Golf Fitness Programs

[Tanner25]

Are fitness programs worth the money? Anyone familiar with Par4Success in the Raleigh area? http://par4success.com/

 

Can they help with back pain?

[Moonlightgrm]

Back pain? Do yourself a favor and read "The Mind Body Prescription" by Dr. John Sarno. The paperback will cost you a lot less than a fitness program. If after reading this book, your back pain doesn't diminish or completely go away, READ IT AGAIN! All the best.

[SirFuego]

Are fitness programs worth the money? Anyone familiar with Par4Success in the Raleigh area? http://par4success.com/

 

Can they help with back pain?

 

Before I started going to a TPI instructor weekly (now a few times a week), I never had what I would call "pain", my lower back would get sore after a round of golf or a hard day of physical labor. I just got done laying down a bunch of mulch and my back feels great. I can physically feel improvements to my posture and I feel like it's a LOT easier to make technical changes to my swing because my body isn't fighting the changes I am trying to make. The last point was kind of important -- fitness will make it easier for your body to move the way you want it to move, but you still need to retrain your brain on how to move, so you likely will still need to practice with certain technical thoughts to improve your swing. This is particularly true if you swing in such a way that you get a sore back. Fitness will enable you to rotate your hips and upper back better (for example), but you will still likely swing in the same way unless you try to make some technical changes.

 

I used to struggle hitting a medium bucket without getting back soreness. I recently set up a net in my garage and have hit over 100 shots a day for the past couple weeks without any significant fatigue or soreness.

 

That said, my experience with golf fitness has been in-person with a personal trainer so he's been fantastic at making sure I maintain proper form during exercises. Particularly, the first time I do the exercises I sometimes do things that I'm oblivious to that compromises form. It looks like the place you are looking at does both in person and online training. I'd recommend at least to start training in person -- especially if you have legit back "pain". They'll probably be better able to cater your routine and make sure you don't have anything more serious going on.

 

Another thing I found interesting is that we haven't explicitly focused on "balance", but my balance is significantly better because many of the exercises we do focus on maintaining a stable lower body.

[Tanner25]

Are fitness programs worth the money? Anyone familiar with Par4Success in the Raleigh area? http://par4success.com/

 

Can they help with back pain?

 

Before I started going to a TPI instructor weekly (now a few times a week), I never had what I would call "pain", my lower back would get sore after a round of golf or a hard day of physical labor. I just got done laying down a bunch of mulch and my back feels great. I can physically feel improvements to my posture and I feel like it's a LOT easier to make technical changes to my swing because my body isn't fighting the changes I am trying to make. The last point was kind of important -- fitness will make it easier for your body to move the way you want it to move, but you still need to retrain your brain on how to move, so you likely will still need to practice with certain technical thoughts to improve your swing. This is particularly true if you swing in such a way that you get a sore back. Fitness will enable you to rotate your hips and upper back better (for example), but you will still likely swing in the same way unless you try to make some technical changes.

 

I used to struggle hitting a medium bucket without getting back soreness. I recently set up a net in my garage and have hit over 100 shots a day for the past couple weeks without any significant fatigue or soreness.

 

That said, my experience with golf fitness has been in-person with a personal trainer so he's been fantastic at making sure I maintain proper form during exercises. Particularly, the first time I do the exercises I sometimes do things that I'm oblivious to that compromises form. It looks like the place you are looking at does both in person and online training. I'd recommend at least to start training in person -- especially if you have legit back "pain". They'll probably be better able to cater your routine and make sure you don't have anything more serious going on.

 

Another thing I found interesting is that we haven't explicitly focused on "balance", but my balance is significantly better because many of the exercises we do focus on maintaining a stable lower body.

 

Thx, SirFuego

[BB28403]

Ive looked up par4 success myself. Cons: They have an awful lot of employees and helpers. And all their stuff is in classes Pros: Couldn’t hurt though! At least they get you motivated .

 

Oh back pain : try a masseuse , physical therapist , yoga or a DO chiropractor or MD back specialists. I prob would choose those over a DC chiropractor or whichever designation they use nowadays.

 

Get your muscles strong and you may not have back pain anymore. OsteoBiflex helps a lot too, one a day.

 

Wildwood golf course also has a lady who is a medical 3 Titleist Performance Institute professional. She’s prob sharp and is the only one in the triangle with a level 3 apparently.

[bluedot]

Old thread, but I just came across it.

 

I am a huge fan of Sarnow's work; I've read all of his other books as well, and his "prescription" has been really, really helpful for me and others., In the subsequent books, he expands the idea of back pain to other parts of the body as well, and for me, severe knee pain was gone in day or two after MONTHS once I made the connections to what Sarnow had written. Remarkable work, really.

 

One key point, though, is that Sarnow says at the outset that you should first get checked to make sure that there is no organic cause (my term, not his) for your pain. And this is where things can get a little tricky for golfers. I went thru a long series of instruction to learn to make a better golf swing, but in the process discovered that I had two physical issues that were putting undue strain on my back; one was a lack of flexibility in my hips, which was easily addressed by some aggressive trigger point PT, and the other was a general lack of "functional" strength as my body rotated, which was addressed thru an ongoing change to my workout routine.

 

The result of those two physical limitations was general fatigue and nagging discomfort in my mid-back as a round progressed, so that by the end of the round, I wasn't making the same quality of swings that I had been at the beginning. I didn't think that it wasn't a Sarnow situation; I was playing golf with buddies and having a great time, away from all of the things that would lead to pain thru the mind-body connection, so I took Sarnow's advice and got checked. And I'm glad I did.

[Tanner25]

Good stuff bluedot. Anyone try CBD oil? Was listening to a Scott McCarron podcast and he swears by it.

[Coy M]

If you need a good PT in the Raleigh area you should check out "theptiniative" on instagram. I had a lot of issues with my hip until I worked with him. Torn labrum in hip was confirmed by a MRI and I thought I needed surgery to golf at all. He works out a private clinic so you don't have to deal with BS you normally would with traditional physical therapy clinics.

[Gamble Gamble]

 

 

4 steps:

See a doctor about the pain Do yoga and stretchstart with light deadlifts, squats and cleans after your back pain subsides (use just the bar if necessary) Increase weight slowly (5 by 5 programs are great for this if done correctly)

most golf centered fitness programs are just watered down versions of full body exercises with some comical isolation moves. One of the guys on here had the best advice for golf fitness. "Train like an athlete not a golfer, full body exercises are the way to go" (paraphrase)

 

I recently started doing a more full body workout (props to the two guys who pushed me over the edge on this) and stretching more. I am excited for golf next year since the lower body gains were starting to translate to a better golf game towards the end of the season. (edited)

[bnperrone]

FWIW when I was doing private PT following a car accident, a big part of my focus was on getting past pain in the sciatic area due to the nature of the impact. Walking and most stuff was no big deal, but rotating and torquing and posting on that side at all was bad. We did a variety of stuff, but after the initial stuff we really just got into fundamental strengthening. I'm not sure that a 100% golf-focused facility would've been needed. Hope you feel better, and be careful trying to do too much too fast, especially with back strengthening.