Hitting balls before your round of golf may be a waste of your time.  Your muscles are not warmed up to be taken through their full range of motion.  If you are tight in any muscles or joints, then you may compromise your swing technique to get the ball up in the air, risking injury and forming bad habits.  What should you do instead?

If you have ever participated in a sport or some form of exercise most likely you performed some type of regular warm up before competition.  So why wouldn’t you warm up before a round of golf or a practice session?

You need to Actively Warm Up before you play and practice, so that involves more than just swinging a golf club and hitting a few balls.

The point of a warm up is to increase your blood flow, which brings needed oxygen to muscles and joints, so that your muscles can move freely.  You have to do an active warm up to increase your heart rate. For younger players, the ideal is to break a sweat; for older golfers, it’s to become slightly winded.

Hitting balls does not increase your heart rate or take your muscles and joints through full range of motion. Dean Maddalone, CSCS, director of the Professional Athletic Performance Center in New York says, “Your warm-up should get your heart rate to at least 60 to 65 percent of your max heart rate (aim for 120 or up). This will increase your core body temperature and get blood and nutrients to your muscles so you’re primed for your workout, he says. If you don’t increase your heart rate or break a sweat, you’re wasting your time,” he says.

I have developed a Pre-Round Warm Routine to help warm you up and it target muscles that are typically tight in golfers.

Professional golfers now know that a proper warm up is essential for peak performance.  Most recreational golfers quite haven’t caught on with the trend, they typically hit a few balls on the practice tee to loosen up, but that doesn’t actually help you get loose and it may make your muscles tighter and then you wonder why you don’t hit a solid shot until the 5th or 6th hole. No matter what level of player you are, a proper warm up can help you play your best golf and prevent injuries.

Visit Cardiogolf.com for more information about a pre-round warm-up routine.