Many of you might have seen, or even used, those Nautilus-style abdominal rotation machines at your gym or fitness center. The goal of that specific machine is to strengthen the oblique abdominal muscles which are responsible for both rotating and laterally flexing the spine.
There are a few problems with this type of machine.
First it is a seated machine and swinging a golf club is not a seated movement. The development of power in a rotational movement, such as the golf swing, begins with the feet driving into the ground to produce the force that it sends up the legs into the hips and torso and finally into the arms and club which make contact with the ball.
Second the machine locks your hips into place and encourages rotation of the lumbar spine. This is not to goal when swinging a golf club, rather we are looking for an integrated rotation between the hips and torso with little to no separation of the two.
A better way to develop a strong and powerful rotational capacity in the hips and torso, is to perform the Full Contact Twist exercise using a rotational sleeve device (we favor the Westside Barbell powerlifting club coach Louie Simmons' "Grappler") or to simply stick the end of a barbell in the corner between the floor and two walls to create a pivot point.
For instructions on how to perform this exercise, please view our training video with EP Golf advisory board member, Melissa below.
There are many levels of core training for golf, from static exercises to dynamic exercises, and for more in-depth information we recommend joining our exclusive EP Golf Club. This gives you access to our members-only section of the website that provides more articles, training videos and the entire EP Golf Fitness Program. In addition we update the site with new content regularly and as a member you will have access to all published articles, videos, e-books and other information property we develop.
