Rowing is an awesome exercise for golfers—2 experts explain why | Instruction

I love golf, but I hate exercising. This is a shame because working out is very good for playing golf. Being stronger and more flexible will improve your golf swing and, of course, improve your health off the golf course.

For me, it was hard to balance my desire to be a better golfer and my desire to be a healthier person without exercising. But recently I found it really helpful.

I’m not paddling on the water (at least not yet). Instead, I train almost every day on a hydrorowing machine I recently installed in my garage. I found them oddly enjoyable for several reasons. I love that I don’t have to row for years to get a heart-pounding workout. You feel it every time you train, whether fast or slow. From my feet to my shoulders, I trained the muscles that are very important for golf.

All that aside, there’s something about the act of rowing that feels, for lack of a better word, golf-like.

I was curious about all this, so I decided to give you some. Hydro rowing coaches Nick Karwoski and Layne Maher; call. Both are professional rowing coaches and recreational golfers. They are the perfect people to help you unravel all of this.

Could it be that rowing is the ultimate exercise for golfers? Should you try it too? They certainly think so. Here’s why…

The golf swing is difficult to pull off because it requires a variety of muscles. Weakness or flexibility in any part of your body can disrupt your entire golf swing.

The same applies to rowing. Rowing is estimated to stimulate up to 86 percent of your muscles, including those important to golfers.

“The largest area [in rowing] “The rowing motion starts using the muscles in the glutes of your legs. You’re essentially doing a horizontal squat with each rowing stroke, which loosens up your hip flexors,” Karwoski says. “The rowing motion starts by using the very large, strong muscles in your legs, then works your core and finishes with your biceps, triceps, shoulders, and lats.”

All these muscles play an equally active role when swinging a golf club. I find that rowing helps strengthen, loosen, and revitalize all of these areas. But the similarities don’t end there.

No two golf swings are exactly the same, even at the highest level of the sport. But the best ones all work because the general sequence of events is the same. They begin their downswing by slowing their lower body, then begin rotating before finally pushing off the ground and rising to the finish.

This sequence is the most important movement in the golf swing and organizes the muscles to generate maximum power. When the sequence is thrown off, the golfer begins to lose power and consistency. The same goes for rowing, where you push with your legs, then tilt your upper body, and finally pull with your arms.

“There are two really big mistakes in the rowing sequence: first, pulling too early, and second, bending your knees too early to start the next stroke as quickly as possible. “That’s true,” Maher says. ”

Whether it’s golf or boating, the rush is a sequence killer. In both sports, lashing occurs most often during a reversal of direction. In golf, it’s from the backswing to the downswing, and in boating, it’s from the catch to the release. In that respect, rowing is a bit like hitting a ball on the driving range. By using steady repetition and instilling a sense of blending both rhythm and technique, you can move quickly from one stroke to another.

“The two words that come to mind for me in both golf and rowing are rhythm and fluidity,” Maher says. “There’s a tempo to it. It’s about learning how to go fast or slow. The more technical you can be with your movements, and at the same time seamless as you transition from one movement to another, the better the results will be.” Masu.”

One of the many challenges in golf is learning how to effectively generate power from a static position. Throwing a ball hard, jumping high, or picking up something very heavy. We need explosive quality. This can be difficult to train for golfers, especially older golfers. However, rowing can be helpful because the movement relies on a large push of force from the legs.

“Rowing is about exploding, recovering, pressing some more and exploding again,” he says. “It’s very similar in golf. When you’re about to hit a shot, you first focus on your posture and setup. Then, once you complete your backswing, you’re ready to make an explosive movement.”