Part III: Total body functional training

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At this point in your in-season golf fitness program we have covered the modalities of flexibility, balance, and core training to benefit your golf game. The last section, total body functional training, we began implementing two weeks ago.

We have covered a series of important principles governing not only the requirements your golf fitness exercise should adhere to in this section but other portions of your training program as well.

One final guideline needs to be addressed as we continue to develop your in-season golf fitness program, and that guideline is balance. The balance we are talking about is NOT about creating improved balance in your golf swing or the classification of exercises creating improvement in the neural and muscular systems of the body. Instead, this is the type of balance that has to do with the anatomy of the body.

In general terms, approximately two-thirds of our muscles are on the front side of the body. Additionally, the muscles on the front side of our body tend to accelerate athletic actions and the muscles on the backside of our body decelerate athletic actions.

For example, a sprinter, when running, accelerates the forward movement of the legs with muscles of the front side of the body and decelerates the leg action with muscles on the backside of the body. It is the continual transition between acceleration and deceleration of the body that allows for the locomotion of the sprinter at a high rate of speed.

Now, knowing the general anatomical structure of the human body and how the front side accelerates the body and the backside decelerates it, what would happen if the sprinter in the above example were to have very strong quadriceps to accelerate and weak hamstrings to decelerate?

The answer is two-fold. Number one, the sprinter would probably not run as fast as he or she possibly could. Secondly, the sprinter would probably incur a hamstring injury at some point.

Lunge Tubing Pull

Why? Because the hamstrings of the sprinter were not strong or powerful enough to decelerate the body during the running action, and as a result eventually became fatigued. Once muscles are fatigued they can easily become injured.

How can we prevent such a situation from occurring? During the conditioning program for the sprinter we need to train the backside muscles of the lower body 2-3 times as much as the front side. This creates anatomical balance in the body, allowing the sprinter to accelerate and decelerate correctly.

This concept and example holds true for all athletic actions, the golf swing included. In order to accelerate and decelerate the golf club correctly, the body must have anatomical balance in terms of strength, endurance, and power from the muscles on the front and backsides of the body. If not, we can run into the same problems as the sprinter (i.e. less than optimal acceleration/deceleration in the golf swing and injury).

How do you guard against such a situation? We simply train the muscle on the backside of the body two times as much. This assists in creating the balance required in terms of strength, endurance, and power for the golf swing. How do we go about training the backside of the body twice as much? For every one exercise incorporating muscles on the front side of the body, we do two exercises for the muscles on the backside of the body.

Keeping with this theme, the third exercise in our section of total body functional exercises will train the backside of the body as did last week's exercise. The Lunge Tubing Pulls develops lower and upper body strength for the golf with its focus on the backside of the upper body.

Begin by grasping a piece of elastic tubing with both hands and step 2-4 feet away from the tubing attachment. Place the lower body in a lunge position with the left foot forward. Slowly lower your body into a lunge position, elevate both arms to shoulder height, and extend both arms straight.

Simultaneously pull both hands towards the shoulders. Continue to pull until the hands are next to the shoulders. Return to the starting position and repeat 10-15 repetitions. Repeat the exercise with the right foot forward in a lunge position.

Remember the importance of anatomical balance in the acceleration and deceleration of the body. And be sure to train the backside of the body two times as much as the front.