This May Not Be What You Expect

I pride myself on not doing clickbait.  You won’t find headlines like, “Three Crazy Facts About Tiger Woods” on this site.  However, I fear that this article is not going to be what you expect based on the headline.  But expectations be damned, I think this is going to help you play better golf.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You are a golfer

Why All Golfers Should Lift Weights

This lesson has nothing to do with the physical reasons for lifting weights.  There are many, and I may discuss them in the future, but this is about what lifting will do for your mind.  Here are five lessons you will learn from lifting that will make you a better golfer.

Progress Is Not Linear

I’m always jealous of people who are new to lifting.  They get to experience “beginner gains” – that stage where every workout comes with new personal records.

But after that initial burst – however long it lasts – progress becomes harder to find.  You may stall out for a week or a month.  You may not see any substantial progress for a year.  If you’re not willing to change the work you’re doing, you may be at the same level for the rest of your life.

On a more optimistic note, you may also level up when you’re not expecting it.  After weeks of struggling with the same weight, one day it will feel like nothing.

For both good and bad, progress is not linear in weight lifting or golf.

Unexpected Gains and Letdowns

Just as progress is not linear, progress is not predictable.  There will be times when, after a week of stellar workouts, you show up and can barely lift the bar.  On the other hand, you may come back to the gym after a week of being sick, out of town, or injured and hit a personal best.

Knowing this can keep you from getting too high or too low.  Keep your expectations to a minimum.  Give what you have every day.  Enjoy the ride.

Personal Bests are Rare

Once you’re “trained” – meaning that you’ve lifted for a while – hitting personal bests takes substantial effort.  Especially as you get older, you can’t expect to do the same old thing and see big gains.  This means you have two choices.

Option 1: Be content with your current workload and performance level.  There is nothing wrong with this, regardless of what your performance level is.  As I discussed HERE, you don’t need to be Arnold, and you don’t need to be good at golf.

Option 2: Commit to doing all the things necessary to improving.  Work out longer, smarter, and with more intensity.  Get your nutrition dialed in.  Focus on the thing you want and get it.

Personal bests are rare.  When they happen, enjoy them.

For more on breaking plateaus, read THIS

Building Brick by Brick

I know people who work out every day.  I know people who go through spurts of manic working out followed by periods of doing nothing.  The ones who work out every day are the ones who make gains.  Consistency is king.

Consistency is the most important variable if you want to improve.  Consistency is more important than having the perfect workout plan.  It’s better than having great equipment or cool workout clothes.  Consistency even trumps intensity and duration.  If you want to get stronger, be consistent.

Enjoy the Process

If you don’t enjoy being in the gym, you’re missing the point.  This is your time to focus on and do something for yourself.  Whether you’re hitting PRs or just grinding it out, appreciate that you’re lucky to be there.

The post All Golfers Should Lift Weights appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Finding a New Level

One of the best times in your golf life is when you’re new to the game.  Yes, it can be frustrating, but it’s unlikely there will be another time when you improve as rapidly.  As you pile up experience, your game will naturally level off.  But if you’re a competitive person, this plateau may not be palatable.  In this lesson, I’ll discuss how to break through those golf plateaus to find new, higher levels of performance.

Check out the longer, podcast version of this lesson HERE

This Lesson Is For You If:

You want to see your game improve dramatically

Where Are We Headed?

Before you embark on your journey of improvement, it’s important to define your goals.  “Get better” isn’t going to get it done.  Are you trying to get longer off the tee?  More accurate with your irons?  Better around the green?  Have fewer three putts?  Drop your handicap by three strokes?  We need to start by picking a goal.

You should also set a deadline.  I wrote a lesson many years ago about SMART goals [find it HERE], an acronym for setting good goals.  The “T” stands for “Timely” meaning that a good goal has a due date.  Without that time pressure, it’s too easy to say, “I’ll work on it tomorrow.”

Finally, I’d encourage you to be realistic.  Golf is not a game of perfect.  You can work harder than anyone in human history, and you’ll still hit the occasion hook.  I’m all in on your goal of knocking three strokes off your handicap this year.  However, I’ll take the under if your goal is going from a +20 to a -3 in one season.

Do Something New

Henry Ford is credited with the line, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”  There is no better summary for this lesson.  If you want to get to a new level of performance, you need to do a new level of work.  This can mean one (or more) of three things.

New Work

My favorite way to bust through plateaus is by finding the low hanging fruit.  In this context, that means doing the stuff you aren’t currently doing to improve your game.

The two things that come to mind for me are club fitting and fitness.  The majority of golfers have never been fit for their clubs.  That means they can, quite literally, buy a better game.  Similarly, most golfers are not doing anything to improve their body.  This could be as simple as committing to a five minute warm up before playing or practicing.  It could also mean something more serious like improving your diet or exercising regularly.

Of course, these are not the only forms of new work.  If you’ve never put any time into putting practice, that could be yours.  It could be taking a lesson.  Maybe it’s working with a new training aid.  Any of these things can lead to a golf breakthrough.

More Work

Another way to get through a golf plateau is to put more time into your game.  If you’re currently practicing once a week, find a way to practice twice a week.  Investing more time is the simplest way to see better performance.  The one catch, however, is that you need to put in quality time.  Which leads us to the final route to improvement.

Better Work

We are all guilty of going through the motions at times.  It could be on the range, on the green, or in the gym.  We’re there in body but not in mind or spirit.  If you want to see your performance improve, cut these “empty calories” out of your practice.  Put something on your golf bag that reminds you of your goal.  Set a reminder on your phone to give you a daily shot of inspiration.  If you’re putting 100% focus into every minute of your practice, you’ll ascend to new golf heights in no time.

The post Breaking Your Golf Plateaus appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

“One Quick Fix”

In every endeavor that I can think of, marketers use the promise of making one change that fixes everything.

“One weird trick to lose belly fat!”  “One change that will turn you into Jimi Hendrix!”  “One swing tip to unlock drives like Bryson!”

If you read Plugged In Golf with any regularity, you know that we don’t traffic in that kind of clickbait.  In fact, we abhor it.  But in this lesson, I’m going to discuss how most of us actually are walking around with one little thing that’s holding back our golf game.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You want to swing faster or are training for speed

You want to improve your swing

You want to play without injuries or pain

Disclaimer:

Before you read any further, I want to be clear: I don’t know what your one thing is.  But I do know you have one thing that is physically keeping you from playing your best golf.  It could be an area of tightness.  It might be an overlooked muscle that needs to be strengthened.

Finding My Own Weak Spots

My recent experience has revealed to me how important it is to find these problem spots in your body.  Over the last couple months, I’ve been working with a personal trainer through AXIUS Core [review HERE].  In my initial assessment, she found tightness in my right Achilles tendon and stiff shoulders.  She set up my program to fix these issues, and the results have been tremendous.  Without hours on the range, my swing is better because I’m not hanging back on a tight Achilles.  Without extensive training, I’m faster because my body isn’t protecting shoulders that can’t move properly.  We took the metaphorical rock out of my shoe and – no surprise – I’m able to run faster and without pain.

An Analogy

By the numbers, most people who are reading this are men.  And, at the risk of stereotyping, men aren’t really keen on asking for help or trying to identify our weak points.  I say that from personal experience.  Most of us think that we can push through pain, cover up core weaknesses with more bench pressing, and use the first three holes as our warm up.  And that’s true…until it’s not.

Think of your body and golf swing like a car.  Most of us like doing stuff to build up the engine – big, heavy lifts and speed training.  And there’s no doubt about the importance of a big engine if you want to go fast.  But to go fast and stay on the road, every piece is important.  You can have the biggest engine in the world, but if the axle snaps, you’re done.  If your transmission won’t get out of second gear, you won’t go past cruising speed.  All those “unsexy” car parts are the things we often overlook.

Finding Your One Thing

Hopefully I’ve convinced you that you need to take the whole picture into account if you want to play better.  If you want to get that complete picture of what’s going on with your body, the best thing you can do is get some professional help.  Find a qualified physical therapist – ideally one knowledgable about golf – and ask for a full assessment.  If you’re not ready to find a trainer to work with in person, check out this article from Chris Finn HERE to try an at-home assessment.

I’ve focused on the body and swinging faster, but this applies to your game, as well.  While I’m very aware that ball striking is the biggest determinant of score, that doesn’t mean we should ignore the other elements.  Just like a trainer can assess your body, a shot tracker like Shot Scope [review HERE] can assess your game in a data-driven way that will point out the weak spots holding back your scoring.

The post Is One Thing Holding Back Your Game? appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Chronic Back Pain. A Chronic Problem in Golfers.

By: Carter Schmitz, CSCS, TPI, Founder SCRATCHGolfTraining.com 

Welcome back to our two-part series on chronic back pain in golf.  In this first part – find it HERE – we discussed how to avoid back pain.  In this one, we’ll discuss what to do if you’re already suffering from chronic back pain.

First, a few disclaimers… 

Everybody experiences back pain differently and everybody’s pain is being caused by something slightly different.  Please use proper judgment regarding the exercises and discussions I present below and see a medical professional if needed. 

I’m not here to diagnose your pain, I’m here to provide generalized thoughts and suggestions that I believe will help those battling chronic back pain, and those looking to avoid it in the future!

The Chronic Problem

The back is a common spot for pain and injury in golfers… actually, amongst the most common. The chronic, or long-term, nature of many back injuries can be debilitating and keep golfers off of the course for extended periods of time. 

It’s tough to say precisely why this problem exists, but we can discuss a few theories that I have. 

First, sport inherently exposes athletes to injury risks.  All of our golf swings generate high forces and velocities and the body has to absorb these impacts.  Injuries and pain can happen, no matter how prepared we are.

Second, the golf swing places significant compressive, shear and rotational loads on the spinal joints. It therefore makes sense that the spine, and back muscles that connect into it, are common spots for injuries and pain, simply due to the high magnitude of loading that is directed towards it during your golf swing.

Thirdly, and what I would argue to be the largest reason for golf’s chronic back pain problem, is a lack of physical preparation. How many golfers actively train and physically prepare like the athletes they are? How many understand the impact their golf swing has on their body and train to thrive within it? 

I Currently Have Back Pain, Help Me Get Out of It.

If you are currently in a state of chronic back pain, I have three keys to developing a long-term plan that helps you get out of back pain and back into playing the sport you love at 100%.

1. Be healthier
2. Progressively add back stress
3. Be consistent

Overall Health

First, start by taking an inventory of your overall health.  What could be improved?  What could you change that will help your overall function as a human being? 

Train Your Back

Start slowly introducing your back to more stress – movement and load.  Start with low impact exercises like cat-cows, birddogs, t-spine rotations, and glute bridges.  Click each exercise for a video explanation.

Move and load your spine daily as much as you can without pain.  As your back starts to strengthen and mobilize, progressively increase the stresses you are providing it.  Move in larger ranges of motion and/or increase the loading.

Add in slightly more impactful exercises like single leg RDLs, kneeling wall windmills, lateral flexion wall touches and pallof rotations.  Click each exercise for a video explanation.

As you continue making progress, you can use even more impactful exercises like barbell RDLs, db or barbell split squats, and split squat lateral bend. 

Don’t Stop

Finally, never stop.  This process isn’t a one week fix.  It’s not even a 1 month fix.  It’s many months of consistent and progressive effort stacked together.  Slowly, overtime, increase the stresses you expose your back to. 

Your back will get stronger.  It’ll get more resilient.  It’ll regain complete function.  Move it. Load it.  The body is incredible at healing, we just need to provide it with the proper stimuli to guide its adaptation. 

I’ll Say it Again

Everybody’s pain will be slightly different and require a different route to recovery. 

Be smart and see a medical professional if you think your injury calls for it. 

This article isn’t meant to replace medical guidance.

In Summary

If you don’t have chronic back pain, be proactive to avoid it in the future. 

If you have chronic back pain, the road to recovery and regaining complete function goes something like this.  Find a starting spot as to the amount of stress (load and range of motion) you can give your back without pain.  Be consistent and provide your back with that stress multiple times a week.  Slowly increase the stress you apply as you feel stronger and more confident.  Eventually, your body will adapt to the progressive stresses you provide it. 

You’ll regain full function.  Your back will be resilient, adaptable, and robust.  Your golf game, and daily motor function, will thrive.  You’ll step on the course stronger than ever! 

The post Chronic Back Pain in Golf – How to Fix It appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Chronic Back Pain. A Chronic Problem in Golfers.

By: Carter Schmitz, CSCS, TPI, Founder SCRATCHGolfTraining.com 

By far, the most common questions I get from athletes relate to back pain. 

How do I fix it? 

Can I avoid it? 

How can I loosen it up? 

What’s causing mine? 

I don’t have all the answers.  Chronic back pain is an extremely complex subject.  In this two-part series, I’m going to give you my best advice about how to avoid back pain and how to address it if it does occur [find Part 2 HERE].

First, a few disclaimers… 

Everybody experiences back pain differently and everybody’s pain is being caused by something slightly different.  Please use proper judgment regarding the exercises and discussions I present below and see a medical professional if needed. 

I’m not here to diagnose your pain, I’m here to provide generalized thoughts and suggestions that I believe will help those battling chronic back pain, and those looking to avoid it in the future.

The Chronic Problem

The back is a common spot for pain and injury in golfers… actually, amongst the most common. The chronic, or long-term, nature of many back injuries can be debilitating and keep golfers off of the course for extended periods of time. 

It’s tough to say precisely why this problem exists, but we can discuss a few theories that I have. 

First, sport inherently exposes athletes to injury risks.  All of our golf swings generate high forces and velocities and the body has to absorb these impacts.  Injuries and pain can happen, no matter how prepared we are.

Second, the golf swing places significant compressive, shear and rotational loads on the spinal joints.  It therefore makes sense that the spine, and back muscles that connect into it, are common spots for injuries and pain, simply due to the high magnitude of loading that is directed towards it during your golf swing.

Thirdly, and what I would argue to be the largest reason for golf’s chronic back pain problem, is a lack of physical preparation.  How many golfers actively train and physically prepare like the athletes they are? How many understand the impact their golf swing has on their body and train to thrive within it? 

Luckily, there are steps we can take NOW to avoid future instances of injury, and if we currently experience pain, there are things we can do to improve the recovery process!

Avoiding Back Pain

If you’re somebody who doesn’t suffer from back pain, NOW is the time to act.  Be proactive.

I have four tips for avoiding back pain:

1. Physical Preparation
2. Load Maintenance
3. Be a Healthier Human
4. Warm-Up

Physical Preparation

To me, physical preparation means preparing your body for the demands and stresses created within your sport by exposing it to progressive stressors in training.

Here are 3 important pieces of the physical preparation puzzle.

Piece #1: Progressive Strength Training

It’s tough to call one element of physical preparation the most important, but you can surely make a strong case for strength.  It’s vitally important and has so many benefits that will contribute to injury resilience and longevity on the golf course.

The key point that I want to drive home is PROGRESSIVE.  We should be methodically increasing the load we place on our body over time.  If I squat 225 lbs this week, next week I should try to get 230 lbs. 

Over time, we need to consistently increase the loading and stress we place on our body in order to continually create new physical adaptations.  These new physical adaptations will make our backs and overall bodies more resilient and less likely to get injured.

Here are three exercises you should be doing to load and strengthen your back, preparing it for your golf swing.  Click each one for an in-depth explanation.

1.) Barbell / DB RDL

2.) Cable Eccentric Pallof Rotations

3.) Barbell / DB Split Squats

Piece #2: Spinal Mobility

A healthy spine is both strong and mobile.  We can actively improve our spine’s range of motion and our strength within those ranges of motion, simultaneously. 

Although often referred to as a “backbone” the spine is a collection of mobile joints that run up and down your back.  It’s designed to rotate, flex, and extend.  It’s designed to help drive movement.  Yet, so many training methods, exercises, and coaches wish to limit (or worse, eliminate) spinal movement from training. 

Look at any golfer at impact, and you’ll see their spine bending and contorting.  It’s rotating, flexing and extending at different segments.  The demands of your golf swing call for spinal movement, so let’s move it in training!

Let’s slowly and progressively expose it to larger ranges of motion while under load, strengthening and expanding its movement capability.  Doing so will build resilience, improve longevity, and increase your spine’s ability to absorb and create the movement demanded of it by your golf swing.

Here’s a 3 minute spinal flow that attacks your spine’s mobility from all angles: 

Piece #3: Speed Exposure

Your golf swing is fast.  Whether you swing it 80 mph or 125 mph, relative to your daily life, your golf swing exposes your body to speeds it doesn’t see elsewhere.  Therefore, a critical part of our physical preparation needs to be exposing our body to high velocities for two reasons. 

First, it prepares the bodily tissues for high velocity activity.   In strength and conditioning we have a rule etched in stone called the SAID principle, which basically means that our body will adapt to the specific stresses we place on it.  Train fast to get faster, and create adaptations associated with speed.

Secondly, by getting faster, the overall impact created by your current golf swing will lessen.  If you ask Kyle Berkshire (long drive champion) to swing a golf club at 125 mph (he’s maxed out at ~150 mph), it’s not very impactful for him.  It’s easy and doesn’t stress his body much because he has adapted himself to swing at 150 mph.  Now go try swinging at 125 mph yourself… for most it’s demanding (maybe even requiring a max effort). 

Getting faster makes your current swing speed less impactful, and therefore less injurious.  It may also help you tap into a higher clubhead speed.  Here’s a collection of exercises you can be doing to expose yourself to higher velocities in training!

Load Management

The second tip I have for you to avoid back pain and injuries is load management. 

Injuries and pain are unbelievably complex, and everything affects everything, so it’s crucial that you remain aware of the stressors being placed on your body at any given time. 

When the season begins, do not grab the jumbo bucket of balls and play 36 the next day!  Your body hasn’t swung a club consistently in 6 months.  Ease back into it.  Progress into higher volumes of range balls and rounds.  Hit the small bucket this time.  Play 9 tomorrow.  Hit the medium next week.  Play 18. 

Just like strength training, progress into greater, more intense stresses on the golf course.  Your body will have more time to adapt and it’s less likely to get injured.

Be a Healthier Human

Avoiding pain and injury starts with being a healthier human being.  As important as they are, no amount of strength training, mobility work, or speed exercises will overcome an unhealthy life. 

Start by doing the following… 

Fueling your body with the nutrients it needs to perform. 

Hydrating. 

Sleeping long enough and with high enough quality. 

Prioritizing recovery when your body is fatigued. 

Being physically active daily – go for walks, hikes, or bike rides.

Maintaining healthy social relationships. 

Being aware of your mental well-being and seeking help when necessary. 

Warm-Up Thoroughly

My fourth and final tip for avoiding back pain: warm-up thoroughly before swinging a golf club.  You should be physically ready prior to even pulling a club out of your bag.  Your heart rate should be slightly elevated, your joints should feel mobile and your muscles should feel minorly fatigued.

Next time you’re at the course, use this under 3 minute warm-up HERE.

In Summary

If you don’t have chronic back pain, be proactive to avoid it in the future.  Physically prepare your back and body for the demands of your golf swing by strength, speed, and mobility training.  Prioritize your health, be aware of the stresses the golf swing can have on your body, and always properly warm-up!

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we will discuss the process of recovering from and resolving chronic back pain.

The post Chronic Back Pain in Golf – How to Avoid It appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

By: Carter Schmitz, CSCS, TPI, Founder: SCRATCHGolfTraining.com 

What is Golfer’s Elbow?

Golfer’s elbow is very similar to the more popular tennis elbow, they just live on different sides of your elbow.  Golfer’s elbow is represented by pain, ranging from dull to intense, on the inside (medial side) of the elbow.  Tennis elbow, its not-so-friendly neighbor, resides on the outside (lateral side) of the elbow. 

Golfer’s elbow is a form of tendinitis.  It’s an injury to the tendon that connects many forearm muscles to the inside part of the elbow.  Tendinitis is often caused by repeated exposure to high-velocity stress.  For golfers, the golf swing is often the leading culprit.  However, the golf swing also represents a critical component of building a healthier and resilient tendon!  

While the golf swing can be a cause of golfer’s elbow, it’s important that we understand the complexity that exists within the human body.  X never simply causes Y.  Everything affects everything. 

A pet peeve of mine is when practitioners try to over-simplify injuries by saying things like “Your back pain is caused by tight hips” or “Your shoulder pain is caused by poor posture.”  Maybe, but what about the thousands of other factors that affect our human bodies?  How’s your nutrition been lately?  Your hydration?  Sleep and recovery?  Your emotional and mental well-being?  Has work been extra stressful lately?  All of these factors will play a role in the development of (and solution to) injuries, but many coaches and athletes overlook them.

Check out The Fiix Elbow – a possible cure for tennis or golfer’s elbow HERE

Understanding Tendons

Tendons are connective tissues that link muscle to bone.  They are responsible for transmitting force from muscles to bones and they also help absorb external forces being placed on the body.

Tendons are viscoelastic, meaning they have both a viscous and an elastic property.  Because of this, when placed under a constant load, the tendon will strain, deform, and relax – which is necessary to heal an irritated golfer’s elbow. 

How to Avoid Golfer’s Elbow

Before diving into the solution to Golfer’s Elbow, let’s talk about avoiding it.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a singular magic exercise that will allow you to avoid all threats posed by Golfer’s Elbow.  That’s not how injuries work.  However, I do have three things that you should be doing in order to minimize the threat of golfer’s elbow.

Strength Training, Including Isometric Exercises

Strength training needs to be a part of your weekly routine.  There are many ways to go about it, but here are three of the most important keys to an effective strength training program. 

Compound Movements

Load the body through holistic patterns that attack multiple joints simultaneously.  For example, squats will strengthen muscles around the ankles, knees, hips, and spine simultaneously, making it a great exercise.  Push-ups strengthen around the wrists, elbows, shoulders, and spine simultaneously. 

Smaller motor patterns like bicep curls that primarily train a singular joint do have a place in training but just be sure to prioritize the larger motor patterns. 

Progressive Overload 

This means consistently increasing the external load being applied to the body. For example, last week I used a 75 lb dumbbell for goblet squats, this week I will use an 85 lb dumbbell. 

In order to create physical strength adaptations, we need to continuously apply larger stressors to the body and one way of going about this is through the external loading being applied.

Isometric Exercises

Although I discuss these below as how we can heal injured tendons, they also should be applied to our training programs as a preventative mechanism, strengthening bodily tissues, building adaptations, and curating healthy tendons!

Warming-Up Before Playing

Warming-up is the lowest hanging fruit to greater golf performance and longevity in the sport.  It doesn’t need to be more than 3 minutes.  Get your body prepared prior to taking a golf club out of your bag.

Be a Healthy Human

The singular best way to avoid injuries, although it is quite multifactorial, is to be an overall healthy human being.  Be more physically active.  Eat nutritious foods.  Hydrate appropriately… ½ ounce per body weight in pounds is a great target.

How to Cure Golfer’s Elbow

Most importantly, do not simply rest!  If you decide to rest your elbow for 4-6 weeks (like many medical professionals recommend), there is a high likelihood that the moment you reapply the high-velocity stress of your golf swing, your elbow pain will flare back up.

By resting, you’ve simply let the inflammation process occur within the body, but the tendon itself hasn’t improved.  You haven’t done anything to actually enhance the recovery process, strengthen the injured tissue, or desensitize the bodily area.  We need to load the tendon in order to promote recovery, longevity, and resilience.

Isometric Exercises

Isometrics should be the first exercises completed when attacking an injured tendon. 

An isometric exercise is one in which our muscles aren’t shortening or elongating; they are staying a constant length.  For example, if you lower into a squat, and hold for 30 seconds, you are completing an isometric exercise. 

Remember, tendons are viscoelastic, which means that they relax and deform under constant load. Isometrics will apply this constant load to the tendon, giving it the opportunity to deform, relax, strengthen, and repair. 

I have 2 isometric exercises for you to add to your training routine that specifically work to solve golfer’s elbow.

• Incorporate these exercises at minimum 2-3 times per week – the more the better, but never more than twice per day.
• Accumulate 2-3 minutes within each position.  I don’t care how you break up that time.  For example, you could do 3 sets of 1 minute or 4 sets of 30 seconds or 6 sets of 20 seconds.
• Keep it to a ~3/10 on the pain scale.  Don’t push past that.  We aren’t looking to maximally load the tendon, we are looking for high volumes of light loading on it. 
• Slowly, over time, progress the exercises by adding more time, increasing the range of motion you are holding the isometric position in, or by applying more force manually.

Exercise 1 – Isometric PVC Pronations

With this exercise, we are going to place our forearm in a supinated position (palm facing the sky), with our elbow in a 90 degree position at our side. 

Holding a PVC pipe, stick, or a golf club, you are going to apply a rotating force, attempting to rotate your palm to the floor (counterclockwise as seen in the video). I say attempting because, remember, it’s an isometric exercise, therefore our joint isn’t going to actually be moving – we are simply attempting to move (rotate) it against an immovable force. 

In the video above, I am using a band hooked through a kettlebell to create that vertical force that I am rotating against. I’ve also seen athletes use a countertop, bottom side of a table, or even the arm of a treadmill to give them that stationary point to rotate against.

I am going to apply a rotational force of roughly 50% to the PVC pipe, and hold that force, accumulating 2-3 minutes.  Break it into as many sets as you need to!

Keep pain to a 3/10. If you feel more pain, try limiting the range of motion and/or applying less force.

Exercise 2 – Push Up Isometric

This exercise is going to expose our elbow in a more holistic manner and will impactfully load the tendons that cross it.  To complete it, I am going to sink down into my end range of a push up (roughly 90 degree elbow position).   From that position, I am going to apply force through my hand into the ground (specifically dig your fingers into the ground), holding my elbows at that 90 degree position, accumulating 2-3 minutes in that position. 

This is a difficult exercise.  2-3 minutes can be a grind.  Therefore, I want you to start by putting your hands on a bench of some kind and/or using a band around your hips for assistance as seen in the video.  Both of these will take some loading off the upper body, making it easier to hold the position and also applying less stress to the elbow joint. 

As you get stronger, progress the exercise by increasing the time you are spending in that bottom position, move your hands closer to the ground, or remove any band assistance you are using. 

Do Not Stop Golfing

If the pain allows, continue golfing and training as you normally would.  Tendons are very adaptable, meaning they become stronger to the stresses we place on them.  As we golf, our tendons become stronger and more resilient, similar to how a muscle does after strength training.  If we stop golfing, we will lose some of these adaptations we’ve worked so hard to create over time. 

If the pain allows, keep golfing and keep training as you normally would.  Simply add in these isometric exercises to your weekly routine in order to apply specific stress to the injured tendon, promoting recovery.

Keep golfing. 

Keep training.

Do the isometrics. 

Be a healthy human being. 

You’re going to be on a great track to recovery and future resilience!

Find me on Instagram HERE or @coach_carter_schmitz 

Find me on Twitter HERE or @coach_c_schmitz

Shoot me an email at carter@resistancebandtraining.com

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Set Yourself Up for Success

Warming up for golf is one of those things that doesn’t get talked about enough because most people assume they already know how to do it.  That’s why you see such a range of behaviors on the practice tee.  There’s the guy who gets out of his car and starts ripping drivers.  There’s “swinging three clubs” guy.  And, of course, the army of people whose warm up is the ball that they top off the first tee.

As we get the 2021 golf season underway, Plugged In Golf presents a guide to golf warm ups that will help you get each round started on the right foot.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You’re not sure how to prepare for golf

You want to prevent injuries

You want to play your best

Warm Up Your Body

Your first pre-round goal should be preparing your body to play golf.  The most technically perfect golf swing won’t do you any good if you get sidelined by an injury.

Start with some movement to raise your temperature and get a little sweat going.  You can jog, do jumping jacks, or use a cardio machine if you have access to one.  Once your body feels warm, start preparing the key areas of your body with golf-specific movements.  You can find a routine HERE, but any dynamic movements that warm up your shoulders, hips, and back are good.

One thing to avoid before the round is static stretching (static stretching is traditional stretching such as bending to grab your toes for ten seconds).  I expect this is going to generate a slew of negative comments, but the research is clear that static stretching diminishes performance in explosive movements like the golf swing.  If you want to do static stretching, do it after the round.

Warm Up Your Skills

Once your body is warm, proceed to wake up your golf skills by hitting shots, putting, or chipping.  If you can get a little bit of all three, that’s great, but try not to get into the mindset of, “I can’t play well unless I do ______ before the round.”

When you’re hitting balls, try to remember that your body is still acclimating to golf.  There’s no reason to smash the first ball with a 110% driver swing.  Hit some pitches, some full wedges, then proceed to the irons, hybrids, and woods.

If you’re short on time, do less, but try not to rush.  If you don’t have time for your normal ten iron shots, take your time and hit three good ones rather than ripping through ten shots.  Starting your day in a hurried mindset can ruin your tempo.

No Expectations

While you’re hitting shots and warming up your short game, do everything you can to avoid creating expectations.  It’s very easy to think, “I’m hitting it great…I’m going to set a course record!” or “I’m putting terribly…today is going to be miserable.”  Neither is true.  Every golfer has experienced being great on the range and terrible on the course and vice versa.

Rather than worrying about how your warm up will impact your round, try to be a neutral observer or focus on your process.  Staying neutral can be tough, but it’s a wonderful mental state for a lot of golfers.  Rather than getting stressed about hitting a bad shot, you can simply notice, “I hit the ground before the ball” and try to improve on the next swing.

If neutrality isn’t realistic for you, focus on what you can control – your process.  Establish a good pre-shot routine.  Pick out a clear target and concentrate on it.  Swing with good tempo.  Those are all patterns you can set for the day and bring to the course with you.

Focus On Your Game Plan

Finally, don’t forget to warm up your mind.  Think about the key strategic things that will help you score your best [find a series of lessons on this HERE].  Perhaps you need a reminder to avoid sucker pins.  You might decide in advance to hit driver off every tee, no matter what.  Or you could choose to make getting on the green the priority for every short game shot rather than playing hero golf.  By pre-programming these thoughts, you’ll help yourself make better decisions on the course.

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How Fast Should You Be?

By: Chris Finn, Founder, Par4Success

When it comes to the game of golf, it is no secret to anyone that speed is an advantage.  What has been a secret, until recently, is how fast is “normal” to be swinging for your age.

We are going to reveal in this article, based on the research and data we have been collecting for over seven years, where you stand compared to where you could be.  No longer will you be held captive to Father Time and the belief that you are doomed to get worse with age.  After reading this article you will see what is possible for you depending on where you are in your golf life based on the cold, hard facts of
science.

How Fast Can You Get?

The data sample we have is of almost 1,500 golfers, ranging from age 10 to 80.  The really cool thing about this article, though, is that we aren’t stopping with just telling you how fast people your age swing.  We are also going to dive into the top three tests that you can do at home that correlate to club head speed at an incredibly high level.

If you find yourself in the 25th percentile for club speed but 90th percentile for the power tests, you have more speed in you right this second, we just have to get it out of you.  It might be figuring out which of your four rotary centers are locked up, or it could be a simple nervous system fix such as over speed training.  All it takes is a simple assessment (which we are including here for you) and application of the correct fix and you are good to go!

If, however, your swing speed is in the 75th percentile and your power numbers are only in the 25th percentile, you are swinging faster than your body can handle.  The only way you are getting faster and minimizing the risk of injury is by improving your physical abilities.  If you pick up speed sticks and start doing overspeed training, you’re very likely to get hurt.  You are likely already maximizing your equipment and technique as far as they will take you at this moment.  Your low hanging fruit is in either the mobility or the power quadrants of speed.  This is easily determined with the simple assessment below so that you can apply the correct fix to your problem.

Let’s get you swinging faster, safely.

Step 1 – Assess Your Rotational Mobility

This is the most important step but also the least exciting.  In order to complete this process, you need to know how your mobility is at your four main rotary centers.  If you fail any of these rotational center tests, none of the rest of the power tests matter.  You must fix these areas first in order to minimize injury risk.

From our research, we have found that 50% of all golfers over the age of 50 years old fail at least two of these tests and 75% fail at least one!  That is an overwhelming majority of golfers!  The great thing, however, is that in most cases, fixing these limitations not only reduces injury risk, it also increases swing speed.

Click HERE to download the free assessment.

After you complete these simple mobility tests, we’ll give you the email to send your results to.  We will send you some simple fixes for free as a thanks for reading this article on Plugged in Golf!

Step 2 – Power Assessment

The three tests that we measured in our research to look at their relationship to club speed were standing shot put from both sides (6lb medicine ball), seated chest pass (6lb medicine ball) and vertical jump.  The links below you each test:

Shot Put Test

Seated Chest Pass Test

Vertical Jump Test

The correlations for each test to club speed are below.  A correlation of 1.0 means that there is an exact relationship between the two variables, a correlation of 0.0 means there is absolutely no relationship.  As you can see, vertical jump had the lowest correlation while shot put right (strong side) had the strongest correlation.

Shot Put Right – 0.822

Shot Put Left – 0.809

Seated Chest Pass – 0.802

Vertical Peak Power – 0.644

For a more in depth look at each test’s correlations to the club speed within each specific age
group, I would encourage you to download the entire report HERE.

Taking each of these tests is the first step to objectively assess where you are in terms of your ability to produce power.  Complete each test, write down your numbers, and then write down what percentile you fall into from the charts in the research.

Step 3 – Swing Speed Assessment

This is the one everyone is excited about.  Find your age group bracket and see where you fall in the percentiles.  Write this number and your percentile down and compare it to your power numbers.  See anything interesting?

Step 4 – Your Plan

This is where the magic happens.  At this point you have done more than 90% of golfers, golf instructors, and golf fitness gurus.  You assessed objectively where you are today, and it should not have taken you more than 15 minutes.

Now, look at all your numbers, and first, identify any mobility restrictions you have.  These are the most important ones to address first.  Next, take a look at your power percentiles vs your club speed percentile.  Your results will fit into one of three boxes.

3 Possible Outcomes

The More RPM Under the Hood Golfer

If your power percentiles are higher than your speed percentile, you have more speed in your tank right this instant, we just need to let it out!  Fix any mobility restrictions you have and that will gain you speed.  If you had no mobility restrictions, solutions such as over speed training could be huge for you!

That being said, avoid high volume protocols. We have found in some of our other research that you can gain the same speed numbers with a lot fewer swings.  If you’re interested in learning more about these, stay tuned.  I would also recommend looking at your equipment for ideal fit and your technique for maximal efficiency.  Your solutions could lie in those areas as well.

The Ticking Time Bomb Golfer

If your power percentiles were lower than your speed percentile, you are swinging faster than your body wants to.  You likely have optimized your equipment and technique.  You are essentially defying nature.  This sounds great until you understand the injury risk potential that exists for you.  Making sure your mobility is up to par is step one.  If you want a sure fire way get hurt, swing faster than your body is capable and do it without rotational mobility.  Guaranteed poor outcome in that situation.

The next thing you need to do is get involved in a golf performance program of some sort that works on the specific areas of detriment that were identified in the power testing.  This doesn’t mean to start training the tests, however.  This means that you should be implementing exercises and drills that train up the skills necessary to maximize power output in a pushing, rotational, and vertical manner.  Depending on your training experience and background, often times seeking out help from a professional in designing this part of the solution is a wise move.

The Balanced Golfer

If you find that all your percentiles were pretty much the same, congratulations!  You are a balanced golfer.  As with the other two types, check your mobility and make sure you close any gaps there first.  The next step for you will likely be a balanced approach of technique, equipment, mobility, and strength conditioning for golf.  Once you figure out where you land, you likely will have questions about where to go next.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for complementary calls to discuss your results and give you suggestions of what to do next. Happy speed gains!

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What is Recovery?

Recovery is defined as the body’s ability to return to a normal state of health after stress (good or bad) has been placed on it.  For golfers, good stress could come from walking 18 or 36 holes in one day.  Bad stress is mostly outside of our control such as stress from work, family or school.  Whether you can control the stress or not, your body’s ability to respond to these different types of stress is called recovery.

Why is Recovery important?

Recovery is important because it allows us to get back on the course and doing the things we love faster and pain-free.  This could mean another round of 18 or being less sore on Monday at work after 2 straight days of tournament play.

How Can I Prepare for a Big Golf Trip?

There are several different ways to improve and prepare your body for consecutive days of golf.  The first and most important recovery application is sleep.  Sleep is vitally important and yet is often the most overlooked.   Ensure at least 8 hours of rest per night leading up to playing.  When your body is properly rested, you’ll have more strength to swing over multiple days and your mental focus will be at its best.

The second part of recovery is to condition your body for the workload.  You wouldn’t go run a marathon if you’ve never run before.  Imagine the recovery time!  So, why would you go play 72 holes in 3 days without training your body for it?   Preparation plays an important role in improving recovery.  Start by walking a mile or two after dinner each night.  If that seems like too much, keep in mind that walking one round can add up to more than 4 miles!

How Can I Prepare for a Packed Golf Weekend?

Alright, so you’re reading this on the plane to wherever you’re going to play 72 holes in 2 days and need some tips on how to avoid quitting after 36.   First, you have to stretch.  This seems elementary but warming up the muscles and generating a full range of motion of each joint is not only going to prevent excess soreness after each round, but the flexibility may actually improve your swing.  And don’t forget to stretch again after your rounds as well.  This is a great way to decrease some of the inflammation from the day.  (For more info on ways to stretch, check out our podcast with Dr. Rand McClain who offers some deeper insight on this.) 

Second, get adequate sleep.  I’ve mentioned it already but it’s just that important.  No, it doesn’t mean you have to be the square of the group and go to bed at 7 pm, but aim to get 7-8 hours of sleep, especially when you’re averaging more than one round each day.  During deep sleep, blood supply to muscles is increased, energy is restored, and tissues grow and repair.  These are all key things to play well. 

The third key is hydration.  Drink a ton of water.  When your body is dehydrated, your muscles are dehydrated, which can alter their effectiveness and decrease performance.  Want to beat your buddies for a $10 Nassau on the final hole?  Make sure you’re hydrated and it just might give you the edge to make that 6 footer.

Lastly, ice and anti-inflammatories (Advil, Ibuprofen, etc) are your friend.  These are mechanisms for reducing inflammation and assisting the body to recover faster.  Don’t be afraid to use them.  Whether its general soreness or pain from an old knee injury, your body will thank you for giving it some TLC.  

Conclusion

Recovery in golf isn’t just for the guys who play on TV.  The aggressive turning of a golf swing and long walks up each fairway can take a toll on anyone’s body.   These are just a few ways to help improve your recovery on your next buddy’s trip or multi-round weekend at the club.

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Doing the Right Thing, Made Easy

We would all love to spend time doing the proper things before we play: working our way through the bag with different shots, seeing our physical therapist, etc.  However, this isn’t reality for the majority of players who are glad to be away from work or out of the house for the short time that they have.  I see it daily – players walking from their car straight to the first tee.  It hurts me just to think about how that feels, not to mention how bad this is on the body.

Don’t worry, I’m not here to give you a hard time.  Instead, I’m here to give you a quick and easy warm up you can do just before teeing it up and swinging that first swing.

The Five Step Plan

Jumping Jacks

Let’s go back in time to middle school gym class.  This is a great exercise to get the total body involved and moving, pumping the blood, and getting you “warmed up”.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to do 100 or even 50.  If you can do 10, that would be great.

The movement involves the shoulders and works the shoulder blades, both which are used in every swing.  You will be working the hip and activating those tricky, pesky glutes.  You are utilizing the stretch-shorten cycle, which you know I LOVE talking about because it is so important for proper sequencing and for power.  It is also a great way to warm up to warm up.  Yes, that is correct, it wasn’t a typo.  You do not want to stretch a “cold” muscle.  The jumping jacks will get everything headed in the right direction so you can get onto the helpful “golf” stuff.

Leg Swings

You can easily do leg swings either holding onto the golf cart or using your driver.  You can hold on for support and do 3-5 swings out to the side and across the front on each leg.  Follow this up with 3-5 more swings forward and backward.

These are great to get the hips ready for the high demand you are about to put on them while you swing.  The side to side motion will work the glute med and the front to back motion will work the hip flexor and glutes.  These muscles are very important in the swing, and we want to get them working as fast as possible.

Toe Touches – Toes Pointed Up

This exercise is going to help you stretch out those tight hamstrings!  We are going to do them with your foot out in front of you, heel on the ground, toe pointed up.  This will help give you an “extra” stretch for the Achilles, up through the calf muscle, and into the hamstring, glute, and lower back.  For such a simple exercise, it sure does work a lot of different areas.

It’s easy to forget how many times you bend over while playing.  Teeing up the ball, moving a leaf away from your ball, marking your ball, picking it up out of the hole…you get the point.  With a tight lower back, -usually from tight hamstrings – this can cause issues throughout the round.  Not to mention a tight back and lack of separation can cause other issues in the swing.  It is best we tackle this before ever teeing it up to help you perform at the highest level possible.  To keep this simple, let’s start by doing 3-5 on each leg.

Wrist Circles

You use your wrist a lot in the swing – pronation, supination, radial deviation, and ulnar deviation all in a short amount of time.  It made me tired just going through them all, so you know it is a great idea to warm them up.

Make a fist and roll your wrist through full range of motion 3-5 each direction.  You just worked every motion listed and activated the muscles.  This can help decrease forearm strain and possibly tennis and golfer elbow.

Helicopter Turns

Since you are about to do a rotational movement it is a good idea to work the thoracic spine.  Put your arms straight out to the side and rotate in a circle, mimicking your golf swing.

I have used this exercise with my tour players for years because it not only works rotation but also the shoulder blades and the hips.  This will allow you to move freely throughout the entire range of motion of the swing.  This is one of the exercises I am going to spend a little more time on: do 10 each way.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t take very long at all and will make you feel great.

No More Excuses

There you have it: five straight forward, simple warm up exercises that you can do on the first tee while your buddy tees it up.  It shouldn’t take you longer than a couple of minutes, so hopefully that eliminates any excuses.

As you start to notice you are feeling better and playing better, you can always increase the number or reps you do on each exercise.  It is very important for every golfer to properly warm up for the high demand and strain they are about to put on their body.  Take the added steps needed to take care of your most important piece of golf equipment, your body!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me through email – TylerParsonsGolf@gmail.com – and ask away.

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