The sunshine — and thus golf season — has FINALLY arrived! There is nothing better for one’s mood than doing a beloved form of exercise in the sun; the combo offers a double dose of mood-boosting hormones. Plus, doing something you love is always energizing, motivating, and fun.
The
only all-too-common possible negative of the season? Golf-induced injuries! The
good news is that injuries are not inevitable; you just need to follow the tips
below to stay injury free!
Four
ways to golf strong and stay injury free
1.
Obviously, to improve your golf game — as in any skill-based sport — you need
to practice. So, yes, get yourself onto a course or to the driving range ASAP
to start practicing. The caveat is, don’t base what you do in your first few
games on what you could do at the end of last season.
Gradual
progression is key. Injuries occur when the capacity needed for an activity is
greater than a person’s current
capacity.
After a winter of fewer — if any — golf games, your capacity (i.e. your golf
fitness) will be lower.
Respect
your current capacity; build your intensity and duration back slowly.
2. Don’t underestimate
the physical demands of golf. Fitness expert Paul Chek says that hitting a golf
ball is comparable to lifting your four-rep max at the gym. You would never
attempt to lift your four-rep max for four hours, but golfing asks that of your
body.
Since golf makes more
physical demands than many of us imagine, make sure that between games you are
actively working to improve your strength, core, balance, and flexibility.
Again, respect both your current fitness capacity and what golf requires.
Progress gradually.
“Don’t golf to get in
shape; get in shape to golf.” You need to be strong and flexible or you risk
injuring yourself too easily. The best players also have great endurance —
power and accuracy diminish quickly in moments of exhaustion. Make sure you hit
the gym between golf games.
3. A good golf workout
should focus on multi-joint functional exercises, such as squats and wood
chops, and should exclude isolation exercises such as machine leg extensions
and crunches. Functional movements require your body to work as a unit and,
when done correctly, promote good posture, which is key to executing golf’s
precise swinging actions.
Try doing a squat and
single-arm cable-row:
Stand facing a cable machine, with a cable attachment in your right hand. Lower
yourself into a squat. As you stand, engage your bum and core while
simultaneously using your upper-back muscles to row your right elbow backward.
Do eight reps, then switch sides.
Don't have a cable machine? No problem: increase your strength using dumbbells and a resistance band.
4. Don’t underestimate
the importance of flexibility in relation to golf. If a joint (for example, a stiff
hip) doesn’t have the range needed to swing a club, your body will compensate
(say, with over-rotation through the lower back) and that will often lead to
injury.
Assess your flexibility.
Make sure your head, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles have adequate and
fairly symmetrical ranges of motion. If a joint does not have the range of
motion needed for golf, make a point of incorporating a stretch for that body
part into your regular workout routine. One caveat: Don’t overstretch. Only
prioritize mobility workouts if you don’t have adequate flexibility. Optimal
biomechanics require a balance of strength and flexibility. If you are very
mobile, you should focus on strength training and only stretch to maintain, not
to increase, your flexibility.
Use a foam roller to increase your mobility. Or, a good stretch for less-flexible golfers to try is a figure-four: Sit in a chair. Place your right ankle on top of your left knee. Sit tall. Push gently on your right thigh. To intensify the stretch, lean forward. Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides.
Main
take-away
Respect
where your body is NOW (rather than expecting it to be where you left off last
season) and act accordingly. Progress gradually and don’t just golf: strength
train, improve your core and balance, and work on your mobility. Live by the
mantra “Get in shape to golf; don’t golf to get in shape.”