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Have you ever wondered what workout/exercises you should be doing when toning your body up for golf? I’m trying to put together some new golf workouts to get your body ready, and what I mean by ready is to get it strong and flexible. I thought I’d highlight some other workouts that my help you prepare for other springtime/summertime activities.

Warm Up Exercises

These exercises I’m about to mention are intended to warm up the entire body with a focus on abs, back, arms and hips. Always take a few minutes before your game to warm up and stretch. You’ll protect yourself from injury as well as improve your range of motion for that ‘killer’ golf swing. It’s always good practice to warm up 5 minutes before hitting the links and to use one of your clubs to help in going through your exercises/stretches.

• Arm Circles – This is to warm up the shoulder rotators and arms. Take the right arm straight up in front of you and circle it back and around in a full circle. Start slowly and, as you feel warmer, speed up to make the move more dynamic. Repeat for 20 reps, switch sides and then circle both arms at the same time for 20 more reps.
• Trunk Rotations – Warm up those abs and back. Hold the golf club behind the upper back, holding the club on either side. Rotate the torso to the right, just as you would to take a swing, rotating it back and all the way through to the left. Focus on keeping the lower body stable and all movement in the torso. Repeat as necessary.
• Side Bends – Stretch and strengthen the torso. Hold the golf club with hands wider than shoulders and take it up over the head, arms straight. Lean to the right, taking the club as far as you comfortably can, feeling a stretch in the left side of the body. Come back to center and repeat to the left for 20 reps.

Golf Strength Training Workout

This section targets the entire body with a specific focus on the muscles you use the most in golf – the abs, back, rotators and hips. Working on overall strength, you’ll increase the strength and power of your golf swing while protecting your body from the injuries that can happen with repetitive movements. Try to do these workout 2-3 times a week, with at least one day of rest in between and incorporate regular cardio exercise for a healthy heart.

• Barbell Deadlift – Hold a heavy barbell in front of the thighs, knees slightly bent. Keeping abs in and shoulders back, tip from the hips and lower the weight towards the floor, stopping when you feel a stretch in the hamstrings. Squeeze the glutes to stand back up, repeating for 2 sets of 12 reps. This exercise strengthens the lower back, glutes and hamstrings, muscles that provide strength and stability for your golf swing.
• Reverse Fly – Sit on a chair or bench and hold weights under your bent knees, back flat and abs engaged. Lift the arms up to shoulder level, squeezing shoulder blades together and keeping the elbows slightly bent. Repeat for 2 sets of 12 reps. This move strengthens the rear shoulders and the rhomboids (muscles between the shoulder blades), muscles that protect the rotators and work during the follow through of a golf swing.
• Tricep Dips – Sit on a chair or bench with hands next to the hips. Lift up and take the hips in front of the chair. Bend the elbows and lower down until elbows are at 90-degree angles. Keep the hips close to the chair to protect the shoulders and keep the shoulders down and away from the ears. Repeat for 2 sets of 12 reps. This move strengthens the triceps, which helps keep your arm straight on the follow-through.

More Useful Exercises

The following exercises that may also help you with your golf game are challenging ones. Moves that target the entire body, specifically the core.

• Back Extensions – Lie face down with hands behind the head. Lift upper body off the ground a few inches, keeping head and neck in alignment, then lift feet off the ground keeping legs straight. Lower and repeat for 12-16 reps.
• Back/Shoulder Stretch – Stand in front of ball and place the side of the right hand on the ball (thumb pointing up). Roll the ball towards the left while keeping the hips square. Hold for 3-5 breaths and switch to the other side.
• Wood Chop with Band/Dumbbell – This move targets the entire body, especially the abs and back. Attach one end of a resistance band to something sturdy, grasp band and dumbbell in both hands and begin in a lunge position. Keeping the arms straight, rotate the body towards and sweep the arms up on a diagonal. Repeat for 12-16 reps on each side.

Hopefully by following some of these helpful hints in prepping your body for a good golf game, you’ll be able to lower that score little by little until finally your the “top dogg” of the group. I myself, with this valuable information may be able to take down our so called ‘top dogg” that we have in our daily saturday golf game.

Pushups are one of those exercises most of us love to hate. Something about lifting your own body weight up and down from a horizontal position is just plain old hard, especially for women who often don’t have the same upper body strength that men do. Pushups are worth it, however, simply because they target so many different muscles – the chest, shoulders and triceps work together to move your body up and down, while the abs and legs work to stabilize your body.

Another great thing about pushups is that there are so many different ways to do them. If you want an easier version, you can try wall pushups or pushups on the knees. If you want something harder, you’ll love these staggered pushups. There are a number of ways to do them, but my favorite involves staggering the hands and taking one in front of you while the other is positioned directly under the shoulder. By staggering your hands, you increase the load on one arm, which adds intensity. This is also a great way to teach your body how to do one-armed pushups.

Do it right: In pushup position, on the knees or toes, walk the left hand forward while keeping the right hand directly under the right shoulder. Lower into a pushup, feeling the challenge in the right arm. Push back up and repeat for 4 reps before switching sides and taking the right arm forward. Continue alternating sides, completing 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps. You can also choose to complete all your reps on the same side before switching arms.

check out exercise.about.com for more sweet exercise tips

Most of us are familiar with the concept of weight training for building muscle and raising metabolism, but what you may not know is that strength training can actually help target abdominal fat. In one study, researchers followed a group of people who lifted weights three times a week for 16 weeks. At the end of that time, they significantly decreased abdominal fat (along with overall body fat) and increased strength and muscle as well. It’s clear that strength training doesn’t just contribute to a leaner body, but a leaner midsection as well.

If you aren’t lifting weights now, there’s no better time to start. Following a simple total body program 2 to 3 times a week will put you on the right track.
Going on a diet is one way to lose weight. But if you do that without adding exercise to the mix, you’re missing out. Not only will exercise help you burn more calories, but when you combine it with a healthy, low-calorie diet, you can actually lose more abdominal fat.

Change Your Diet
Even small changes to your diet can make a difference when you’re trying to lose weight, so don’t feel like you have to follow a strict diet or cut out entire food groups.

Start Exercising
If you’re not a fan of exercise, one reason may be because you haven’t spent time doing things you enjoy. One sure way to skip exercise is to plan workouts you hate. Start simple and easy with walking, swimming, stretching, yoga or basic strength training. The bottom line is to start where you are, not where you want to be.

Interval training is great for burning calories and building endurance, but it’s also a great way to target more abdominal fat. In one study, researchers compared interval workouts with steady state exercise and found that exercisers lost more abdominal fat when doing interval training. That doesn’t mean that steady state exercise isn’t important or that you have to do interval training all the time. However, adding intervals to your routine will not only give you better results, it will also help you push your limits and keep your workouts a little more exciting.

During your regular workout, add 3 to 5 short bursts of high intensity exercise. Work as hard as you can for as long as you can (around 30 or more seconds), slow down and completely recover before going into the next interval.

Create a walk/run interval workout. Alternate 1 minute of walking with 30 seconds of sprinting or hill climbs. Repeat for 20 or more minutes. Try MP3 interval workouts. The cardio series is just one option for using your MP3 player for interval workouts. You’ve read that interval training or other cardio exercises can help reduce body fat and that strength training can as well, so it makes sense that including both in your weekly routine would help reduce belly fat even more.

Mad props to Paige Waehner from About.com, for this awesome info. Thanx sistah!