A Physiotherapist’s Guide To Home-Based ‘Golf Fitness’ - Part 2

Improving your ‘Stability’

Introduction

In my previous article, “A Physiotherapist’s Guide To Home-Based ‘Golf Fitness’ - Part 1 - Getting yourself ready for a return to the course”, I underlined the benefits and importance of the need to engage in a programme of home-based ‘golf fitness’ to improve your game. I also highlighted my physio recommended ‘training tools’ required for home-based ‘golf fitness’.

Finally, I broke down the 3 key physical components required for an ‘efficient golf-swing’ as judged by me, a physio with a specialist interest in golf and the biomechanics of the golf-swing. These were ‘Mobility’, ‘Stability’ and ‘Strength’. From these, I advised golfers to commence the first phase of their own home-based ‘golf fitness’ programme by giving a ‘Simple Golf Mobility Training Programme’  

In this instalment, I will discuss the next phase of your home-based ‘golf fitness’ programme following on from ‘Mobility’. This will focus on the next key physical component to progress your home-based ‘golf fitness’ programme to, ‘Stability’.

Recommended ‘training tools’ to assist the next phase of home-based ‘golf fitness’- ‘Stability’

The ‘training tools’ required to develop the key physical component of ‘Stability’ for home-based ‘golf fitness’ differ to that for the key physical component of ‘Mobility’.

The physio recommended ‘training tools’ to assist the development of ‘Stability’ are highlighted below:

• Yourself (the cheapest and easiest product to find!)
  

• An exercise ball
  

• A resistance band
  

• A set of dumbbell weights
  

‘Yourself’ remains number 1 on the list. There are many simple and effective exercises you can do from home using just your bodyweight and with no equipment to help you to develop ‘Stability’.

My physio recommendation is that an exercise ball does however open another training dimension for developing ‘Stability’ with a home-based ‘golf fitness’ programme. An exercise ball would allow you to partake in a greater variety of exercises to really push and test your body to develop the ‘Stability’ physical component ensuring it reaches its optimal level.

Phase 2 of home-based ‘golf fitness’- ‘Stability’

Working on the physical component of ‘Stability’ can take place once you have mastered or improved the physical component of ‘Mobility’ from Part 1 of my physiotherapist’s guide to home-based ‘golf fitness’ (click here to view Part 1).

‘Stability’ is a key physical component of the golf-swing as it is required in abundance for both the up-ward and down-ward phase.

Having poor ‘Stability’, commonly presented as instability within your core muscles, will lead to swing faults within the golf-swing. These swing faults all produce less then effective shots like ‘slices’, ‘hooks’ and shots with a huge loss of power and distance.

My physio recommendation is that by working to improve your ‘Stability’ to optimal levels, the speed, co-ordination and consistency of your golf-swing will be improved, making it ‘more efficient’.

Please click here to download a PDF that I have put together with some simple golf ‘Stability’ exercises. This programme can be run alongside the ‘Simple Golf Mobility Training Programme’ in Part 1 of this article series but should only be started once you have improved your level of basic ‘Mobility’.

This ‘Simple Golf Stability Training Programme’ should be completed twice weekly once introduced, with the ‘Simple Mobility Training Programme’ being reduced to be completed once per week alongside. This cycle of 3 training days should be run for a 2-week period.

Summary - Part 2

Having optimal ‘Stability’ is a key physical component of the golf-swing. An exercise ball can act as a useful ‘training tool’ to develop this key component as it will test your body further then just using bodyweight.

My physio recommendation is that this next phase of home-based ‘golf fitness’, developing ‘Stability’, should be added in once you have improved and maintain some level of basic ‘Mobility’. These 2 phases of home-based ‘golf fitness’ can then be run together in a weekly regime.

If you have any queries after reading any of this, then why not book a Remote Physiotherapy Consultation with me by clicking here. I can also offer a bespoke Golf Screening Assessment via video link too. Please click here for more information about what a Golf Screening Assessment entails, or to find more information about what other specialist physiotherapy services we offer to golfers at The White House Clinic.

Keep your eyes peeled for my final article in this series for golfers, where I will give a physiotherapist’s insight into developing the key physical component of ‘Strength’ to make your golf-swing ‘more efficient’. This will include a further training programme using the physio recommended ‘training tools’ for home-based ‘golf fitness’.