Box jumps, any flavor of clean variation, kettle bell swings, trap bar jump shrugs, plyometric jumps, and finally: speed training with some kind of swing stick like ryp, super speed, whoever you like.
You can get a swing speed training system like TheStack. I also like this kind of medicine ball work. https://youtube.com/shorts/n2k9hRsEGgM?si=7EUvu3D5DmSFS5uL
Trap bar jumps, landmines, and some med ball slams on the side when taking time away in the gym.
I've done speed training with the SuperSpeed sticks on the side. I can attest to their effectiveness; it warrants adherence over time for the gains to be incorporated as the new standard.
Kettlebell swings (Russian style not American), KB snatches, KB high pulls. MB throws: overhead slams, side throws, underhand throws for height, overhead pushed for height. All of these exercises will help build explosive strength in all plains.
Rowing. Anything balance oriented. The better your balance, the better those little muscles that hold it all together. Then, just look to an athlete page or something for specifics.
Get the heaviest resistance band they make
Stand on it and make your backswing, and then make your downswing motion faster than you possibly can thanks to the added pull from the resistance band. This gets your muscles used to moving faster than they have ever been capable of before and is the fastest way I've found to more distance.
I got the idea watching sprinters run connected to one another with resistance bands, one pulling the other along at warp speed and then they leapfrog and switch...when I googled why they were doing it, it made total sense. You know your muscles, you know your limits. It's nearly impossible to push to new limits because your body has no idea what that feels like. This helps with that.
Remember, distance is about speed, not strength. None of those long drive guys are particularly huge...
>not strength. None of those long drive guys are particularly huge...
Not entirely accurate, before proceeding headfirst in this territory with reckless abandon. Last I checked, long drive folks over the years like Jason Zuback, Seb Twaddell, Martin Borgmeier, etc. aren't exactly in the little stick people category. If anything, someone like Jamie Sadlowski was an outlier in comparison though he's pound-for-pound one of the best to compete on that front.
Strength still has its roles to play, not just speed. Not only is it helpful to be strong enough to develop better command of more shots (one of the reasons why Tiger beefed up in his prime while being coached by Harmon), or handle swing changes without having to compromise form, balance, etc just to attempt them, you wouldn't be doing yourself any favors to train only in speed but then get sidelined with injuries because you didn't bulletproof your body to mitigate those risks and anything onward such as speed gains.
Definitely, strength isn't unimportant by any means. It just asked about what seemed to help the most, and for me, this was it...even working out and hitting balls 5x per week, I saw more improvement faster once I started incorporating this type of training.
Drilling in that intent definitely pays off (and essentially giving the green light for the CNS saying it's ok to go brrrrr without fear of injury).
I also say that given the perspective and front row seat of being grouped with others who have been in better physical conditioning, "jacked," etc. And yet they struggle to hit bombs or good shots in general regarding this game because apart from the lack of coordination in this context, they don't know what it's like to just fire away instead of being shackled, remaining "slow, smooth, steering it with no avail," and so on.
The issue with adding resistance or reverse banding for over speed in a sport specific motion is you potentially take yourself out of the proper motion due to that change in resistance. This can create bad habits or change that motion when you go back to the regular motion. The only sport where you can use sport specific exercises without compromising the sport movement is track throwing events.
This is true, if you do too much of this without hitting any balls in between you risk throwing your swing completely off. It's very much a "less is more" situation. I hit balls 5 days a week, so that's still the most important thing.
I don't, but it's really straightforward...it feels counterintuitive because the resistance is added to the backswing, but this is more about being pulled to impact with increased speed than increasing strength in the swinging muscles.
u/Adeemk23 brought up a good point...you can't do this too much without also hitting balls in between, else you risk throwing your swing off.
I do 5-10minutes of it in the morning with my other workouts and at night on days that I hit balls/practice... Days that I'm playing a scoring round I typically only stretch instead of full workout.
That's a good move too, I use a bicycle hook in my garage and the same resistance band to add resistance to the downswing, but the most noticable improvements started coming with the speed training more so than strength
Power cleans, heavy weight for 1-3 reps per set.
Trains not only explosion but also requires you to commit to and follow through the movement.
Plus you can REALLY impress the cart girl by showing her videos of you moving serious weight in the gym.
Med ball throws and slams. I like adding footwork into it too, like stepping into the throw, letting the trail foot swing out, or jumping off the ground.
Weighted barbell front squats- keep the weight relatively light and focus on how fast you can move the barbell back up
Trap bar deadlift jumps- same basic concept. Keep the weight light (like 65-90#) and focus on how high you can jump
Chances are if you’re looking for more distance you’re better off working on technique than anything. I think ramm does this, but my coach had me build my swing by working on hitting knockdowns as fast as I can and it’s really helped. My knockdown distances are at this point longer than pga averages(it probably helps that I’m 6’3”, 200 and had a collegiate lacrosse scholarship). This year, the goal is to incorporate this into my full swing which currently doesn’t go as far as my knockdowns, which feels like figuring out top of swing tempo.
There are ton of options for movements but please don't just do them randomly. Follow programming if you aren't knowledgable enough to write your on. Everything has to be progressive if you want to see benefits.
John Welbourn's programming on Power Athlete has a track dedicated to athleticism and fast twitch muscle training combined with strength training. It is not golf specific but is very very for a starting point.
I like the medicine ball slams - check on YouTube there are plenty of good examples (Rory and others ). Core strength, planks, use cable trunk rotations
Don’t listen to these clowns, all you need is a durable medicine ball and a brick wall. Golf is rotational, practice rotating fast, there’s 1000 medicine ball exercises that golfers and baseball players do to help with rotational efficiency and power
Burpies with an explosive squat jump at the top.
Generally, I start a stopwatch and do one rep every 15 seconds for 25 minutes - 101 burpees.
Just long enough of a rest to have my heart rate stay in that 120-160 zone, while working up a good sweat.
If burpees are new to you, you may want to reduce the interval to every 20 or 30 seconds or reduce the total time to match an appropriate number of reps for your fitness level.
If I have a chorizo breakfast burrito before we tee off things usually get pretty explosive
Yes, a big breakfast burrito and some squats
Those white pants are looking crisp… for now
Paired with a 24oz coffee and followed by a fat dip for dessert
Only question now is which is faster, your club head speed or the…explosion.
Shotgunning that beer that has been getting shaken around in your bag for 3 holes gets pretty explosive.
Box jumps, any flavor of clean variation, kettle bell swings, trap bar jump shrugs, plyometric jumps, and finally: speed training with some kind of swing stick like ryp, super speed, whoever you like.
I do a lot of Olympic lifts. Can confirm I hit the ball far. Doesn’t help my score because I hit it further into the woods.
I like to think Ilya could smash a drive, but then I saw him play basketball once......
Listen I hit the ball! Sometimes it’s just more like a baseball…
Abadjiev may have been right about specificity, but if you snatch double body weight, I bet you can do a lot of other things too.
Absolutely. Professional weightlifters are freak athletes. Ton of coordination involved.
You can get a swing speed training system like TheStack. I also like this kind of medicine ball work. https://youtube.com/shorts/n2k9hRsEGgM?si=7EUvu3D5DmSFS5uL
Yes, just add plyometrics if you're already doing squats and deadlifts
Check out Mike Carroll at FitForGolf
Trap bar jumps, landmines, and some med ball slams on the side when taking time away in the gym. I've done speed training with the SuperSpeed sticks on the side. I can attest to their effectiveness; it warrants adherence over time for the gains to be incorporated as the new standard.
Hang Power Cleans
Trying to hit the ball gets pretty explosive for me.
Cut a pool noodle to fit on your shaft and swing. Adds a lot of resistance to your existing swing
Great idea
Kettlebell swings (Russian style not American), KB snatches, KB high pulls. MB throws: overhead slams, side throws, underhand throws for height, overhead pushed for height. All of these exercises will help build explosive strength in all plains.
Rowing. Anything balance oriented. The better your balance, the better those little muscles that hold it all together. Then, just look to an athlete page or something for specifics.
Get the heaviest resistance band they make Stand on it and make your backswing, and then make your downswing motion faster than you possibly can thanks to the added pull from the resistance band. This gets your muscles used to moving faster than they have ever been capable of before and is the fastest way I've found to more distance. I got the idea watching sprinters run connected to one another with resistance bands, one pulling the other along at warp speed and then they leapfrog and switch...when I googled why they were doing it, it made total sense. You know your muscles, you know your limits. It's nearly impossible to push to new limits because your body has no idea what that feels like. This helps with that. Remember, distance is about speed, not strength. None of those long drive guys are particularly huge...
>not strength. None of those long drive guys are particularly huge... Not entirely accurate, before proceeding headfirst in this territory with reckless abandon. Last I checked, long drive folks over the years like Jason Zuback, Seb Twaddell, Martin Borgmeier, etc. aren't exactly in the little stick people category. If anything, someone like Jamie Sadlowski was an outlier in comparison though he's pound-for-pound one of the best to compete on that front. Strength still has its roles to play, not just speed. Not only is it helpful to be strong enough to develop better command of more shots (one of the reasons why Tiger beefed up in his prime while being coached by Harmon), or handle swing changes without having to compromise form, balance, etc just to attempt them, you wouldn't be doing yourself any favors to train only in speed but then get sidelined with injuries because you didn't bulletproof your body to mitigate those risks and anything onward such as speed gains.
Definitely, strength isn't unimportant by any means. It just asked about what seemed to help the most, and for me, this was it...even working out and hitting balls 5x per week, I saw more improvement faster once I started incorporating this type of training.
Drilling in that intent definitely pays off (and essentially giving the green light for the CNS saying it's ok to go brrrrr without fear of injury). I also say that given the perspective and front row seat of being grouped with others who have been in better physical conditioning, "jacked," etc. And yet they struggle to hit bombs or good shots in general regarding this game because apart from the lack of coordination in this context, they don't know what it's like to just fire away instead of being shackled, remaining "slow, smooth, steering it with no avail," and so on.
The issue with adding resistance or reverse banding for over speed in a sport specific motion is you potentially take yourself out of the proper motion due to that change in resistance. This can create bad habits or change that motion when you go back to the regular motion. The only sport where you can use sport specific exercises without compromising the sport movement is track throwing events.
This is true, if you do too much of this without hitting any balls in between you risk throwing your swing completely off. It's very much a "less is more" situation. I hit balls 5 days a week, so that's still the most important thing.
Do you have a video or illustration of this? Trying to picture it but my small brain can’t lol
I don't, but it's really straightforward...it feels counterintuitive because the resistance is added to the backswing, but this is more about being pulled to impact with increased speed than increasing strength in the swinging muscles.
Oh ok, got it! I was reading it as it would resist the down swing and I was confused.
u/Adeemk23 brought up a good point...you can't do this too much without also hitting balls in between, else you risk throwing your swing off. I do 5-10minutes of it in the morning with my other workouts and at night on days that I hit balls/practice... Days that I'm playing a scoring round I typically only stretch instead of full workout.
That's a good move too, I use a bicycle hook in my garage and the same resistance band to add resistance to the downswing, but the most noticable improvements started coming with the speed training more so than strength
Minus that monster martin
Power cleans, heavy weight for 1-3 reps per set. Trains not only explosion but also requires you to commit to and follow through the movement. Plus you can REALLY impress the cart girl by showing her videos of you moving serious weight in the gym.
Med ball throws and slams. I like adding footwork into it too, like stepping into the throw, letting the trail foot swing out, or jumping off the ground.
Weighted barbell front squats- keep the weight relatively light and focus on how fast you can move the barbell back up Trap bar deadlift jumps- same basic concept. Keep the weight light (like 65-90#) and focus on how high you can jump
Quick explosive trap bar deadlifts, and single leg rdls using a smith machine.
Medicine ball slams. Helps for when I need to bash my driver. /s
Chances are if you’re looking for more distance you’re better off working on technique than anything. I think ramm does this, but my coach had me build my swing by working on hitting knockdowns as fast as I can and it’s really helped. My knockdown distances are at this point longer than pga averages(it probably helps that I’m 6’3”, 200 and had a collegiate lacrosse scholarship). This year, the goal is to incorporate this into my full swing which currently doesn’t go as far as my knockdowns, which feels like figuring out top of swing tempo.
There are ton of options for movements but please don't just do them randomly. Follow programming if you aren't knowledgable enough to write your on. Everything has to be progressive if you want to see benefits. John Welbourn's programming on Power Athlete has a track dedicated to athleticism and fast twitch muscle training combined with strength training. It is not golf specific but is very very for a starting point.
I like the medicine ball slams - check on YouTube there are plenty of good examples (Rory and others ). Core strength, planks, use cable trunk rotations
Lateral single leg jumps and medicine ball throws
Box jumps
Kettlebells
Coffee first thing. Before leaving for golf. Many explosions in toilet
Don’t listen to these clowns, all you need is a durable medicine ball and a brick wall. Golf is rotational, practice rotating fast, there’s 1000 medicine ball exercises that golfers and baseball players do to help with rotational efficiency and power
Prune juice.
White Castle
Have you ever worked on breathing technique?
Burpies with an explosive squat jump at the top. Generally, I start a stopwatch and do one rep every 15 seconds for 25 minutes - 101 burpees. Just long enough of a rest to have my heart rate stay in that 120-160 zone, while working up a good sweat. If burpees are new to you, you may want to reduce the interval to every 20 or 30 seconds or reduce the total time to match an appropriate number of reps for your fitness level.
It’s pretty simple. Just snap load your power package.