Golfing muscles

[razaar]

Couldn't find anything on this topic in the forum, so decided to open discussion on muscles that golfers need to maintain to enjoy trouble free golf. The quadratus lumborum pair (deep side waist muscles) should be of interest to golfers who spend long periods sitting at a computer.

http://www.floota.com/QuadratusLumborumStretch1.html

This is the first of many.

[markTHEblake]

No muscles are needed to play golf.

[Johnny Canuck]

keep em coming raazar.

[Eag's]

No muscles are needed to play golf.

You are living proof of that Blake

[3oneday]

I'm good for about 3 pisses a round, so that's the muscle I use

[grandmasterb]

I was only talking to a mate of mine (play regularly together) about how both our games have improved since being back in the gym.

For me the greatest thing i have seen is the range of movement i have now with my swing thanks to an increase in flexibility and strength in my back.

You only have to look at the pro's and there strength and conditioning programs along with the the training schedules they have to see the importance in body conditioning with golf.

Look forward to reading what else you post up razaar

Cheers Ben

[henno]

My game is actually going backwards since hitting the gym. I don't know if it is residual muscle soreness from the week's training, or that my muscle memory is changing every week, but things have been markedly more inconsistant since I started lifting with more regularity.

[CanuckDownUnder]

www.cariagahealthsystems.com.au


I'm currently working on improving my club pro's strength and conditioning. He's keen on the importance of it and how it's beneficial and seeing positive results. Just look @ Tiger's game....

[grandmasterb]

My game is actually going backwards since hitting the gym. I don't know if it is residual muscle soreness from the week's training, or that my muscle memory is changing every week, but things have been markedly more inconsistant since I started lifting with more regularity.

DOMS will play a big part if you hit the course the next day (i experience it every Wednesday i get to play) but you shouldn't really be going backwards unless your doing the wrong type of exercises to begin with IMO

One thing people overlook when weight training is a sufficient stretching regime as well which is just crazy.

Your muscle memory for the golf swing "shouldn't" be affected by lifting if you are still continuing to swing a golf club but it will be limited from muscle stiffness (DOMS) which could cause a limit in your range of motion or causing you to get out synch.

What exercises do you do in the gym henno???

[henno]

What exercises do you do in the gym henno???

Monday - Bis, Tris, shoulders
Tuesday - Chest, back, lats
Wednesday - Cardio (run, bike or squash)
Thursday - Leg day
Friday or Saturday (not both) - Cardio again (if I plan to get pissed Friday night, I go friday afternoon, otherwise saturday morning)

I do abs/core every day, but unlike legs/chest/arms, they recover very quickly (little soreness beyond the morning after). I intentionally have arms, chest and shoulders at the start of the week so that there is minimal soreness come Friday/Saturday/Sunday. But if I play a wednesday afternoon or something, I am a mess - all over the place.

Stretching is not an issue. I stretch more than enough. Maybe I am just being a pussy and need to stretch before golf more than anything else. Although I do find that the stronger my arms are getting, the more trouble I am having with my swing getting too "wristy" or "right-army" or whatever you want to call it, and subsequently cutting across the ball. My brain seems to want to kick in and hit the ball more than swing it these days.

[razaar]

A muscle that requires regular stretching is the piriformis, a relatively small muscle deep in the hip, which is one of the four external hip rotators. One of the issues with this muscle is that the tibial portion of the sciatic nerve passes under it. In 20 - 37 per cent of the population part of the sciatic nerve passes through this muscle; I guess some are lucky and some aren't. If this muscle shortens it will press on the sciatic nerve and we know that's no fun. A flexible piriformis is esential to achieve a 90 degree turn of the shoulders and trunk against the resistance of the knees and hips.

http://www.thepilatesacademy.com.au/...s_syndrome.htm

[markTHEblake]

DOMS will play a big part if you hit the course the next day (i experience it every Wednesday i get to play)

How could you get DOMS every wednesday?

In my experience you only ever get that once, if you continue to do new exercise or activity on any sort of regular basis.

[Scottt]

Golf muscles? My sphincter gets a good workout in rounds that feature a lot of 4-footers

Henno: make sure you don't smash the mirror muscles too much at the expense of your back and the posterior chain. Rear and lateral delts need more love than front delts, etc or the balance required for a good setup will fly out the window.

EDIT - broken link to golf workout

[Scottt]

This link better?

Good golf workout here

EDIT - No!

[razaar]

Henno..upper body pushing exercises (chest, shoulders & tris) on one day, pulling exercises ( back & bic) other day. Your routine has too much work for the shoulders (delts) on successive days.

[razaar]

Very few people have bodies that are structurally symmetrical. Most of us have imbalances in strength and flexibility between the left and right sides. Our habits in standing and sitting can contribute to these imbalances; however in lots of cases differences in leg length throw the hips out of balance requiring the spine to make adjustments snow-balling the imbalance right up to the head. If left as is, the spine develops twists and curves which cause muscle imbalances which may lead to uneven disc wear and lots of complications.

It’s the differences in leg length which is the subject of this post. The best way to find out if you have this problem is to have a professional assessment. If you don’t wish to have this expense, have another person check your hip levels from behind, with you in the standing position and in the sitting position. The observer will need to get his/her eyes at your hip level and put the inside edge of their hands ( palms facing the ground) on the top of your hip bones to get a good reading.

If you are by yourself there is a test you can try. Lie face-up with feet together and relax your body. Look down and check that your body and legs are in a straight line. Let your feet fall apart and settle. Lift your head and look at your feet and see if one foot falls further to the side than the other. Usually the leg that is longer will fall further to the side because the external hip rotation will be greater due to the extra leg length.

If you think that you have one leg longer than the other then you can take a punt on self treatment (which is what I did). I found an old Scholl shoe insert (left foot) and cut out two cardboard heel inserts which I affixed to the underside of the Scholl with double-sided tape and inserted the unit inside the left shoe. I am still in the first two week trial period, but have noticed a big difference already in my set up. I now feel that my left side is longer and more stable. After the trial period I will undertake another assessment until I get it right. Then I will buy a professionally made insert. Yep I’m a cheap bar-steward.

[Scottt]

I don't know how much Henno already knows, but a lot of serious lifters do chest/tris together and back/shoulders/bis together because they tend to be the muscles that assist each other in lifts.

If I were he I'd swap Tues and Wed - if poss, and do Chest/tri on Monday and Back/Bi/shoulder on Wed. Then if he wanted to hit his chest again on Thursday when he does legs, he could.

and yeah, try to balance his push/pull ratio for all groups.

But he probably already knows that and didn't actually ask for anyone to critique his routine so I'll shut up now.

[grandmasterb]

How could you get DOMS every wednesday?

In my experience you only ever get that once, if you continue to do new exercise or activity on any sort of regular basis.

If you only get sore once then your not training hard enough simple as that!!!

[henno]

I don't know how much Henno already knows, but a lot of serious lifters do chest/tris together and back/shoulders/bis together because they tend to be the muscles that assist each other in lifts.

I know what you are saying, but I tend to super-set most things, so I choose opposing muscle groups on purpose. I am not saying I am an expert on anything, but if I try to super-set muscles that assist each other, I am usually toast before I can finish the set. Either that, or if I lighten the weight, the first excercise in the set always feels to easy, just to get me through the following excercise.

Drop-sets are a different story, as the gradual decrease in weight allows me to continue the time-under-tension beyond the point of my max, so the same issues with light first excercises don't apply.

Needless to say, I am always changing things up, so who knows what next month will bring.

[Scottt]

Supersets = pain

[henno]

Henno..upper body pushing exercises (chest, shoulders & tris) on one day, pulling exercises ( back & bic) other day. Your routine has too much work for the shoulders (delts) on successive days.

You're right about the successive days, and I used to have leg day on Tues, and chest/back on Thurs, but I my chest was always still tight on a Saturday.

And I don't do the same excercises; some shoulder excercises are pulls, others push, and so on.

Henno: make sure you don't smash the mirror muscles too much at the expense of your back and the posterior chain. Rear and lateral delts need more love than front delts, etc or the balance required for a good setup will fly out the window.

Completely agree. I am not a bicep/chest/shoulder fool. I would actually spent more time on my core, legs and back (rear delts included) than I would bis and chest. That was probably not reflected in my over-simplified 30-second snapshot of a dodgy regime.

[Scottt]

All this talk has me picturing a shirtless Ron Burgundy

[henno]

Ron Burgundy is buff compared to me.

[razaar]

Henno..ever tried the matrix technique?

Example:

Bench press - 3 sets of 21reps
each set = 7 full reps + 7 half reps (from chest to just past half way point) + 7 half reps (from full extension to just past half way point) + 7 full reps. All reps to be at a controlled speed with a weight that is manageable.

Can be applied to all exercises.

[henno]

Henno..ever tried the matrix technique?

Example:

Bench press - 3 sets of 21reps
each set = 7 full reps + 7 half reps (from chest to just past half way point) + 7 half reps (from full extension to just past half way point) + 7 full reps. All reps to be at a controlled speed with a weight that is manageable.

Can be applied to all exercises.

Yeah mate. I do them all the time. (I've always called them 21's though). I do the 7 full reps last though. i.e. 7 x top half, 7 x bottom half, 7 x full rep. They bloody burn!

Another good one is 5-4-3-2-1's (At least that is what my trainer calls them). You do 5 reps counting to 5 on the way down and counting another 5 on the way up, then 4 reps counting 4, 3 couting 3, 2 counting 2, then lastly 5 quick reps (i.e. counting 1 second) to finish - that's one set. Once again, slow and controlled is the key. They start off feeling easy, but are tough work once you get going!