Muscles Used In The Golf Swing
When it comes to the muscles in your body that are being used when swinging a golf club, It’s hard to not say you use all or majority of your muscles while you are swinging. Since you need to keep a stable base all the way through your swing, it requires a lot of work from all of your muscles.
Primarily, the golf swing works your shoulder, back, core muscles, Quads and of course your Glutes. The lower body is being worked through your quadriceps and Glute muscles to held produce a solid base and generate power through your swing. The core muscles are responsible for this stability and flexibility of your swing.
Weak core muscles could attribute to a poor back swing or follow through in your golf shot. The back and shoulder muscles are also responsible for stability in your shot but more so with keeping the club in the correct position you need it to be. It also helps with the flexible of your shot if you don’t have back or shoulder pain. Having back or shoulder pain can really limit your shot and affect how well you play.
Big Muscles + Strong Abs = Big Shots?
Generally, technique is always going to out perform athleticism, strength and power. However having athleticism strength and power combined with great technique can make for one hell of a good player. In golf, because of the golf drive of the hop, you’re trying to hit the ball as far as you can. It makes one wonder if being stronger or carrying more weight would help you produce a bigger projection on the shot. Seems like the obvious answer would be yes but time and time again we see muscular guys struggle to hit 100 yards. It may just be poor form, but it creates the question how important are big and strong muscles when it comes to Golf?
The real answer is it doesn’t matter how big your muscles are necessarily but how strong they are and your technique is everything. Even when you compare using your bodies big muscles vs. your bodies smaller muscles there is little significance in the distance of your shot. There seems to be a lot of myths and theories in terms of which muscles to use throughout your Golf Swing. It’s up to you to decide which of them you believe.
What makes the most sense is that every athlete is different and maybe the way one person golfs vs. the other doesn’t really matter and what does is finding the right technique for yourself. It’s possible you can benefit from using your bigger muscles in your body vs. your smaller ones.
The video below goes over effects of using different types of muscles in your golf swing very well and also offers some Golf Swing tips.
YouTube – Big Muscles vs. Small Muscles For Golf Swing
Can Golf Cause Aching Muscles?
As with any motion, if you repeat it over and over again using the same muscles they will eventually start to fatigue and become sore and aching. That can happen when you play Golf because of the repetitions of swing a golf club. If not swinging properly you can hurt your back as well and your joints may start to feel pain. These repetitive motions can also leave your back inflamed and possible injury the discs of your spine. Ensuring proper form and technique can help with the pains you may experience but it can take a toll on your back and spine after an extended amount of time.
How To Avoid Stiff and Sore Muscles Playing Golf
In order to limit these pains we might experience, it’s important to establish a warm-up and cool-down even though you may not work up that big of a sweat actually playing the game. This will limits pains and strains in muscles and can prevent serious injuries.
There are numerous different ways to warm up but as with any sport it is important to start with dynamic exercises and stretches as opposed to static stretches where you aren’t moving much at all. Focus on working the muscles that you will be using throughout your day to warm them up and prepare your body for your sport. It’s also a good idea to work on overall flexibility in your risks and torso (think of the actions of your golf swing).
When cooling down, it is recommended to hydrate well and to ensure a variety of different stretching techniques. It may be a good idea to repeat the exercises you did to warm-up in reverse or just ensure that are both dynamic and static stretching towards the end of your Golf session.
