Bad Posture, Bad Golf
(Functional fitness can help with this)
By: Jonathan Ehlen Boys Varsity Golf Coach Ryle High School, who placed 4th
in KY State Tourney this year, highest in school history.
Not only does good posture make you
look better, it can make you feel better too. Doing the right exercises,
strengthening the right muscles, and doing it the right way can have huge benefits
on and off the golf course.
One of the biggest swing flaws I
see in golfers is the inability to setup or maintain proper posture and spine
angle throughout the golf swing. Do I fault them for this? Absolutely not,
there are many things that contribute to this unsightly, uncomfortable, and
unhealthy “habit” alot of people have.
Lets break it down to what the main
causes for poor posture are:
▪
FATIGUE
▪
Muscles in the back, neck, and
shoulders get overworked and are not able to support the weight of the torso
▪
INGRAINED HABITS
▪
Slouching is a natural position if
you are not ergonomically correct.
▪
WEAKENED CORE MUSCLES
▪
Strengthening core muscles,
abdominals, and those surrounding the spine can help bring your posture back to
normal
▪
YOUR JOB
▪
Sedentary work, office workers, and
those that are in fixed positions for most of the day have the highest risk of
bad posture. (this means most golfers)
▪
EXERCISING INCORRECTLY
(JOE: such as using body building
tactics, building certain muscles strength (such as bicep
curls) without creating an OPTIMAL whole body
power producing unit, and missing on certain planes of
acceleration/deceleration )
▪
FIXED MOVEMENT EXERCISES
(JOE: single joint exercises that
do not train your body as a whole unit)
Dangers of neglecting poor posture:
▪
Habitual slouching
▪
Structurally changing your spine
over time
▪
Constricting blood vessels and
nerves
▪
Impact on your discs
▪
Early damage to nearby muscles and
joints
▪
Premature aging of body
▪
Pain in your back, neck, headaches,
and muscle fatigue
▪
Breathing issues
▪
Lack of balance and coordination
▪
Depression
▪
High Golf scores
Standing up straight is actually a
complex chain of signals throughout your body. There are alot of muscles that
must be triggered in order to make all of the links in the chain support each
other. So if you can’t stand up straight standing still how on earth do you
think you will be able to maintain posture while moving a golf club at 100+
miles an hour? It does not seem logical that it can be done when you have
weak links in the chain of events. This is where the focus of functional
fitness comes in. How often are you sitting, standing, or in a fixed position
where you have to move weight or an object around? Typically never. Then why
would you train that way? It makes no sense why people lift weight from fixed
positions unless they are trying to focus on one single muscle. (ie a body
builder). Compound movements and functional “real world” movements are
where it’s at. If you want to improve your posture and you want to improve your
golf game as a result you need to train your body and simulate these movements.
Alot of golfers are looking for the
next best thing. They are always searching for that club that will give
them an extra 10 yards, the golf ball that will give them shot stopping
control, or that golf lesson that turns them into a scratch golfer. Lets be honest
all of those things are valid but the arrows are only as good as the Indian
that is shooting them. Am I saying that you need a work out regime that mimics
Tiger Woods? No, I’m not. What I am saying is that the work you do away from
the golf course and away from the driving range could have an even bigger
impact than that magical golf lesson or magical golf club. Its all about
training for what you are doing and focusing on real world applications.
This is where I will step aside and
allow Joe Daniels of SwingThis to add his .02 to this conversation and discuss
his expertise in functional fitness.
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