5 Keys To Elevate Your Golf Fitness Program
1. Progressive Overload: Keep Pushing Your Limit Further!
Progressive overload isn’t just a catchy fitness term. It quite literally is a key principle you must follow if you want to grow muscle or increase strength or mobility. The body is great at adapting so we must consistently challenge your muscles with more reps, more weight or more volume to continue making improvements over time. This is also why it is important to follow a program consistently so you are able to progressively overload as you follow along week to week.
2. Protein: Hit The Right Numbers If You Want To Gain Muscle!
Protein is the number one macronutrient to ensure you are eating in the correct quantity if you want to maximise your recovery and muscle growth. The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism recommends consuming between 1.6g to 2.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight to optimise muscle protein synthesis which is the key to ensuring you recover adequately between training and also after playing rounds of golf. This will also have the carry over effect of minimising soreness between sessions and rounds of golf so you feel fresher and less tight and sore.
3. Timing For Success: Pre and Post-Workout Nutrition
The timing of your meals can also play a huge role in your recovery, performance and gains. A meta analysis of nutrient timing in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition highlighted the potential for benefits of nutrient timing around workouts, advocating for balanced meals rich in protein and carbs before and after exercise to promote muscle protein synthesis. To put this simply your body needs carbs to use as energy and protein to recover and rebuild. This can be as simple as having a protein shake and piece of fruit for when you finish your workouts while avoiding anything too fatty as this is slower to digest and will hinder the absorbtion of protein and carbs into the body.
4. Sleep: The Key To Performance and Recovery!
Great sleep is a necessity if you want to perform optimally. Recover well and maximise the gains you make from the hard work you put in during your training sessions. A study in the academic journal Sleep showed that individuals who got less than 7-9 hours of sleep per night had impaired muscle recovery. Other studies have also shown subjects had a decrease in muscle strength for those who got less than 6 hours of sleep VS those who had 7-8 hours or 8 hours plus each night. Sleep is king and it is the bodies best natural way to recover. It is also the lowest hanging fruit for most so if you’re looking for a fast and simple way to boost performance, muscle size and strength look no further!
5. Full-Body Training Splits: The Key To Minimal Soreness!
For golfers in particular I have found the best way to train is to complete a full body split. This means doing a small amount of exercise across each body part each day you go to the gym and doing this every session you train during the week, vs a body part split which means you would split the body into parts and do one body part each day. eg: legs day, arm day etc…
A full body split ensures you get adequate volume for each muscle group across the week to make gains and also ensures you’re not just smashing one body part per day which is what makes you sore and will have you stiff and sore each time you go out to play golf. Small doses each day will create minimal soreness and have less of an impact on your golf game.
If you want to see how a well structured training program is laid out I want to invite you to take up a 7 day FREE trial of the Fairway Performance Training App. With a range of strength and conditioning programs based on your experience level in the gym, mobility plans for body parts or to combat certain swing faults and mobility self assessment videos to help you pinpoint areas for you to focus your time and attention. To download the app for iPhone click here or for Android click here.
Within the app you will also find mobility self assessment videos, programs to help you overcome certain swing faults and limitations and also a brand new Off Season training program to have you making huge gains off the course which you can carry over to the course when your next season starts!
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