Bigger Swings and Healthier Shoulders Make Golf More Fun

Bigger Golf Swings | Healthy Shoulders | Buffalo NY | Leading Edge Performance
Bigger Golf Swings | Healthy Shoulders | Buffalo NY | Leading Edge Performance

Bigger Swings and Healthier Shoulders Make Golf More Fun

I've been hearing a lot about unspecified shoulder pain lately; that random...'oh, my shoulder suddenly hurts out of nowhere' kind of pain. We are getting to the end of the golf season in Western New York, but that doesn't mean bodies should be breaking down, but they still do. So, how can you keep a nice big shoulder turn in your swing and keep your shoulders feeling great?

The Shoulder Complex Is, Well...Complex

The shoulder joint is the most unstable and at risk joint in the body. The head of the humerus sits next to the glenoid fossa, which is very shallow bone that has a ring of cartilage around the edges of the bone, called the labrum. The only way it stays in proper alignment and functioning well within that shallow joint is by the support of the scapula or shoulder blade, rotator cuff, and supporting muscles surrounding the shoulder blade like the mid trapezius, rhomboids, and lower trapezius muscles. There has been a large focus on rotator cuff muscles, but much attention really needs to be given to the position of the shoulder blade and health of the thoracic spine (your spine where all the ribs attach).

Culture of Sitting, Sitting

Many of my clients have a major occupational hazard to their health. Sitting. Can you relate to this? 'Wake up in the morning and get ready for work, maybe sit at the table and eat breakfast; sit in the car while stuck in traffic on your way to work; sit at a desk for 98% of the day getting up for brief moments from time to time; sit in the car stuck in traffic on the way home from work; sit at the table for dinner; sit at the end of the day and watch your favorite show before going to bed and sleeping in the fetal position. You may imagine being in this position all day long changes the way our body moves. I've heard a lot of chatter within the medical and fitness community about shortened hip flexors from being in that position (which is completely true), but what happens to the upper body? How much work is it to sit tall with your shoulders back and your chin tucked back? Now, how much work is it to sit in a slouched position where your shoulders roll forwards? Yep! You know it, the latter is much less work! Unfortunately, this forward shoulder posture changes the position of our shoulder blade and entire shoulder complex, which sometimes results in shoulder pain.

Life STRESS

I hope you can't relate to that last paragraph at all because sitting, at the very least is boring, and at the most, it's damaging to our movement health. Another scenario causing changes to the shoulder complex is stress: fight, flight, freeze responses. There's actually a biomechanical response to stress in addition to any physiological changes that occur within your body. The biomechanical response: heightened shoulders. We unknowingly and instinctively protect ourselves from 'danger' by raising our shoulders to protect our neck/throat from an attack. The upper trapezius and levator scapulae muscles tighten to make this protective mechanism occur. Over time, constant stress pulls our shoulder blades higher and away from the midline of the body more, which also causes the shoulder joint to become more unstable, thereby putting extra stress on surrounding tissue.

How Does This Change My Swing?

Try this: While seated in a chair, slump forward as if you have really bad posture and cross your arms across your chest. Then, rotate to the right and left from your trunk, paying attention to how much your body is turning. A good way to determine your turn is by noticing how far you can see in each direction. Next, sit up tall with your shoulders squeezed back and your hands up in a 'don't shoot' type of position; now turn in both directions. Which can you rotate better in and which position do you feel more limited? Of course the shoulders back position gives you a bigger turn, but still, try it!

The Solution

Reducing stress (there are meditation apps, physical exercises, and long walks you can go on to help with that) and working on your posture can help reposition your shoulder blades in a more functional place. Upper trap, levator scap, and pec stretches are helpful. Strengthening your mid traps, rhomboids (think rows), and lower traps is also part of the equation. Lastly, belly breathing as opposed to upper chest breathing will make a huge difference in how you feel and move.

For more information on how to get started with a customized exercise program to help you move better, feel better, and play better, contact Marie Hall today!

Marie Hall | Golf Fitness Buffalo | Leading Edge Performance

Author: Marie L Hall

MS, ATC, TPI CGFI MP3, SFMA, FMSC
Golf Fitness Expert, Performance Coach, Functional Movement Specialist

Stretching For Better Golf

Stretching For Better Golf | Leading Edge Performance
Stretching For Better Golf | Leading Edge Performance

One of the fastest ways you can improve comfort in your game and improve your scores today is by adding a warm-up including dynamic stretching to your routine. I love to ask my clients if they would like to be moving well, feeling loose, and in the groove on the fourth tee box or if they would rather feel their best on the first tee box. Hitting well from the first tee absolutely translates to better scores!

How long does my warm-up and stretching last?

Let's first talk about dynamic stretching and why I mentioned that type of movement rather than static stretching. Think about a rubber band. If you stretched a rubber band to its' fullest extent and held it there for a very long time, what would the recoil look like? The rubber band would change in length, but it isn't going to return to its original length quickly and now it has slowed down. What would happen if you took that same rubber band and stretched and shortened it quickly (2-3 second stretches at a time) a number of times? The length and recoil would both improve, and you may notice that band is a little warmer and more pliable now too. Our muscles work in a similar fashion. The human body is much more complex, however, because we are not just stretching tissue, we are involving our entire nervous system.

More on that nervous system... Do you think you can achieve your greatest swing speed immediately after a nap? How's your focus and mental clarity right after waking? Everything has been slowed down. Well, the body responds in a similar fashion to static stretching. We've just slowed the nervous system down and told the body to relax. Hold a stretch 15 seconds or more, and swing speed goes down.

Can I stretch at home?

You know you feel good after warming up with dynamic movements involving your core, glutes, some rotational exercises and then dynamic stretching, but how long do you have before the benefits wear off? Research studies indicate you have about 10 minutes. So, if you live two minutes from the golf course you can probably get ready to play at home. For the rest of us, our routine is best done right at the range. We improve our intimidation factor with that routine before hitting balls at the range too. Anything for an edge on our buddies, right?

Marie Hall | Golf Fitness Buffalo | Leading Edge Performance

Author: Marie L Hall

MS, ATC, TPI CGFI MP3, SFMA, FMSC
Golf Fitness Expert, Performance Coach, Functional Movement Specialist

Improve Your Golf Game Quickly

Improve Your Golf Game Quickly | Glute Strength | Golf Fitness | Leading Edge Performance | Buffalo
Improve Your Golf Game Quickly | Glute Strength | Golf Fitness | Leading Edge Performance | Buffalo

Glute Strength is The Key To Improving Your Golf Game

Everyone wants to know how to improve their golf game quickly. Well, the key to your improving your golf game is having strong glutes. Nope, they aren't just there to hold your pants up! This muscle group is responsible for creating tons of power in your swing, protection for your low back, and consistency in your game. The muscles I'm talking about are gluteus maximus, and gluteus medius. For now we will focus on max...for max potential.

Gluteus maximus is well know in the Titleist Performance Institute golf fitness community as "The King". This is the number one muscle group in the body that needs to be strong and firing. The reason I said "firing" is because for many, these muscles are completely inhibited or shut off. You can test yours right now: Lay down on your back with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle, then lift your hips off the ground until your body is straight from your shoulders to your knees. At that point, straighten out one knee keeping your thighs even. What do you feel? Do you feel your glutes (sides of your butt), your low back, or your hamstrings (back of the thigh) and is your hamstring about to cramp? If it's about to cramp- get out of that position...cramps hurt!! Hopefully you feel the glutes doing more work than your hamstrings. You've passed the test if your glutes are doing at least 70% of the work. If the hamstrings did cramp, well, your glutes are completely shut off. That means you still have distance on your clubs you've been leaving in your bag. If you felt your low back doing the work, there is opportunity to improve your core and glute strength to reduce the chance of injury.

You can use the glute bridge as a test, but it's great as an exercise too. I know many who would rather just start increasing their glute strength by deadlifting, hitting the squat rack, or doing lunges (wait, who really wants to do lunges?), but if your glutes weren't doing more work than your hamstrings when laying on the ground then that's where we need to start: strengthening from the ground. Otherwise, compensation occurs...and you're still not tapping into that full power potential then. Master the glute bridge and then move up from the floor! You'll see increased distance, have more comfort in your game, and hit more fairways pretty quickly by focusing on those glutes!

Marie Hall | Golf Fitness Buffalo | Leading Edge Performance

Author: Marie L Hall

MS, ATC, TPI CGFI MP3, SFMA, FMSC
Golf Fitness Expert, Performance Coach, Functional Movement Specialist