The transition from winter to spring gives us more opportunities to play – here’s how to make the most of your off-season work with fitness expert and personal trainer Shawn O’Neil
It’s that time again – Rory McIlroy’s champions dinner menu has been released, winter rules are being phased out, and the weather looks to be improving – which means a new season is just around the corner and everyone who has put work into their fitness over the winter will be raring to get out on the course.
It’s natural that you’re going to want to spend more time on the course and less time in the gym during the season, so I’ve got three tips to help you make the most of what you’ve gained and not let it go to waste.
First, build a mobility routine. This is really useful, especially if your job requires lots of time sitting at a desk. Sitting for prolonged periods is detrimental to your ability to rotate, produce force and connect your upper body to your lower body. A few exercises that focus on hip and thoracic spine mobility as well as some postural and core work can be done with no equipment and in just 10 minutes. Do this a few times a week and you’ll really notice the benefit.
Second, protect what you’ve built. If you’ve worked hard, and gained a good amount of strength and been training to produce that force quickly, the worst thing you can do now is stop training. Most of what you’ve gained will disappear quickly, including any clubhead speed you’ve gained. The good news is maintenance is straightforward and takes a fraction of the time. Intensity is the key – as long as you get the loading right you can really decrease the volume and the frequency compared to what is required to build strength.
Finally, do some gapping. Increasing your strength has a fairly linear correlation with how fast you move the club. The distance you hit your clubs last season is no longer applicable, and seeing as one of the strongest statistical correlations with lower scores is greens in regulation, it’s really important that you know how far you hit your clubs going into the new season. I repeatedly bang the drum about how hitting it further equals lower scores, but if you’re able to carry your seven-iron 170 yards, it’s important to know that and be able to repeat it time and again.
Enjoy the season!
