Get More Power To Your Golf Swing With Flexibility Training: Active Isolated Stretching

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If you are interested in getting more power to your golf swing then you have to make flexibility training part of your golf fitness program. The greatest tool to hitting the ball with more power is Active Isolated Stretching, the optimal form of athletic stretching. Increased flexibility gives the golfer increased range of motion, and increased rotation will lead to a more powerful drive. Greater rotation involves lengthening muscles in the entire body, particularly the back, neck, and shoulders. Other forms of stretching are available, but those systems are outdated and less efficient. Active Isolated Stretching is a distinct form of stretching that has been modified to produce the best results in muscle lengthening.

Acquiring more power to one's golf swing is attainable if the golfer gains flexibility. The official equation to attain a more powerful golf swing is:

flexibility times speed divided by time = power

By increasing flexibility, the golfer is able to generate more speed through the golf swing because the range of motion has increased. Flexibility gives the golfer greater rotation (area) to generate more club speed.

A golfer needs full body benefits from stretching. A trained therapist helps the golfer to lengthen muscles in the upper arms, the neck, and the back. Proper swing technique involves the rotator cuff (inside the shoulder) being flexible for proper set-up and follow through swing technique. Neck and upper back flexibility allows the golfer to keep the head still during swing wind-up and follow through. And trunk rotation is dependent upon low back flexibility. Lower body muscles including the glutes, hips, and hamstrings are vital for trunk rotation. The single most important muscle for being flexible in the low back is the psoas muscle. This muscle lies deep in the stomach and attaches at all the lumbar vertebrae. A tight psoas will cause a tight back. And sitting for long hours causes the psoas muscle to tighten. The weekend golfer that works all day at a desk is disadvantaged for golf because the entire week has been spent tightening the muscle that needs to be loose to play golf well. Fortunately, AIS has an effective method for lengthening the psoas muscle.

Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) is scientific in formulating a method that brings optimal results of muscle lengthening. The developer of AIS is Aaron Mattes, a Kinesiologist that redefined stretching procedure. Aaron Mattes identified seven key mistakes of conventional stretching and offers a new approach to stretching muscles. The two second stretch and using a therapist to facilitate the stretch are just a few of the advantages of Active Isolated Stretching. AIS is more efficient that static stretching, yoga, thai massage, and pnf (propioceptive neuromusclular facilitation) stretching. The latter types of stretching are very similar to one another. They all encourage a thirty second stretch. Any stretch held beyond two seconds activates the stretch reflex in the human body, which automatically engages to protect muscles from being overstretched. If an athlete holds a stretch for more than two seconds, the benefits are offset by the stretch reflex.

A typical AIS session involves an athlete meeting with an AIS practitioner. The client and practitioner work together to lengthen rotational muscles. The therapist helps the client stretch further. Many exercises are performed on a massage table in which the client is strapped down to the table and the practitioner facilitates movement. The practitioner knows what is the maximum length a muscle can be lengthened. The goal of Active Isolated Stretching is to thoroughly lengthen each muscle that plays a part in the golf swing. A session can easily last two hours. This process is regarded as muscle unwinding. After this occurs, the client will feel a sense of floating in one's body. Not only will a golfer generate more power to their swing, he/she will feel a greater sense of ease in playing the game. The impediment to a perfect swing is muscular dysfunction; which occurs from playing golf, from sitting all day at work, sitting while driving a car or sitting in airplanes to travel. Working with an advanced practitioner of Active Isolated Stretching will allow you to develop your greatest golf asset: your body.