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300Yards · 05-23-2007, 03:01 PM

Over the years, I have figured out some exercizes you can do at home, with hardly anything at all. All you need is 2 10 pound weights, and 2 20 pound weights..and maybe a bag of sand of two.. You can use just one weight at a time if you want to..doesn't really make a difference.

1.)Shoulders

There are three good exercizes I know of to help promote a powerful shoulder rotation. To do this first one, use the 10 pounds weights. Lay on your back, or sit down, grasp the weight in your hand, and lay it down to your side. Bring the weight straight up, until it is pointing towards the ceiling, and then slowly let it back down. Do this 10 times, and then switch arms. After time goes by, add more weight, and more repetitions.

Lay on your side, with the 10 pounds weights in your hand, arms relaxed on your sides. Bend your elbow about 45 degrees, and lift the weight up until it is pointing towars the ceiling. Then slowly pull it back down. You should really feel it in your shoulders by now.. Do that 10 times, and then switch sides. add more weight as time goes by.

The last one I know of, is to stand up, with the heavier weights in your hands. Let your hands be relaxed at your side. Bring the weights up about 30 degrees or so, forward of straight. Bring the weight up to shoulder level, hold for 3-5 seconds, and then slowly let it back down. Repeat on opposite side. Over time, hold the weights longer.

2.)Hips, Quads

The only exercize I swear by is this one: Lay on your side, with your legs out stretch. Bring your top leg up, until it is pointing towards the ceiling, stretch it as far as you can, in fact..hold for 3-5 seconds,and then slowly let it back down. Do that 10 times, and then switch sides. This one really strengthens your hip abductors. No weight required at all.

Grab 2 heavy weights, one in each hand, and stand up, with your arms relaxed at your side. Do a squat motion going down, but instead of moving back up, hold a sitting position for about 10 seconds, and then go back up. Do that 5 times at first..don't overdo this one! As your quads get stronger, you can start adding more time for the sit position, and more squats. I love this one!

You can also do standard squats, with your back agaist a wall too, if you want.

You can also try throwing some 50 pound sand bags on your shoulders, and doing squats.

3.)Wrists

I know some who think this is unnecessary..but I disagree, simply because the harder you can snap your wrists, the further the ball will travel. So I feel that strong wrists are a must.
Grab the heavier weight, sit down, with your armin fornt of you, palm facing up. bring just your wrist up, hold for a few seconds, and then let back down. I do this one 50 times per day..but just do it until you fell like it did something. That is usually about 10 repetitions. This is one that doesn't feel like much, but it can make a big difference.

I also like to do french curls with my weights as well..if you know what this is, then try doing 10 a day..but if you don't, Im sorry but I really don't know how to describe this one..try a search on google on "french curl exercize".

4.) Abs

Situps. Plain and simple. But instead of coming all the way up, stop where your shoulders just leave the ground, and hold that position for 5 seconds. Do 10 times. Theres also this thing called the Ablounge, that is fantastic for working abs..I wish I had one!

If your abs are already pretty strong, I got one for ya! Lay on a bed, with your upper section, starting at your wasit, hanging off the side. Your back wil be arched backwards. Keep your legs on the bed..does that ake sense at all? Anyway, try doing situps now..much harder huh? Only come up to where your body is aligned with your legs, and then come back down. Do this 10 times, if you can..if not, start off with 5, and work your way up.

If that becomes easy, then try doing it with weights in your hands.

The next step from there, is to try doing situps, hanging upside down!

5.)weighted clubs

I am a strong believer in the weighted clubs, such as the Power Hitter.(the one I use)If you get on of these, here is a few good exercize that works wonders for you..thefirst is the swing the club normally, but slower.(Take my word on this, don't swing it hard!)This helps to loosen up, and ingrain that tempo into you. After ou swing that about 20 times, you'll feel like Hercules holding your driver!

the second is you swing easy, but stand up through impact, and hold the followthrough extra long.

I also like to swing it with my feet close together. If you get thrown off balance, then your weight shift is wrong.

I personally do these exercizes three times a week, and I can definently say that I am more relaxed, and longer on the course. These exercizes help you to work all the muscles that are important t a strong swing. Hips, shoulders, and stomach. The weighted clubs kinda work everything else, and help you with tempo, timing, and weight shift.

Those are my exercize tips.

cbwheeler · 05-23-2007, 03:41 PM

Great exercises 300yds. All golfers can benefit by strengthing their golf muscles. Not only does this give us more distance, but it also increases our potential for longevity as well as making the golf swing much easier to execute.

I'd like to clarify one thing so people aren't confused. The reasons strongs wrists are important to achieving more distance is not so much how fast you can snap your wrists, but how long you can hold the lag in your swing, which is the angle on the downswing between the hands and the clubs, generated by holding your wrists from firing through. The stronger your wrists are, the longer you can hold this angle and the more clubhead speed your release will generate through the impact zone.

I'll add a couple of exercises. Hand strength is also vital to creating this type of lag.

Grab a tennis ball in one hand. Squeeze it as hard as you can for 3-5 seconds, relax your hand for a few seconds, then do it again. Do 5 reps with each hand at first, then more as your hand gets stronger.

Grab a newspaper and lay out a page you're finished with. Put your hand in the middle and without moving your hand in any direction, crumple up the page using your fingers only. Do this with a few pages in each hand. Wash your hands immediately thereafter. You'll get a lot of ink on your hands doing this.

Remember, while strength is important, golf isn't all about brute force. It's also largely about flexibility, so make sure, along with strengthening these muscles, you are also stretching them as well. I know plenty of guys that are twice as strong as me in the terms of raw muscle, but can't move worth beans. What happens? I outdrive them by 30 yards on average. They get mad because they hit the gym 5x a week. But see, they never stretch these muscles to get any elasticity in them, so their effectiveness is much less than someone who has less muscle, but more elasticity.

Now just imagine if you can get both strength and flexibility, like Tiger, Sergio, Howell III, Ernie, Camilo, and all of these long bombers on the Tour.

Hit the weights, but more importantly, hit the stretches.

300Yards · 05-23-2007, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbwheeler

Great exercises 300yds. All golfers can benefit by strengthing their golf muscles. Not only does this give us more distance, but it also increases our potential for longevity as well as making the golf swing much easier to execute.

I'd like to clarify one thing so people aren't confused. The reasons strongs wrists are important to achieving more distance is not so much how fast you can snap your wrists, but how long you can hold the lag in your swing, which is the angle on the downswing between the hands and the clubs, generated by holding your wrists from firing through. The stronger your wrists are, the longer you can hold this angle and the more clubhead speed your release will generate through the impact zone.

I'll add a couple of exercises. Hand strength is also vital to creating this type of lag.

Grab a tennis ball in one hand. Squeeze it as hard as you can for 3-5 seconds, relax your hand for a few seconds, then do it again. Do 5 reps with each hand at first, then more as your hand gets stronger.

Grab a newspaper and lay out a page you're finished with. Put your hand in the middle and without moving your hand in any direction, crumple up the page using your fingers only. Do this with a few pages in each hand. Wash your hands immediately thereafter. You'll get a lot of ink on your hands doing this.

Remember, while strength is important, golf isn't all about brute force. It's also largely about flexibility, so make sure, along with strengthening these muscles, you are also stretching them as well. I know plenty of guys that are twice as strong as me in the terms of raw muscle, but can't move worth beans. What happens? I outdrive them by 30 yards on average. They get mad because they hit the gym 5x a week. But see, they never stretch these muscles to get any elasticity in them, so their effectiveness is much less than someone who has less muscle, but more elasticity.

Now just imagine if you can get both strength and flexibility, like Tiger, Sergio, Howell III, Ernie, Camilo, and all of these long bombers on the Tour.

Hit the weights, but more importantly, hit the stretches.

Nice add on..thanks for the clarification on the wrists..I knew it helped, but not really how, so thanks for explaining that more in depth..I'll have to give some of your workouts a go some time. Being able to flex definently is the key here. You'll notice how I never said to go to the gym..that's because I know that bulk is not the answer. The trick is, you want to able to be strong enough to acheive your target distance, but you don't want to bulk up to the point that you lose some of that extension. If you ever saw me, you would wonder how I flex so much..because I am a short, stocky, round shouldered guy, but I still keep that flexibility because I always work those muscles. Thats the reason I said to go slow on those exercizes..that away, you stretch the muscles slowly, therfore getting a much better workout on that particular muscle.

A stretch I like to do,(thanks to CB for reminding me of this aspect)
is stretch my arm out front, and then bend it towards my body. I can actually lay my arm down flat against my chest. I do that primarily on my left side.

Another one you can do is to grasp a short club, like a 9 iron, hold it with one hand on each end,(one on the head, and one on the grip) so that is horizontal in front of you. Slowly lower it down, til it hits your hips, then work your way back up, til the club is directly over your head, then go behind your back, all the way to your butt. Hold each position for 10 seconds. Gets your arms nice and loose.

Standing up, with your legs apart, and leaning to one side, so that the opposite leg is straight is snother great exercize to do. If your flexible enough to touch the ground, then your good to go.

Doing the splits is another good one to do.(Don't overdo it guys!!)If your like most, you won't be able to go down all the way, but you'll still feel it. Don't go down so far that it hurts, just far enough to stretch.

If anyone else has any more exercizes, here is the place to post it. Even if it's small, I'd still ike to see it.

cbwheeler · 05-23-2007, 05:38 PM

The splits! Owe! Man you must be pretty flexible. I'm sure you guys have seen Camilo Villegas do his spider man putting routine. Man, that is nuts! I tried it the other day and almost broke my ankle. That guy is crazy in shape. We needed a good thread like this. Too many people overlook golf fitness. My back is burning right now from doing rows and stretches last night.

Try lunges for leg strength. Strength in your quads is key for a good coil against your lower body.

300Yards · 05-24-2007, 11:17 AM

Yeah, I'm pretty flexible..I can't go down all the way, but just enough to stretch. I haven't seen the spider routine..from what your saying, it sounds like something to see.

stevel1017 · 05-24-2007, 01:54 PM

I didn't want to start a new thread, so I thought I would stick this here
I use a common household item as a resistance swing trainer.
A corn broom. I swing it so the bristles are verticle (maximum air resistance) and swing it like a baseball bat. I swing it as fast as I can, for about 10 times a day. I try and get the "swoosh" to happen just past my body, to make sure I'm accelerating through the swing

Foster4 · 05-24-2007, 02:07 PM

Yea golf fitness is very important. I have dedicated myself to working out 5-6 days a week sometimes 7 but usually i take weekends off to rest. I rotate workouts between my lower and upper body. And i work ever muscle group meaning if you work out biceps you gotta work your triceps. So you always gotta work out the muscles opposite of the muscles your just worked out.

I have been working out on this regime for about 3 months now. And i have picked up about 10-15 yards on each club. And if your wondering, If your younger and more flexible i would build for strengh if your older or a woman i would tone(lots of reps at low weight) But if you wanna build up for strengh i would suggest everyone learning how to stretch all your muscles and always HIT BALLS before you workout as much as you can so you can retain and keep that muscle memory because you can lose it when you work out since the muscles have to rebuild. So you don't wanna work out then hit balls right after or i would say less then a good night sleep so about 8 hrs. But it will usually take 48 hrs to rebuild muscle unless your getting a good amt of protein in your daily diet.

300Yards · 05-24-2007, 02:39 PM

Glad that works for you! Everyone needs a regimine that works for them. The people who aren't working out have so much to benefit from doing so.

After a while you get to where you need something heavier, and you don't wann use a gym..I recommend one of those short bars, with a bend on each end, that you put weights on, and use for curls...can't remeber what their actually called..anyway those are great. You can put 100 pounds or so on it, and get a nice arm workout. Squat bars are nice to have to, to work for lower body. The only problem is, you need some serious weight! That costs money..

Like Foster said, don't forget to hit balls between workouts, and before them. I worked out for 2 weeks once, and played no golf during that time, and I had a case of the hooks for a week! Luckily they're gone now..whea!

cbwheeler · 05-24-2007, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 300Yards

Yeah, I'm pretty flexible..I can't go down all the way, but just enough to stretch. I haven't seen the spider routine..from what your saying, it sounds like something to see.

Ha, it's cool man. He gets down really low to the ground to read putts with a lot of break in them. It's a lot cooler to see it motion, but here's a still image.