Working on your mobility before each round may be the easiest way to becoming a successful golfer. Hit the ball farther and reduce back pain with these six easy moves from Coach Paige.
1. Core Reset
The concept for this drill revolves around allowing the central nervous system to remove any blockage of tension both mentally and physically before picking up your club. Breathing speaks to the brain first to unlock mobility. Laying on the floor becomes grounding so you can focus on your inhales and exhales. It is not necessary to use the little weighted balls, but they help you sense whether you can expand and contract the muscles of the torso as you nasal breathe. Spend a minimum of 2 minutes here to get the minimum benefits.
2. Rocking for Ground Force connection
This movement hits every single major joint in the body. It not only helps to release tension in tight areas with a closed chain exercise but also helps golfers understand how to use the floor to create and shift pressure to different parts of the body. It can be done before golf or even first thing in the morning. The frog position allows the inner thighs to open up, but also activates the outer hip for better loading mechanics in the backswing.
3. Dynamic Seated hip and t-spine opener
This exercise targets the 3 vectors of rotation (upper cervical, thoracic and lumbar). It is designed to stretch and strengthen both left and right sides of the body. Simultaneously, it helps create a strong core while unlocking tension in the hips and t-spine. The spiral line created by this exercise is how we coil into the back swing and uncoil after impact for the most powerful shot.
4. Isolated T-spine rotation
Many of my golfers are told by their swing coach that they need more t-spine rotation. By sitting back onto your heels, you take out the cheat of shifting your hips as a compensation mechanism that so many golfers do with other separation drills. If performed correct this drill will give you vital info about your inner core unit. The inhale and exhale is important to getting your core involved with rotation of the torso to down regulate lumbar discomfort.
5. Standing hip and t-spine separation
The staggered stance of the feet allows your lateral stabilizers to be recruited so that you can quickly gauge if you are actually separating your upper and lower halves. Losing your balance is a sign of needed strength training of these muscles. The wall is not necessary, but lends to getting better glute activation. I tell my golfers to imagine the foot as a triangle between the big toe, little toe and heel bone for the best ground force reaction. Exhaling ribs down to set the ab wall and maintain that strong canister is vital throughout the movement.
6. Half kneel windmill
The goal of this drill is to create better loading strategies of the hips while also opening up the chest/shoulders where people can feel tight due to sitting in chairs often. The feet placement and ability to push into the ground play a role with your hip stability and mobility. The pausing at your end range and spending time breathing allows you to start observing what lines of tissue are actively holding you in a position. You want to feel your outside hips, hamstrings, core and upper back contracting to hold you here.
For Brandon, fitness has been his passion for as long as he can remember. In high school he was a three-sport athlete and received a scholar athlete award in football. Later, he attended Arizona State University on an academic scholarship and received his degree in Kinesiology in 2004. When he was a junior in college, he started Personal Training and has since turned this into his career. Brandon is a natural teacher who is passionate about health, fitness, wellness, and life. Each and every day he feels blessed to be able to do what he loves most…help people achieve a healthier life! Working with his best friend and having clients who he considers to be his family is one of the best jobs he could ever wish for. What he loves most about being a personal trainer is helping his clients achieve what they thought was the “impossible”!
Brandon’s philosophy is that exercise and fitness should be viewed as preventive medicine. If one takes care of his/her body today, he/she will stay healthy for the remainder of his/her life. His main focus is on functional training that incorporates normal daily movements which strengthen core muscle groups and help deliver a functionally fit body. This body will then be efficient with all activities, from athletics to everyday movements.