My experience with a weighted club

[iacas]

Do you really belive that MLB players are swinging heavy weights on their bats in warmups to slow their swing down? Every single one of these weighted clubs says the reason to get this, is to increase swing speed as well as other things.

Baseball players (and I used to be one of 'em) also avoid stepping on the lines and wear their hats backwards when they need a rally. There's a big difference between what people DO and what is actually proper science.

When I played baseball, I'd swing to loosen up. You often see them not taking full swings with the weighted bat, but rather swinging them around in big circles (with perhaps just one hand), stretching some muscles. After all, they only bat once every two or three innings. Again, I'm leaning towards believing the research others have commented on, especially given the comments I've heard and my own understanding of physiology. Training yourself to swing slowly isn't a good thing. Bulk != speed. I've never seen them use a lot of weights on the Titleist Performance Institute things on Golf Channel. In fact, duh, I'll ask the Titleist Performance Institute guys what their take on this is. I'll report back when I hear from them.

[joshtpa]

Please do. But as a baseball player, you would not have used a weighted bat, if it was to slow your swing down. Nobody would. Im going to call the Tampa Bay Rays Trainer. He lives in my neighborhood and see what he says. He used to work at the IMG academy, and deal with this stuff daily.

[iacas]

Please do. But as a baseball player, you would not have used a weighted bat, if it was to slow your swing down.

As I said, that's not why I use it. Nor why Vijay uses his heavy "club," nor why I occasionally grip two wedges. Loosening up and "speed training" are two very different things. I never used a donut on a baseball bat to build speed. Just to loosen up.

Email sent.

[joshtpa]

That is not what I said. What I said, is that why would baseball players use this, if it would promote a decrease in swing speed? It does not make any sense. I use the heavy club to loosen up, as I stated in the 1st page. But it has never decreased my swing speed in baseball nor golf.

[iacas]

That is not what I said. What I said, is that why would baseball players use this, if it would promote a decrease in swing speed? It does not make any sense. I use the heavy club to loosen up, as I stated in the 1st page. But it has never decreased my swing speed in baseball nor golf.

Then perhaps you're not discussing the same thing as others (including me). You seem to be agreeing with me that using a heavy club to loosen up is a good and valid thing. I've never said any differently.

The way Jay_B and the Sports Science show (and the two who watched it) say a weighted club can SLOW your swing speed is when people practice making swings with it. For example, the Momentus weighted driver, it even lets you hit golf balls with it on the range. Use of THAT slows you down, just as would making repeated swings with a donut or something (whether or not you're hitting balls). Nobody's saying using a heavier club to loosen up and stretch is going to slow your swing down.

[joshtpa]

What was being implied is that "BY USING A WEIGHTED CLUB, IT WILL SLOW YOUR SWING DOWN". Just like when he makes the point about baseball players "using lighter bats" (which was wrong) and so on.

[iacas]

What was being implied is that "BY USING A WEIGHTED CLUB, IT WILL SLOW YOUR SWING DOWN". Just like when he makes the point about baseball players "using lighter bats" (which was wrong) and so on.

Oh come on.

I think it's been pretty clear we're not talking about using them to loosen up. Jay_B said "It is proven that regularly swinging a weighted club slows down your swing as opposed to speeding it up." That's the post you responded to. That's likely taken from DJYoshi, who said about the Sports Science show "There was a segment on swing weights during your practice stroke produce the opposite effect." No mention of loosening up, but rather in "practice." Any time I've mentioned using them to loosen up or stretch, I've said so. I think you read into something an implication that wasn't there. I see no sweeping implication. That's like someone telling you that eating massive amounts of salt isn't good for you, and you reading it as "salt will kill you." A weighted club has its purpose, and others have said that it isn't for practice or repeatedly swinging. Now that that's cleared up, it seems the last few pages have been a bit of a waste of time.

[joshtpa]

A weighted club is supposed to force your swing on plane on the down swing (because of the weight).

Was it a waste really? This is his direct quote.

[iacas]

Was it a waste really? This is his direct quote.

Yeah, I know. You seem to have read it quite differently, to have read in some implications or generalizations that nobody else saw, especially given the post he referred to (from DJYoshi) which was somewhat specific.

[titaniummd]

Here is the excerpt from the show:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct;=re...1_qCtlP8_mjxEQ

The weighted club stimulates slow twitch fibers as opposed to fast twitch fibers leading to a "slight decrease" in swing speed for the batter. This decreased swing speed, led to the disrupting the timing, missing the 'sweet spot of the bat' and the batter feeling more of the force of the bat.

The red fibers are more for endurance.

With regard to golf, the golfer felt faster but he missed the sweet spot leading to a 30 yard drop in distance utilizing the driver.

Although 'revealing' the demonstration was rather limited.

One flaw is that they didn't necessarily show how fast he was swinging the weighted club. They didn't show if he actually stretched prior to swinging the club 'cold'.

I do not think that the results were 'conclusive' enough for me to stop using a weighted club.

As every single person is different, there will be people who will get worse with certain 'technology'. It would have been better if they sampled an entire group of people of different ability levels and swing styles. It also covers one facet of use of the weighted club - the warmup.

If you are using it on a regular basis, I am sure that there is improvement over time. I typically swing the club at almost full speed, personally. How I personally perceived the weight of my clubs, now, versus before use of the iron is that I feel like the club is not 'heavy'.

[Craig Mac]

Using resistance training(devices like a weighted driver, heavy gloves, ankle weights, ect..) as a part of speed training has been in athletics for a very long time. It can have adverse effects on a golf swing with your timing when you switch back to a regular club if you use it too much. That's probably why they tell you to take 10 swings then switch to your regular driver, because you won't necessarily loose your timing in ten swings. When used correctly(in moderation) the effects of resitance training is positive, but it is part of a training regiment. I think these types of clubs are more benificial to the begineer to help with the muscle memory involved with the golf swing. While it will develope the correct muscles to help improve their clubhead speed they still need to work on timing. It's just more profitable for them to market it as "do you want to add XX yards to your drive", than say, "use this as part of your training and you can benifit".

Edit: thanks for posting the video!! Looking at the launch monitor his club head speed was only down 2 mph, but his timing was way worse. A larger sample group would have helped support(or hinder) their findings. Great post!!

[iacas]

Edit: thanks for posting the video!! Looking at the launch monitor his club head speed was only down 2 mph, but his timing was way worse. A larger sample group would have helped support(or hinder) their findings. Great post!!

Yeah, that's the problem with taking the "MythBusters" approach to proving sports things that may or may not be true and provable in one little ten-swing test.

[alf174]

I think these types of clubs are more benificial to the begineer to help with the muscle memory involved with the golf swing. While it will develope the correct muscles to help improve their clubhead speed they still need to work on timing.

In my book, this is right on target and maybe beneficial to the golfer that only gets out a couple of times a year (unlike the majority of the posters here).

[DJYoshi]

go watch it. it's science. it's sport science.

gaining strength isn't what promotes a faster swing. Your muscles that you use on the regular aren't the same muscles for the golf swing. There's different types of muscle movement. Weights often tend to increase slow twitch strength. a golf swing to increase swingspeed, etc tend to use fast twitch muscle movement.
example of a fast twitch work out for triceps:
slow twitch - tri push downs (hands grip on top of the bar and you bend at the elbows pushing the weight down with your tri's.
fast twitch - pull downs (hands grip the bottom of the bar and you bend at the elbows pulling the weight down.

optimal burn - 12 push downs followed by 12 pull downs in a single superset.

it's good to increase your strength for slow twitch..but don't forget to hit fast twitch muscles. I don't warm up with weighted clubs...and most I'll lightly swing an iron.

my friend's a sports nutritionist.
I work out with a sports trainer that caters towards a bunch of sports.
he trains golfers, boxers, baseball and football players

[DefLord]

I watched the video - being a former baseball player myself. First of all if you look at the video - it shows the guy before the weights swinging about 69 mph and yet he hits it right on target. Right at the sweet spot and everything - right down the middle. Now he does the weights then then they say he swings at 68 mph now but the video totally disapproves that - because this time the bat is past his body he hits the ball with the tip of the barrel because he is much further ahead on teh swing than he was before the weights. So therefore he swang faster and as result his timing was off. Now if it meant it taught him to swing slower he would have hit behind the ball but instead he was ahead of his body and therefore was unable to hit at the sweet spot. So I disagree with the notion that swinging weighted clubs will slow down - actually I think it does help to speed it up because the club becomes lighter - but what it does work against is the timing. The timing would be off.