Wirral Life Issue 77 | Page 68

DISCOVER WHAT ' S HOLDING YOU BACK IN YOUR GOLF SWING IN UNDER ONE HOUR !
W L
FITNESS
DISCOVER WHAT ' S HOLDING YOU BACK IN YOUR GOLF SWING IN UNDER ONE HOUR !
By Charlotte Forde , Elevate Fitness
Every year golfers will spend £ 1000 ’ s on golf clubs , equipment and lessons and wonder why they see little to no improvements . Chances are that if you practise and play frequently but never reach your full potential on the course , your body is more than likely to be imbalanced .
We use our muscles every single day to move which has an impact on our bodies , sometimes without you even realising . Unfortunately , muscles don ' t maintain their flexibility , they will adapt their functional resting length to where they are habitually used or positioned in , which for most of us will be shorter than an ideal range of motion .
As a population we are generally spending more time sitting , which can result in weak hamstrings , tight hip flexors and a pelvic tilt . When you add the stress that playing a unilateral sport like golf can put on your muscles and expect the demanding range of motion that a backswing and follow through requires , not only will this impact your club head speed and enjoyment of the game but can also lead to injury .
The most common injury for amateur golfers is in the lower back , normally due to poor technique , dysfunctional movement patterns or overuse . However , even though the pain may be located in your back , shoulders , hips or neck , the root cause may be a muscle that you may not have even heard of . The psoas ( pronounced so-as ) is the muscle that connects the lower body to the upper body and affects the position of the pelvis . When the psoas is healthy and functional it creates neutral pelvic alignment , stabilising the hips and supporting the lower back and abdomen , however when it is weak , unbalanced or shortened it can result in misalignment and can cause upper and lower crossed syndrome which results in a pelvic tilt and poor core stability .
Most people don ’ t realise that the cause of their problems are tight or shortened muscles that they may have developed from sitting at a desk or working in a driving job or even just on the couch for extended periods of time . You may not discover you have this problem until it has already started limiting your mobility ; the good news is that adaptive shortening can be reversed . The reality is that it will take time and needs to be done in the right order with balance and intention whilst strengthening the supporting muscles . Using a golf fitness professional to help you reach your goal will take the guesswork out of mobility for golfers and will normally get you to where you want to be much quicker than doing it alone , similar to using a golf coach . Stretching a few minutes before a round will tend to do very little in terms of increasing mobility and the length of a muscle , to gain results requires a combination of practices maintained over time that will help lengthen and strengthen your muscles and sustain a healthy range of motion , especially as you age .
We understand that you may not want to spend hours in the gym or even want to spend money on personal training but our TPI ( Titleist Performance Institute ) screening process will identify how your body movement pattern relates to your golf swing , targeting problem areas and providing you with specific exercises to unlock your full potential and improve your game .
Improve Consistency If you are a hit or miss golfer , a healthy range of motion can help relax your swing to improve accuracy . Better balance can also help develop a better swing pattern , confidence and overall performance .
Improve Speed Most people think that strength training is the primary source to improving club head speed , however if you lack flexibility you will not have the foundation to gain power . By implementing stretching into your workout you can control our swing and unlock the power you already have .
Play Pain Free Everything in the body is connected and as golfers , we demand a lot from our muscles and joints . Stretching not only combats adaptive muscle shortening , but also increases our day to day functionality and enables the longevity of our play .
Want to know more ? I help people every single day to help improve their golf and their day-to-day living . Having been a personal trainer for over 20 years I understand the importance of specific , individual training programmes taking into consideration time , injuries , medical conditions and circumstances that may have created a barrier to participating in exercise in the past . If you ’ re a golfer and want to : -
• Increase your flexibility and develop greater hip and shoulder turn resulting in faster clubhead speed .
• Reduce or eliminate pain and increase recovery time .
• Enjoy playing golf really well !
Join me at my private Wirral studio by contacting : train @ ellavatefitness . com
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