OFF-SEASON TRAINING

How to Train for Golf

To maximize your golf performance, the golf athlete needs to do a variety of different exercises and workouts to build and fitness.

There are seven physical performance factors that are crucial to every golf-conditioning program: posture, balance, mobility, stability, power, coordination, and endurance.

The ideal way to train for golf is using a technique called Periodization. Periodization is the process of varying a training program at regular time intervals to bring about optimal gains in physical performance. Periodization is a fancy word for seasonal training. In other words, you need to mix it up and do a variety of exercises during the year.

Your workouts should fit the season you are in. Even if you play golf all year round, you still need to vary your workouts so not to plateau. In order to build strength, you need to constantly push yourself by increasing intensity and resistance. But you also need to allow your body periods of rest to recover, so you don’t always want to be doing intense workouts.

You should split your calendar year into three phases as follows:

Off-Season – 3-4 months (Nov. – Feb.)

Pre-Season – 1-2 months (Mar. – April.)

In-Season – 5-6 months (May – Oct.)

Important: Even golfers who live in warm weather climates (such as Arizona or Florida) should divide their year into these three categories. Golf conditioning works best when there is a specific focus according to the time of year. Even if you can play golf year-round in your home environment, you will benefit from dividing your workouts into these types of segments.

There are several ways to divide up your year. Here is one example:

THE OFF-SEASON SEGMENT

Posture is actually perhaps the most crucial component of golf conditioning. It’s not the most glamorous, but it is so important that it merits constant attention. Without good posture in your everyday life and in your golf address position, you cannot hope to maximize the other physical performance factors.

Off-Season is the perfect time to get as strong as possible. Weight or resistance training and the use of a stability ball will be your main tools. Don’t be afraid to hit the weights hard and heavy – the stronger you can get, the better. This is also the best time to improve your balance, because stability is the combination of strength and balance.

Daily Dose of Cardiogolf-

Tricks of the Trade-How to Keep Your Elbows Together

Your ability to keep your elbows together throughout your swing is determine by how flexible you are in your back and shoulders.  If there is any tightness in those areas, your trunk will stop rotating and your elbows will spread apart and bend in attempt to get the club parallel at the top of the swing: destroying the arc of your swing.

Ideally, you want to work on increasing flexibility and mobility to get your muscles through their full range of motion.  But to help accelerate your progress, you can always tie your elbows together to get the feeling of how to turn with the elbows in the proper position.

Using a stretch band that you can get at any sporting good store, place it around your elbows as shown. Make practice swings, feeling how your trunk and shoulders rotate without lifting your arms away from your body or spreading your elbows wider than they started at address.  Repeat several times, then take off band and try to keep the same feeling.

To learn how to do these and other golf-specific exercises, try my Cardiogolf 30-Day Challenge. To learn how to do these and other golf-specific exercises take my Cardiogolf 30-Day Challenge-

“Discover a unique and simple program to improve your swing, shape up your body and trim your handicap”

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Disclaimer-This program is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment. Any participant should not attempt any exercises mentioned herein, without reviewing and consenting with their doctor or health professional.  Karen Palacios-Jansen, Cardiogolf and KPJgolf.com are neither responsible, nor liable for any harm or injury resulting from these ;exercises or the use of the Cardiogolf program described herein.