Golf Fitness

As the winter weather continues here in Pennsylvania, I continue to reflect on ways to improve my game, and the game of my students while the golf clubs are stuck in the garage.

One of the popular physical fitness terms to pop up in recent years is "core fitness." In the old days, the only exercise we did to work on our stomach was the good old fashioned sit-up, and the old fashioned crunch.

Now, however, we realize that to truly work your core, you must engage all of the muscles around the mid-section, including the back, the obliques, and those muscles that connect the ribs. In other words, there is a lot more to a strong core than just having a nice six-pack of abs.

One exercise I learned this year that works well to hit most of these areas is the Mason Twist. You can perform this in your home with no equipment as follows.

Sit down on the floor with your knees bent in a sit-up position, feet flat on the floor. Interlock your hands and place them in your lap. Now, lift your feet off the floor. The exercise is then done by twisting your body, and touching your interlocked hands to the floor on the side of the body you are twisting toward. Then twist to the other side until the hands touch the floor on the other side of the body. In other words, when you twist to the left, the back of your left hand will touch the floor to the left of your body, and when you twist to the right, the back of your right hand will touch the floor to the right of your body.

You want to do this exercise as quickly as possible with this full range of motion, and as many times as possible. This is a killer exercise when you do it at the end of a full abdominal routine. If you can't do the full range of motion (you will have more difficulty if you have a big belly!) go as far as you can to each side before turning to the other side. Do as many as you can, and work your way up to 50 reps if possible!

This exercise will help your body get used to the type of hip and shoulder turn you are looking for in your golf swing!

Scott Cole
www.PowerGolfTraining.net