Many people find it hard to believe, but the is a right and a wrong way to stretch, especially if you are trying to improve your golf specific flexibility/mobility by using a golf stretching program.

While there are a number of different philosophies on flexibility and ways to develop it, there are a few basic principles that hold true no matter what. Follow these basic stretching principles and watch your golf flexibility improve.

Relaxation
This is perhaps one of the most important components of your golf stretching program. If a muscle is tense and/or contracted then the muscle fibers cannot extend their range of motion beyond their current position.

It takes a while to learn how to completely relax your muscles while you stretch them, but once you do you will realize much greater results in less time.

Get Your Muscles Warm
A warm muscle is going to be much more pliable than a cold muscle. Cold, short, stiff muscles will not receive much, if any, benefit from your stretching program. A warm-up as short as 10 minutes can greatly increase your overall muscular elasticity.

Try to avoid slow jogging as a warm-up as the forces on your joints and muscles around the knee, hip and lower back are roughly 4 times that of walking, which can cause your muscles to actually tighten up instead of loosening up. Try to do walking, cycling or something similar instead. I start every workout with a 5 minute walk at 4 MPH on a 6 degree incline.

Stretch Smart
It is critical that you stretch to the point of mild tension and not past it. Stretching past this point can bring pain and inflammation. Inflammation causes swelling and can result in short, tight muscles (think of a sore muscle and how limited its range of motion is). Obviously this is not what you want from your stretching program.

Always use a minimum force on your muscles when stretching.

Focus On The Most Important Body Parts
The weight bearing muscles of the hips legs and lower back require more attention than the muscles of the upper body. Increased lower body flexibility and mobility will increase your total body power.

Stretch After Your Workout
I personally feel that it is best to do my static stretching after I am finished with my workout. While there are many reasons for this, perhaps the most important reason is that by the end of the workout my muscles are very warmed up and will be receptive to static stretching. It will also be easier to relax them which, as mentioned above, is a critical factor when stretching.

Stick with these stretching basics and you will be well on your way to improving your general and golf-specific flexibility and mobility. Want to learn more about golf flexibility training and stretching exercises? Download my free e-book now!!

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