You could spend $30 a month on a gym membership. You also could outfit your basement with thousands of dollars of weights and a cardio machine like a treadmill or bike.
Or…you could buy a few resistance bands for less than the cost of a tank of gas and get a decent workout to enhance your golf peformance.
Like option C?
If you do, Andrea Doddato, one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best Fitness trainers in America, has a simple, five-exercise workout you can do that hits a lot of the needs of average players. It enhances mobility, stability, strength and power, and it trains the body in all three planes of motion. Those are the typical requirements of a good golf workout, she says, but there’s an added benefit to working with bands.
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Whether you use thicker, harder-to-flex bands or simply increase the range of the stretch, you can tailor the amount of resistance to your current level of strength.
“There are dozens of exercises golfers can do with a band, but I chose these five as they are among my favorites for golfers,” says Doddato, one of Golf Digest’s Certified Fitness Trainers.
Follow along with Doddato (below) as she demonstrates the five exercises and explains their benefit for golf. You can do multiple sets and reps of each, but don’t forget to train in both directions for better muscle symmetry.
SPLIT-STANCE TORSO ROTATIONS
“These help with dissasociation, being able to rotate the upper body independent of the lower body while maintaining good stability in the legs,” she says.
RESISTED DOWNSWINGS
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“These help with trail-leg loading, internal hip rotation, shoulder turn as it pulls at the starting position, then they boost lead-hip rotation as you simulate the downswing—ingraining the proper sequencing of swing.”
SINGLE-ARM UPPERCUTS
“These promotes the follow-through motion of swing, weight transfer, internal rotation of the lead leg and staying down as you rotate—simulating a good through-swing.”
SINGLE-ARM, SPLIT-STANCE LOW ROWS WITH TORSO RETRACTIONS AND TWISTS
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“Make sure the forward leg is the same as the pulling arm. These improve lower-body stability and internal hip rotation while strengthening the back muscles, which are key for slowing the club down safely.”
PALLOF PRESS ISOMETIC HOLDS WITH SPLIT SQUATS
“These improve core stability, leg strength and improve external and internal hip function, all things needed for power in the golf swing.”
Click this link if you’re interested in joining Doddato as a Golf Digest Certified Fitness Trainer.
