These Are The Types of Exercises You Should Focus On To Increase Club Head Speed
To hit the ball further, there are 4 main exercise categories the best players in the world on the PGA and LPGA tour use to increase club head speed in the gym. Let’s dive in deeper to see what these are and what they mean. They are:
- Vertical Force Strength and Speed (Power)
- Rotational Mobility, Strength and Speed (Power)
- Chest Strength and Speed (Power)
- Intentional Fast Swing with Over Speed Training and feedback
DEFINITIONS
Strength – the force that can be produced in a given movement (independent of how much time it takes)
Speed – how quickly you can produce force (dependent on how much time is takes)
Power – the product of strength AND speed together
Mobility – this is similar to flexibility, but it’s more about the amount of motion you can control yourself
The golf swing is a “power” move in that we want to have the strength to move a relatively light object with speed.
Lets break down the 4 main exercise categories we focus on with our golfers at Florida Physio and in our online programming:
Vertical Force Strength and Speed (Power)
When we think of vertical force, the main focus area is the LOWER BODY.
The first exercise we think of when we think about vertical force and the lower body is the squat. The squat primarily happens through the Knees>Hips (dead lift being hips>knees). This is mainly produced by the quads, glutes, and hamstrings. Because the golf swing starts on both legs, then loads to the trail leg, and then loads onto the lead leg rapidly, we like to work on Vertical Force Production in single leg situations (think lunges, split squat, step-ups, etc).
Try this exercise for vertical force production: THE GOLF SQUAT
Rotational Mobility, Strength and Speed (Power)
When we thinking of rotation, I tend to focus on the hips and thorax.
There are 3 planes of motions. The sagittal (think front to back), the frontal (think side to side), and the transverse (think rotation). In the golf swing, the neck, thorax, shoulders, hips, and even the ankles work mainly in the transverse plane. So we like to have sufficient mobility of each of these areas.
So rotational mobility comes first, then strength, then speed on top of that.
Try this rotational mobility exercise to improve your shoulder turn: WALL OPEN BOOK
Chest Strength and Speed (Power)
This third component is obviously to do with the arms…being chest strength and speed (power). Being able to push away from your body correlates with club head speed. Think of exercises like bench press, incline press, medicine ball chest past, the shot put motion, or even a push-up.
Struggle with a push-up? We have some great ways to scale a push-up so that you can focus on chest strength and power: SCALING A PUSH-UP
Intentional Fast Swings (Overspeed training) with Feed Back
The fourth and final component is intentional fast swings with overspeed training. Overspeed training has been around in sports for hundreds of years. Track athletes would run down hill to make their bodies lighter and learn how to move faster, javelin throwers would use lighter javelins to throw them further in practice. Overspeed training is using something lighter than you’d actually use in competition to train your nervous system how to move faster. Although, SuperSpeed Golf has a great program…it’s not 100% necessary and you can utilize your own clubs (see SuperSpeed protocol here, see alternative here).
In summary, if you want to increase your clubhead speed, there is no quick fix. It takes work and a plan. We have helped hundreds of golfers build a plan both at our office and through our online programming. Schedule a face to face Golf Physical online at www.floridaphysio.com or try our one of our online courses that can help you hit the ball further!
Take our FREE mini course OR our 6 week course that teaches you exercises and drills that focus on each of these categories and ultimately help you increase your club head speed.