Pilates for Golf

Arti­cle 1.3
August 2008 Maui Hawaii

Golfers Pilates

Golfers are finally catch­ing on to the diverse ben­e­fits of the best exer­cise pro­gram for both ath­letes and the recre­ational sports enthu­si­asts. Tiger Woods, prob­a­bly the great­est golfer of all time; David Duvall (a Major win­ner on the PGA Tour); Rich Beam (win­ner of the PGA Cham­pi­onship 2002); are doing Pilates. Our Olympic ath­let­ics’ are doing Pilates. How and why does this anatom­i­cal and bio­me­chan­i­cal based exer­cise, Pilates, improve sports per­for­mance? Research has found Pilates exer­cises train the best known phys­i­cal per­for­mance fac­tors: Pos­ture, Bal­ance, Mobility/Flexibility, Sta­bil­ity, Coor­di­na­tion, Func­tional Strength and Endurance. These skills are essen­tial for golfers and cor­rect daily function.

STOTT PILATES ™ is based on research con­ducted by ortho­pe­dic sur­geons and phys­i­cal ther­a­pists world wide. This med­ically researched anatom­i­cal and bio­me­chan­i­cal based Pilates cur­ricu­lum is designed per­fectly to enhance ath­letic per­for­mance. The basis of this pro­gram is to retrain cor­rect body align­ment with cor­rect mus­cle recruit­ment using breath con­trol. If all these fac­tors are in place move­ment becomes stronger, more effec­tive with greater speed, endurance and accuracy.

Research indi­cates that one of the major sources of back pain is inef­fi­cient mus­cle recruit­ment. The deep core mus­cles close to the joint that should fire first to pro­tect and sta­bi­lize the joint fire too late. This incor­rect fir­ing pat­tern leads to the super­fi­cial mus­cles fir­ing first mov­ing an unsta­ble joint. Super­fi­cial mus­cles aren’t sup­posed to fire first. They are not designed to pro­tect the joint posi­tion. Super­fi­cial mus­cles are to be used to move the joint once it is sta­ble. Mov­ing joints with the wrong fir­ing pat­terns of mus­cles can lead to injury, lack of per­for­mance, obscures accu­racy, loses speed and weak­ens endurance. Pilates exer­cises done cor­rectly can help the golfer re-program the tim­ing of mus­cu­lar fir­ing pat­terns and enhance motor control.

There­fore, when train­ing a golfer the STOTT PILATES ™ approach begins with 5 basic align­ment prin­ci­ples and applies this to all the exer­cises thus, mak­ing cor­rect move­ment pat­terns. It is then the job of the golf pro to teach the golfer the cor­rect and pre­cise move­ment for the per­fect golf swing and score. Pilates move­ment exer­cises do not replace the prac­tice and pro­fes­sional teach­ing of any spe­cific sport espe­cially the com­plex game of golf.

Our Golf pro­gram starts with the Foot­work on the Reformer. Strong foot align­ment leads to cor­rect foot place­ment and is crit­i­cal for the golf swing. Foot­work is also done on unsta­ble sur­faces to face the chal­lenges of slop­ing con­tours on golf courses. We teach cor­rect spinal rota­tion using the essen­tial core mus­cles between ver­te­brae. Strength­en­ing exer­cises for cor­rect spinal exten­sion and flex­ion are a very impor­tant part to golf move­ments and a big part of our exer­cise pro­gram. We have a major focus on strength­en­ing knee joints for golfers. Proper shoul­der mus­cle recruit­ment is care­fully taught at our STOTT PILATES ™ studio.

Team­ing up with a pro­fes­sion­ally trained Pilates Instruc­tor and your favorite Golf Pro is a win­ning com­bi­na­tion. Let us make your golf game the best it can be.