Fitness Program

Juniors that are playing golf as their primary sport need to train their bodies for peak performance while competing as well as to be able to prevent injury and keep up with rigorous hours of practice. However, it is important that your junior consult a trained professional, such as a personal trainer or your physician to make sure that the proper technique is being used and also to make sure that your child’s body is mature enough to handle certain weight training.

There are many ways to have your junior exercise or train for golf. Activities such as aerobic exercise (walking or running), weight training, yoga and stretching are all important components of a complete fitness program.

Aerobic

All juniors should be doing some type of aerobic exercise since they walk when they play and are carrying their own golf bags. It can be as simple as walking around your neighborhood, running or walking on a treadmill (at an incline) or even playing basketball.

Set up a schedule each week to start your juniors’ aerobic training. Try 3 times a week for 30 minutes. Keep a log and track their progress. If the junior is doing it with ease, stretch it out to 45 minutes. If they are on a treadmill, raise the incline. The goal is to raise their heart rate while being able to breathe with ease. If they are running you want to make sure they are running at a comfortable pace without getting too winded. It is wise to have them run and walk within the 30-minute time frame.

Weight Training

Weight training for golf is different in many ways from weight training for other sports. It is important that you do exercises that train core muscles such as abdominal muscles; lower back (spine), oblique’s (muscles on the side of abs), hip flexors (in front of the pelvis and upper thigh) and gluteus (buttocks). Other areas of the body that are imperative to strengthen and train are hands, wrists, forearms (triceps muscles), deltoids (shoulders), quadriceps, calves and hamstrings.