“Get fit for golf.” These words have become more common to golfers as they try to improve their game. Golf specific exercise is a great way to improve the game and get fitter and healthier for day to day living. One of the specific terms that you tend to hear more often in the fitness world is functional movement. Functional movement is the use of central (core) muscles to stabilize the body while the extremities perform movement. So let’s get a little deeper into the understanding of the core and its’ roles in the golf swing.

The core is made up of a number of muscles between the hips and shoulders. The main recruits are the rectus abdominis, erector spinae, the diaphragm, the longissimus thoracis, the pelvic floor muscles, the obliques, and the transverse abdominals. There is also the latissimus dorsi, gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and the trapezius muscles that are core contributors. Considering there are so many muscles that work to provide core strength and stability it becomes apparent the need for an understanding of which ones are most involved in the movements that your sport requires.  Training the core to provide us with the right combination of strength and flexibility will result in those muscles helping us achieve more power and distance in the golf swing. The golf swing requires the body to maintain its posture while performing a dynamic rotational movement allowing for consistency and power in the golf shot.

By strengthening the core muscles that are heavily recruited in the golf swing, there is the potential to see improvements in power and distance in the golf game. This is achieved through the right combination of stability and mobility through the body. Many golfers have difficulty achieving this due to an inability to isolate specific muscles to perform stabilizing functions while having other muscles perform movement. A great example of this is golfers require a great amount of stabilization from the glute muscles while the hamstrings are used to perform movement. If a golfer can not independently fire the glutes without the hamstrings being activated then there will be either a loss in stability or mobility in the golf swing. This is often related to a loss of posture during the swing. This highlights the need to not just train the core muscles but to make sure you are training them functionally for the sport you are playing. It is very common for someone that trains regularly without using functional training to have great strength in certain muscles related to the core. When asked to use that strength and perform functional movement many people struggle due to the lack of functional movement training.

Strengthening the core muscles can help improve distance and power in the golf swing but it is important to train the muscles in the way you want to use them in order to transfer the benefits into the sport that you are playing.

Have a question?  Please feel free to email  me at tchapman@fitgolf.com