Co-ordination: To be able to focus on the ball and to get the head of the golf club on plane and to hit the ball in a striking area, which is different for all golfers depending on their ability, this is a vital skill but I also appreciate the fact that this skill is also very hard to improve.
Muscular Endurance: To be able to last the amount of holes needed to be played.
Identify your individual needs
My individual needs are to be able to complete the sport in a way that betters my handicap to do this I will need to improve:
- My upper and abdominal muscle strength as the test data shows that the strength in the muscle could be improved and therefore help my sport.
- My cardiovascular endurance as the test data shows that this could be improved but only slightly, I am happy with my bleep test results, as I have proved that I am fit for my sport. But this is a key to most sporting activities as you have to keep your muscles going until your sport has finished, that means for me on average 3-4 hours for a round of golf sometimes more if the competition is 36 holes. So my cardiovascular endurance could be improved further.
- Flexibility I can easily improve this by stretching every night. I was disappointed with my sit and reach results as they showed that I am not that flexible, and in golf this is a key feature.
Things that I need to maintain:
- My fitness level, as I am pleased with this.
- My grip strength, as it helps strengthen forearms and they are a key muscle in golf.
Current exercise regime
Daily program
*Sometimes I play on this day
Identifying additional training
To achieve the requirements I want, I will need to improve my muscle power, strength and endurance. The exercises I will carry out to achieve this are; a certain amount of press-ups and sit-ups gradually increasing the amount as the program runs through, I will also add in pull ups as these work your arm and abdominal muscles. Weights will be another part of training I need add into my regime as they will help improve my muscle power, strength and endurance with loads of variations of exercises for each aspect.
I will also need to improve my balance and co-ordination, but as I have already said these are hard skills to improve. To improve my balance I will use two bricks and stand on them whilst making a golf swing, you can see this in the diagram below. To improve my hand and eye co-ordination I will keep practising and trying to hit the back of the ball as cleanly as possible this should gradually get better, co-ordination is a very hard skill to improve as it is mostly natural. The last thing I need to improve is my flexibility this can easily be improved by stretching out every night for a period of time.
Muscle training
Involves:
- Upper bodywork, Press-ups and Pull-ups.
- Abdominal muscle work, Sit-ups.
- Lower bodywork, Step-ups and squats.
- Weight work, using dumbbells to work on power, strength and endurance.
Flexibility training
Involves 15 minutes of stretching out muscles like the back (Latissimus dorsi), neck (Trapizius), upper and lower arms (Triceps, Biceps and the Forearm) including the shoulder (Deltoid) plus all the lower body like the legs (Gluteus maximus, Quadriceps, Hamstrings and the Gastronimius).
Balance training
Involves swinging a weighted golf club whilst standing on two bricks for 20minutes in sets of 10 swings, with interval rest periods of 30 seconds.
Swing tuning + Forearm work
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Involves 2 sets of 50 swings continuously to finely tune the swing. The forearm work consists of using a stress ball to strengthen forearm. 30 squeezes per work out and whilst squeezing must hold for 5 seconds.