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Find Your Golf Strength in the Water
Golfers need to have muscle strength combined with flexibility for an efficient, reliable golf swing. Any weakness at any joint through any section of the motion will create a breakdown in the golf swing.
Strength training for golf is very important to help with overall performance however, certain traditional strength training techniques such as lifting weights in one plane or using traditional machines greatly limits the functional strength that is needed for an efficient, reliable golf swing. This approach eliminates the need for your body to create and maintain stabilization through a full range of motion while performing an exercise. This ability to stabilize is exactly what is needed in golf and therefore must be heavily incorporated into a golfers exercise routine.
The core muscles primary role is to provide stabilization for your spine and around the hips. Your arms and legs can only generate as much force as your core is able to stabilize. Research has shown that athletes with higher core stability have a lower risk of injury.
Using the water to improve strength and increase stabilization is very helpful.
The waters surrounding properties provide three-dimensional resistance inherently, so the muscular and neurological systems receive a more comprehensive training effect than land based training.
Water provides an accommodating resistance meaning the harder you push the water, the harder the water pushes you back. So no matter how strong or weak you are, you control the amount of resistance which is a very safe and effective way to train.
The water can help to enhance both dynamic flexibility and strength simultaneously. Having resistance in multiple directions builds balanced muscle strength and also helps reduce the risk of injury when working out.
Many golfers are not very familiar with strength training and using the water is a great option to assist with training fundamental movement patterns. Once these patterns are established then land based training and loading can occur.
Most injuries typically occur in the rotary plane.Training rotational movements in the water is much safer because there is minimal gravitational influence compared with land based training.
Training in the water can be a great cross training tool and can help you break through a training plateau.
Try getting in the water at chest level with feet shoulder width apart. Perform a basic cross country arm motion keeping a good upright posture with your core and buttocks muscle engaged and your elbows straight. Move slowly at first and then really increase your speed. Now perform for 1 minute........ Feel the difference?
By Incorporating the water into your golf training program you will be able to play longer and stronger and reduce your likelihood for injury.
Dr. Rick McAvoy, PT, DPT, CSCS has specialized in Aquatic Physical Therapy, Fitness and Sports Performance for over 30 years. Rick is the Owner Fluid Golf Training, a streaming program to help golfers reduce injury, move better and swing better.
For more information about Fluid Golf Training please visit.
Train in the Water to Improve Your Golf Game
Golf is a one-sided rotational sport which often creates significant muscle imbalances and injury. As golfers get older their muscles tend to get weaker and tighter which furthers this risk.
Did you know that 70% of all amateur golfers will suffer a golf related injury at least once in their lifetime?
Incorporating the water into your traditional golf training program can have significant benefits.
Over the past 30 years in practice I have worked with numerous golfers incorporating the water and have had tremendous results.
Here is why the water can be very beneficial in improving your golf game.
Water is 800x more supportive but up to 15x more resistive than air creating a very challenging yet forgiving training environment.
Water being a surrounding medium provides the body 360 degrees of support. This helps improve your body awareness which assists in improving movement and preventing injury.
Golf is a very coordinated multiple planar sport. Water provides this 3D/multi-planar resistance automatically.
Water improves both dynamic flexibility and strength simultaneously helping to build balanced muscle strength and reducing injury.
Waters hydrostatic pressure improves circulation, muscle relaxation, recovery and reduces muscle soreness.
Waters properties of viscosity and drag allow for an increased challenge to improve your overall balance and coordination necessary for golf.
Golf is a very power driven sport. Power training in the water has been shown to be just as effective if not more effective than land based training without the added muscle soreness.
Water offers a different training dynamic that can help your body break through a plateau.
Your core is your bodies foundation for all movements and a strong core is essential for your golf game. The waters properties allow your core to become engaged much easier during training.
Training in the water is just more fun than land based training. If an activity is fun then people usually will stick with it.
By incorporating the water into your golf training program you will be able to play longer and stronger and reduce your likelihood for injury.
Rick McAvoy, PT, DPT, CSCS has specialized in Aquatic Physical Therapy, Fitness and Sports Performance for over 25 years. Rick is the Owner Fluid Golf Training, a program to help golfers reduce injury, move better and swing better.
For more information about Fluid Golf training please visit.
5 Common Compensations when Incorporating Upper Body Drag Equipment
When integrating drag equipment into your clients routine there are common compensations that become evident and can be corrected with proper cueing.
Grip: Most clients will tend to grip the handles of the gear too tight. This will cause increase wrist and forearm discomfort when exercising. You may also note that their wrist position is not neutral but will flex and extend as they move. A cue would be “Try to keep your wrists straight but your grip loose as you move”
Posture: Most people myself included don’t have the best posture. Because we are very patterned individuals and tend to sit too much we develop that typical forward head and rounded shoulder posture. When using resistive gear in the water this can become further accentuated because the waters buoyancy and resistance act on the body simultaneously. Cueing for a proper chin tuck with a chest lift will cause facilitation of the lower trapezius musculature which will help with proper postural alignment
Core Stability: Incorporating upper body resistive equipment significantly challenges core stability. If the proximal stability of the core lacks control then the distal mobility of the extremities will cause increased compensation. One common compensation is that the body will rock back and forth with upper body movements. To correct this there are a few options. Remove the equipment so that proper alignment can be maintained during the exercise then gradually reintroduce. You can also slow the movement down enough so that proper core stability can be maintained and controlled.
Limited Range of Motion: When clients are cued to perform exercises at an increased speed we usually notice a reduced ROM .This happens because the client is try to go at a faster rate so they limit the motion to increase the speed of the exercise. Only have the client move as fast as they can with full equal motion.
Pattern: Common substitution patterns that I notice frequently are increased upper trapezius activation, this is demonstrated by the client shoulders being significantly elevated during exercise.
Pattern dominance is exhibited when a client is performing an exercise such as a push/pull exercise. A client will very often push out much more forcefully with the dominant anterior musculature and pull back with less force with the weaker posterior chain musculature.
When incorporating upper body resistive equipment I recommend what I call the 3 P’s: Pattern, Posture, Power.
First, teach the Pattern, Second cue for the Posture and Third integrate Power into the Movement.
Train in 3D, No glasses required
3-dimensional functional training has always been a major focus of mine. As a physical therapist I have to develop functional training programs for clients who need to return to work, sport and overall quality of life.
My education in 3D functional training came early while I was attending the University of Connecticut. One of my professors there was David Tiberio who together with Gary Gray are pioneers in the field of functional training. Both Gary and David offer functional training education though the Gray Institute.
The Certification in Applied Functional Science is a great course through the Gray Institute that I highly recommend to anyone especially those specializing in aquatics. It will help to maximize the use of the water with your clients or athletes.
Why is 3D training important?
As Gary Gray explains human beings are three-dimensional: “We’re capable of moving in three planes of motion — forward and back, side to side, and rotationally. But it goes further than that: We’re also muscles, bones, and nerves. We can express strength, endurance, and power. And we’re mind, body, and spirit. If we leave any of those dimensions out, then we’re not training the whole person.”
We are very patterned individuals. We tend to sit too much during the day and most times if and when we exercise we incorporate straight plane type movements. This tends to lead to muscle imbalance, joint dysfunction and hence injury.
By incorporating the water, functional gains can be made faster incorporating 3D training because:
Water provides three-dimensional resistance inherently, so the muscular and neurological systems receive a more comprehensive training effect than land.
In the water, the focus can be on both flexibility and strength/stability at the same time. This will assist in reducing muscle imbalances and improving posture and function on land.
The ability to target movements not just muscles. Because of the waters surrounding properties clients and athletes are able to train functional movement patterns easier than on land
One of the most important things that I think the water provides is the benefits to train the nervous system.
Muscle imbalances can cause increased inhibition which leads to increased apprehension. By decreasing muscle inhibition it will lead to decreased apprehension and produce cleaner movements.
Because water is a surrounding proprioceptively enriched medium, it provides increased kinesthetic feedback. This feedback helps to clean up dysfunctional movement patterns.
So the next time you are training clients in the water, try to remember and incorporate a 3D philosophy. For example, can the client perform an exercise in which the arms are moving in one plane while the legs are moving in another? I think you will find it challenging as well as beneficial for your client or athletes.
Aquatic Movement Screening
I have been incorporating water into my athletes' training programs for a number of years. Now more than ever, there is significant research in the strength and conditioning journals validating the benefits of aquatic training for strength, flexibility and power to mention a few.
Using the water as a movement screen is something that I have discovered to be very beneficial and have incorporated into every athlete's aquatic training session. In the water, you are able to target multiple muscle groups much easier as well as train both mobility and stability simultaneously.
Athletes are very patterned to their specific sport. They also, like all of us, are influenced by gravity and momentum. In the water, both gravity and momentum are diminished and movement tends to be slowed down. This commonly brings out dysfunctional patterns more clearly. Because water is a surrounding medium and provides three-dimensional resistance, when an athlete moves in the water, he or she is subjected to the forces of buoyancy, viscosity and drag. These factors tend to turn most athletes (at least initially) into very uncoordinated individuals. Even the simplest movements, such as walking forward or backward with proper reciprocal arm swing has frustrated the most elite athletes in my experience. I encourage them to always remember, "The harder you push, the harder the water pushes you back, so there is no way you can ever overpower the water." On a good note, the water's hydrostatic pressure acts as a “second pair of hands” and assists with increased proprioceptive feedback so the athlete is able to improve his or her body awareness and motor patterning relatively quickly.
By incorporating aquatics into your athletes existing land based training you will be able to target movement pattern dysfunctions to a greater extent, thus enabling you to design more effective sports performance training programs.
This will not only help enhance your athletes' performance but also will hopefully reduce the frequency of athletic injuries overall.
