One of my touring professional buddies was asking for help from me for a fitness program to help his speed, strength, size, flexibility, etc.
I thought I'd share with you the email I sent him in case you would be curious to read it.
Here is an excerpt:
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Anyway, I was thinking about what to do for you and I think a 3-workout repeating cycle of 20-40 minutes each of cardio, weights, and stretching would be pretty good for you. Here are the reasons why:
1) REST - Generally, with weights and other intense exercises, it's good to not work any particular body part again for another couple days. Rest is good and overtraining can lead to injury.
2) FLEXIBILITY - A 3-day cycle allows you to have some flexibility in your schedule. If you miss a day here and there you can just pick up again the next day with the next sequential workout. Maybe one week you'll do Workout 1, 2, and 3...take off a day then do Workout 1 and 2 again and you miss the 7th day. The next week, you can just pick up on Workout 3. Make sense? When it comes to weight training and building for strength and size, I've found that I can still make week-to-week gains only doing a certain body part once per week. Repeating body parts between 3-7 days after the previous one still seems to work...so as long as you go through the cycle once each week, you should be fine.
Time-wise, 20 minutes is enough to keep moving forward in each area. So on days where your time is short, you can only work out an hour and should be fine. On days where you have more time, you can up to 40 minutes in each area.
********************************
Here is the general workout schedule:
Workout 1
Cardio - 20-40 minutes
Weights - 20-40 minutes - Upper Body
Stretching 20-40 minutes
Workout 2
Cardio - 20-40 minutes
Weights - 20-40 minutes - Lower Body
Stretching 20-40 minutes
Workout 3
Cardio - 20-40 minutes
Weights - 20-40 minutes - Core and Twisting Type Exercises
Stretching 20-40 minutes
Swing Speed Training (see the Basic Speed Training page on the inside of http://www.swingmangolf.com) - you might move this to one of the other workout days if you find that one one of those days your Weights time is shorter.
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CARDIO
You can get really technical and scientific for cardio with heart rate monitors and stuff like that...but you can keep it simple and still do just fine. Each workout, do a different machine. Maybe one day jog (inside or out), one day bike, one day stairmaster, one day eliptical, etc. Or you can do 10 minutes on 3 different machines for a 30 minute workout. Stuff like that. Mix it up.
There are three zones I like to think of...the first is to just get your body moving (maybe you're a bit run down or sore and need an easy day). You'll be here if you aren't breathing hard. The second is where you are breathing good but could still hold a conversation with someone if necessary. This is a good fat-burning zone. The third is heavy breathing beyond where you could really talk with someone. This gets more in to building up your cardiovascular system. You could do all the days in the 2nd zone if you want, but doing all the days in the 3rd zone would eventually wear you down. So maybe just take it day to day which one you decide to do.
WEIGHTS
If you haven't lifted for awhile, you might start out on the nautilus machines. After a month or so, move over to the dumbbell free weights because they'll force you to use more of your balancing muscles as well.
Keep moving up in weight and reps each week until you are satisfied with your size and strength.
For each exercise, doing 3 sets of 12, 9, and 6 reps will work fine. Make sure you are doing enough weight each set so it is difficult to do the last rep. If you find that a set gets easy, it's time to move up in weight.
Upper Body
Chest Press (chest and triceps)
Shoulder Press (shoulders and triceps)
Rows (back and biceps)
Lat Pull-Downs (back and biceps)
Lat Raises (shoulders)
Lower Body
Squats or Lunges (overall for legs)
Leg Curls (front of legs)
Leg Extensions (back of legs)
Abduction (outside of legs)
Adduction (inside of legs)
Calve Raises (calves)
Core and Twisting - A lot of people just do lots of reps here...which is fine if you want core endurance. But if you want strength, train it like any other body part. I had some really great abs at one point by just doing 3 sets of 12, 9, and 6 reps each...but increasing the weight each week. This was also how I trained when I did long drive and got my speed up to 155mph.
Ab Machine
Lower Back Machine
Side Bends (each side)
Wood Chops (do both sides for balance)
For more info, see the "Weight Training" page on the inside of http://www.swingmangolf.com.
STRETCHING
I'm guessing you have done a fair amount of sports growing up. There's nothing special to the stretching I do (when I do it - hehe). It's just the same old basic stretches with maybe a couple others thrown in related to golf (see the Stretching page on http://www.swingmangolf.com). The only other thing I'll say here is try not to force the stretch (that makes for soreness over the next day or two). Take a deep breathe in to get oxygen in your system, hold it and feel it go out to the tight area, and then breathe out slowly letting the tight area relax and stretch out. With 20 minutes or so, you can maintain your flexibility and improve it some. But when you start repeating your stretching cycles over 30 and 40 minutes...that's where you can really make good flexibility gains over time.
********************************
Other things to keep in mind:
1) WRITE IT DOWN - Write down your workouts in a notebook so you can track your progress and make sure you are progressing each week.
2) IMPROVE EVERY WORKOUT - With every workout, try to make some sort of gain...whether it be in faster speed, increase reps with a certain weight, increased weight, better balance, etc.
3) PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE - Building size takes a bit of time, but you can definitely do a lot over time if you stay with it. In 2002, with 45-60 minute weight workouts 4-5 days per week, I put on 23lbs of muscle in 3 months (1-2.5 lbs per week is pretty reasonable if you keep bumping up the weight each week and are pushing yourself).
4) MIMIC GOLF SWING - With your weight exercises, when possible, try and do the weight motions through the same range of motion as in your golf swing.
5) TRAIN FOR SPEED - Try to make the flexing part of the motions fast (but still in balance and under control!). If you go too slow, you could be just training your muscles to go slow.
6) ISOMETRICS AND SPEED REPS - On the weight days, before or after the exercise you can do an isometric/isokinetic for the body part you just worked out. An 8-10 second flex is good enough. You can also do 15 speed shadow reps as well. After you finish each set, do the same motion without weight as fast as you can and under control. Bruce Lee used this kind of stuff when he trained...and I did as well when my speed was up to 155mph.
********************************
I thought I'd share with you the email I sent him in case you would be curious to read it.
Here is an excerpt:
********************************
Anyway, I was thinking about what to do for you and I think a 3-workout repeating cycle of 20-40 minutes each of cardio, weights, and stretching would be pretty good for you. Here are the reasons why:
1) REST - Generally, with weights and other intense exercises, it's good to not work any particular body part again for another couple days. Rest is good and overtraining can lead to injury.
2) FLEXIBILITY - A 3-day cycle allows you to have some flexibility in your schedule. If you miss a day here and there you can just pick up again the next day with the next sequential workout. Maybe one week you'll do Workout 1, 2, and 3...take off a day then do Workout 1 and 2 again and you miss the 7th day. The next week, you can just pick up on Workout 3. Make sense? When it comes to weight training and building for strength and size, I've found that I can still make week-to-week gains only doing a certain body part once per week. Repeating body parts between 3-7 days after the previous one still seems to work...so as long as you go through the cycle once each week, you should be fine.
Time-wise, 20 minutes is enough to keep moving forward in each area. So on days where your time is short, you can only work out an hour and should be fine. On days where you have more time, you can up to 40 minutes in each area.
********************************
Here is the general workout schedule:
Workout 1
Cardio - 20-40 minutes
Weights - 20-40 minutes - Upper Body
Stretching 20-40 minutes
Workout 2
Cardio - 20-40 minutes
Weights - 20-40 minutes - Lower Body
Stretching 20-40 minutes
Workout 3
Cardio - 20-40 minutes
Weights - 20-40 minutes - Core and Twisting Type Exercises
Stretching 20-40 minutes
Swing Speed Training (see the Basic Speed Training page on the inside of http://www.swingmangolf.com) - you might move this to one of the other workout days if you find that one one of those days your Weights time is shorter.
********************************
CARDIO
You can get really technical and scientific for cardio with heart rate monitors and stuff like that...but you can keep it simple and still do just fine. Each workout, do a different machine. Maybe one day jog (inside or out), one day bike, one day stairmaster, one day eliptical, etc. Or you can do 10 minutes on 3 different machines for a 30 minute workout. Stuff like that. Mix it up.
There are three zones I like to think of...the first is to just get your body moving (maybe you're a bit run down or sore and need an easy day). You'll be here if you aren't breathing hard. The second is where you are breathing good but could still hold a conversation with someone if necessary. This is a good fat-burning zone. The third is heavy breathing beyond where you could really talk with someone. This gets more in to building up your cardiovascular system. You could do all the days in the 2nd zone if you want, but doing all the days in the 3rd zone would eventually wear you down. So maybe just take it day to day which one you decide to do.
WEIGHTS
If you haven't lifted for awhile, you might start out on the nautilus machines. After a month or so, move over to the dumbbell free weights because they'll force you to use more of your balancing muscles as well.
Keep moving up in weight and reps each week until you are satisfied with your size and strength.
For each exercise, doing 3 sets of 12, 9, and 6 reps will work fine. Make sure you are doing enough weight each set so it is difficult to do the last rep. If you find that a set gets easy, it's time to move up in weight.
Upper Body
Chest Press (chest and triceps)
Shoulder Press (shoulders and triceps)
Rows (back and biceps)
Lat Pull-Downs (back and biceps)
Lat Raises (shoulders)
Lower Body
Squats or Lunges (overall for legs)
Leg Curls (front of legs)
Leg Extensions (back of legs)
Abduction (outside of legs)
Adduction (inside of legs)
Calve Raises (calves)
Core and Twisting - A lot of people just do lots of reps here...which is fine if you want core endurance. But if you want strength, train it like any other body part. I had some really great abs at one point by just doing 3 sets of 12, 9, and 6 reps each...but increasing the weight each week. This was also how I trained when I did long drive and got my speed up to 155mph.
Ab Machine
Lower Back Machine
Side Bends (each side)
Wood Chops (do both sides for balance)
For more info, see the "Weight Training" page on the inside of http://www.swingmangolf.com.
STRETCHING
I'm guessing you have done a fair amount of sports growing up. There's nothing special to the stretching I do (when I do it - hehe). It's just the same old basic stretches with maybe a couple others thrown in related to golf (see the Stretching page on http://www.swingmangolf.com). The only other thing I'll say here is try not to force the stretch (that makes for soreness over the next day or two). Take a deep breathe in to get oxygen in your system, hold it and feel it go out to the tight area, and then breathe out slowly letting the tight area relax and stretch out. With 20 minutes or so, you can maintain your flexibility and improve it some. But when you start repeating your stretching cycles over 30 and 40 minutes...that's where you can really make good flexibility gains over time.
********************************
Other things to keep in mind:
1) WRITE IT DOWN - Write down your workouts in a notebook so you can track your progress and make sure you are progressing each week.
2) IMPROVE EVERY WORKOUT - With every workout, try to make some sort of gain...whether it be in faster speed, increase reps with a certain weight, increased weight, better balance, etc.
3) PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE - Building size takes a bit of time, but you can definitely do a lot over time if you stay with it. In 2002, with 45-60 minute weight workouts 4-5 days per week, I put on 23lbs of muscle in 3 months (1-2.5 lbs per week is pretty reasonable if you keep bumping up the weight each week and are pushing yourself).
4) MIMIC GOLF SWING - With your weight exercises, when possible, try and do the weight motions through the same range of motion as in your golf swing.
5) TRAIN FOR SPEED - Try to make the flexing part of the motions fast (but still in balance and under control!). If you go too slow, you could be just training your muscles to go slow.
6) ISOMETRICS AND SPEED REPS - On the weight days, before or after the exercise you can do an isometric/isokinetic for the body part you just worked out. An 8-10 second flex is good enough. You can also do 15 speed shadow reps as well. After you finish each set, do the same motion without weight as fast as you can and under control. Bruce Lee used this kind of stuff when he trained...and I did as well when my speed was up to 155mph.
********************************
