in the fitness room during the off-season, we may spend two days, or lower the amount of time per training session. Limiting your workouts to 45 minutes rather the 60 minutes spent training during the off-season is another option. Again, the shift is to accommodate for the additional playing and practicing at this of the year.
Your in-season program as with your off-season program will address the exact same physical components required of the golf swing, which are flexibility, balance, muscular strength, endurance, and power. We will utilize exercises to develop and maintain these physical components throughout your playing season. In addition we will address these physical components in order beginning with flexibility, progressing to balance, and completing the program with power training.
Last week we begun this process with the first of our in-season flexibility exercises, the Standing Calf Stretch, and this week we will continue on with this process. Before introducing the second flexibility exercise in your program let us review the importance of flexibility training at this time of the year.
As we talked about last week, the golf swing requires you to draw the club through a long range of motion. If your flexibility begins to diminish over the season, execution of the golf swing will be affected. Secondly, increased practicing and playing causes fatigue in the body. Fatigue results in muscles becoming "tight". Flexibility training helps alleviate this "tightness" and assists in the prevention of injuries.
The second flexibility exercise in your in-season program will focus on the hips and specifically the hips flexors. The hip flexors are on the front side of the hips and frequently are "tight" on golfers. Tightness in the hips flexors causes the pelvis to rotate, placing stress on the lower back, and altering your posture in the golf swing.
To counteract these occurrences and develop some flexibility in the hip flexors we are going to introduce the Kneeling Hip Flexor stretch. To begin this exercise, kneel on the ground with the right knee on the floor. Place your hands on the hips, and allow the left knee to bend to 90 degrees.
Slowly press the hips forward, keeping both heels on the floor, and allowing your left knee to bend. Continue to press forward until a stretch is felt on the front side of the right hip. Hold this position for 30 seconds and repeat the stretch with the opposite leg.
Again, we will begin your flexibility program at the feet and work up the body. Once you have completed the calf stretch move onto the kneeling hip flexor stretch. Next week we will continue this process of building your in-season golf fitness program.
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