Colin Montgomery on the Power Plate

I recently came across some interesting information about a new piece of training equipment that is apparently making some waves (no pun intended) on the PGA Tour. The Power Plate is a vibrating platform that is said to both improve your balance and relieve your pain. It looks…and sounds like something out of Star Trek, but with a lot of PGA players jumping on board and a partnership with PGA Superstores, perhaps it isn’t completely out of this world? Enjoy!

Through an impressive roster of PGA pros and strength coaches, the recent partnership with PGA Superstores (Power Plate products are now featured within each of the 11 PGA Tour Superstore locations around the U.S.), and the placement of both Pro 5 and my5 Power Plate units out at the driving range at the Toshiba Classic at the Newport Beach Country Club all week. Participants in the Toshiba Classic will have access to Power Plates on the practice range and qualified training professionals will be on hand to administer training to both players in the tournament and attendees there to enjoy the competition. The Power Plate is forging a significant niche as one of golf’s most sought-after fitness and performance innovations.

Jeff Handler, PGA Strength Coach

Most people dread the first the first few swings of the day, where your body feels stiff and restricted. I sure do…Acceleration Training with the Power Plate can help your body respond like it does in the middle of a round, with a 5 minute warm up before you hit the range. Rory Sabbatini, Colin Montgomerie, Jasper Parnevik, Chip Beck, Mike Weir and Jerry Kelly are just a handful among a growing list of more than 30 PGA and Champions Tour professionals turning to “Acceleration Training” with the Power Plate for its unique array of physical fitness and game-improvement benefits. One specific player who has reaped benefits is Champions Tour professional (Playing in the Toshiba Classic this week) Chip Beck. After securing his own Power Plate in the weeks prior to the Kinojo Open in Japan, Beck went on to win that Tournament, his first since entering the Champions tour ranks. Beck sported Power Plate’s cap throughout that tournament and credits the Power Plate to making a difference in his overall fitness, flexibility and performance at that event and since.

The secret to the Power Plate is its vibrating surface. As the platform shifts under you at 25-50 times a second, your body instantly switches on stabilizing muscles to improve your balance. These innate, reflexive muscle contractions result in dramatic improvements in balance, flexibility, coordination and strength and pain relief.

Power Plate my5

The Power Plate® my5™ model makes Acceleration Training™ exercise accessible for use in your home. Not only do three 15-minute workouts a week fit into your lifestyle, the sleek design, user friendly settings and remote control help my5™ fit harmoniously within your residence or private office.

• Designed for home use
• Colors: Silver, black or white
• Time: 30 or 60 seconds
• Vibration: Tri-planar, mostly vertical, 35 times per second
• Vertical Displacement: High/Low settings
• Maximum Load: 300 lbs / 135 kg
• Remote control for ease of use
• Quick-Start programs for Strength, Stretch, Massage and Relax
• Stylish design resembles pro-series machines
• List Price: $4,500

Power Plate pro5

Power Plate® pro-series machines provide the ultimate experience in Acceleration Training™ exercise. Along with the pro5 AIRdaptive™ model, the Power Plate® pro5™ machine has a larger number of settings for greater variation in health and fitness regimens, and the largest plate surface providing more exposure to vibrations. The Power Plate® pro5™ unit can take you as far as you want to go with your fitness goals, allowing you to increase vibration levels in one-step increments. Backed by a commercial grade warranty and hundreds of professional users, the Power Plate® pro5™ machine functions as a complete home health and wellness solution.

• Commercial Grade
• Color: Silver
• Time: 30, 45 or 60 seconds
• Vibration: Tri-planar, mostly vertical, 25-50 times per second
• One step increments possible
• Pre-settings include 30, 35, 40 and 50 Hz
• Vertical Displacement: High/Low settings
• Maximum load: 400 lbs / 180 kg
• List Price: $9,250

For more information on these products, check out their website at www.powerplate.com. If you have any experience with the Power Plates, please leave a comment below, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Okay Golfers! This is going to be your year to get in shape for golf right? Year after year people have New Year’s resolutions of getting in shape and losing weight but fail within weeks.

I think I have the reason why! They set themselves up for failure from the get go. What do I mean? They set unrealistic goals!

These goals can be anything from exercising 5-7 days a week, to drastically changing their diet from their normal eating.

I can tell you from experience this is a “no win” situation, and yet again another failed New Year’s resolution.

So how do you change this around and become successful with your golf and fitness program? Set realistic goals based on your starting point!

If you haven’t exercised for over 6 months, try to achieve one session a week for the first month. This is overly conservative, but will allow you to see success firsthand.

From there you can add another day to your program, and slowly build up to a point where it had become a lifestyle.

Mike Pedersen had come out with a revolutionary new exercise for golf program called 3 Minutes A Day For 30 Days!

Dynamic (movement) stretches specific to your golf swing will increase your flexibility not only in your backswing but in your through swing too.

What does this mean? LONGER drives conistently! Isn’t that what every golfer wants. To hit it 20-30 yards further but keep it in the fairway?

Take a look at the golf stretches below. You’ll see I’m moving into a backswing with a wide grip on the club, then right into a follow through position.

I do this movement non-stop back and forth for 8-10 total movements.

After doing this golf swing specific stretch, I’m really feeling nice and lose to hit long drives all day long!

If you’re looking for a total resource for stretches for golfers, Mike Pedersen over at Golf-Trainer.com has put together a great resource.

Tiger Woods has talked about tailoring practice sessions around being a father. That also means finding time for workouts that can last up to three hours as many as six days a week, which he describes in the August issue of Men’s Fitness magazine.

For the first time, Woods and trainer Keith Kleven offer detail and insight into a fitness regimen that has enabled the world’s No. 1 player to add nearly 30 pounds of muscle since he left Stanford in 1996 after his sophomore year.

“Pound for pound, I put him with any athlete in the world,” Kleven told the magazine.

The routine is built around stretching up to 40 minutes before each session, core exercises, endurance runs of 7 miles and speed runs of 3 miles, along with weight training. But while Woods is competitive on the golf course, he said he doesn’t have an ego in the weight room.

“I’ve never, ever hurt myself lifting,” Woods said. “I hear people say, ‘I hurt this’ or “I hurt that.’ I don’t even know what that feels like. I’ve been sore, but I’ve always been able to function and do whatever I wanted to. … Some people let their ego get in the way. You have to listen to your inner self. Your body knows when it can be pushed and when you just need to back off a little bit.”

Woods opts for high repetitions and smaller weights, although Kleven said he is “off the charts” with how much he can lift.

“His endurance and strength allows us to do more reps at high levels than normally seen in a golfer,” Kleven said, without disclosing specific weights. “His resistance for high reps is extremely high.”

Woods is featured on the cover of Men’s Fitness, which goes on sale Friday. He is wearing a red, sleeveless shirt and holding a golf club. The photos that accompany the story show Woods in the gym doing pull-ups, squats and curls.

Woods was wiry when he left Stanford, at 6-foot-2 and 158 pounds. He said he tried to gain weight through high school and college, but his father told him that family history suggested he would not be able to gain weight.

“Dad would say, ‘You probably won’t hit your optimal weight until you’re 30 or 35,”‘ Woods said. “I said, ‘I’m trying to put on weight.’ He said, ‘It ain’t gonna happen. When the body says it’s time to fill out, it’ll fill out.”‘

Woods said he continued to lift weights without seeing any results, and the change occurred about the time he won the career Grand Slam in 2000 at age 24.

“I was actually able to lay down muscle for the first time, and I was able to keep it,” Woods said. “It was exciting. I’d never experienced that before. It was nice to feel stronger. All that work was starting to show up.”

Still, Kleven said their various routines are built around posture and balance.

Woods, who became a father June 18, has plenty of company in some of his workouts. He said wife Elin was doing 45 minutes of cardiovascular work when she was seven months’ pregnant.

“She’s a runner, just like I am,” Woods told the magazine. “There’s no doubt I’m faster than she is, but there’s no doubt she can run a lot longer than I can. She can keep her pace up forever. It’s frustrating because I like to go for speed, and she can go all day. If we were doing a half-marathon, she’d smoke me.”

Golf Today

What is the main movement in the golf swing? Is it lateral (side-to-side)? Is it front to back? Is it up and down? If you guessed any of these you are unfortunately wrong!

The golf swing is a TWIST!

You turn back in your backswing and you turn (twist) through in your downswing and follow through.

With that being said, do you think you should improve both your strength and flexibility from a twisting (rotational) standpoint if you want to hit the ball farther?

The answer is a resounding YES!

If you can improve your core rotational strength and flexibility, you will be able to make a full and powerful backswing loaded with coil, and you’ll be able to unleash your newfound core strength into that poor golf ball!

So what kind of exercise and stretching do you need to do?

You do not need to go to a gym; nor do you need to buy expensive equipment. Instead you can use inexpensive and portable equipment like exercise tubing, balls and dumbbells. That’s all you need to add some serious yardage to your drive and every club in your bag.

Picture holding a single dumbbell and rotating back and forth 12-15 times. Don’t you think that will strengthen your golf swing? I know it will!

Your next step is to TAKE ACTION! Go out and get some tubing, an exercise ball and a pair of hand weights and get twisting…right away!

This article was provided by Golf Fitness Trainer Mike Pedersen. Check out Mike’s new golf blog that’s filled with golf exercise video tips, fitness advice and stretching information to transform your golf swing!

I’ve been trying to find myself a nice stretching and golf fitness routine for the winter, and I think I’ll have to have a serious look at some of the tips Mike offers up to his readers.

Tags: mike+pedersen, golf+fitness