How To Get Started With Golf Fitness
The biggest thing holding golfers back from getting started is a lack of knowledge of where to begin or what to do in the gym.
I speak with Golfers daily who ask what they “should” do in the gym to improve their game so in this post I am hoping to answer this question for you and many more.
How Do You Choose What To Do In The Gym?
This differs depending on the experience you have with training in general so I am just going to speak to someone who has little to no experience in the gym and is just starting out.
The first thing we need to consider is what we’re going to be rewarded for the most on the golf course for the time we spend in the gym. For me these things are mobility, strength and speed/power.
But what about Cardio I hear you say?
Cardio is one which is high on the list for most people when thinking about fitness and gym work but in my opinion if you’re able to walk a full round of golf then essentially your cardio is in a good enough place for now and we have other items which will give us more bang for buck and more transference to our on course performance.
Now we know what you want to build in the gym, how do you go selecting the things to do?
How Do You Select The Movement To Do In The Gym?
When it comes to building mobility, strength and speed/power we want to follow the list in this order. The reason being is, we want our bodies to move through as large a range of motion as possible so we can exceed the demands of the golf swing and potentially reach new positions to help us with swing changes etc in the future.
The next thing to build is strength. This can be done in a couple of different ways but in my opinion the best start point is to work on building lean muscle mass (hypertrophy training). This involves doing 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps of movements which require pushing and pulling in the upper body, squatting and hinging for the lower body and core and rotation work. Once someone has built strength and competency in these movements at these rep ranges I will move to lifting heavier weights for sets of 3-6 reps to continue building strength.
Then comes the speed/power work. I like to focus on this last. The reason being if we’ve spent the time to build a solid foundation of mobility and strength and increased your lean muscle mass your potential to increase speed and power is significantly increased. Someone with better mobility and strength will always have a higher potential to hit the ball further than someone smaller than them.
How Many Times Per Week Do You Need To Train?
This one is very different for everyone to start with because of the different commitments we have in life i.e. family, business, work or social commitments.
I find the perfect blend to allow practice time and making progress in the gym to be 3 gym sessions per week combined with whatever practice or playing you do on top of this. For some this is too high a commitment to begin with so I just ask they start with 1 session and as they start to see the benefits and notice improvements on the course they will soon find time to add more sessions in and might find more benefit from gym work than mindlessly hitting balls at the range of the sake of it. I go into much more detail on this particular point in the Podcast version of this blog post which you can tune into if you click here.
How Do You Structure Sessions In The Gym?
If we piece together some of the things I have detailed so far we know the overarching principles and the things we want to focus on so now it’s a matter of putting them together.
For those new to the gym I like to employ what's called a body part split program. Essentially this means you do:
Day 1: Mobility, lower body hinging and squatting and core/rotation work.
Day 2: Mobility, Upper body pushing and pulling and core/rotation work.
Day 3: Mobility, speed/power work and core/rotation work.
The reason I like this split is because the things which make you the most sore are done as early in the week as possible to allow for the most recovery time before your next round. This will minimise and eliminate any soreness carrying over to when you play.
As you become more experienced with training and the body adapts to training stresses over time a method called a full body split is what I recommend in my Intermediate and Advanced golf fitness programs. If you want to learn more about this I detail it in this podcast episode I recorded. Click here to tune in.
How Do I Know What Will Have The Best Carry Over To My Game?
If you’re currently doing nothing chances are anything you do to improve your mobility, strength and speed/power will carry over to better on course performance.
This is because as a beginner in anything there is so much room for improvement and anything you touch will turn to gold. I call this phase “beginner gains” and it is amazing to observe in clients! Things like improving back squat numbers by 25kg in 4 weeks, gaining 17MPH in club head speed from a 4 week challenge and losing 8kgs in 4 weeks are just a few of the recent accomplishments I have seen from clients inside the Fairway Performance Training App.
The more you train and improve the less room you have for improvement and the specificity in your training needs to be tightened up to target specific adaptations within the body which will improve your performance. Some people are naturally more powerful so for them mobility might be the thing to increase the length of their swing to generate more power and for others they may be mobile but lack strength and cannot generate much power and speed so they need to build muscle.
The best way to find this out for yourself is to get either a TPI screening for mobility or a TPI Power/Fitness assessment to learn where these areas are for you so you can target them specifically. I offer both of these services over Zoom so if you’re interested in booking a spot you can click here.
I really hope the information in this article has helped you clarify some of the things I see golfers in your position struggle with when wanting to make a start in the gym. At the end of the day though this information is a start point and implementing it and making it a habit you consistently stick to is another thing. This is where I see real value in hiring a coach or committing yourself to a program.
If you want help with the commitment and support on your journey you can take me up on a 7 day free trial of the Fairway Performance Training App which is the medium I use to help golfers around the world improve what their bodies are capable of so they have the potential to play better golf. There are programs in there for golfers at any level of play and experience in the gym and guides which will help you decide at which point is best for you to start. You will also be able to direct message me through the app for any additional questions you have along the way!
If you have any other questions you can contact me in these ways:
Email: shaun@fairwayperformance.com
Instagram: @shaun.diachkoff
Here are some other articles you may want to check out: