Assess first, then perform The Three R’s

Step 1: Assess

If you have ever in the past or are currently doing a physical program of any sort that wasn’t done after assessing your specific body OBJECTIVELY, you are just guessing/assuming you are like everyone else with the same common issues.

Maybe you are, but most likely you’re not.

OBJECTIVE means you are measured – click the link below to complete your home mobility assessment https://www.robertspt.co/home-assessment-form

Step 2: Reset

‘Mobility before stability/strength’ is a principle I’ve been mentored in and have now seen success with a lot of my golfers.

Resets are techniques that help your muscles and joints move better and include methodologies such as a mobilization, manipulation, myofascial release, soft tissue work, trigger point therapy etc…

These techniques are specific interventions and require a good deal of competency to perform correctly and effectively (most people don’t do these at all or don’t do these correctly and therefore don’t get the results they want spending hours stretching and/or using the massage gun with minimal gains in their mobility)

Step 3: Reinforce

Now that you’re moving better (a.k.a. refer back to your home assessment and retest yourself to see if you actually made an objective improvement from the reset) you need to reinforce or activate that muscle or joint to help this new range of motion stick. I call this hitting the save button.

There’s nothing worse than spending a half hour getting your mobility where it needs to be only to lose your gains by the time you wake up the next day. You will continue to tighten right back up and chase your tail if you don’t perform some activation work right after your reset.

Reinforcement or activation is also waking up the muscles to prepare the body for the final phase, the reload phase.

Step 4: Reload

This is your actual strength component workout routine that is hopefully done a couple of times a week. Your body is in the best and SAFEST position to perform strength training when you’re moving well (reset) and you’re activated (reinforcement). Workout routines, whether for golf or not, should be balanced, through a full range of motion, and with proper technique to not create muscle imbalances and/or asymmetries in your body. If the reload or strength phase is poorly designed, this leads to the tightening up of the muscles and joints that you just spent all that time working on and may be the culprit as to why you’re stiff in the first place or simply missing out on your potential for maximal power.

Mobility is one key to power. Muscles are like rubber bands. You need to be able to lengthen a muscle to create elastic energy to hit the ball a long way. Make sure your 2023 Golf Workout Plan is designed to promote mobility, not hinder it, through a good reset, reinforcement, and reload this year.

If you have any questions about your plan, RobertsPT helps educate, equip, and train golfers to play for years to come with less pain and more distance. If you don’t have a trusted Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in golf supervising your plan, let’s jump on a call (https://www.robertspt.co/schedule-a-strategy-call)  or email wade@robertspt.co to discuss where you’re at.

Hit em’ straight,

Dr. Roberts

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the game of golf.

As the cold weather has moved into KC, most courses have moved their golfers on the driving range to begin hitting off of mats instead of the grass.

This may not appear to be a big deal, however, one of the most common off-season injuries I see are in the wrist/hand. Not coincidentally, it’s often the same time they transitioned their practice time from hitting surfaces off the grass to the turf.

Playing and practicing healthy golf is always a top priority with RobertsPT and why this is an area I wanted to address as you practice this off-season.

Now, the best way to avoid this potentially less-than-ideal scenario of hitting off mats is to rack up frequent flyer miles and head south for the winter in sunny Arizona, Florida, or Palm Springs to continue hitting off real grass…

But for most of us, the turf and mats are our only option…so what do we do to avoid the adverse effects on our body including these flare-ups to our wrist/hand from the excessive forces of the impact from the mats?

A couple of suggestions to keep your body healthy hitting off mats this off-season:

#1 = Improve Your Lower Body Move

When someone has poor lower body mobility, or a poor ability to use their lower body in their golf swing, the upper body (wrist/hand) is forced to work harder and takes on way more stress than it was designed to handle in the swing. By improving your hip rotation and hip turn, you’re already helping to prevent (or improve) any upper body compensations and discomfort.

The best way to see if you’re good on suggestion #1 here is to assess your hip rotation mobility, right now, at home by checking out this home assessment – this is the most important area of your body to work on if you have any type of upper body/upper extremity discomfort or limitation – get to the root cause of your upper body discomfort..not chase or treat the symptoms!

#2 = Modify Your Practice Sessions

• Limit your total volume of practice time by hitting full swings
  • Decrease the number of balls or time hitting irons
  • Emphasize ‘drill work’ that doesn’t require full impact
• Alternate irons and drivers more frequently
  • For example, do not hit irons for 45 straight minutes and then finish with the driver (or vice versa)
  • Alternate 10 iron shots and 10 driver shots
• Practice your full pre-shot routine with every shot
  • This will slow down the interval between shots to allow the wrist/hand to recover from the stress of the forces going through the wrist/hand at impact
  • Most golf injuries are repetitive in nature….so slow down the repetition!

The off-season is a great time to practice on your game and work on your body in the gym. Don’t lose this valuable time by injuring your wrist/hand (or any area of your body) as your normal golf routines change and your body is forced to adapt to something new.

RobertsPT helps educate, equip, and train golfers to play for years to come with less pain and more distance. If you don’t have a trusted Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in golf supervising your plan, I’d be happy to jump on a call to discuss your off-season goals. Call 214-998-9904 or email wade@robertspt.co.

Hit em’ straight,

Dr. Roberts

Click Here to Set Up a Call

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the golf comm

Power in golf defined:

Power = Force x Displacement/Time     OR     Power = Force x Velocity
Force = strength
Displacement = mobility or turn or the distance you can ‘ramp’ up your club head speed
Time = speed/impulse

In other words, to increase power or clubhead speed this off-season, you need to either increase your muscular strength, increase the distance over which you can generate that force, and/or you need to be able to do it fast!

Bodybuilders who can lift a lot of weight but can’t lift it fast…aren’t powerful.
Track and field athletes who are super-fast but are not strong…aren’t powerful.
A powerful golfer is strong AND fast.

When I evaluate a golfer, I help them identify which of those 3 components are their main power leak…and if there is more than one, which area is the priority for them to gain power.

You as a golfer need to be crystal clear on where you stand and if your focus this off-season should be more on getting mobile, strong or fast…some of you may lose power in 1 area while others of you may have power leaks in all 3.

As you approach your off-season and you desire to take advantage of the colder months to spend time working on the physical side of golf in the gym, be sure to have a plan that is targeted to what you specifically need! That is how you’ll get results and gain 10-30+ yards over the off-season without even hitting a golf ball.

I meet too many golfers going to the gym and ‘working out’ instead of ‘training’ specifically for a purpose with a plan.

At RobertsPT, we guarantee at least 3 mph (money back guaranteed) with most of our golfers gaining 5-8mph in less than 3 months’ time. How do we get those results? We’re customized to what YOU need after a thorough assessment.

As a Doctor of Physical Therapy, mobility will always be first priority. To see how well you’re able to rotate for a golf swing, TAKE MY FREE HOME ASSESSMENT for an easy way to see where your plan may need to start. If you clear all 4 rotational centers on this home assessment…then you need to focus on either strength or speed work. How do you if you need more strength or speed? Again, you need more information and need to be further assessed.

If you don’t have a trusted Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in golf supervising your plan, I’d be happy to jump on a call to discuss your off-season goals. Call 214-998-9904 or email wade@robertspt.co.

Let’s train smarter…not just harder this off-season.

Hit em’ straight,
Dr. Roberts

Click Here to Set Up a Call

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the golf community.