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Golf fitness programs, golf exercises, and golf fitness training are all beneficial to improving speed in the golf swing. A key for improvement in terms of increasing golf swing speed is utilizing golf fitness exercises which include core exercises. These types of golf exercises will help you to drive the golf ball farther off the tee box.

Golf fitness exercises are an integral part of increasing club head speed. The creation of ball speed occurs by improvement in two areas. Number one is your swing mechanics. The more efficient at which you execute the biomechanics of the golf swing, the greater amount of energy will be translated into the golf ball at impact. So, first and foremost, increasing club head speed is directly connected to your swing mechanics.

The second part of increasing club head speed is connected to your body. In order to execute the biomechanics of the golf swing efficiently, certain levels of flexibility, strength, endurance, and power are required from your muscular system. If you are lacking in any of these physical capacities, the ability to execute the golf swing will be inhibited.

The results will be compensations and a loss of club head speed at impact. In order to ensure the body has the required levels of flexibility, strength, endurance, and power to execute a swing, golf specific exercises can be implemented into a training program.

Such a training program will focus upon the core section of your body. The core is a reference to an anatomical area of the body from just above the knees to just below the chest. The core incorporates all the muscles of the front, sides, and back of the body. Muscles groups found within the core are the glutes, abdominals, obliques, and hamstrings.

Why does a golf fitness specific training program focus upon the core?

Simply because the majority of movements of the golf swing involve the musculature of the core, and for this reason these muscles need to be flexible, strong, and power.

Knowing the importance of the core relative to the golf swing, the next question to ask is how can we increase club head speed with training the core?

Club head speed in terms of the body is measured as power. Increasing the power outputs of the core will assist in improving your club head speed. Assuming you have developed the required levels of flexibility, strength, and endurance within the core to simply execute the biomechanics of the golf swing efficiently. The addition of power training exercises will assist in improving the power outputs for the golf swing.

These types of exercises will focus on creating increased force outputs by the core in a rotational movement pattern. Exercises often found in this section of a core program for golf are medicine ball side throws, medicine ball reverse throws, jump squats, and medicine ball overhead throws. All of these exercises develop the power outputs of the core over time if performed on a consistent basis.

Remember the importance of golf fitness exercises, golf exercises, and golf training programs for increasing club head speed. Increased ball speed is contingent upon both your swing mechanics and body. Improvement in both of these areas is required if the desire is to increase the distance of your drives. Utilize golf exercises to train the aformentioned areas of the body within a golf fitness program. Secondly, work on the actual mechanics of the golf swing through proper golf instruction and practice.

Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notable PGA and Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean Cochran and his golf fitness exercises and training programs go to http://www.seancochran.com

Speed and strength training are the most effective methods that are begin used today to get a lean body. These are especially useful if you are trying to get lean in a hurry.

When trying to get lean, many people make a huge mistake when choosing the workouts. Not only does speed and strength training help you get lean, it also plays a vital role when it comes to good conditioning of the body. This type of training guarantees results, and prevents injuries.

Here are a few workouts that represent speed and strength training, respectively, just to let you have an idea of what they are.

Speed Training

Speed training not only focuses on improving your speed, agility, fitness, and quickness; it also helps you burn fat so much quicker whether it is your intention or not. Speed training is used by amateur and professional athletes to greatly improve their conditioning to bring out the best of their abilities. Here are a few examples:

Fartleks
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Interval Training
Tabata Sprints
Shuttle Runs
100m and 200m sprints

Strength Training

Now strength training is used as the ultimate conditioning program. Many people, whether pro athletes, amateurs, and even normal people use strength training to build muscle. Regardless of the reason for that muscle growth, stronger muscles help prevent injuries and make you look good at the same time. Here are a few:

Resistance Training
Descending Pyramid Weight Reps
Ascending Pyramid Weight Reps, etc

The good thing about strength training is that it is entirely up to you if you want to gain both muscle and strength or, if you are happy with your muscle mass, just improve on your strength without building more muscle mass.

Critical Details

If you are looking for something more than just conditioning and strength, and want to look good and lean then there is something else you have to take into account when trying to shape your body.

Have you ever heard of the phrase – “you can never out-exercise a bad diet”? The thing that most people fail to shed light upon is the fact that having a good diet really helps in acquiring an awesome physique.

You need a good diet for a good body and it is important that you are happy with your diet because if you are not then you will get easily distracted and stray away from your goals.

Strength training is required to help develop a “base” from which an athlete can build upon and become faster. Strength is required before power training and it helps to lay the foundation for overall body conditioning. I have found that strength is the single most dominant factor in predicting and also improving speed. It is not the only factor but it is definitely the main one that can bring about the most significant results.

If you have not performed a regular strength training program before then you need to participate in a general total body program as this will lay the foundation for a more advanced speed program. This article assumes that you have already been involved in a strength training program and are ready to expand into the specifics of training for blazing speed.

There are various types of strength which will help you to understand how to specifically train for your sport of tennis.

Strength-endurance refers to the athlete being able to exert strength over and over many times. If an athlete lacks the ability to continually exert this strength then they will become slower in reacting to a certain situation. The best way to work on strength endurance is by performing circuit training.

Maximum strength refers to being able to exert the maximum force possible in a single contraction or movement. It is this type of strength that plays a significant role in developing that “explosive” component of speed. An athlete can work on this maximum strength by conducting a strength training program.

Elastic strength is a third type which refers to the athlete having the ability to overcome a significant force or resistance with a fast contraction. How does this relate to speed? Well, think about how soccer has become more physical or football with the known amount of sheer strength required to push away from a defender. This can help the athlete to become faster in their response to a situation and get a jump on their opponent. This contributes to an athlete being fast and responsive to a certain situation. An athlete can work on developing elastic strength by working with medicine ball, performing various weight training exercises and a series of plyometric exercises.

Precautions for strength training include conducting a complete “needs analysis” for each individual, avoiding excessive loads on the body, avoiding over training (leads to overuse injuries)and avoiding training errors and using poor technique. Be sure to follow all guidelines and train with a partner if possible (for motivation and for spotting)

Principles of Training include the following: Frequency is how often you workout, intensity is how hard you work out or the effort you put into your work. This is expressed as a percentage of 1RM (maximum repetition). Time is how long you work out for(e.g. 45 minutes).Progression refers to a gradual increase in repetitions, sets, or resistance that allows for adaptational changes. Specificity is about training the body part or system specific to those used in your sport.

If you have access to a gym facility then you can develop a strength training program utilizing the equipment available.For those coaches or athletes who do not have access to a gym, you can design a program using a combination of the exercises included using an athlete’s own body weight for resistance.

Make sure that you include a variety of exercises that cover the lower body, the core and the upper body. Neglecting one area can create imbalances that will likely lead to injury.

How Do We Get Stronger? We get stronger by continually overloading the muscle and forcing it to grow stronger in order to cope with this increased load. When you hear coaches talking about a “maintenance phase” during their competitive season then they are often referring to maintaining the load placed upon the muscles. Whereas as during the pre-season the athletes were constantly striving to increase the loads placed on the muscles.

There are several methods when it comes to basic strength training. These include free weights such as barbells and dumbbells which are common in gyms and homes, using fixed machines such as universal machines, using your own body weight for resistance such as performing push-ups and squats, partner assisted exercises where your partner is the resistance, various forms of circuit training which involves performing a series of pre-defined exercises in rapid succession.

These are methods used for general strength training especially when the athlete lacks the appropriate resources. Our strength training exercises are more specific and cover a variety of methods but all aim to train specifically for the demands of tennis.

Many tennis players have to travel and this is where having the option to perform exercises using your own body weight can come in handy if this is your only option for strength training.

Repetitions – When conducting your initial strength training program for overall body conditioning and preparation for more advanced exercises I want you to work in the 10-12 repetition range. This allows you to develop muscle size and endurance but most of all it doesn’t place too much stress on your body which would likely lead to injury. You should be pushing out that last repetition, if not then increase the weight.

Once you have completed at least six months of a general weight training program then you can move onto the specifics that will really help you to become faster.

To achieve maximal results and adaptations you will want to train in the repetition range of 6-8 repetitions. This will help to achieve maximum strength and muscle growth. Every two to three weeks I want you to include a heavy day in your training which will consist of performing the same exercises but now in the 4-6 repetition range. It is important to perform these fewer repetitions with exercises that you have been doing for a while. This is a gradual progression. These heavy days will really help to overload and stimulate the muscles.

Sets – During your initial general strength training program I want you to perform 3 sets. The goal should be to push out 10-12 repetitions in each of these three sets. Remember that the main goal of a general strength training program is to prepare the body for the more strenuous activities placed upon it in the power and advanced training programs. If you have already been involved in a strength training program then you need to move on to a more intensive strength training program of 3 to 5 sets per exercise (include super sets into your programs)

Rest periods – During your general conditioning phase you will want to only rest for 1-2 minutes between sets.

When you have moved on to the more intensive program you will need to increase your rest periods to at least two to three minutes (due to using heavier weights and performing fewer repetitions). Anything less when maxing out will not allow you to fully recover in order to perform the next set for maximal gains. This increased rest period will allow the muscles to sufficiently replenish their ATP and creatine phosphate stores which will allow you to get better results on your next set.

Many power athletes will require rest periods of greater than 3-5 minutes. This is more specific but I am sure that you will have time restraints with your sessions.

Strength Training Program for Novice Lifters includes using a lighter weight, more repetitions, goal of becoming accustomed to strength training, fewer sets, divide into two sessions (upper body and lower body), conduct each session twice per week = 4 total sessions

Strength Training Program for Advanced and Experienced Lifters includes heavier weight, fewer repetitions, goal is to increase strength, more sets, three distinct sessions allowing for more emphasis on a specific muscle group, minimum of 72 hours rest between same muscles group work out, push out last few repetitions, increase weight if they are too easy!Introduce super sets, complete one heavy training session every three weeks, increase rest period between sets.

With frequency you should try to aim for at least three sessions per week with a minimum of two sessions.

Choice of exercises: To maintain motivation and prevent boredom change the exercises every 4-6 weeks. Refer to the article “Need New Strength Training Exercises to Add Variety to Your Programs?

The choice of exercises may be determined by the equipment available to you. If you have access a gym then they should have all of the required equipment. If not, then choose some of the body-resistance exercises or stability ball exercises.

Include a super-setting program for a 6 week period. Super-setting is where you complete a set with one muscles group and then immediately perform a set with another muscle group. For example: complete one set of dumbbell curls for the biceps and then complete one set of triceps extensions for the opposing triceps.

I strongly believe in keeping the repetition range between 6-8 as anything higher is not “overloading” the muscles. Every 2-3 weeks I want you to include one session of maximum lifting where your repetition range is between 4-6 repetitions. This will help to stimulate the muscles.

Always use a spotter and seek the assistance of a trainer to help you with technique. Remember that this is a general strength training program and change exercises every 4 – 6 weeks for variety and to stimulate muscles. Perform the general program for at least 6 months and allow for 48 to 72 hours rest between workouts. Start with a light weight and then progress to heavier weights and aim for a designated number of repetitions.

Include the following strength and power training exercises in your program for advanced players: BB and DB squats, Snatch Squat, Power Cleans, Bench Press,

Hack Squats, Leg Sled.

Characteristics of Strength Training Programs

Hypertrophy involves concentric and eccentric exercises, multiple sets for each muscle group (greater than 3 sets, short rest periods (less than 2 minutes, repetition range of 6-12, include super setting (same or opposing muscle groups), use a variety of exercises per muscle group, focus on muscle being trained and start with the larger muscle groups first

Power involves multi-joint exercises (power cleans, multiple sets (greater than 4), longer rest periods greater than two minutes (need longer rest periods before next set), repetition range less than 6 per set, very high intensity (maximal effort), choose power exercises specific to the movements used in tennis, perform power exercises early on in a session (work assisting muscle groups second), power is similar to strength but you are adding the time factor, plyo-metrics are exercises where the muscle is contracted eccentrically and then immediately concentrically. Stretch shortening cycle.

Muscular Endurance involves tennis specific exercises, fewer sets (3 or less), moderate rest periods (2-3 minutes between sets), repetition range of 12-18, lower intensity (allows for more repetitions), lighter weights used for more repetitions,

Remember that these are directed towards become a faster athlete. Strength and Power is what is needed for speed. Be aware of your own current fitness status and design a program that suits your needs based on the above principles.