Weight Training For Golf Book Review

Weight Training For Golf: The Ultimate Guide

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Just what I was looking for.

There was a time—not that long ago—when the very idea of weight training for golf would have been summarily dismissed. Although Gary Player has extolled the virtues of such throughout his long career, his was a lone voice in the wilderness, and like many prophets largely ignored.

Like so many things in golf, Tiger seems to have changed that. Many (most?) professional golfers participate in weight and fitness training and the penguin shaped golfer on Tour has been replaced largely by a newer, buffer specimen.

Tour players have the advantage of travelling fitness trailers and on-site training gurus. The rest of us are largely left to our own devices.

Weight Training for Golf is a primer for amateur golfers who realize that fitness is a key to improving their own games. The volume is written by Kai Fusser, whose credentials include time as Annika Sorenstam’s personal trainer, and his work with Graeme McDowell, and 15 other PGA and LPGA golfers. He currently serves as Director of Fitness at the Annika Academy in Orlando.

I have been thinking recently about adding light weight training to my own morning stationary bike routine, but have balked because I really had no idea what exercises to do or how to do them. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt myself trying to get fit. I also have been loathe to purchase an expensive exercise machine; too many of those are sitting dormant in friends’ basements.

Fusser’s book has solved my dilemma on several levels.

The book begins with a nice discussion of equipment, weight training goals and basic training principles. A nice touch is the chapter on nutrition. The early part of the book also discusses specific applications of weight training, such as strengthening abs and relieving back pain.

The second half of the book covers the details of the various exercises. It’s clearly illustrated with step by step photos, simple descriptive text and charts.

The good news about the equipment is that its all fairly inexpensive. The vast majority of the exercises are done with resistance bands, core balls and dumbells. A few require a simple weight bench. No heavy equipment here—the goal is to get fit and trim, not bulked up.

Part three offers exercises to fix swing faults, while the last has charts of programs.

Overall, I think that this is exactly the book I wanted to help me get my golfing muscle tone to where it needs to be.

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