TPI suggestion for speed increase training

[ekennedy]

I spoke with Dr. Greg Rose from TPI at the PGA Show and asked him what, if any, exercises he would recommend that are great for nearly all golf swings and specifically for increasing clubhead speed.

He said anything that involves pulling. He demonstrated several exercises using the cable pulley machine. He said that all of the guys he works with that have high swing speeds use those exercises and he almost can't put enough weight on the machine. He also said that any exercise that involves pushing (i.e. bench press) does very little for the golf swing.

"Pulling" sounds a lot like going normal to me.

 

[WoodbridgeGolf37]

"Pulling" sounds a lot like going normal to me.

I think Brian and crew will shed some light on this after their research trip this month, but couldn't pulling too early really just be tugging?

 

[ekennedy]

I think Brian and crew will shed some light on this after their research trip this month, but couldn't pulling too early really just be tugging?

Pulling is essential to creating any speed whatsoever. By facing the machine and pulling in a rowing motion you are training the proper way to pull. Tugging is a sudden, jerking motion at the start of the downswing.

 

[WoodbridgeGolf37]

Pulling is essential to creating any speed whatsoever. By facing the machine and pulling in a rowing motion you are training the proper way to pull. Tugging is a sudden, jerking motion at the start of the downswing.

I'm working with a personal trainer on some fitness goals - any recommendations for pulling specific exercises to incorporate? I, always looking for a way to better my game.

 

[mgranato]

Makes sense. I've noticed increases since I've been pulling on one of these machines...

 

[ekennedy]

I love the seated rowing position. Alternating arms.

I also like getting into my address position and have the pulley at waist level. Have the handle directly in front of you and rotate left and right, keeping the handle directly in front of your chest.

You can also put the pulley on the ground by your left foot, take your address position and stretch high above your right shoulder, similar to your backswing position.

One thing I noticed (I'm not the longest hitter in the world) is that light weights work wonders. Start light and work your way up.

 

[ekennedy]

Makes sense. I've noticed increases since I've been pulling on one of these machines...

Mgranato- you already kill the ball. Just out of curiousity, are these exercises pretty easy for you?

I have a theory that players that need "the business" may be a bit weaker in the lat area.

 

[softconsult]

I mentioned this before. I am now 3 months (minus 2 weeks with the crud)i into the personal trainer thing 3 days a week. 66 years old, and, relative to my golfing peers, way more flexible. However, she has me doing things that clearly show just how inflexible I am. She is working on core exercises. Changing up each time, according to her plan and her observations. She watches very closely.

She does have me doing a lot of the pulling type exercises. One is on a cable machine. Bend from the waist, handle down by lower shin, left hand to right shin, then without any hip rotation swing your hand out away from your body and upward pulling as you go.

I can definitely tell a big difference after this amount of time. We also do a lot of squat routines. My increased leg strength and core strength has improved my balance significantly.

 

[Robbohank]

I mentioned this before. I am now 3 months (minus 2 weeks with the crud)i into the personal trainer thing 3 days a week. 66 years old, and, relative to my golfing peers, way more flexible. However, she has me doing things that clearly show just how inflexible I am. She is working on core exercises. Changing up each time, according to her plan and her observations. She watches very closely.

She does have me doing a lot of the pulling type exercises. One is on a cable machine. Bend from the waist, handle down by lower shin, left hand to right shin, then without any hip rotation swing your hand out away from your body and upward pulling as you go.

I can definitely tell a big difference after this amount of time. We also do a lot of squat routines. My increased leg strength and core strength has improved my balance significantly.

Steve,

I don't remember if you had any recent TM or other launch monitor experiences. I think it would be great if you had a baseline that you could compare to as your training continues. Mgranato.... the same thing (I know he's got some good baseline TM data).

I had some TM time last week and am getting back into an exercise program now with a focus on picking up some clubhead speed. It would be interesting to see some documented results of the impact (good, bad, or indifferent) of these training efforts.

Ekennedy....thanks for starting this thread.

 

[JEREMY5577]

Before doing any of these pulling exercises or golfing in general make sure to warm up the rotator cuffs. Arm circles are a must and not just flap your arms around for a few seconds I mean go at it for at least 2 sets of 20 in both directions. Another good one is hold your arms straight out infront of you parallel to the ground with your thumbs facing DOWN then slowly lower to hip level and raise back to parallel (no weight is needed or advised) 30 or 40 on each arm. This whole process takes 5 or 6 minutes and gets way easier over time. Strong and flexible rotator cuffs mean more speed and WAY less chance of injury. I know many more if you want to PM me. I've also been doing the TPI stuff for ever and keep up on most of it.

 

[Matt Bryda]

My opinion is this topic is very subject dependent.

Going to look deeper into this area in the near future.

 

[mgranato]

Mgranato- you already kill the ball. Just out of curiousity, are these exercises pretty easy for you?

I have a theory that players that need "the business" may be a bit weaker in the lat area.

How easy has been totally dependent on the size bell and number of reps. At the stage of the plan I'm on, easy has not been used too often. The lat theory is interesting. I've not given much thought to the lats as an isolated group, but I've never noticed them being a weak link. My biggest obstacle with "the business" has been the separational movements from the hips and shoulders. I blamed most of that on the fusion, but I'm seeing some real improvement in that area from just the 6 weeks of using the bells. So now I'm thinking most of the blame belonged somewhere else.

I'm attributing most of the boost in clubhead speed to the improvements in that area. Along the same lines of the boost at the Tour Stop from getting the down swing sequence better coordinated. The extra gear is nice, but I've actually been looking to get the same speeds from less effort. It used to take a lot more effort to get all this moving fast.

 

[softconsult]

"Before doing any of these pulling exercises or golfing in general make sure to warm up the rotator cuffs." My left rotator cuff was injured some years ago, no surgery. Trainer makes warm ups mandatory. Also, she makes sure that I let her know if anything is hurting or close to hurting. She is working on strengthening the muscles in that area.

Trackman baseline. Don't I wish. I have been on trackman exactly once 2 years ago for a driver fitting. Driver clubhead speed 100 to 102 depending on the club length. There simply are no Trackman units anywhere near me. Actually there is one about 3 miles away, but that's at the university and not accessible. When I did the Ping fitting before Christmas, I think I remember 6 iron at 86, but could be wrong. This was on an indoor launch monitor.

 

[SteveT]

I spoke with Dr. Greg Rose from TPI at the PGA Show and asked him what, if any, exercises he would recommend that are great for nearly all golf swings and specifically for increasing clubhead speed.

He said anything that involves pulling. He demonstrated several exercises using the cable pulley machine. He said that all of the guys he works with that have high swing speeds use those exercises and he almost can't put enough weight on the machine. He also said that any exercise that involves pushing (i.e. bench press) does very little for the golf swing.

"Pulling" sounds a lot like going normal to me.

You mean a cable crossover machine that works the upper body, back and shoulders? Yes, been there, done that, but it didn't increase clubhead speed; only stabilized my arms, shoulders and back musculature.

What increases clubhead speed is the ability to transfer the kinetic energy developed in the leg and hip mass through the core and into shoulder torque to sling the arms and club. If the core muscles can't transmit the lower body power to the upper body, you ain't goin' nowhere.

Yes, yes... the arms feeel powerful unleashing all that speed, so the ignorant assumption is the arms must be the primary power source of the golfswing.... after all it's easier to feeel the arms than the body. If you want more power from a full-blooded swing, you gotta have an efficient core unimpeded by blown abs. Sure, you can keep your lower body quiet for short iron shots, but you must commit your entire body for full swing drives.

Maybe Dr. Rose meant using a cable machine but involving the entire body, by only using one side of the stack. Sort of like a reverse sequencing where you work your entire body against a resistance through your arms.

 

[GaryRead]

Hign intensity for higher swing speed, range of motion for flexibility

These threads really interest me as I have been very into 'fitness' and its effect on speed & strength for quite some time.

I am fairly well read in the subject (no expert by any means) and have the following opinions (based on my reading).

If you want to increase speed, you need to develop fast twitch muscle fibres. As it happens every athlete that requires quick movement in their discipline, i.e sprinting, Javelin, discus and any throwing track and field events, long drive etc have a high proportion of fast twitch fibres, we know this as various muscle biopsies comparing marothoners with sprinters show a much higher fast twitch ratio in the sprinters.

Now the only way to increase fast twitch fibres is through high intensity anerobic work i.e weightlifting. You will also find a correlation between muscle and stregnth and speed, they are all related - speed requires fast twitch muscle fibres which have the potential for the largest size when 'exersized' (hence why the above athletes are nomrally very muscular) in order generate more speed the muscles need to become larger, and therefore have the capacitiy to move things more quickly and more heavily. Basically if you want to be faster you need to get bigger muscles, and if you want bigger muscles you will need to do productive resistance training. Do the most efficient exercises for developing specific musculature required for the golf swing.

Where alot of people go wroing is in assuming the best exercises for developing speed must directly immitate the action of the skill itslef. No. You must seperate skill conditioning from physical conditioning. Do drills that help with skills if need be, but do exercises that are designed to work particluar muscles and group in the most productive manner, and that is not by necessarily imitating a swing movement, it is by doing exercises that are designed to tax the muscualture. A means to an end...

Now you may say what about the guys who are skinny and hit the ball a long way? well those guys will have a high ratio of fast twitch too, however its my view they would be even longer if they trained!

Felxibility plays a large part in being able to utilize the speed you are capable of generating and that is why it is important to engage in exercises that have a full range of motion so the muscle is being worked over its full range.

I personally work out very intensley, in order to stimulate growth in the fast twitch fibres, 20 mins a time once a week max. Lat pulldowns, dips, deadlifts, squats, shoulder presses. Age old exercises that are proven to efficiently tax the whole muscualture of the body.

I have an average driver swing speed of about 125mph maxing out at 134 when I give it some whip( according to flight scope / Tm) and Im getting faster as my training progresses. I put it down to very inetense but brief exercises.

I highly recommend the book Body by Science by Doug Mc Guff.

Sorry for any typos, at work and in a rush

 

[natep]

Here's Vijay demonstrating some kettlebell throws. This exercise has helped me a lot.

 

[SteveT]

These threads really interest me as I have been very into 'fitness' and its effect on speed & strength for quite some time. .................

If you want to increase speed, you need to develop fast twitch muscle fibres. ..........................

Good point, and to clarify, everybody has a genetically set ratio of fast/intermediate/slow twitch muscles; and all you can do is strengthen them up because you can't increase the number of each of those muscle fibres. Another factor is how lean your muscle groups are because if you are obese, you can be certain that fat is distributed between the muscle fibres and that creates internal friction that weakens the muscles...

Since golf doesn't involve running or jumping, and mostly constrained shifting and twisting, I wonder if muscle type is all that important. Since the golf swing requires a lot of postural stability, I would think that properly developed slow twitch muscles would be ideal. Also, many core muscles are in sheet form, and the slow twitch muscles must be powerful.

Different muscle types and groups must be strengthened to execute a powerful golfswing; not only 'fast' twitch, and that's the golfer's dilemma. Golf is supposed to be 'fun', and heavy training ain't 'fun' ... unless you're masochistically committed to the sport...

 

[GaryRead]

Here's Vijay demonstrating some kettlebell throws. This exercise has helped me a lot.

Natep, I cant argue with with your personal experience however In my opinion, it is exercises like these that are inneficient and could actually ruin a golf swing for the avergae joe. The way that kettle bell is stressing the body and the way that Vijay is having to engage with it looks as if that would turn you INTO a handle dragger, it completley removes the whip out of the golf swing and it is engraining a swing that is completly different and requires different muscle activation than does a swing with a glolf club. it is a VERY good example of why skill conditioning and physical conditioning should be separate and specific - i.e what muscles are responsible for speed, then what is the most productive way of training that muscle? And I can guarantee it isnt by imitating the skill itself with extra weight.

 

[natep]

I'm not an efficiency expert when it comes to these things, so I cant really comment on that. I can say for sure though that this exercise will target musculature used in the swing. I disagree that exercises such as these will ruin a person's swing or turn them into a handle dragger.

 

[SteveT]

If you think about it, VJ's kettlebell loaded swing does not work the left arm because no work is performed even with the added centripetal force. It stresses the left arm, but that's about it.... no "work".

The right arm works a bit harder because it's attempting to carry and to throw the left arm, and applying a variable force extension on the left arm in the downswing.

What this 'drill' does is exercise the legs and torso for balance and rotation in a spectacular manner. So forget the arm work because it's nominal and rather inefficient too.