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Want a Better Golf Game? Warm Up and Stretch
Summertime brings a host of fun activities you can do—swimming, camping, grilling out, and GOLF! Golf may not seem like a very physical or strenuous activity, but it is still important to take care of yourself by warming up and stretching out. Golfing typically involves a lot of walking as well as some twisting when you tee off. With a few extra minutes, you can make your golf game feel physically better. Keep reading to learn how warming up and stretching can benefit your golf game.
How Stretching Helps Your Golf Game
The muscles in our body perform their best when the blood is flowing after moving around a bit. Jumping immediately into any activity with cold muscles can lead to strains and sprains. Golfers get their steps in, but without stretching, the back and legs can become tight and stiff following your game. While this blog is about getting you prepped for your golf game, here are some other reasons why stretching is beneficial:
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Improves flexibility
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Boosts energy
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Relieves tension
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Reduces pain
All of these benefits can help improve your golf game or at the very least make it hurt less. It’s always more fun to play golf or any game when you feel good and can avoid injury and pain.
Improve Your Golf Game by Warming Up and Stretching
Before you tee off on the golf course, you will warm up first followed by these stretches.
- Rotation stretch with golf club
- Side bend stretch with golf club
- Shoulder circles warm up
- Quad stretch with club
- Piriformis stretch
Now that you are all warmed up and stretched out, how do you maintain these improvements? If you notice that you have a particular area in your body that gets tense and sore while you golf, you may need to repeat that stretch every so often throughout the golf outing. This will keep you feeling up to par!
Hydration for Golfers
Another key to a great day on the golf course is to make sure you are staying hydrated with water. Your muscles are made up of about 75% of water. A good way to think about muscles is to think of them like Play-Doh. Play-Doh fresh out of the tub moves well and bends the way we want it to. However, leave it out of the container, and it becomes dehydrated, is stiff and does not move well at all. That is exactly what happens with our muscles when we are dehydrated. We feel stiff, cramp up, and are more prone to injury and aches, such as back pain.
A good daily goal is to drink half your bodyweight in fluid ounces. So, if you weigh 200 pounds, your daily goal is about 100 fluid ounces of water. To reach this goal, try adding one more glass or bottle of water each week to slowly work your body up to the daily goal.
Golfing Pain Free
With a regular routine of warming up before you golf and stretching before and during your golf outing, you will be able to golf pain free more often than not. Have fun on the links, and contact Balanced Fitness & Health if you need help loosening up a problem area.