Strong Abdominal Muscles: A Key to Better Golf
By Carol Beere, Registered FitForeGolf Physiotherapist

The golf swing involves virtually a full rotation of the body. The main muscles responsible for twisting the trunk from side to side are the abdominals, particularly the oblique and transverse abdominal muscles. The abdominals are some of the strongest muscles in the body. As such, increasing their role in the golf swing can help to increase clubhead speed and distance. In addition to rotating the trunk, contracting the abdominals braces the spine thus protecting it from injury. The POWER and PROTECTION offered by the abdominal muscles makes them the most important muscles in the body. While every golfer uses their abdominal muscles to some degree, learning to use these muscles more effectively is very important to boosting performance.

When we think of strengthening the abdominal muscles most of us think of partial sit-ups or a variation of this, like using the ab-roller or its equivalent. However, the function of this group of muscles is mainly to get you out of bed in the morning--not exactly what you need to hit a golf ball! The muscles that should be strengthened are the rotators and stabilizers of the spine which are sometimes referred to as the lower abdominals.

One of the ways to train these muscles is by using an inexpensive exercise device such as the FITforeGOLF Swing Trainer. This is a loop of elastic tubing attached to a normal golf grip. The elastic tubing provides resistance against which the abdominal muscles contract during the back and downswings.

Additional home exercises for strengthening the trunk muscles are depicted in the diagrams.

It is also important to note that just because you are "wearing" a muscle you may not be using it!

So in order to increase the amount of abdominal activity during the golf swing, gently tighten your abdominal muscles just before starting your backswing. Your lower back and pelvis should not move when the stomach muscles contract. The correct contraction should feel as though you are lightly drawing in your belly button towards your spine. This contraction reduces the amount of stress on the spine as well as presets these muscles to fire on the downswing and follow-through.

FitforeGOLF provides a set of stretching and strengthening exercises that will help achieve proper conditioning.