Benefits of Resistance Bands in Golf
If you want to play more consistent golf or create a more powerful golf swing then incorporating resistance band training into your golf performance training is a must! Resistance bands have become one of the training tools of choice among golfers and athletes alike. Their popularity among all age groups of golfers has risen significantly in the recent years from junior to senior players because of their proven benefits. Now, especially more than ever, at the professional level tour players and tour trainers are traveling with bands because of the many benefits of resistance bands in golf. Benefits such as dynamic warm-up, prehab, stability, mobility, golf swing drills, and golf fitness are a few key areas of their use
Dynamic Warm-up / Prehab
With resistance bands, you can create a customized dynamic warm-up / prehab routine that targets the areas of your body that are identified as susceptible to injury or simply due to muscle and joint tightness and/or soreness. A good warm-up routine also consists of prehab exercises which is a shortened word for preventative rehablitliation. Prehab allows you to achieve two outcomes at the same time. Not only are you warming the targeted area of the body but you are also strengthening the area with “helps” to protect it. For example, bands are the perfect tool used to activate, target and strengthen the protective rotator cuff shoulder muscles. They help to really prep and protect the shoulder for athletic movement.
Most golfers use the lighter resistance bands for their pre round warm-up routines. Our Resistance Lite Bands Pack was recently voted Best Resistance Bands 2017 by Golf Digest Magazine because of their unique and lighter tensions. Players perform their warm up exercises any where and with any level of strength and body condition. Whether the player is experiencing sore muscles from a previous work out or needs an extra help waking up the muscles, he or she can choose to use the lighter band or the stronger band to get the warm up job done. With a proper warm up, one has increased the probability for a better round and lowered the risk of injury during play.
Stability / Mobility Training
Golfers should dedicate a good amount of time to improving joint stability and mobility. One of the best supportive tools to improving these training strategies are looped bands because of their ability to engage, target and strengthen joint surrounding muscles in ways weights just cannot do. Bands allow the user to target the smaller joint protecting muscles that increase golfer stability. They also are fantastic at looping around different limbs of the body for tractioning exercises which increase joint mobility and range of motion. When a band is used for training, it could actually kill two birds with one stone. The elasticity of bands can give user support to move beyond the certain range of motions while providing resistance for muscles to interact with. As a result, by training with different colors of bands over time, one is not only getting stronger but also getting more effective at moving their body.
Golf Swing Drills
Resistance bands have become a proven training aid for golf swing drills to improve swing mechanics. Pertaining to golf, certain technical parts of the swing or body can be better molded with resistance band use. Recreational players, pro players, world class golf instructors and junior golf academies use the bands on the range to enhance golf swing motors skills and motor patterns. For example if a golfer is having a specific swing or body issue the bands are used to engage the negative movement which forces the golfer to perform the opposite positive action. Once the positive action is felt and learned through central nervous system and motor skills there is an immediate improvement in the swing’s technical result.
Another benefit to utilizing bands for golf swing training is they can be used at home, in the hotel room or even gym to continue working on the swing.
See our SuperFlex Golf Swing Kit which has over 50 golf specific training drills developed to improve golf swing faults with fixes.
Golf Fitness
Unlike weights, bands are much easier to carry around and to travel with on tour or simply while on vacation. Resistance bands are becoming the equipment of choice for most golfers and their golf fitness routines. Resistance band training can help to create more pliable and elastic muscles. Developing these longer leaner more flexible muscles is widely regarded as the most healthy approach to increasing a golfers athletic longevity.
The versatility and portability are also determining reasons that bands are so popular in the golf performance training. Trainers and players alike don’t always have access to a fully equipped gym on the road which makes them a perfect tool for achieving a more consistent training routine without the hassle of finding a gym. These unique looped styled resistance bands can be hooked on to all types of places, like door attachments, bed frames and even golf carts. Workouts can be created effortlessly. More importantly, the bands are so effective at achieving desired results for warming up, stretching, and training and they are so portable that more and more people are using them.
Overall, resistance bands are the leading golf training tool for golfers of all ages but also for athletes in all sports. Recently, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots has written a new book to talk about how he has continued to play at such a high level at the age of 40. Brady says that he focuses on training with resistance bands as opposed to heavy weights because he says it works the body better functionally. The bands make him stronger with more pliability.
Resistance bands in golf open up more possibilities for training than the traditional methods of using weights. The portability and versatility of bands offer reliable ways of training in virtually anywhere and anytime. Whatever your golf fitness or golf performance goals are, resistance bands can be used to help you achieve them!
By Dave Herman
