Golf Fitness: The Core Muscles of The Swing

[Dminn23]

I'm going to start weight training to try to improve my distance and help me better control the club. I bought a Momentus Signature and received it yesterday and I must say, I really like it. I feel that the added weight will certainly help me gain some strength and equally important, flexibility. I was just wondering what the core muscles of the golf swing are. In keeping my left arm straight, I can definitely feel the rear left deltoid working. What weight training excercises would you all suggest to help improve ball striking and overall control of the golf club?

[ColinMB]

I don't know... I lift weights a lot. I have most of my life. I have a relatively slow swing. I am personally going into the flexiblity area of fitness. I used to be extremely flexible during my martial arts days. I am going to try and regain some of that (been doing yoga actually).

Technique counts for so much. I see guys way smaller than me destroy the ball. They have flexibilty, good leg strength and technique. Just my personal observations.

On the issue of weights though, I contine to develop back and legs. I need to spend more time on core training personally (uhg). I've also stopped trying to break records and I go for higher repetitions.

[Dminn23]

I don't know... I lift weights a lot. I have most of my life. I have a relatively slow swing. I am personally going into the flexiblity area of fitness. I used to be extremely flexible during my martial arts days. I am going to try and regain some of that (been doing yoga actually).

I am 22, 5 foot 10 and only 150 pounds but my swing speed is pretty good for my size and strength. I can routinely hit drives 250+ and this is my first year of playing golf. I think I'm going to start training in the 8-12 rep range, I'm not going to go for extremly low reps and a lot of mass. My flexibility is good but I think there is certainly room for improvement. Overall I think training will lead to some distance and more importantly, better control over the club in general for more accuracy. Hopefully someone can chime in with some golf oriented weight training regimes. Has Tiger published anything?

[elizzy.jones]

I have found that using a medicine ball with basic core exercises has helped my distance dramatically. I recently lost 20+ pounds and noticed my distance went down as well. I may not drive as far now but at least I look good.

[sungho_kr]

wanna improve distance, improve body elasticity and core, and triceps and all out on lower body, also, it is important not to go over on pevs, and shoulders, all smiles

[DBake]

Nothing is better than a total body workout 3 days a week 60 minutes a day. On those two other days tuesday/thursday try doing different acrobic workouts, running tuesday than biking thursday. If you would like a total body work out I can scan one off for you.

Remember your #1 GOAL for right now is to have fun weight training, if your not having fun than your not going to be weight training very long.

Once you achieved a basic fitness level, THAN you can begin sport specific training.

[Mikeland]

Train your legs for power and stability - squats and deadlifts, but also use plyometrics - like box jumps, jump squats, etc. As for the upper body, you should also train for power and stability...use dumbbells instead of bars and stay away from machine-based exercises if possible! Full body workouts are the best. Use a varying range of reps for your workouts - monday 3 sets of 8 reps, wednesday 4 sets of 6 reps...etc. I use a factor of 24 when desiging my workouts - 6x4, 4x6, 2x12, etc...each day I use a different set/rep scheme.

The 'core' muscles can be trained at anytime, using any exercise - and they don't have to be 'ab' or 'core' specific moves. However, some golf specific core moves I like are wood chops, seated med ball rotations, seated med ball rotations with throw, and swiss ball lower body rotators.

Don't forget to train your forearms and grip!!! A good strong grip is essential!