Swinging a golf club, squatting to line-up a put, lugging a golf bag, or simply bending down to pick up a ball, all require constant twisting of the upper and lower body. Since golf tends to be on the lower end of the more cardiovascular challenging sports, participants sometimes develop severe imbalances within their body if they ignore the need for additional conditioning.
“Focus” determines the seamlessness of a golfer’s game, and when their focus is deterred by a nagging injury or improper biomechanics, the quality of the game is compromised. Pilates centers its teachings on proper alignment, breathing, and posture, which result in a more agile and flexible athlete.
Even though Joe Pilates created Pilates nearly a century ago, its relevancy to the modern day golfer is still relevant. It doesn’t get anymore relevant than Tiger woods and Annika Sorenstam, both of whom are avid believers in the benefits of Pilates on their golf game.
One of the trademarks of a golf game is a consistent swing. Every body has a natural way in which they move, carry themselves, and exert energy. While some golfers want to improve their swing, they may be fighting against their own imbalanced routine of daily movement.
Pilates can correct those irregularities and reestablish proper biomechanics within the body. In as little as 10 sessions a new and improved power swing can begin to emerge. This swing should take half the amount of previous effort and yet be executed with twice as much intention.
Golf injuries are often a result of a muscular imbalance. Habitually bad posture or unconscious spinal irregularities are usually the culprits of such injury. However, this can be reinvented through the practice of Pilates. Instead of “spot-training” an injured area, Pilates based rehabilitation focuses on restructuring the body as a whole and its ability to move correctly.
This approach not only alleviates the pain surrounding the injury, it allows the injured to safely assimilate to a level comparable to their original abilities. This approach forgoes any substantial gap in performance.
In addition to a better swing and injury correction there is an entire laundry list of benefits Pilates offers the golfer. The spine is elongated which will provide better stability.
The abdominal muscles as well as the back muscles will be built simultaneously creating a balance within these muscle groups. The range of motion in the hip and shoulder girdle will abundantly increase. And Pilates also encourages the body to increase oxygen intake, the more oxygen in the blood the more energy will be found on the course.
Here are a couple of exercises to try that will benefit the avid golfer. On the Pilates Mat try the Saw Position. It increases mobility of the shoulders, institutes pelvis stability, and deeply stretches the upper, middle and lower back. On The Reformer try: Short Box Abdominals in Round Back and Flat Back.
The benefits of this exercise include: balance between the strength of the abdomen and the back muscles, as well as it stretches the extensor muscles.