- Age 15 years old
- My current level of Health. I have had no major injury or recovering for illness for the past year.
- My current level of Fitness. I have an average level of general fitness.
I am generally fit to cope with the following demands of everyday life:
- I am a paperboy. My round consists of carrying 40-50 papers at a time whilst on my round. I deliver to over 300 houses.
- I get a lift to school
- In each week I do 1hr 40 mins worth of P.E. and Games
- I walk the dog everyday after school for 30 mins
- I usually play nine holes of Golf from Monday-Friday. This consists of carrying my bag and walking 2 miles
- At the weekend I usually play 18-27 holes on a Saturday and 18 on Sunday. This is about 6-10 miles roughly.
- I am also specifically fit for the game of golf to a certain degree. However I could improve in some areas.
I completed some test to assess my current level of fitness:
- I tested myself to see how many press ups I could do in 30 seconds. I did 17
- I then tested myself to see how many sit ups I could do in 30 seconds. I did 19
- I then tested myself to see how many step-ups I could do in 30 seconds. I did 15
Aspects of Fitness
There are several aspects of fitness that I need when playing Golf:
Training for the game means that your body is neuromuscularly attuned for the mechanics of golf, your kinaesthetic senses are heightened, your swing is consistent, smooth, and effortless, and you have confidence over the ball.
How does this happen? It will not happen through a generic exercise routine. Bicep curls or machine-based exercises have little correlation to the golf swing. Golf involves multidirectional movements and uses a whole series of muscles requiring precise timing and synergy. Twisting, turning and weight shifting are involved, and therefore should be included in training.
Conditioning for golf is an essential part of preparation. One must train to play rather than training while playing on the green. The first phase of training in the gym focuses on each quality of the sport in isolation. The exercise program should be harder work than the actual game by five to 10 percent. This creates the edge necessary for critical shots (i.e., from the sand trap). The next phase is putting the pieces together. Directly simulating the dynamic activity of golf, systems of movement are practiced. This means repeating patterns of moving your centre of gravity under control, enhancing joint receptor communication, and storing and releasing power.
Golf is ROTATION. Hips, trunk, and shoulders must have the ability to move sequentially around an axis. In addition, this flexibility must occur with control, balance, precision, and timing. The distance of the drive is enhanced particularly through improved trunk flexion and shoulder turn.
Balance and STABILITY refers to muscles that co-contract around a joint to provide a solid foundation from which movement occurs. Deep muscles closest to the core act like anchors. These muscles must be able to contract over long periods of time to sustain activity and provide postural balance. When core muscles are weak, other muscles that are inappropriate and/or ineffective try to do the job. This type of repetitive misuse leads to injury. Therefore, a wrist, elbow or back problem can actually be the result of weak abdominals.
Muscles targeted in stabilization exercises are deep abdominal, back and shoulder girdle - specifically, the transverses, multitudes, and rotator cuff. These muscles are required for the posture and balance skills necessary over the average five-hour round. Changes in the stable platform or loss of balance can completely alter the outcome of any shot because of deviation at contact point. Working with props such as a big air-filled physic ball, Styrofoam roller, and rubber disc are great progressions for enhancing stability.
For the long game, STRENGTH is imperative. One physical therapist indicates as much as 50 additional yards can be gained through enhanced strength. Strengthening exercises require the muscles to work harder than normal. Resistance such as body weight, dumbbells, machines, weighted balls and bars are used. Each exercise is performed for about one minute.
POWER is strength relative to time. Power dictates club head speed. Exercises that promote movement skill, balance, coordination and speed from the core (torso, hips, rotator cuff) can increase club head speed from 82.4 to 87.4 mph (an increase of 6.1percent). The body essentially learns to accurately propel the ball through its "whipping" motion.
Golf is an athletic endeavour, and in any sport there are different stages of performance conditioning. The golf exercise routine should reflect the cycles in golf play - pre-season, mid-season, and off-season.
A typical pre-season program begins with performing exercises to isolate target muscles first. Examples might include (1) learning the "drawing-in exercise" to activate the transverses abdominals, (2) the use of band resistance to strengthen rotator cuff at varying degrees of range motion, and (3) squats to overload the lower body musculature. More integrated patterns at a later stage might include (1) practicing shoulder rotation using rubber tubing, (2) throwing a weighted medicine ball sideways to strengthen oblique for trunk rotation, (3) squatting and shifting weight to only one leg as the legs straighten. Then progress to practicing components of the golf swing at different speeds on an unstable surface like a wobble board.
Whether you play "cart golf" or "cardio golf" (carrying your own bag), your needs for training differs aerobically. Cardio golf means expending more than four hundred calories a round. The average walking distance for a round is five miles. Rather than wilting around the 12th or 13th hole, improving your reserves will allow you to maintain stamina to continue.
Statistics show that only 11percent of golfers exercise to improve their golf performance. Studies indicate that golf performance training provides more power off the tee, increased consistency and accuracy, decreased number of injuries, more energy for mental focus, and graceful swings.
A golf conditioning program includes exercises that are strategic, goal-oriented and task-specific. Training in preparation for the game makes all the difference in your body and on the course for long-term enjoyment.
The Circuit
I will have 6 sessions in order to carry out my fitness-training regime, each of which will last 50 minutes. In these sessions I will increase the intensity as the sessions go on. I will need to find an intensity that is not to easy but however does not put too much stress on my muscles. This is very important otherwise it may put me off the circuit.
You can overload in a circuit by increasing the number of repetitions, doing the same number of repetitions but in a shorter time. I will need to vary my exercises so that I do not jus emphasize on one single part of my body i.e. Arms or legs.
My Fitness Programme
I have decided on the most appropriate order for my fitness programme that won’t exercise the same muscle groups all at once.
My Warm-Up
I warmed up by doing various exercise stretching the muscles I was going to use during my exercise programme. Stretching increases the range of the movement at the joints. It helps to stop muscles, ligaments and tendons getting strained. Each stretch must last at least 10 secs but usually lasting 12 seconds. This must not involve bouncing.
The muscles I stretched are as following:
- Neck- Hold my hand against my head and push against it whilst trying to tilt my head against it.
- Shoulders- Rotate my arms making windmill patterns
- Triceps- Stretch my arm across my body whilst holding it with the other.
- Quads- Pull heel up towards bum and hold it there. Also raising my leg to a 90 degree angle and twisting it outwards
- Hamstrings- Put one leg in front of other and bend front knee
- Ankles- Rotate
Training Programme
After my exercise session I Warm-down, or continued light exercise after strenuous exercise, is physiologically worthwhile because it prevents blood from pooling the extremities and helps remove lactic acid from muscles. (Lactic acid build up may cause muscle soreness.) In addition, warm-down helps the body recover faster from fatigue.
I completed the same tests as I started to assess my current level of fitness after the 6 weeks:
- I tested myself to see how many press ups I could do in 30 seconds. I did 22. This is an improvement of 5. I felt this was because I worked on my upper body strength more than say my legs.
- I then tested myself to see how many sit ups I could do in 30 seconds. I did 20. This I don’t feel is a significant change but however I felt after my first trial my muscles were significantly more tired than when I re tested myself.
- I then tested myself to see how many step-ups I could do in 30 seconds. I did 19. I feel this was not a major increase but I put this down to the amount of preparation I did. I neglected the work on my legs with the work I did on my upper body. This is why I think I have made a good progress with the press up test but maybe not so well in the step-ups.
Evaluation of Performing Programme
Changes made to my programme after the first session
- I changed many things whilst doing my sessions. I tried different numbers of repetitions, I tried different weights on the machines. When I found a weight that I found was challenging I usually stayed with that weight until the next week, then after that I would increase the weight by 1 or 2.
Improvements I could have made
I think if I was to have shown more of a change in the 6 weeks I would have had to put more effort into my training sessions this would have involved prolonged training sessions not just 50 minutes but perhaps 1 hr 30 minutes. I think this would have shown a greater improvement in my results.