Mike Romatowski/mach 3 on weightlifting for speed

[airjammer]

Found this interesting. 
 

Here is the relevant clip for discussion.  I thought it was a good podcast.  What I got out of it most was if you are trying to train for speed then just do that and don’t mix other stuff with it  

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by airjammer
Bill Romatowski

[getitdaily]

Bill romatowski

 

Is he related to mike romanowski?

Edited October 1, 2023 by getitdaily

[airjammer]

Haha thanks. I’m positive Bill would know something about working out for any sport and it would most likely include very credible personal examples of pharmaceutical use to achieve it. 

[SirFuego]

I haven't listened to the entire episode, but did he go into details about what was tried?

 

I agree that if all you do is try to get strong, you will get strong, but you likely won't get faster.  However, that does not imply that getting stronger will make you slower.  There seems to be a lot of evidence to support that muscle provides a base for strength, and strength provides a base for speed.  In other words, building up one of those elements in your training won't necessary improve the other, but it allows you to work with a higher floor when you do start focusing on it.

 

If you want to get faster, you need to train fast.  However, you need to have some base of strength to not get injured and have some sort of force to generate the speed.

If you want to get stronger, you need to lift heavy stuff.  However, you do need some muscle to build strength on.

If you want to build more muscle, you need to lift moderately heavy for higher reps.

 

All of this exists on some sort of spectrum.  You can certainly get faster without getting stronger.  You can certainly get stronger by just focusing on building muscle.  You can build muscle by focusing on strength.  For the untrained person, this is especially true since basically anything will benefit them.

 

The other thing to consider is each of these elements need to be "practiced" regularly or (like any other "skill") they tend to regress.  It tends to take more work to build up something than it does to maintain it.  So even doing a little bit of work can help you maintain a skill.  So if you want to train for "speed", you can surely put a larger focus on speed, but it's probably not a good idea to completely ignore lifting weights altogether.  If you want to train for "strength" in the off-season, you can probably cut back on the speed training a bit, but you still want to have some elements of speed training. 

 

Speed is also very dependent upon technique.  It's often said that a technique change in a golf swing can improve speed in less time than dedicated speed training.  So it's not just as straightforward as training for speed and/or working out, either.

 

If you go down the rabbit hole of athletic training, you'll see a lot of "block" concepts put in place, but rarely do you see a block completely ignore hypertrophy, strength, or speed concepts.  They just shift the relative importance of those concepts around within each block.

Edited October 3, 2023 by SirFuego

[airjammer]

He basically said he put together a good weight lifting program and he knew it was a good program because that’s his specialty essentially but I don’t recall if he mentioned all the strength exercises. 
 

This topic essentially touches on the old golf wrx Scott Stallings discussion we had a few years back about if strength training by itself can make you faster.  As Scott went from not so fit to fit but actually lost a small amount of speed. 

 

Obviously, Mike has his own system to sell so it definitely doesn’t benefit him at all to say you can get the same gains from hitting the gym. 
 

The way I see it is that training for speed is overloading the muscles and joints it needs to swing the golf club and that in itself is “weight lifting” for those muscles.  I follow Josh koch, Kyle, Justin James, and Borgy on instagram and they almost never show them hitting the weights really heavy or really at all. I’m sure they do but it definitely doesn’t seem to be a main focus. Kyle made a post a week or so ago where stated he wanted to get his bench up to 225 or something like that which isn’t crazy for a guy his age with his build. 

[MonteScheinblum]

He’s a smart guy and knows a lot.

[Trippels]

Berkshire just hit 241.6 mph ball speed. He can only bench 225 lbs, which isn't much for a guy his size, age, and activity level. He shared his squat and deadlift numbers a while ago too. Can't remember them exactly, but they were also not overly impressive.

So you don't need to lift heavy weights to play golf, and get super fast.

You should lift medium weights, for medium reps, through a large controlled range of motion, in a multitude of exercises that covers all basic movements and muscles.

So essentially what everyone should be doing anyways for health and injury prevention.

 

Then just add on technique and overspeed training if you want to get faster.

[KD1]

21 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

He’s a smart guy and knows a lot.

 

Because of this thread I've been going down a mach 3 rabbit hole. I've noticed that you've chimed in a few different threads to vouch for these guys.

 

Mike is all about 'speed in front' and he wants you to forget about everything that happens before impact. He talks at some length about how the destination of the swing will dictate what happens earlier in the swing, so we shouldn't focus on the early parts of the swing. And in the podcast he mentions that his tools aren't just for speed training but for teaching the overall golf swing.

 

We know from your teaching that the downswing is so fast that it is pretty much out of our control after transition so that's why your programs like NTC or the efficient swing focus on everything only up to transition.

 

It strikes me that his philosophy in this regard is the polar opposite of your teaching philosophy. Thoughts?

Edited October 4, 2023 by KD1

[Three_Jack]

On 10/3/2023 at 10:31 AM, airjammer said:

He basically said he put together a good weight lifting program and he knew it was a good program because that’s his specialty essentially but I don’t recall if he mentioned all the strength exercises. 
 

This topic essentially touches on the old golf wrx Scott Stallings discussion we had a few years back about if strength training by itself can make you faster.  As Scott went from not so fit to fit but actually lost a small amount of speed. 

 

Obviously, Mike has his own system to sell so it definitely doesn’t benefit him at all to say you can get the same gains from hitting the gym. 
 

The way I see it is that training for speed is overloading the muscles and joints it needs to swing the golf club and that in itself is “weight lifting” for those muscles.  I follow Josh koch, Kyle, Justin James, and Borgy on instagram and they almost never show them hitting the weights really heavy or really at all. I’m sure they do but it definitely doesn’t seem to be a main focus. Kyle made a post a week or so ago where stated he wanted to get his bench up to 225 or something like that which isn’t crazy for a guy his age with his build. 

 

Do you have eyeballs??? You dont think those guys life heavy??? They do AND they talk about it... Insane....

 

Personally, I've gone from 160(165 max) to 175(185 max) by lifting heavy(bench press, hexbar dead lifts, and weighted pullups). Got my bench up to 8 reps of 255 and hit PR of 187 ballspeed

[airjammer]

46 minutes ago, Three_Jack said:

 

Do you have eyeballs??? You dont think those guys life heavy??? They do AND they talk about it... Insane....

 

Personally, I've gone from 160(165 max) to 175(185 max) by lifting heavy(bench press, hexbar dead lifts, and weighted pullups). Got my bench up to 8 reps of 255 and hit PR of 187 ballspeed

No they don’t. Go ahead and pull some posts of them maxing out on anything please. Out of all of them Justin James looks jacked the most. Martin B. was a former bodybuilder and he posts all the time..nada on maxing out bench.m, squat, you name it. Josh Koch has/had a workout series on his website. Nothing about lifting heavy. 
 

As you personally, congratulations but if you didn’t hit a ball during your entire training and still increased your max on all of those I’d bet you wouldn’t have gain 1 mph.

 

This isn’t about lifting weights and trying to swing fast. This is about if lifting weights alone will make you faster. 
 

 

[Three_Jack]

1 hour ago, airjammer said:

No they don’t. Go ahead and pull some posts of them maxing out on anything please. Out of all of them Justin James looks jacked the most. Martin B. was a former bodybuilder and he posts all the time..nada on maxing out bench.m, squat, you name it. Josh Koch has/had a workout series on his website. Nothing about lifting heavy. 
 

As you personally, congratulations but if you didn’t hit a ball during your entire training and still increased your max on all of those I’d bet you wouldn’t have gain 1 mph.

 

This isn’t about lifting weights and trying to swing fast. This is about if lifting weights alone will make you faster. 
 

 

 

 

The only thing I changed was lifting weights. I have a simulator in my basement and have ALWAYS hit tons of ball, all year long.

 

There is a reason guys are faster then girls by a long shot in golf, because we are stronger.

[Albatross Dreamer]

23 hours ago, Trippels said:

Berkshire just hit 241.6 mph ball speed. He can only bench 225 lbs, which isn't much for a guy his size, age, and activity level. He shared his squat and deadlift numbers a while ago too. Can't remember them exactly, but they were also not overly impressive.

So you don't need to lift heavy weights to play golf, and get super fast.

You should lift medium weights, for medium reps, through a large controlled range of motion, in a multitude of exercises that covers all basic movements and muscles.

So essentially what everyone should be doing anyways for health and injury prevention.

 

Then just add on technique and overspeed training if you want to get faster.

I think you're conflating two things. Lifting heavy doesn't necessarily mean the person has impressive weight room numbers. Berkshire himself has mentioned going heavy to boost his squat and DL numbers to help him get more speed. Lots of people push themselves in the weight room, but don't have crazy numbers. I'd also argue good strength is more important in the lower body than upper body due to the weight that is being managed in a golf swing.

 

Where I agree is that many people (i.e. weekend warrior types) might be better off sticking with medium weights, medium reps unless they have a good technique based. Even going heavy most don't really ever need to go below 5-6 reps. But if we're trying to maximize how fast we can swing there's different roles for different rep ranges. To oversimplify it's generally:

 

Heavy weight, low reps- max strength

Moderate weight, mod reps- Muscle

Mod weight, low fast reps- power

Lower weight, high reps (including ISOs)- endurance and connective tissue

 

Each of these have a role in training. At the end of the day though resistance training is simply building you a bigger more resilient engine than you then have to use specific training (swinging) for it to translate to the course.

[vandyfan]

On 10/3/2023 at 9:31 AM, airjammer said:

This topic essentially touches on the old golf wrx Scott Stallings discussion we had a few years back about if strength training by itself can make you faster.  As Scott went from not so fit to fit but actually lost a small amount of speed. 

 

I'm not trying to be a jerk here but Scott Stallings always gets thrown out as "fit." I mean, I guess. Compared to other golfers but I live in TN and have seen Scott up close several times and I can think of plenty of average people in my life (I am 40 years old as well) that are just as "fit" if not fitter than SS. He's a great guy and tremendous golfer but I don't look at him and think "WOW that guy is one fit athlete!"

[airjammer]

3 hours ago, Three_Jack said:

 

 

The only thing I changed was lifting weights. I have a simulator in my basement and have ALWAYS hit tons of ball, all year long.

 

There is a reason guys are faster then girls by a long shot in golf, because we are stronger.

So you lifted weights and hit lots of balls..that’s not what an average golf does and that’s not what this video is about. Mike said that just lifting alone isn’t enough to gain speed in his experience with 1900 golfers trained. 
 

Now, this winter don’t hit a ball unless it right before you play for 6 months and come back and report. 

[airjammer]

3 hours ago, vandyfan said:

 

I'm not trying to be a jerk here but Scott Stallings always gets thrown out as "fit." I mean, I guess. Compared to other golfers but I live in TN and have seen Scott up close several times and I can think of plenty of average people in my life (I am 40 years old as well) that are just as "fit" if not fitter than SS. He's a great guy and tremendous golfer but I don't look at him and think "WOW that guy is one fit athlete!"

Not a jerk at all. He’s what I would call case study for a late 30’s + golfer that decided to get in better shape. Is he fitness influencer fit no but I think he’s in significantly better shape than what he was and that’s why he a “case study” of sorts. 

[golfortennis]

On 10/3/2023 at 2:50 PM, Trippels said:

Berkshire just hit 241.6 mph ball speed. He can only bench 225 lbs, which isn't much for a guy his size, age, and activity level. He shared his squat and deadlift numbers a while ago too. Can't remember them exactly, but they were also not overly impressive.

So you don't need to lift heavy weights to play golf, and get super fast.

You should lift medium weights, for medium reps, through a large controlled range of motion, in a multitude of exercises that covers all basic movements and muscles.

So essentially what everyone should be doing anyways for health and injury prevention.

 

Then just add on technique and overspeed training if you want to get faster.

 

You have to be careful of your audience.  In a starting strength environment that is not very strong.  A large number of people here would consider 225 to be the scariest thing they have ever seen.

 

The big key is, once you reach a certain level, the time and effort spent to reach higher is not worth the opportunity cost.  Rippetoe calls anyone who can recover and lift again in a couple of days a novice(not a derogatory term).  Typically, a male is squatting around 400lbs, DL around 500, and so on before moving off novice programming.  You start getting into needing specific recovery periods etc. to go further, and that will run smack into trying to play/get better at golf.  Once you reach a certain level, you just need to maintain that strength and focus on your golf.

 

Strength is "expensive" to acquire, and doesn't disappear quickly.  Once you have it, you can maintain it pretty easy.  But it takes time away from golf if you want to get much higher.

[golfortennis]

On 10/4/2023 at 2:32 PM, Albatross Dreamer said:

I think you're conflating two things. Lifting heavy doesn't necessarily mean the person has impressive weight room numbers. Berkshire himself has mentioned going heavy to boost his squat and DL numbers to help him get more speed. Lots of people push themselves in the weight room, but don't have crazy numbers. I'd also argue good strength is more important in the lower body than upper body due to the weight that is being managed in a golf swing.

 

Where I agree is that many people (i.e. weekend warrior types) might be better off sticking with medium weights, medium reps unless they have a good technique based. Even going heavy most don't really ever need to go below 5-6 reps. But if we're trying to maximize how fast we can swing there's different roles for different rep ranges. To oversimplify it's generally:

 

Heavy weight, low reps- max strength

Moderate weight, mod reps- Muscle

Mod weight, low fast reps- power

Lower weight, high reps (including ISOs)- endurance and connective tissue

 

Each of these have a role in training. At the end of the day though resistance training is simply building you a bigger more resilient engine than you then have to use specific training (swinging) for it to translate to the course.

 

Every lift is done fast.  The heavier the weight the slower it moves, but every lift is done "fast."  There is no slow.

[Three_Jack]

It's INSANE to look at the WLD guys, and say they don't lift lol.

 

They are all HUGE.

 

Also, I am pretty sure there is a quote of Berkshire saying if you want to get faster you need to go hit the GYM. 

 

Bryson gained 20+ MPH ballspeed by gaining 20 lbs of muscle.

 

It seems to me every time this topic is discussed, it's mainly just people that are too lazy to hit the gym, trying to cope. So they try to downplay the role of strength(fast twitch fibers) in speed.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Three_Jack

[johnrobison]

16 hours ago, golfortennis said:

 

Every lift is done fast.  The heavier the weight the slower it moves, but every lift is done "fast."  There is no slow.

Why not? I do lots of slow eccentric movements.

[airjammer]

Just now, johnrobison said:

Why not? I do lots of slow eccentric movements.

It has a lot to do with recruitment of the muscle fibers. If you want to become faster and more explosive you need to build more type IIx muscle fibers and studies have shown they are best developed thru maximal intent explosive movements..not to be confused with just fast movements even thou fast movements can be explosive maximal intent. 
 

Chris Beardsley is a good resource for these type of questions. 
https://instagram.com/chrisabeardsley?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[Three_Jack]

51 minutes ago, airjammer said:

It has a lot to do with recruitment of the muscle fibers. If you want to become faster and more explosive you need to build more type IIx muscle fibers and studies have shown they are best developed thru maximal intent explosive movements..not to be confused with just fast movements even thou fast movements can be explosive maximal intent. 
 

Chris Beardsley is a good resource for these type of questions. 
https://instagram.com/chrisabeardsley?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

 

Yup, lifting heavy, you're not lifting as slow as possible... You wouldn't be able to do that for any amount of reps.

 

You're pushing as hard/fast as possible. The weight obviously moves slower cause its heavy, but it's about the effort/intent.

 

I mean, just look at every big hitter in baseball... they are all HUGE and insanely strong. There's a reason steroids were banned... 

[Albatross Dreamer]

17 hours ago, golfortennis said:

 

Every lift is done fast.  The heavier the weight the slower it moves, but every lift is done "fast."  There is no slow.

I know there's a difference between intent and actual speed. There's also a difference between going fast enough to get it up vs maximum intent trying to explode of the ground

[Albatross Dreamer]

1 hour ago, johnrobison said:

Why not? I do lots of slow eccentric movements.

There's value in slow eccentrics. Heck, Triphasic Training is based around that very idea along with Isometrics and rapid movements. I'll be doing some of that this winter to build up my strength and speed along with other beneficial adaptations.

 

 

1 hour ago, airjammer said:

It has a lot to do with recruitment of the muscle fibers. If you want to become faster and more explosive you need to build more type IIx muscle fibers and studies have shown they are best developed thru maximal intent explosive movements..not to be confused with just fast movements even thou fast movements can be explosive maximal intent. 
 

Chris Beardsley is a good resource for these type of questions. 
https://instagram.com/chrisabeardsley?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

While rapid movements and/or having the intent of moving weight fast are going to be what best translates strength to speed, there's value in everything across the spectrum when trying to build athleticism as a whole.

 

 

[johnrobison]

1 hour ago, Albatross Dreamer said:

There's value in slow eccentrics. Heck, Triphasic Training is based around that very idea along with Isometrics and rapid movements. I'll be doing some of that this winter to build up my strength and speed along with other beneficial adaptations.

 

 

 

While rapid movements and/or having the intent of moving weight fast are going to be what best translates strength to speed, there's value in everything across the spectrum when trying to build athleticism as a whole.

 

 

Agreed. "Every lift if fast. There is no slow" doesn't sit well with me. We need to train specifically for the desired outcome. Absolutely I want to train for explosive power. But I also want to train for strength and mass, as well as for bone density and connective tissue. Slow eccentric movements have lots of benefit.

[Albatross Dreamer]

2 hours ago, johnrobison said:

Agreed. "Every lift if fast. There is no slow" doesn't sit well with me. We need to train specifically for the desired outcome. Absolutely I want to train for explosive power. But I also want to train for strength and mass, as well as for bone density and connective tissue. Slow eccentric movements have lots of benefit.

Not to mention some research shows eccentric training can potentially benefit explosive power by improving the "braking" ability to better redirect muscle contractions from eccentric to concentric.

 

It's like saying "the only thing that improves swing speed is speed training and/or swinging fast". While that is true to some extent because of the SAID principle, most people will benefit from doing a host of other training methods that help support the main activity we want to improve. This is before we consider the goals many of us have outside golf given that we don't play the sport as our primary income source.

[bluedot]

Great thread.

 

Some of you are familiar with an outfit called Par4Success (now P4S).  The owner, Chris Finn, in addition to being a scratch golfer, is a really smart guy with a bent for research, and P4S has become pretty well-known for their work with golfers, including Kyle Berkshire, and their research into speed training.  FWIW, here's what they say is necessary to support maximum speeds:

Dead lift:  1.75 x your body weight

Squats: 1.5 x your body weight

Bench: 1.25 x your body weight

 

A couple of other notes about them. When they construct workouts for clients, it's a great mix of mobility and weight training, and when you are doing the compounds, they want high weight and low reps and a big emphasis on the eecentric phase of the motion.  On a day when you want to go light, they urge you to maintain the weight and cut the sets, if not the reps.

 

Now, as to the original question of whether or not you can get faster JUST by lifting.  That is such an individual matter that it's difficult to even discuss it in a macro sense.  There ARE individuals who DO get faster by working out only because they started with a mobility issue that put limits on the capacity of their body to swing faster, or they lack the strength to support a faster motion.  When they fix the mobility (often the hips) or strength issues , they DO get faster.  Maybe not a lot, but faster.

 

But the biggest reason that most people don't get faster is because they can't; their technique simply isn't good enough to swing the club faster, regardless of how strong they get or how much speed training they do.  That does NOT mean that there are no benefits to working out for those individuals; they are likely to feel better, live longer, get injured less, have better stamina late in a round, be able to play out of the rough better, and so on.  But purely swing faster?  Not until they fix the technique.  You can't swing over the top but so fast.  You can't cast but so fast.  Your can't early extend but so fast.  You can't reverse pivot but so fast.  And so on.

 

The golfers who DO have good technique get faster when they train to get faster, and that means working out AND doing some speed training.  The best research available says that swinging a driver as fast as you can and hitting the ball as hard as you can without regard to where it goes is the best way to improve speed IF your body and swing are up to that.  Read Berkshire's routine; 3x a week lifting, with emphasis on the compounds, and three times a week hitting 50 drivers swinging as fast as he can.  He also hits 300 balls in the morning, and another 300 in the afternoon.  In short, his body is trained and ready to SUPPORT his speed, and his swing is technically good so he CAN swing fast.

 

(Personal note: I don't know anything about Mike Romatowski; hadn't heard of him before this thread.  He may, literally, be the best in the world at what he does, and I'll say up front that his devices may be the greatest things on the market.  But I'm admittedly cynical about anybody who is making money off devices and giving away protocols as a way to build pure speed.  I just don't think the best research supports that; the driver you already have is the best device on the market for swinging faster.)

[bluedot]

On 10/4/2023 at 6:00 PM, airjammer said:

So you lifted weights and hit lots of balls..that’s not what an average golf does and that’s not what this video is about. Mike said that just lifting alone isn’t enough to gain speed in his experience with 1900 golfers trained. 
 

Now, this winter don’t hit a ball unless it right before you play for 6 months and come back and report. 

But doesn't that gate swing both ways?  For a golfer who lifts AND hits balls, if they stopped working out completely all winter, and only hit balls, would they be swinging as fast as they were when they were working out?  Romatowski didn't study that because that doesn't help his business, and I do NOT mean that as a knock on him. 

 

There are three parts to swinging faster, IMO:

1. Have swing technique good enough that it doesn't limit how fast you can swing.  (Most golfers don't, so of course they don't get faster from lifting, just like they don't get faster from speed training.)

2. Have good enough strength and mobility to support higher swing speeds.  You can add capacity by getting stronger, which is where working out for speed comes in.

3. IF #1 and #2 are true, then add speed training.

[bilbry57]

I and 66 years old and met Mike at his facility in San Antonio and found him to be a very humble and genuine person.  He also has a lot of data with clients results that show excellent results. He talked to me for 45 minutes showed me what they do at his facility and how senior golfers like myself have highest % increase in CHS. After the visit I made the decision to purchase 2 devices and did his program for 60 days in Dec Jan.

I used BLUE swing radar and my CHS increased 10 MPH highest was 102.  I have really bad right hip ( torn labrum bone spurs) and had to stop.  The program worked my body was ready.

 I have since found local Physical therapist that has put me on a program that has me playing pain free for first time in 6-8 years.  I will be starting program again this winter.

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by bilbry57

[bilbry57]

I also joined par 4 success about 2 years  ago in hopes of decreasing my hip pain so I could enjoy golf again without pain.

Their program is very detailed and Chris and his team were very nice to work with and they communicated very well.

After a few months I had to stop because of my hip issues.  The program has an easy to use app and I have nothing bad to say about the experience  it had more to do with my body than the program.  If I lived close by I would not hesitate to join Par4 success gym.  But since I live in Washington State I will continue with the exercises set up by my local PT and the Mach 3 speed training which allow me to train online and also visit in person when I visit my Daughter in San Antonio

 

here is link to Mike on Hal Sutton podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/be-the-right-club-today-podcast/id1548173826?i=1000551348111

Edited October 10, 2023 by bilbry57

[bilbry57]

21 hours ago, bluedot said:

But doesn't that gate swing both ways?  For a golfer who lifts AND hits balls, if they stopped working out completely all winter, and only hit balls, would they be swinging as fast as they were when they were working out?  Romatowski didn't study that because that doesn't help his business, and I do NOT mean that as a knock on him. 

 

There are three parts to swinging faster, IMO:

1. Have swing technique good enough that it doesn't limit how fast you can swing.  (Most golfers don't, so of course they don't get faster from lifting, just like they don't get faster from speed training.)

2. Have good enough strength and mobility to support higher swing speeds.  You can add capacity by getting stronger, which is where working out for speed comes in.

3. IF #1 and #2 are true, then add speed training.

 

21 hours ago, bluedot said:

But doesn't that gate swing both ways?  For a golfer who lifts AND hits balls, if they stopped working out completely all winter, and only hit balls, would they be swinging as fast as they were when they were working out?  Romatowski didn't study that because that doesn't help his business, and I do NOT mean that as a knock on him. 

 

There are three parts to swinging faster, IMO:

1. Have swing technique good enough that it doesn't limit how fast you can swing.  (Most golfers don't, so of course they don't get faster from lifting, just like they don't get faster from speed training.)

2. Have good enough strength and mobility to support higher swing speeds.  You can add capacity by getting stronger, which is where working out for speed comes in.

3. IF #1 and #2 are true, then add speed training.

 

22 hours ago, bluedot said:

But doesn't that gate swing both ways?  For a golfer who lifts AND hits balls, if they stopped working out completely all winter, and only hit balls, would they be swinging as fast as they were when they were working out?  Romatowski didn't study that because that doesn't help his business, and I do NOT mean that as a knock on him. 

 

There are three parts to swinging faster, IMO:

1. Have swing technique good enough that it doesn't limit how fast you can swing.  (Most golfers don't, so of course they don't get faster from lifting, just like they don't get faster from speed training.)

2. Have good enough strength and mobility to support higher swing speeds.  You can add capacity by getting stronger, which is where working out for speed comes in.

3. IF #1 and #2 are true, then add speed training.

 

22 hours ago, bluedot said:

But doesn't that gate swing both ways?  For a golfer who lifts AND hits balls, if they stopped working out completely all winter, and only hit balls, would they be swinging as fast as they were when they were working out?  Romatowski didn't study that because that doesn't help his business, and I do NOT mean that as a knock on him. 

 

There are three parts to swinging faster, IMO:

1. Have swing technique good enough that it doesn't limit how fast you can swing.  (Most golfers don't, so of course they don't get faster from lifting, just like they don't get faster from speed training.)

2. Have good enough strength and mobility to support higher swing speeds.  You can add capacity by getting stronger, which is where working out for speed comes in.

3. IF #1 and #2 are true, then add speed training.

Mike talks about weight training around the 50 minute part of the podcast.  He said his gym was having a class in weight training for players that were going to college so they were introduce to basic concepts to prevent injuries in college he started as a personal trainer.  He mentioned that he started lifting when he was 14 and still does however, he says he is not under the illusion weight training because he has never been able to prove it in his Gym. He mentions that he designed a weight program for the students of his gym and they all got stronger but all of them lost  swing speed and some went back to their original speed.  So I would say he has tested weight training with his protocols and his students and found that it was not beneficial for increasing speed