Golf fitness plans: How to Make the Most of Bodyweight Training
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Learn ways to change up your bodyweight exercises to help you maintain your strength
Written by Staff
Learn ways to change up your bodyweight exercises to help you maintain your strength
How to Make the Most out of Bodyweight Training
Submitted by: Coach Shawn
Training from home can be a tricky situation for many reasons. Aside from potentially not having access to equipment, it can feel as though the time away from the gym will result in a loss of strength gains. However, there are some amazing ways you can change up your bodyweight exercises that will not only help you maintain your strength, but gain more in the process!
Strength gains happen when force is applied to a muscle which then results in an adaptation. In the absence of extra weight to load those muscles for the purpose of added force, the use of techniques that increase the amount of time a muscle is spending under tension can be the answer.
In my experience as a trainer, I have seen time and time again clients that are too quick to load the weight up on exercises before evaluating whether their body is capable of handling the demand. Right now is the perfect opportunity to get back to the basics and fine tune the way your body moves. Explore your range of motion, challenge yourself in new ways and get yourself better prepared for when the time comes to get back in the gym and pick up those heavy weights again.
Today I’m sharing with you some of the best techniques I know that require no equipment, but instead place varying types of force on the muscles via your own bodyweight. In the videos you will see several examples of the same technique applied to several different exercises. With all of these, aim for 2-4 sets of anywhere from 8-15 reps depending on how well you can maintain your form. A good rule of thumb is two make sure you have 2 good reps left in the tank at the end of a set.
Paused reps: Pause for 2-5 seconds at the bottom of each rep. That time spent there will help you build more tension and force to return to the start position.
One and a half reps: Head to the bottom of your rep, come back up to half way, return to the bottom and then complete the rep.
Eccentric reps: Lower down slowly to the bottom of your rep and then push back up with force.
Deficit Reps: Find something that will slightly elevate one foot or in the case of pushups, both feet. By having one side up higher, you will end up lowering into a greater range of motion and get the opportunity to broaden the capacity of the muscles involved.
Combo Reps: Put two exercises together so that the load of the muscles is continuous through multiple planes of motion. This allows you to load for an extended period of time with slight rests as you transition.
Supersets: This is brutal! Take one exercise and pair it with a more dynamic motion directly after. A good place to start is with 10 bodyweight squats followed by 5 jump squats.
Shawn Farmer - Sese
Director of Fitness
Golfletica Sports and Rehab
Golf Digest Top 50 Trainer
FRC, CES, TPI 3
Shawn is the Director of Fitness at Golfletica Sports and Rehab in Bellevue, Wa. She has been in the fitness industry for 20 years specializing in strength training, injury rehabilitation, mobility, group training and martial arts. Golf has always been her primary focus when it comes to fitness after having endured many injuries throughout her own golf career and wanting to help others not experience the same. She works with golfers of all ages and ability levels with a focus on keeping everyone pain free and able to do every activity they desire. Outside of fitness, Shawn played college golf for Eastern Washington University, has competed in 9 USGA Championships and more recently just earned a first degree black belt in Taekwondo.
