You are well aware that
professional football, basketball, baseball and hockey
players spend a significant amount of time doing
physical conditioning to enhance their sports
performance. In fact, all professional athletic teams
employ strength and conditioning coaches who work
closely with the players in the weight training
facility. Clearly, much of the performance improvement
that has occurred in professional sports over the last
10-15 years is in large part due to strength trained
athletes who are stronger, faster, and more injury
resistant.
Of course, most Keeping Fit readers do not
play professional sports. But, think about it. If strength training
works for genetically gifted athletes who are already extremely fit and
exceptionally strong, how much more physical and performance improvement
could be realized by recreational athletes who begin a sensible strength
training program. And stronger muscles are just one side of the coin.
More stretchable muscles that increase joint flexibility represent the
other key aspect of higher sports skill levels.
So what can a combination of strength and
flexibility exercise do for you if your sport is golf? Based on the
results of our most recent research study, we know that it can seriously
increase your driving distance and enable you to play more with less
fatigue. Most likely, proper physical conditioning produces similar
positive results in other sports, such as tennis, softball, skiing,
swimming, skating, racquetball, kayaking, volleyball, bicycling, etc.
For the record, this summer, eight golfers
(six men and two women) with an average age of 67 years participated in
a special conditioning program designed to increase overall body
strength and to enhance joint flexibility in the hip and shoulder areas.
They trained about 40 minutes a day, three days a week for eight weeks.
Each session consisted of 15 strengthening exercises on Nautilus
machines and six stretching exercises on StretchMate apparatus. Although
this advanced equipment has certain advantages, you can perform similar
exercises at home as you will note at the end of this column.
The results of this basic golf conditioning
program were remarkable to say the least. In just two months these
senior golfers increased their club head speed by more than seven
percent, from 75.5 to 81.0 mph. Assuming that every mile per hour
increase in club head speed equals 2.3 yards greater driving distance,
this 5.5 mph faster swing represents a 13-yard increase in hitting
distance.
However, playing four hours of quality golf
on a regular basis requires a reasonably high level of physical fitness,
as well as a skillful swinging action. In addition to increased club
head speed the exercise program produced the following benefits, on
average, for participants:
|
|
Component |
Before
Training |
After
Training |
Percent
Improvement |
|
|
Percent Fat |
20.5% |
18.7% |
9% |
|
Fat
Weight |
35.5 lbs. |
32.5 lbs. |
9% |
|
Lean (Muscle) Weight |
140.1 lbs. |
143.9 lbs. |
3% |
|
Systolic Blood Pressure |
130.4 mm Hg |
123.9 mm Hg |
5% |
|
Diastolic Blood Pressure |
75.0 mm Hg |
72.5 mm Hg |
3% |
|
Shoulder Flexibility |
171.5° |
179.5° |
5% |
|
Hip Extension Flexibility |
14.3° |
27.6° |
93% |
|
Hip Flexion Flexibility |
94.7° |
101.6° |
7% |
|
To summarize, the senior golfers lost about
three pounds of fat, added about four pounds of muscle, reduced their
systolic blood pressure by over six points, and increased their overall
joint flexibility by about nine degrees. All of the participants
continued their strength and stretching exercises after the program. In
their own words, they felt so much better that they wanted to maintain
their functional fitness level by making regular exercise part of their
lifestyle. So they not only increased their golf driving ability, they
also improved their golf playing ability as a result of better fitness
and more energy.
If you have access to Nautilus and
StretchMate equipment, these are the exercises our golfers performed:
|
|
Strength Exercises |
Flexibility
Exercises |
|
|
Leg Extension |
Midsection Stretch |
|
Leg Curl |
Low Back Stretch |
|
Leg Press |
Front Thigh Stretch |
|
Chest Cross |
Rear Thigh Stretch |
|
Chest Press |
Hip Stretch |
|
Pullover |
Shoulder Stretch
|
|
Lateral Raise |
|
|
Biceps Curl |
|
|
Triceps Extension |
|
|
Low Back Extension |
|
|
Abdominal Curl |
|
|
Neck Flexion |
|
|
Neck Extension |
|
|
Rotary Torso |
|
|
Wrist and Forearm |
|
|
If you do not have access to this type of
equipment, I will be pleased to send you information on similar strength
and flexibility exercises that you can perform at home with a set of
dumbbells. Either way, I am sure that you will experience positive
results in both personal fitness and sports performance. I also believe
that these same exercises will be beneficial for other recreational
sports and activities. To receive the Golf Exercise Information Packet
please send a large, self-addressed and stamped envelope to Wayne
Westcott, South Shore YMCA, 79 Coddington Street, Quincy, MA 02169.
Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., is fitness
research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA., and author of
several fitness books including the new releases, Building Strength and
Stamina and Strength Training Past 50.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wayne
L. Westcott, Ph.D.
is fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA and
author of the new book
Strength Training Past 50.
More
Books from Dr. Westcott
CEC:
Current Strength Training Research by Dr.
Westcott
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Special Thanks to the
IFPA's Sponsors:
Doctors Fitness Centers
Fitness Institute of
Technology
VORTEX
SCIFIT
A4M
ACASP
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