Stretches To Increase Distance - Part 2
BY Michael Dalgleish
With the evolution of the athletic swing (a term coined by David Leadbetter) – the golfer places increased emphasis on the body’s ability to torso rotate or shoulder turn or whatever term you may have heard used to describe the movement of the upper half of the body. Coaches will commonly term this upper half movement shoulder turn whereas your sports science staff will by anatomical definition call it torso or thoracic rotation.
Three dimensional, kinematic measurement has now highlighted exactly how much pelvis rotation range of motion the best players in the world actually have. The top players generally have between 40 and 50 degrees of pelvis rotation during their takeaway. This is matched with 90 to 95 degrees of shoulder turn or upper torso rotation. The difference between these two is known as the X-factor and is a major component of the power source in the modern swing. We will investigate this very important factor in more detail in future articles.
Correct stretching of the torso or trunk area will improve your consistency with this essential movement and should lead to a greater ability to store energy and thus increase your length. We have previously examined the need to stretch or at least maximise the amount of lateral trunk muscle range of motion you need.
We will now examine another component – that of lower back or thoraco-lumbar rotation. The anatomists will tell us that there is very little actual rotation available in the lower half of our spine. However, if we have any limitation to upper back mobility or hip mobility below then we will need to get every little bit we can.
So after you have had a good stretch of those lateral trunk muscles and your gluteal or buttock muscles (see improving hip turn) then you should complete the following stretch.
Lumbar Rotation or Low Back Joint Stretch
- Lay on back with one leg bent at the knee to 90 degrees at the hip and knee
- Bring the bent knee over the other leg and push knee against the floor with opposite hand
- Then reach out with other arm (to keep both shoulders on the floor). You will feel the stretching in lower back and buttock
- The stretch should be felt in the low back only – if you feel it in the buttock then gluteals are still too tight and probably need more flexibility
- Hold stretch for 20-30 seconds x 3
