Have you wondered why you may or may not be able to make certain movements when it comes to your golf swing?
Coach RJ has been teaching golf for over 10 years, and he confronted this concern with a lot of his students. Some of them "had it" and were able to understand and perform movement patterns quickly, while others seemed to struggle to execute even after practicing with various drills.
THE KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE
In an effort to help his students, Coach RJ decided to dive deeper into what was happening in the body during the golf swing. He wanted to learn why some students were able to perform a move easily, while others could not. With this question in mind, he went through the Titleist Performance Institute as well as the National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer and Golf Specialization programs.
Combined, these programs brought to light what the body is capable of performing and what the functional movement patterns were during the golf swing. With his years of experience teaching combined with his education on how the body performs in the swing, Coach RJ developed a thorough golf fitness program using an Integrated Performance Model combining elements of flexibility, core strength, balance, plyometrics, speed, agility, cardiovascular, and resistance training.
THE PLANES OF MOTION
A key component incorporated into the programs is working through all planes of motion. In addition to just rotational movements, golf works through all three planes of motion: sagittal (up and down), frontal (side to side) and rotational.
THE PHASES OF TRAINING
Even more, as a part of the Integrated Performance Model, the program is composed of five phases of training. Everyone begins in Phase One, which creates a solid foundation by focusing on stabilizing and strengthening your core and the muscle fibers that surround your spine. Without Phase 1, your body will not be able to sustain the loads that will come later.
Phase 2 is the strength endurance phase. This combines stabilization and strength by working in supersets to build the endurance of the muscle. So later on, if you are trying to build muscle growth, like Bryson DeChambeau, your body will be able to produce the forces necessary to move heavier loads.
Phase 3 is a muscle growth phase, let's call this the Bryson phase, which requires stability and strength endurance to perform the exercise. You can see how these phases build off of one another. This phase isn't for everyone as most people don't want to bulk up. However, while this hasn't been popular in the past, with Bryson's recent success, it is something we expect to see more people trying out in the future.
Phase 4 is the maximal strength phase. This is very important for golf because we need to make sure we are strong and producing as much force as possible when we move through each plane of motion during the swing.
Phase 5 is the explosive phase where we begin to produce power - a vital component to improving your game. This phase is high energy and uses low weight. We focus on moving the body and weight as fast as we possibly can to train the fast twitch muscle fibers to produce quick, powerful movements.
Phase 5 relies on the foundation of phases 1 and 2, but it does not require you to go through phases 3 and 4. These two later phases are optional for golfers depending on your goals.
THE RESULTS
After implementing this program, Coach RJ quickly saw his clients see improvements in their fitness assessments and results on the golf course with improved ball speed and increased distance. The best part, his clients are not only playing better but having more fun when they are out on the course - the ultimate reward!
GET GOLF FIT
If you want to be Golf Fit, check out Peak Golf Live!
