March Madness

By Karen Palacios-Jansen

For many, the 2009 golf season is just around the corner. Hopefully you have been working to increase your strength and flexibility over the past several months and are now ready to get prepared for the season.

If you havent been as diligent as you would have liked performing your offseason golf fitness routine, dont despair; there is still time to prepare your body for the upcoming season.

To prepare your body for the stresses that it will undergo while you play and practice more often, you should start to incorporate rotational exercises into you golf fitness routine. Focusing your attention on your midsection will help you increase the torque or twisting force your core muscles can produce. Here are a few examples of rotational exercises to help prepare you for the upcoming season.

Examples of Torso Rotational Exercises:
‘Core Power Punches
‘Seated Russian Twist
‘Standing Russian Twist
‘Spinal Rotations

Core Power Punches

‘Stand in your golf posture holding small hand weights. ‘Engage your abdominal muscles to protect your low back. ‘Alternate punching your arms out in front of you maintaining your elbows chest high. ‘Alternate punching your arms for 10 to 12

Seated Russian Twist with Medicine Ball

‘Sit on the floor with knees bent, feet and knees together, heels pressed to floor. ‘Hold a small medicine ball in front of your chest with your arms extended or simply clasp your hands together. ‘Lean your upper body back slightly and engage your abdominal muscles. ‘Begin by rotating the torso (upper body) to the right as far as possible. Pause at the farthest point of rotation and then return to the center and then rotate to the left. Return to the starting position and repeat alternating side to side. ‘Perform 15-25 repetitions.

Standing Russian Twist with Medicine Ball

‘Stand in your golf stance. ‘Hold a small medicine ball in front of your chest with your arms extended or simply clasp your hands together. ‘Begin by rotating the torso (upper body) to the right as far as possible. Pause at the farthest point of rotation and then return to the center and then rotate to the left. ‘Return to the starting position and repeat exercise alternating side to side. ‘Perform 15-25 repetitions.

Spinal Rotations

‘Stand in your golf posture and hold a club horizontally behind your upper back. ‘Slowly rotate your upper body to the right as if you were making a backswing. Pause at the farthest part of the rotation. ‘After you have reached the top of your swing, slowly unwind and rotate your upper body to the left as if you were following through to the finish of your swing. ‘Return to start position and repeat exercise, alternating rotations from side to side. ‘Perform 15-25 repetitions.

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