Below are three areas you can’t overlook as you navigate your way through the off season in the gym. Check them out!
1) Get assessed! Go through a physical movement screen every 6 weeks
Do you know where you stand heading into the off season? To help you get a clear picture of where your strengths and weaknesses are throughout your body I recommend going through a physical evaluation (we trust the Functional Movement Screen here at GPC). Understanding the mobility-stability model and how that pattern can help identify the root cause of a dysfunction is priceless. These aren’t always as obvious as you might think and are directly affecting the success you’ll have this winter as you look to tighten up and improve your golf mechanics. Please reach out if you are interested in going through our physical evaluation!
2) Dynamic Warm Up!
A dynamic warm up lasting equal to or longer than 10 minutes will significantly reduce the likelihood of injury and improve performance both in your workout and earlier in your round if you do happen to find yourself in warmer weather this winter. The golf swing is a very powerful movement and puts a tremendous amount of stress on the body. Would you warm up before a pick-up basketball game? Would you warm up before a 5k? Whether you choose to, or not, the chance of getting hurt goes down significantly after you do.
3) BACK to basics!
The spine is broken down into 4 different segments. The bone structure of the vertebrae varies slightly between each segment as each area has a specific role. In the golf swing we want to rotate through our thoracic spine (mid spine) primarily as this segment offers the most range of motion. This doesn’t mean that the lumbar spine (low back) doesn’t rotate at all, but rotation is very minimal in this segment and its primary role is to act as a stable segment. If your thoracic spine rotation is limited you will most likely turn to that low back to take over. Not good! This would classify as a pretty clear dysfunction and it would be our goal to help you improve your thoracic rotation (while also assessing the rest of your chain) to take the stress off the low back.
See you in the Zone!
Tyler Campbell
