Pre-Round Golf Preparation For Your Big Muscles (Video) - by Pete Styles
Pre-Round Golf Preparation For Your Big Muscles (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now it stands to reason if you are going to change the muscle groups that you're using more when you're playing golf, you’ve actually got to get those muscles in good condition. So if you've been quite a handsy, wristly, flicky golfer and I'm now trying to encourage you to use the big muscles more. You can see the benefits of using those big muscles. But if you've never used those muscles before in your golf swing, those muscles really need a little bit of conditioning. So a couple of areas that you want to work on there, strength and flexibility is one, and then certainly pre-round we want a decent amount of warming up. Now just a general stretching program will be good enough for most golfers. You know you can just find a set of stretches on the internet if you like.

I’ve not got enough time really today to go through all those different stretches with you. But a good quality set of stretches just to get the shoulders working particularly focusing on the core and on the hits which for a lot of golfers particularly people that aren’t playing golf every day. Their lives, you know, they’re sitting on the desk. They've got day jobs. They are driving cars generally get a bit sort of limited in their physical movement, in their sort of lower spine and their lower back and around the shoulder. So good -- good flexibility and stretching program would be important. And then a nice little pre-round warm up, just simple things you can do five minutes before you tee off. Get to the golf club nice and early, if you can get to the driving range where I am here. Hit some balls on the range. A couple of nice stretches before you go out, take the golf club, place it over your shoulders, lean forward position to your golf position and just focus on where the handle points in its downswing. So as I'm -- sorry in the backswing, as I'm turning back here I am trying to get the handle to point around towards where the golf ball would be. Any limitation I'm going to find that I can't turn far enough or as I do turn, I might be lifting my rear -- sorry lifting my front heel and my left heel, might be pointing the golf club too high. This all shows lack of flexibility. I want to be able to point that club down to the ball here and then get the head end to point down towards the ball this way as well. So that's good shoulder flexibility, good core flexibility and a great little warming up exercise. Or the simple stuff you can do, club either side -- hands either side of the club, up over your head and just goes far back as you can. If you take a longer golf club you might actually feel that it's easier to dos. So if take my driver over my head and I can go all the way back over that way. So again that shows good shoulder mobility. It's not hurting my back. It's not hurting my shoulders. I'm not leaning back to be able to do that. It’s just up, reach as far back as you can go. And if you are flexible enough you’ll be able to go right over. So a good little pre-round warming up routines like this is going to help you when you go on the golf course to activate your big muscles. What I would encourage you to do, take two golf clubs, grip them together. So the club heads don’t bang on the floor and again just turn the shoulders back, turn the shoulder through. The weight of those golf clubs swinging together is really going to activate those big muscles, get you warmed up before you go out and play. Maybe five or ten minutes of that kind of exercise before you tee off you'll feel the benefits when you're in your round of golf. 2016-08-17

Now it stands to reason if you are going to change the muscle groups that you're using more when you're playing golf, you’ve actually got to get those muscles in good condition. So if you've been quite a handsy, wristly, flicky golfer and I'm now trying to encourage you to use the big muscles more. You can see the benefits of using those big muscles. But if you've never used those muscles before in your golf swing, those muscles really need a little bit of conditioning. So a couple of areas that you want to work on there, strength and flexibility is one, and then certainly pre-round we want a decent amount of warming up. Now just a general stretching program will be good enough for most golfers. You know you can just find a set of stretches on the internet if you like.

I’ve not got enough time really today to go through all those different stretches with you. But a good quality set of stretches just to get the shoulders working particularly focusing on the core and on the hits which for a lot of golfers particularly people that aren’t playing golf every day. Their lives, you know, they’re sitting on the desk. They've got day jobs. They are driving cars generally get a bit sort of limited in their physical movement, in their sort of lower spine and their lower back and around the shoulder. So good — good flexibility and stretching program would be important. And then a nice little pre-round warm up, just simple things you can do five minutes before you tee off. Get to the golf club nice and early, if you can get to the driving range where I am here. Hit some balls on the range.

A couple of nice stretches before you go out, take the golf club, place it over your shoulders, lean forward position to your golf position and just focus on where the handle points in its downswing. So as I'm — sorry in the backswing, as I'm turning back here I am trying to get the handle to point around towards where the golf ball would be. Any limitation I'm going to find that I can't turn far enough or as I do turn, I might be lifting my rear — sorry lifting my front heel and my left heel, might be pointing the golf club too high. This all shows lack of flexibility. I want to be able to point that club down to the ball here and then get the head end to point down towards the ball this way as well. So that's good shoulder flexibility, good core flexibility and a great little warming up exercise.

Or the simple stuff you can do, club either side — hands either side of the club, up over your head and just goes far back as you can. If you take a longer golf club you might actually feel that it's easier to dos. So if take my driver over my head and I can go all the way back over that way. So again that shows good shoulder mobility. It's not hurting my back. It's not hurting my shoulders. I'm not leaning back to be able to do that. It’s just up, reach as far back as you can go. And if you are flexible enough you’ll be able to go right over. So a good little pre-round warming up routines like this is going to help you when you go on the golf course to activate your big muscles.

What I would encourage you to do, take two golf clubs, grip them together. So the club heads don’t bang on the floor and again just turn the shoulders back, turn the shoulder through. The weight of those golf clubs swinging together is really going to activate those big muscles, get you warmed up before you go out and play. Maybe five or ten minutes of that kind of exercise before you tee off you'll feel the benefits when you're in your round of golf.