Golf fitness efforts should be a staple of your game. Work on your swing all you want, if you don’t build and preserve the body that makes that swing your game will suffer in the long run. By that same token, if you do build your body, you potentially unlock performance gains that can transform your game and your scores.
There are ways to do golf fitness wrong, however. We’ve talked about some of the exercises that are generally not helpful to your game already. But proper exercise selection is really only half the battle. There are still plenty of bad ideas that can thwart your golf fitness program and negate any improvements to your game. Avoid these habits if you hope to see your hard work in the gym translate to your scorecard.
Golf Fitness and Static Stretching
If you’re pre-workout routine involves some good old static stretching, knock it off. And for god’s sakes, stop doing it before your rounds. For one thing, if “loosening up” before you exert yourself is the goal, static stretching just doesn’t work and is very much a complete waste of time. It’s actually counterproductive. That’s right, static stretching before a round will likely HURT your score.
Static stretching is basically holding an elongated position for some period of time in the hope of improving range of motion and flexibility. The problem is, studies have demonstrated that your muscles will produce less force after a static stretching. Additionally, the only thing you’re actually loosening is your tendons and ligaments that provide stability, so your old gym class stretches are actually increasing your chance of injury. Studies also suggest your muscles will fire inefficiently in response to nervous system signals.
If you must stretch, do it after the round or after the workout as a recovery practice. Frankly, the jury is out on whether static stretching is effective for recovery either. Low-intensity exercise and foam rolling are quite possibly better options.
You’re Not a Bodybuilder
No pain, no gain. Push yourself. You’ve got one more. If you’re not sore the next day you didn’t work hard enough.
Just stop it. If golf fitness is your true goal, where your gym efforts are meant to improve your health and your scores, then stop training like you’re trying to get on the Mr. Olympia stage. If you train in a public gym, you’ve no doubt seen the meathead types training to failure and beyond in the gym. That means they perform a set until they literally cannot perform another rep with proper form. It’s a common tactic among athletes training for hypertrophy (mass gains).
We’ll put aside the discussion of whether or not gaining lots of mass is good for your golf game. The larger concern: constantly training to failure is nearly impossible to recover from consistently. What’s more, it’s hell on your nervous system and a good way to get yourself injured.
To be clear, pushing that hard via an isolation exercise like a curl, one time and at the end of a workout, is probably okay. But the balls-to-the-wall every set to failure bro-science workouts are a baaaad idea for your overall health, and certainly for power and speed in golf. And we’ll say the quiet part out loud: the massive freak-of-nature athletes that can train like that are probably getting some “help” from a syringe.
When the Magic Happens
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: muscle doesn’t grow in the gym. You get bigger, stronger, and faster when you rest. The workout is the stimulus to grow, sure, but you’ve got to recover from the workout for it to be worthwhile.
Sounds simple enough, but it’s amazing how many athletes don’t heed this simple advice and feel that more is better. 10 reps must be better than 8, 16 sets must be better than 12, and 5 workouts must be better than 3. Nope. If you’re a gym rat who is constantly working out, chances are high you’re overtraining and sabotaging any improvements you could make. You have to recover, even take proactive steps to recover, before you wade back in and start pounding out reps again.
Stop overtraining. Less, not more, is more. Focus on rest and recovery as much as the workouts themselves. We’re not telling you not to push yourself, but reminding you that you will reap the gains of speed and power on the course if you can learn to train at an appropriate volume.
There are bad ideas that still persist in the health and fitness world. Pre-workout stretching, training to failure, and overtraining are three that you need to avoid if you want to get the most out of your golf fitness pursuits. Train smart, and you’ll see the benefits on your scorecard.