Monday, February 23, 2009

CONGRATULATIONS ONNARIN!

CONGRATULATIONS ONNARIN!

Onnarin Sattayabanphot WINS the Thailand Ladies Open Championship in Bangkok! Winning in an exciting playoff to win her first major Thailand Ladies title, Onnarin has been working with Daniel Remon, TPI Golf Fitness Profesisonal for the last 2 years.

Another Thai Champion working with Daniel is Titiya Plucksataporn who finished a well deserved fourth!

A phenomenal result from 2 of Thailand's leading female golfers, who understand the importance of correct golf fitness conditioning to enhance their prowess on the course.

"Congratulations to both you, your hard work, dedication and committment has certainly paid off."

Read the full article here.

Daniel's expertise to develop top international professional golfers continues to achieve outstanding results for Thailand Golf.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Assessment & Recommendations for Female Junior Golfers

Assessment and recommendations for female junior golfers
Daniel Remon
B. HMSc, TPI-GFI

Having the privilege of working numerous national junior teams throughout Asia as well develop the regions’ leading youth fitness and conditioning programs, we have been able to pin point common areas and needs for junior girl golfers. The combination of being predominantly Asian, also show that hyper flexibility although genetic, can also increase the incidence of potential injury as well as prevent efficient loading and power development.

During the developmental phases of growth, junior girls tend to have the following common limitations:

• Over mobile joint structures
• Lack of strength and stability through the entire posterior chain
• Inability to control anterior and posterior pelvic tilt movements
• Lack active external hip rotation
• Poor hip strength, ankle stability
• Weak and inhibited gluteus muscles
• Poor special awareness and self assessment.

These physical limitations directly lead to the following common swing faults:

• Early extension and loss of posture
• Reverse Spine angle
• Sway and slide.

Generally, young athletes have never been taught how to move correctly, how to load forces, how to generate forces and power and are therefore prone to common injuries.

The most balanced athletes are also those who have played multiple sports, such as volleyball, basketball and soccer. A well rounded athlete will almost always have been exposed to numerous sports and not limited to single sport activities.

Lacking these fundamental physical requirements for sport, especially a dynamic, explosive multi plane sport such as golf (where strength and stability is crucial to a positive outcome, longer drives, consistency and power) will certainly lead to overcompensation injuries and poor performance in the future.

Strength conditioning programs are therefore essential to develop the foundational physical components of junior lady golfers. By strength training, we are not talking about machine based, weight loaded strength training. More like the development of multi joint compound exercises which stimulate the nervous system for prolonged and long term effect.

The following is a general foundation program that all junior golfers, especially girls will benefit from to maximize performance, enhance swing mechanics and injury prevention.

• Single leg bridge
• Lateral (side) plank
• Adductor planks
• Stork turns
• Anterior/Posterior tilt
• Lateral Lunges
• Basic squats
• Lateral Squats

Young athletes, including young golfers must be developed as unique young individuals and not simply the same as the adult population. In addition to specific golf fitness exercises, young athletes need to be taught how to move, with integrated teachings, coordination drills and games to not only make exercise fun, but an integral for of movement that will continue throughout their life. These concepts move way beyond normal golf specific skill acquisition and must be included in the overall development of junior players.

Nurturing our young population, and ensuring progressive skill development and movement modalities are crucial to creating future champions.

The teachings of the IYCA and Brian Grasso have many positive applications towards positive movement and activity habits. Applied to the junior golfer, the benefits and outcomes are immense.

More is not better. Better is Better!


Daniel Remon
www.BetterGolfFitness.com
www.FitcorpAsia.com

3 Exercises to Help You Warm Up and Play Better Golf

Here is a short video to help you prepare your body more effectively for your round of golf, practise at the range, and general fitness conditioning.

The exercises are dynamic in nature, essential to preapre the muscles and joints for the stresses and movements about to take place. Dont fall short of your best peformance by skipping your warm up. Enhance performance, prevent injuries and rock on the course!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Physical Limitations of Your Backswing

Physical Limitations of Your Backswing
Part 1 - Flexibility
By Daniel Remon – B. HMSc
TPI Certified Golf Fitness & Conditioning Specialist

Physical limitations of some kind or another are responsible for the majority of swing faults for most golfers. Many swing faults are generated through poor technique throughout the back swing and are the result of poor flexibility, strength, posture and stability throughout the hips, lower back, abdominals, shoulders and legs. Regardless of level or experience, most golfers are affected by these areas of potential weakness and limitation. Possible swing faults caused by poor flexibility through the backswing include loss of posture, flat shoulder plane, reverse pivot, reverse spine angle and sway.

During the backswing, the physical limitations are very easy to define. All components of fitness are required during this technically challenging phase of the swing however in this article we will cover flexibility only.

At least 80% of golfers lack sufficient flexibility through the hips and shoulders to get into a desirable position at the top of the back swing. The bad news is that’s probably you. The good news is that both these areas of can be improved considerably from a properly designed flexibility program. There is no one size fits all approach, and once the precise physical limitations have been identified, we can then proceed with an accurate and specific flexibility routine to improve your back swing position and swing mechanics.

Let’s go through the swing phase to determine some more common physical limitations and exercises to correct them.

From address the shoulders start to turn. Here you need a strong lower base of strength to maintain good hip stability and prevent any early hip rotation. As the club continues to rise, and the hands reach hip level, the hips start to turn and your body weight starts to shift from front the back. This would mean the weight is shifting from the left foot to the right foot for a right handed player.

A lack of flexibility through the left shoulder will prevent you from maintaining a strong postural position. Therefore to get the club into a higher position the body will do one of two things, if not both. One, you will start to lose your posture, your hips will move forward to leverage the shoulder joint and your club into a higher position. This takes you out of alignment and makes it very difficult to correct your position for the down or forward swing. Two, with the extra extension in your spine it will be virtually impossible to attain good shoulder position. To compensate, your left shoulder will be forced to externally rotate resulting in a flat shoulder plane. Lets wok on these flexibility limitations.

The two primary muscles responsible for restricting your back swing are your Deltoids and Latissimus Dorsi. Both muscles cross the shoulder joint and are prime movers. Both of these muscles are in a static phase of contraction, meaning they are lengthening throughout the entire phase in preparation for the transition and downswing. It is our objective to then lengthen and improve the flexibility of these two major muscle groups to help you get into a more desirable position with less effort, and without losing your posture.

The following flexibility exercises will help you achieve a better shoulder turn.

1) Standing Deltoid Stretch
- Standing tall with your feet shoulder width apart, extend your left arm and keep parallel to the floor.
- Bring the arm in and across the front of your body and place your right forearm vertically and against the forearm, just in front of the elbow.
- It is essential to completely extend the elbow of the right arm to create a sufficient lever for an effective stretch.
- Repeat on the other side
- Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

2) Bent Over Deltoid Stretch
- Now take a 5 iron posture, and perform exactly the same stretch.
- Maintain complete hip control and stability.
- Do not rotate the shoulder, no shoulder turn and keep the shoulders square and parallel to the ground.
- Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

3) Latissimus Dorsi Stretch
- Kneel on the ground, and extend both arms out in front of you.
- Keep your bottom in contacts with your heels and slowly walk your fingers out in front of you till you feel the stretch.
- Now take your left hand and place 11 o’clock. Move your right hand and place next to your left hand.
- Extend your right arm further and walk your fingers out until you feel the strong stretch.
- Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

4) Standing Reverse Latissimus and Lower Back Stretch
- Stand with your feet outside shoulder width.
- Extend your arms above your head, careful not to compress your lower back.
- Take your right hand and grab your left wrist.
- Tilt to the right hand side, and pull/extend your left arm up towards the ceiling!
- The objective is not to bend as far as you can, rather to extend high and long.
- Now slowly rotate to your right and reach as far behind you as possible.
- Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

Here you have 4 very effective stretches to improve upper back and shoulder flexibility to improve your range of motion on your back swing and help you play better golf. I recommend you perform these stretches every day for maximum benefit and make them a part of your pre-round warm up also.