In Swing Faults- Over the Top, Part 1, I went over what Over the Top is and what the possible physical limitations can be.  They are:

• Inability to separate lower body from upper body.

• Instability of the core

• Poor balance on each leg.

In Swing Faults- Over the Top, Part 2, I went over some things you can do to help your ability to separate the lower body from the upper body. 

Today, let's go over some things you can do to develop good core stability.

I went over some basic exercises you can do to activate, stabilize and strengthen the core musculature in Early Extension, Part 3- The Core. Those exercises included the pelvic tilts, supine bridges, crunches, quadruped opposites, prone planks and side planks.

Let's review and progress the prone planks and side planks today.

Prone Planks
Lie face down with your forearms on the floor, keep your elbows under your shoulders.  Come up off the ground, support yourself with your forearms and toes, forming a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders. 

Make sure you do not have your butt too high in the air or that it doesn't sag down, keep the straight line.

After you can do the prone plank for 1 minute, you can start to add movement of the arms and legs in a stabilizing position.

Kneeling 3 Point Stance
To start, get on your knees with your hands under your shoulders, similar to a push up position.

While trying to maintain a straight line between the knees, hips and shoulders and not tilting your pelvis to the left side, move your left arm out at a 45 degree angle and pause for 1 second at the top.

Go back to starting position and do the same thing on the right side.

Once you are feeling pretty strong with those, progress to a Push Up Position 3 Point Stance and follow the same rules.

You can progress these further by lifting the opposite leg up as well to go into a 2 point stance.  The main objective is to keep the core stable while you move your arms and legs.

Side Planks
Lie on your side with your feet on top of each other and keep you left elbow directly under you shoulder. The top part of your arm (humerus bone) should be perpendicular to the ground.  If it's not you can cause a lot of stress to the shoulder joint. 

Lift your hips off the ground until your make a straight line with your body.  Your calves should be off the ground.  Hold for :30.

If you can't hold for :30, then do reps with them (3 x :10).

To progress this movement we will lift the top leg in the air.

You can try to hold for a couple of seconds or do reps.

Here is another progression (from Maximum Fitness Magazine)

With your left hand behind your head and that elbow pointed up, slowly twist at the waist until your torso makes a 90-degree turn and your left elbow touches the floor.

 

Try to make sure the rotation comes from the upper torso and the thoracic spine, just as it should in the swing.

Keep working on these progressions to develop great core stability.  In Part 4, I will go over some things to develop better single leg strength, stability and balance.

Anthony Renna, Titleist CGFI

Anthony is a Certified Golf Fitness Instructor (Titleist) , a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA), and a Sports Performance Coach (USAW)  who works with elite and recreational golfers.  Anthony has been working with golfers for almost 25 years, starting out as a caddie at Century Country Club in Westchester, NY.  He is founder of Five Iron Fitness, a golf-specific personal training company; www.GolfFitnessProducts.net, a resource for all things golf fitness; and www.BetterGolfwithFitness, a blog discussing the current issues in golf fitness. 

Anthony is also the host of the Better Golf with Fitness Podcast.

The articles at GolfFitnessProducts.net are for informational purposes only and are not intended to substitute for direct examination and exercise prescription by the appropriate health professional.  It is strongly recommended that you do not perform any exercise program without the consent of your personal physician.