Now that we’ve had some good weather and much more time to golf, are you noticing the spots on your body that are beginning to hurt? Some of the pain could be in your lower back, shoulders and neck. You could be experiencing pains in your hips, knees or elbows. This month we are going to address some alternatives to keep those pains from turning into injuries that last longer than the golfing season.

Neck: Let’s start here and work our way down. The neck is often ignored even though it is where a lot of tension can linger.   That tension can work it’s way down the body causing pain in the shoulders, back and hips. So keeping the neck muscles loose and relaxed is key. When working on the computer, be sure the screen is eye level and you are spared having to look down or up too far. Lap tops need to be elevated by a pillow or table and having your elbows supported is a bonus.  Give your neck some relief by lying on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat, and a small towel rolled up and placed under your neck. This will allow your neck muscles to relax, while putting your head and back in better alignment for your golf swing.

Shoulders: The shoulder is such a complex joint that it can get out of balance in many different ways. The most common is slouching or rounded shoulders. Keeping your shoulders back during the day or while sitting, can feel like work. Think of the area between your ribcage and your collarbone as a single unit and lift your ribcage from the bottom front rib, forward and up. This will automatically pull your shoulders down and back and you will train yourself to hold you in this better position. For those with good posture, this will be easy to maintain.  For those of you who do not have good posture, you can practice throughout your day to strengthen the proper muscles and it becomes a good habit! This is very important for maintaining good shoulder plane angle during your swing. It can also help with reverse spine angle.

Low Back: This area can make or break a golfer. As I’ve talked about it before, the lumbar spine region is not meant to rotate-it’s meant to be stable. The areas around it are made for movement: Thoracic spine and hips. So I won’t give you a good stretch for this area because it doesn’t need to be stretched, but I will give one for the upper back. Lie on your back (supine) with your hips on the floor and take a round foam roller or large bath towel, rolled up tightly.  Now place the roller or towel perpendicular (make a t-shape with your body) keeping your glutes on the floor, place your arms to the side or behind your head to support your neck, and let your shoulders and neck relax for 15-20 seconds. Then move the roller or towel up or down one vertebrae and hold for 15-20 seconds. This will help open up the chest and you will gain more movement in your thoracic spine. Keeping your lumbar region stable.

Next month we’ll address the hips, knees and elbows, and what you can do to keep these in top shape. Keep challenging your muscles in the gym, so you can reap the benefits on the golf course!

Diana Del Garbino is a certified golf fitness instructor through the Titleist Performance Institute and coaches beginner through advanced golfers at Muscles in Motion-Professional training studio in Lake Oswego Oregon. For more information about the program visit www.mymusclesinmotion.com.

Do you remember the children’s song about how everything is connected? The neck bone’s connected to the shoulder bone, the shoulder bone’s connected to the chest bone, etc. Well keeping this in mind as you begin the new season of golfing as it may help you prevent injuries along the way.

Let’s start with the golf swing. To avoid golf injuries, it’s important that golfers get their swing technique as solid as possible. Amateur players are at increased risk of injury because their swing will often put excessive stress on the shoulder, arms and the back. Since golf is played at a slower pace a warm up is essential to help prevent injuries. Think about the song at the beginning and work your way down the body.

Warming up the neck. Start slowly and with purpose. Instead of the usual head circles, think about the position you put your neck in from presenting the ball to your backswing and downswing. Your head is in a neutral position. Then pull your arms into your backswing position, now look at the position of your head; it’s still facing forward, however, your shoulders have rotated so your chin is now touching your shoulder. For a warm up, stand facing forward and slowly turn your head to the right, then dip your chin and try to touch your collar-bone. Now repeat the other direction. This will warm up the muscles along the sides and back of the neck.

Let’s move on to the shoulders. This is where a lot of injuries can occur. With the large amount of torque needed on the downswing, it’s critical to warm up all the muscles in the shoulder. Start with small circles and work your way to med and then large.  Make sure your hand positions change.  This ensures you will hit each different muscle that makes up the rotator cuff; Thumbs up, palms down, & thumbs down. Rotate five times each set.

Now the back.  Just saying “the back” doesn’t give you enough information. There are two specific areas that we want to warm up. First is the thoracic spine (upper back area). The thoracic spine starts just under your ribs and stops at your collarbone. This is also where you want the most rotation in your back swing and not in your lower back region. Taking your club and placing it on your shoulders and rotating from right to left is a good warm-up, but take care to lock your hips in place so you’re not rotating in your lower back. Sit down and squeeze your knees together, then place your hands behind your head and spread your elbows out. Now sit up straight and turn to your right, as if you were looking over your shoulder, now drop your right elbow and try to touch your right elbow to your hip. You should feel a stretch on your opposite ribcage (left side). This works the thoracic spine in the two ways it works best, rotating behind you and side-to-side. Complete eight times each side.

The second area of the “back” is the hips.  Again, we don’t want to rotate through the lumbar spine.  It might feel like that is what is happening, however, the hips are made to rotate and have a much better design for it. So stand tall and take your 5-iron or hold onto a pole or rail.  Twist your hips in a circular motion as if you’re trying to take your front hipbones and touch the pole or 5 iron. Make sure you keep the upper body as still as possible. Also, keep your feet flat on the ground to get a bit of internal and external rotation. Rotate each side eight times.

Ok, so you are warmed up in the areas that get the most work in your golf swing.  As you move your static warm up to a more dynamic warm up, a slow start as you hit balls will get you fully warmed up and help keep you from injury.  The more conditioned you are for your golf swing is the best way to keep yourself injury free!

Diana Del Garbino is a certified golf fitness instructor through the Titelist Performance Institute and coaches beginner through advanced golfers at Muscles in Motion-Professional training studio in Lake Oswego Oregon. For more information about the program visit http://www.mymusclesinmotion.com/.

What a great end to a great tournament. Phil Mickelson winning his 3rd green jacket. But how did he manage that? That’s easy, Phil hired Titleist Performance Institute trained Golf Fitness instructor Sean Cochran. Sean has been working with Phil for over 5 years to get him in great shape for the game of golf, and winning the Masters!
Think Phil slacks off on his fitness when he’s in-season? Guess again. Phil worked out 1.5 hours a day 6 days a week in the off-season and 1 hour a day 6 days a week in-season. So if you’re thinking you should stop your golf fitness program during the season, think again. We realize you all have lives and other commitments, but with 30-minute workouts 2-3 times a week, you will get great results for your golf game.

So make an appointment with our TPI certified Golf Fitness Instructor today, and get yourself and your game in great shape this golf season!

Not too long ago we were all kids and moved like we were made of rubber. We could bend, jump, roll, bounce, and balance without any trouble. Then it seems we got older and lost our ability to do these fundamental movements. What happened? Once we were born, we started to move from the ground up. All of us had to push ourselves off the floor if we wanted to look around and see what everyone was doing. Then we rolled over, we crawled, and we pushed ourselves into a squat position and balanced in order to stand.

Once we could stand we fell down, and started all over again from the ground up. Over and over and over again we continued this pattern until we mastered it and began taking small steps.

Fast-forward 18 years. How often do you see anyone over the age of 18 getting up off the floor? Hardly ever. Most of us are driving a car, sitting at our desk or playing on the computer in a seated position. We’re not maintaining our ability to get ourselves up off the floor.   As convenient as it is to get up from a chair rather than the floor, this set of movements is essential to keeping our balance into our golden years.  Yes, by getting down on the floor and getting back up again you can maintain your balance!

So how does this affect the golf game? Lets look at what patterns of movement we need for golfing. We need to rotate and shift our weight from the back swing to the down swing. Sitting back into our stance as we address the ball. Maintaining our golf stance without losing posture. Shifting our weight from one foot to the next. All of this is very important to make sure you have a consistent golf swing.

Now lets look at the muscles needed to complete the above movement patterns in your golf swing. Shifting the weight is going to take strong legs, from the feet to the calf. Sitting back in your stance requires stability in the glutes, hamstrings and quads. Rotating around the spine from the back swing to the down swing requires strong abdominal and back muscles.  And maintaining your stance without losing posture requires all of your muscles to work together to give you stability. These are all the same muscles needed to get up off the floor! Do you see the pattern?

When you make the body strong with both legs, you only strengthen one portion of your movement pattern. When you strengthen each group independently, you just added a new element to your abilities, not to mention cutting down on your chances of injury.  Imagine carrying your groceries with your right arm exclusively. Your right side will be using abs, back, legs, glutes, shoulder and arm muscles. But your left side is trying to stabilize. Over time your body will become so out of balance that when you try to lift with your left side, your right side will take over and that’s when you could pull a muscle. So start working out using one-leg exercises and build each limb strong and independent of the other so when they work together there is harmony and balance!

Diana Del Garbino is a Certified level 2 TPI golf fitness professional. She works out of Muscles in Motion-Professional Training Studio in Lake Oswego, where she is regularly working with local LPGA & PGA Professionals, those learning about the game and those who want to correct swing faults, lower their handicap and more.

To learn more about Diana and her golf fitness program go to www.MyMusclesInMotion.com.

Ladies, when it comes to our health, our fitness, our nutrition, or just taking care of ourselves, we consider ourselves last. This seems to be part of our genetic make up. I see mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, and wives take care of everyone else, but when it comes to their own health, as it relates to everyday living and fitness for our favorite game, we put it at the end of the list.

Let’s take a look at how much time we really have: There are168 hours in a week. Let’s break it down; 40 hours for a full time job, if you get 9 hours of sleep a night, that’s 63 hours a week, 10 hours for commuting, 20 hours for kids & family (during the week), if you cook, add 10 hours a week, weekend time (family, friends, & GOLF) add 20 hours. That leaves you with 5 hours extra a week. So what should you do with that extra time?

Start by thinking about who needs to be mentally, physically and emotionally strong? That would be you! The woman of the house. As women we are the center of the universe. Everyone knows who to ask to get the answers to homework, where the keys are, and are the dishes clean or dirty?  Now that you know how important you are, why are you still putting yourself last?

Take that five hours a week, and break it down to one hour five days a week.  You can get a lot done in those five hours!  Imagine if you dedicated 30 minutes three times a week on just your golfing muscles?  What would that look like?  Upper body mobility would give you more rotation.  Lower body strength would give you more power and stability in your stance.  Upper back workout would keep your shoulders from getting over worked and causing injuries.  Strengthening your glutes and abdominal muscles would give you a more athletic stance and keep your lower back from overworking and getting sore.  So get working those golf muscles before the kickoff of the spring season!

Now let’s talk about nutrition. Remember the old adage “you are what you eat?”  Well, your mom was right.  If you want your body to be soft and squishy, eat more bread, pasta, and rice.  If you want to be lean and toned, eat more fruits and vegetables, lean protein; but go easy on the whole grains and breads, limit your sugar intake.  Remember what and how you eat determines not only your figure, but your mood, muscle quality and metabolism.

Ok, so now you’ve taken time out for your self.  Let’s talk about when you’re out on the links.  What are some of the challenges for women on the course? Athletic ready position (addressing the ball), means it’s ok to bend your knees and stick out your butt!!

Make a bad shot? Let it go and focus on the next opportunity for a great shot.

Time on the course should be a challenge and leave you with a renewed sense of self-confidence and well-being.  Do you want bogies for health or birdies? Your body deserves your best effort!

Diana Del Garbino is TPI-Certified Level 2 fitness pro in Oregon. She works out of Muscles in Motion-Professional Training Studio in Lake Oswego, where she works regularly with local LPGA & PGA Professionals.  To learn more about Diana and her golf fitness program go to www.mymusclesinmotion.com.

Mobility and Stability. It is like a golf bag and your clubs; you can’t have one without the other. When these two components work together, they are the link to having balance in your golf swing and stance as well as preventing injuries.

Injuries occur when there are imbalances in the muscles or joints. Incorrect mobility can throw off your balance, creating a ripple effect in your swing thus causing your shot to be way off target. An unstable stance will prevent consistent ball striking.

The same is true if you have too much tightness in your joints. When you are not able to rotate into your backswing and pre-load your muscles, this causes loss of power. As if a poor shot isn’t bad enough, a joint or muscle injury could occur. For example, our golfer who does not have mobility in his upper body and stability in his stance may try to achieve more power in his downswing. This is usually seen by the “over the top” swing fault. This can cause strain in the chest muscles. Now that our golfer feels pain he will compensate and cause even more swing faults. Had he gained more mobility in his thoracic spine and stability in his lower body he could correct the original swing fault.

According to physical therapist Gray Cook and strength coach Mike Boyle, the principle of efficient movement for golf occurs in an alternating pattern of mobile joints and stable segments.  For example, the foot has stability, the ankle has mobility, the knee has stability, etc. From the feet to the fingers this alternating pattern can be found. When this pattern is altered there becomes a dysfunction and the potential for injury increases as you move to compensate.

There are several ways to achieve both mobility and stability through your workout. Weight training provides the quickest and most reliable results. I know what you’re thinking, weight training is going to make you “big and bulky,” however the opposite is true. With controlled movement and working the muscles through their full range of motion you will get both strength and flexibility.

How it works:  the muscles in the body work in such a way that when you flex your bicep muscle, your triceps muscles have to relax and stretch. This is called antagonist and agonist. All of the muscles have the ability to work in this pattern from the abdominals contracting and the back relaxing, to the gluteus maximus contracting and the hip flexors stretching and relaxing.

By working opposing groups of muscles you gain strength while maintaining proper mobility in the ligaments, thus helping to preventing injuries to you the golfer.

Your golf swing and stance will be most effective when the areas in the mobility pattern are worked to their full range of motion and when the areas in the stability pattern are stabilized for their maximum potential.  With proper form, you will have the basis for a great stance, swing and follow through, along with improved endurance, balance and power. All of this will keep you playing the links for years to come.

Diana Del Garbino is TPI-Certified Level 2 fitness pro in Oregon. She works out of Muscles in Motion-Professional Training Studio in Lake Oswego, where she works regularly with local LPGA & PGA Professionals.

To learn more about Diana and her golf fitness program go to www.mymusclesinmotion.com.

Please read more articles from the February 2010 issue at: http://golftodaynw.com

Diana’s been published in the January 2010 issue of Golf Today NW. We are so proud of her accomplishments.
Click on the link and it will take you to the article:       eepurl.com

Here are just a few of the wonderful comments from her clients:

Congrats Diana! You are great!  -Haley

So, when do I get my Autographed Copy??? CONGRATULATIONS DIANA!!!!-Steve P.

That is truly fabulous! The article is so well written that were I a golfer I would  sign up in an instant. Congratulations, Diana!-Ray T.

Its interesting to read about the TPI program in your magazine. I am sixty one years young and I have been working with Diana for about six months. I started with TPI because my game was deteriorating and my back hurt when I did play or practice. In the last two months my scores have dropped from the high eighties to the high seventies. My back is still tender on occasion but I am now carrying my clubs and recently birdied the last two holes of a round to break eighty yet again. I am learning so much about my body and how it effects my swing. I continue to see my PGA Pro for tune ups, last time I hit balls on wet turf with street shoes (forgot my cleats) and hit solid shots with no slipping. My balance and ability to hit from a stable base is all due to the exercises and weight training I receive with my TPI trained instructor Diana. Additionally I can go online through TPI for more instruction and information, what a great program. Now if I could only chip.- Steve H.