Do think that he’s using any core muscles?
My last post discussed how far strength training for athletes has come since the days where many athletes didn’t lift weights. In that post, I briefly discussed Frank Stranahan, a successful golfer and weightlifter from the 1940′s – 50′s. That post got me thinking some so I decided to research info about strength training for golfers. I came across an article from the Annual Review of Golf Coaching (2007) that includes a piece by Harvey Newton and responses to it from several other individuals. Having spent time talking to Harvey in the past, I have great respect for his opinion and knowledge and I knew that this article would be a great place to start my research. In this piece, Newton give some facts about Stranahan. When you read this, keep in mind that Stranahan won 6 PGA events and 50 amateur tournaments.
Stranahan had experience as a competitive weightlifter, having officially lifted
235 lbs in the Press (no longer a competitive lift), 225 lbs in the Snatch, and 300 lbs
in the Clean-and-Jerk. In powerlifting, minus the Bench Press, his best was 410 lbsin the Squat and 510 lbs in the Deadlift.
Does that sound like most modern golf training? No. What many people seem to be doing for golf specific training includes unstable surface training and lots of core training. These programs tend to avoid heavy lifting and Olympic lifts. The thinking is that golfers need to focus on developing their core muscles and that heavy lifting will cause them to become “muscle bound” and inflexible. But is this the correct approach?
To decide, we need to take a look at the benefits of Olympic lifting:
- Increased explosiveness
- Increased core strength
- Improved flexibility and stability
Of course the primary benefit of lifting heavier weights is increased strength. With all of the benefits of heavy lifting and Olympic lifts, why wouldn’t an athlete want to do them? Aren’t the goals of training programs for golfers to improve core strength, flexibility, stability, and be able to generate more power for longer drives? It seems like Olympic lifts can help accomplish all of these. I can understand if an athlete isn’t ready for this type of training, but why would you want to just automatically exclude them from a program? Much like the authors of the articles previously I mentioned, I believe that if a golf athlete is physically ready, there is a definite place for heavy lifting and explosive training in golf training. I know that this goes against the common line of thinking of many in the golf industry, but the goal of coaching is to help an athlete perform at their highest level. These types of exercises have been shown to be beneficial for golfers and they do have a role in a strength program designed for them.
Mark
