If you’re in Florida (not to brag), golf season has been here for a while. Really, it never leaves.
Ok, sorry. We’re definitely bragging.
But if you live in many places across the United States, chances are you’re looking longingly out the window waiting for that spring thaw and the sprouting of green grass. Golf season is coming, so don’t fret -– but it’s also important to make sure your body is ready. While it’s cold outside, why not put in some work indoors?
Training equipment comes in all shapes and sizes. Just like in Part 1 of our blog series looking at golf fitness and the required equipment, in Part 2 we’ll focus on 3 more products that you can find right on the Hit It Great online store.
1. Dumbbell
Dumbbells are one of the most common pieces of at-home exercise equipment. They’re accessible, relatively inexpensive and can be used in a variety of workouts that will help your golf game. We’re looking to gradually build strength and stability with a straightforward dumbbell press, as you’ll see demonstrated by Coach Brianna.
Exercise: Dumbbell Press
For this exercise, start with both feet on the floor (shoulder width apart) with the dumbbells at your sides. Make sure your shoulders are pinned back and down before you get moving.
Alright, let’s do this. You’re going to drive one knee up, then curl both dumbbells to your shoulders and extend them straight up -– while making sure that your back stays flat because you don’t want to over-arch. The key here is a flat back and a tight core. If you do that, you’re in good shape.
With your arms above your head and biceps above your ears, lower both dumbbells to your shoulders and uncurl back down to your sides. Step the knee down, and repeat the exercise with your other leg.
2. Balance Pad
At Hit IT Great, we love the balance pad exercise.
Why? Because it’s an excellent way to train for improved posture and stability -– two things that are essential to playing better golf. Without good posture and stability, your swing is going to be out of balance…and, well, we know what happens from there.
It ain’t good.
Much like dumbbells, balance pads are lower-cost and can serve as a conduit for several exercises, including this (creatively named) balance pad dumbbell press.
Exercise: Balance Pad Dumbbell Press
Now that we’ve got the first exercise down, let’s crank things up a bit. We’re going to train for stability, and in order to do that, we have to remove some stability.
Makes sense, right? Of course it does.
Watch how Coach Brianna uses the balance pad in the video. It’s creating instability by offsetting the foot, which forces you to stay balanced through your trunk and your core. Let’s get into the exercise.
You’ll notice right away that your ankle will be wobbly -– and that’s normal! The balance pad is great for replicating instability on the golf course, conditions like bunkers, waste areas, softer turf, etc. Much like the previous exercise, we’re going into an overhead press by driving one knee up and extending upward *without* the curl.
Here’s the takeaway: we’re creating and building stability by embracing the instability. It’s about the core, the trunk and our posture -– which will prepare us to make a golf swing on any unstable surface.
3. Loop Resistance Band
The last workout we’re going to walk through is using a resistance band. This particular “loop” resistance band is great for golf training because we can use our feet in a variety of exercises.
How about an exercise that helps with power in your golf swing? We thought you’d be interested.
Exercise: Loop Resistance Band Lateral Step
We’re keeping it simple here once again. Start with the resistance band looped around your ankles while standing in a tall, stacked position.
To initiate, lean over and begin laterally walking side to side and make sure that with each step, there’s constant pressure on the resistance band -– you don’t want to let your ankles get too close together. A tip from Coach Brianna, “Envision a medicine ball between your legs to make sure, visually, you’re keeping your feet separated enough.”
One way to know you’re nailing this exercise? You’ll feel the burn on the outside of your hips, which will help your position at impact and build power through your swing all the way through the impact position.
As you can see, there are plenty of at-home exercises that will help your golf swing and that can be done with equipment you may already have. And if you don’t, see above!
These tools are versatile and cost-effective. We’ll have more workouts using three more pieces of at-home exercise equipment in part 3 of this series, coming soon!
