Posts Tagged ‘Core Training Exercises’
Golf core exercises. You hear that phrase more and more on the television by the commentators referring to the area of the body most of the touring pros focus on with their golf trainers to improve their power output and prevent low back injuries.
Core training is the buzzword even in the general fitness world. There are specific classes in the local fitness centers for core training. There are different pieces of equipment that are used in every one of these classes. Some use the bosu ball, others use a stability ball, and many use exercise tubing or weights.
Vijay Singh for example uses weighted medicine balls with his trainer to work his golf core muscles throughout the whole week of the tournament. He does hundreds of throws from different angles and body positions to challenge not only his core strength, but stabilization, balance and coordination.
If I am not correct his caddie is his trainer on occasion! How convenient! The best of both worlds! Although most people don’t want to see their trainer after a tough workout…Vijay is the exception to the rule.
Hearing the phrase golf core exercises, and knowing what your core is are two different things entirely. As a fitness professional…it’s easy for me to throw out that phrase often to impress would-be clients or customers to my golf fitness training products.
But that’s not the case. Understanding what your core is and how it plays a critical role in producing maximum power; injury prevention and even stability is very important. Once you know…you’ll soon realize this may be your missing link to a great game.
This area (core) starts roughly at your belly button and goes up to the bottom of your sternum. It is the engine of your body and awareness of your core affects golf the most. Think of it as the link in the chain that needs to be the strongest, not the weakest.
Two simple core training exercises for golf that will quickly strengthen your core is ab crunches and back extensions. These would be your initial exercises to give you the strength to move onto rotational exercises that put a little more stress on your spine if the muscles aren’t conditioned enough.
Once you’ve accomplished the above exercises, you can move on to a crunch with a twist and a back extension with a twist. This will hit your rotational strength right away…which will quickly equate to greater power output and distance.
You can then progress up to standing on your feet doing several different variations of rotational movements with a single dumbbell, standing upright and also in your golf posture.
Core exercises for golf are very effective when you get into motions with rotation, resistance and balance. This is called golf specific training, and is the only way to go if you want to see improvement in your golf swing and overall performance.
Now that you have a basic understanding of golf core exercises…you hopefully will see how important it is in your overall golf improvement plan. Next time you hear that phrase on the television, you’ll know what golf core exercises are.
By: Mike Pedersen
About the Author:
Core training is the buzzword even in the general fitness world. There are specific classes in the local fitness centers for core training. There are different pieces of equipment that are used in every one of these classes. Some use the bosu ball, others use a stability ball, and many use exercise tubing or weights.
Vijay Singh for example uses weighted medicine balls with his trainer to work his golf core muscles throughout the whole week of the tournament. He does hundreds of throws from different angles and body positions to challenge not only his core strength, but stabilization, balance and coordination.
If I am not correct his caddie is his trainer on occasion! How convenient! The best of both worlds! Although most people don’t want to see their trainer after a tough workout…Vijay is the exception to the rule.
Hearing the phrase golf core exercises, and knowing what your core is are two different things entirely. As a fitness professional…it’s easy for me to throw out that phrase often to impress would-be clients or customers to my golf fitness training products.
But that’s not the case. Understanding what your core is and how it plays a critical role in producing maximum power; injury prevention and even stability is very important. Once you know…you’ll soon realize this may be your missing link to a great game.
This area (core) starts roughly at your belly button and goes up to the bottom of your sternum. It is the engine of your body and awareness of your core affects golf the most. Think of it as the link in the chain that needs to be the strongest, not the weakest.
Two simple core training exercises for golf that will quickly strengthen your core is ab crunches and back extensions. These would be your initial exercises to give you the strength to move onto rotational exercises that put a little more stress on your spine if the muscles aren’t conditioned enough.
Once you’ve accomplished the above exercises, you can move on to a crunch with a twist and a back extension with a twist. This will hit your rotational strength right away…which will quickly equate to greater power output and distance.
You can then progress up to standing on your feet doing several different variations of rotational movements with a single dumbbell, standing upright and also in your golf posture.
Core exercises for golf are very effective when you get into motions with rotation, resistance and balance. This is called golf specific training, and is the only way to go if you want to see improvement in your golf swing and overall performance.
Now that you have a basic understanding of golf core exercises…you hopefully will see how important it is in your overall golf improvement plan. Next time you hear that phrase on the television, you’ll know what golf core exercises are.
By: Mike Pedersen
About the Author:
Mike Pedersen is an internationally known golf performance expert. He is Golf Magazines Golf Performance Expert; as well as GolfIllustrated.com’s. Take a look at his best-selling golf fitness system.
The right core exercises can mean the difference between great progress and definite results with your core training program or not getting any results at all.
There are hundreds of muscles in the core of your body – the abdominals (all layers), lower and mid back, pelvic region, obliques and the popular ‘love handle’ areas are loaded with muscles of all different sizes, shapes, lengths and angles – which require specific exercises to produce the desired strength training effect for optimal fitness.
The following exercises can serve as a core training primer for beginners or they can be added or substituted into your current core workout routine.
1 – Lying face up, hand down at your side. Bring your legs up, knees slightly bent with the bottom of your feet toward the ceiling. This is your start position. While keeping the abdominals pulled in (contracted), slowly lower your right leg, until the heel touches the ground, and then raise it back up. Do this fifteen times. Then switch legs.
2 – Lying face up with knees bent, feet off the floor. Arms are extended as if reaching toward the sky if you were standing. As you breathe out, slowly bring your knees toward you by contracting your abdominals (pulling inward). Then breathe in as you return to the start position.
3 – Lying face up with knees bent, heels on the ground and toes pointing up. Lift your **** off the ground to engage the core muscles. Now, here is where the fun starts. Lift one foot off the floor, extending that leg until it is straight, bring it back to the start position (heel on ground) and then do the same with the other leg. Keep alternating until you do a total of twenty, ten on each side.
If this exercise sequence is too easy, go through it again and see how you do. You can add these exercises to your current routine or if you are a beginner you can use this as a stand alone routine to get you going. If it was too challenging, decrease the number of repetitions to about five and do this every other day. Gradually increase the repetitions as your core gets stronger.
A big mistake many people, even trainers, make is to mimic the core training routines of bodybuilders or power-lifters. The problem with that is most people are not bodybuilders or power-lifters – and these people tend to over-train anyway (I know this because I used to do it myself!). The problems here range from a lot of wasted time to serious, long term injuries.
This happens every day to people who try to exercise without proper guidance and it’s one the reasons why physical therapists are so busy!
The proper workout must be designed to provide the most effective exercise training stimulus to the entire midsection, in the shortest amount of time (because we are all very busy people, right?), with minimal risk of injury. The problem is it is extremely rare to find an abdominal and core workout routine that fits all of these criteria.
These are the exact principles I follow when training my personal, one-on-one clients AND they are the same principles I follow in my own fitness training workout program. Structure your own program according to the principles outlined above, with the proper selection of core exercises for effective and safe results.
By: Joey Atlas
About the Author:
There are hundreds of muscles in the core of your body – the abdominals (all layers), lower and mid back, pelvic region, obliques and the popular ‘love handle’ areas are loaded with muscles of all different sizes, shapes, lengths and angles – which require specific exercises to produce the desired strength training effect for optimal fitness.
The following exercises can serve as a core training primer for beginners or they can be added or substituted into your current core workout routine.
1 – Lying face up, hand down at your side. Bring your legs up, knees slightly bent with the bottom of your feet toward the ceiling. This is your start position. While keeping the abdominals pulled in (contracted), slowly lower your right leg, until the heel touches the ground, and then raise it back up. Do this fifteen times. Then switch legs.
2 – Lying face up with knees bent, feet off the floor. Arms are extended as if reaching toward the sky if you were standing. As you breathe out, slowly bring your knees toward you by contracting your abdominals (pulling inward). Then breathe in as you return to the start position.
3 – Lying face up with knees bent, heels on the ground and toes pointing up. Lift your **** off the ground to engage the core muscles. Now, here is where the fun starts. Lift one foot off the floor, extending that leg until it is straight, bring it back to the start position (heel on ground) and then do the same with the other leg. Keep alternating until you do a total of twenty, ten on each side.
If this exercise sequence is too easy, go through it again and see how you do. You can add these exercises to your current routine or if you are a beginner you can use this as a stand alone routine to get you going. If it was too challenging, decrease the number of repetitions to about five and do this every other day. Gradually increase the repetitions as your core gets stronger.
A big mistake many people, even trainers, make is to mimic the core training routines of bodybuilders or power-lifters. The problem with that is most people are not bodybuilders or power-lifters – and these people tend to over-train anyway (I know this because I used to do it myself!). The problems here range from a lot of wasted time to serious, long term injuries.
This happens every day to people who try to exercise without proper guidance and it’s one the reasons why physical therapists are so busy!
The proper workout must be designed to provide the most effective exercise training stimulus to the entire midsection, in the shortest amount of time (because we are all very busy people, right?), with minimal risk of injury. The problem is it is extremely rare to find an abdominal and core workout routine that fits all of these criteria.
These are the exact principles I follow when training my personal, one-on-one clients AND they are the same principles I follow in my own fitness training workout program. Structure your own program according to the principles outlined above, with the proper selection of core exercises for effective and safe results.
By: Joey Atlas
About the Author:
Joey Atlas, M.S. – Exercise Physiology, is a fitness consultant, trainer and writer in Jacksonville, Florida. He is the creator of ‘Abs of Stone – Core of Steel’, a complete Core Exercise Fitness Program. Joey a fitness consultant, trainer and fitness copywriter in Jacksonville, Florida.
See http://www.AbsofStoneCoreofSteel.com/Core.html for more free exercise tips & information.
