Lou Solarte - Chicago Golf Fitness Lessons

Certified Club Golf Fitness Instructor

Lou Solarte is a Club Golf and TPI (Titleist Performance Institute)Fitness Instructor, he finished his level 2 Training in 2002. Lou understands the performance factors that determine a golfers physical foundation and how to effectively evaluate and identify any limiting factors through a quick functional 12 step screen test, each step helps predict a common swing fault. Lou then prescribes customized exercises to help eliminate physical limitations for better: postural stabilization, balance, mobility and increase functional strength.

Level 1 Screen

Video Evaluation - 2-D Video is a great tool to predict biomechanical faults and help visualize physical limitation. We correlate video evaluation with physical exam Finding.

Physical Exam - The Level 1 screen involves 12 tests on the 4 physical performance factors, these are the skills one needs to optimize performance, these performance factors can be barriers to proper technique and involve joints, muscles, nerves, organs or combinations of each.

Club Golf's Philosophy

• There are six factors involved in a solid golf game: Basic Instruction, Shot Making, Physical Conditioning, Equipment Fitting, Course Management, and Mental Conditioning.
• There are multiple physical Performance factors that determine one's physical potential.
• By screening these performance factors, determining one's strengths and weaknesses, and designing a customized fitness program, you can dramatically improve a golfers performance. 

Performance Factors

1. Posture - Crossed Syndromes
2. Mobility - Dynamic Flexibility
3. Stability - Body Control
4. Endurance - Cardiovascular

By screening these performance factors thru the 12 tests we determine a golfers strengths and weaknesses and design a customized fitness program from a menu of 55 functional exercises.

Lou Solarte Golf Fitness

14 Swing Faults Caused by Physical Limitations

1. Address & Posture - Look for different spinal curvatures.
2. Dynamic Posture - Called losing your spine angle by the PGA.
3. Takeaway Drift - Dragging the club inside the swing plane line during the backswing. Called "Flat Takeaway" by the PGA.
4. Over-the-Top - Arms or upper torso begin the forward swing, very steep angle of approach into the ball.
5. Trapped - Right elbow gets stuck behind the body during the golf swing.
6. Early Extension - Lower body doesn't rotate thru impact, instead it pushes forward, player stands up through impact.
7. Backswing Sway - Lack of right leg stability, leads to reverse spine angle, pressure moves to the outside of the right foot.
8. Reverse Spine Angle - Golfer leans upper body towards the target at the top of the backswing, puts golfer in a stress inducing position.
9. Reverse Pivot - Same as reverse spine angle but weight also shifts to the left side during the backswing, this causes weight to shift to the right side during the forward swing usually resulting in excessive right lateral bend. (right handed player)
10. Arm Height - Can be associated with shoulder restriction, left shoulder flexibility is primary issue.
11. Casting - This is an early release of angular velocity during the forward swing. Caused by releasing the clubhead too soon.
12. Trapped - From the front you will see the right elbow stop outside of the right hip for 3-4 frames on video, due to lack of external rotation in the shoulder or early extension in the lower body.
13. Chicken Winging - Right side of body dominates the golf swing and you will see the left arm collapse during the forward swing and impact. Major cause of tennis elbow in golfers.
14. Lower Body Slide - Left leg does not straighten during the forward swing.

Upper Body

• Pecs - Pectoral Major
• Lats - Latissimus Dorsi
• Mid-Back - Rhomboids
• Subscapularis - Rot. Cuff
• Triceps
• Forearms

Lower Body

• Buttocks - Gluteus Max. & Medius
• Legs - Quadriceps and Hamstring
• Stomach - Oblique and Rectus Abdominis

Where Do we Generate Power?

• Away Swing: No aggressive contractions occur during the away swing.  The sole pourpose of the away swing is to position the body and club for a powerful forward swing.
• Forward Swing: Right External Oblique and left internal oblique abdominal cause the pelvic and torso to rotate. The pec major, lats and Subscapularis all have strong contractions to accelerate the arms, The spinal muscles, other rotator cuff muscles all help to create stability. 

Developing Power Through

Plyometrics

Plyometric Exercises

• Designed to improve explosive strength
• Incorporates quick powerful movement to pre - stretch the muscle thereby activating the stretch shortening cycle.
• Makes use of a rapid deceleration of a mass followed by rapid acceleration of a mass in the opposite direction.
• Energy is created during the acceleration phase that is then released to create a more powerful concentric contraction.

Other Benefits of Plyometrics

• Great for teaching explosive movements like the golf swing.
• Increases the speed of the stretch reflex.
• Gets better recruitment of additional motor units, which equal more power.
• Promotes changes within the nueromuscular system that allow the individual to have better control of the contracting muscle and synergist. 

Legs are the Foundation of the Swing

"I use different amount of weights for different parts of my body, and I vary my reps. Of course, the heaviest weight is reserved for my legs, which are the strongest part of my body. Since legs provide the foundation for the golf swing, I would recommend the following exercises to help build the  a solid base: Extensions, Curls, Presses, plus regular Squats or Hack Squats. The last are probably the single most important exercise for building strong legs."

Tiger Woods - How I Play Golf - 2001