Junior Golf: Fun Stretches with Miguel

In today’s Monday Mulligan we will look at some really fun stretches with the most interesting golfer in the world, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez. His very unusual and interesting stretches have been shown many times during various professional tournaments. (photo jenlefforge.com)

Flexibility is a key factor for having a healthy active life and it is absolutely essential for all athletes to maintain their competitive abilities. After all the calories of food and excessive periods of likely inactivity over the Thanksgiving holidays, it’s time to get your son back into his regular golf and fitness routine. And a great way to plug in something different as in fun and excitement is to change things up. One of the easiest ways is to introduce a new stretching regimen. Miguel Angel Jimenez serves this up in spades!

Perhaps you remember the 1st time you and your son saw MAJ doing a stretch on TV and your initial thoughts were: “Wow, I’ve not seen anything like that before!” Please know that his unorthodox routine was likely developed over a lengthy period of time with input from experts in stretching, physical fitness and/or orthopedics. So if you look at MAJ’s record and amazing flexibility for a man over 50 years old, it’s obvious he’s using these stretches to great advantage.

In an individual sport where there is limited time for parent child interaction, stretching is an area that provides a great opportunity for bonding and a MAJ’s routine provides a chance for some comedy as well. I mean, some of these exercises are just going to look silly the 1st few times you and your son do them. Take a chill pill and embarrass yourself. Show some vulnerability in front of him, it shows him it’s OK to fail.

The above link will take you to a great video demonstrating some of these moves. When you see how genuinely flexible MAJ is, you should get very motivated to master his moves. Take it easy and don’t rush things. The more proper stretching you and your son do, the more your flexibility will increase. And 1 additional inch of flexibility increases swing speed which adds distance to the shot.

See you on #1 tee, looking nice and loose… Sam.

Junior Golf: Finger Stretches, Yes, Really

In today’s Friday Flop Shot we will examine finger stretches and how great a benefit they can be in helping prevent injuries. Your son’s fingers, hands and wrist are sacred territory which must be protected at all costs. Unless these body parts are close to 100% healthy, the chances of playing decent golf are greatly reduced. More focus is needed on the proper stretching of fingers, wrists, forearms and elbows. Today these are not getting the attention they deserve.

The good news is that finger stretches can be done anywhere, anytime. No special equipment, clothing or location is required. All you have to do is help remind or help your junior golfer to do them. Mom and Dad you should do them as well. Be the example. (photo from offcoursegolf.com)

Easy and effective finger stretches:
1. Hold both hands in front of your face with all 5 fingers spread apart and the same fingertips on each hand touching the fingertips on the other hand. Relax the fingers on the left hand and push them backwards with the fingers of your right hand. Repeat with the left hand pushing the right hand fingers rearward. You can push both hands against each other also, but the feeling when fingers are bent backward is totally different than fingers pushing forward against each other. You will feel this in your forearms and up into your shoulders.
2. Martial art stretch for hands, fingers and wrists: stand up straight with your left arm straight along your left side with the elbow locked out and palm facing forward. Maintain the left arm and swing it in front of the right quadricep muscle (right thigh). With the right hand, grab the 4 fingers of the left hand and gently pull them, while raising them up, toward the outside of the right hip. Hold for 20 seconds. Then reach under the 4 fingers of the left hand with the forefinger of the right hand to grasp the left thumb and gently pull it rearward. You and your son will really feel these, all the way into triceps and beyond. You may also do this exercise with your arm extended straight out in front of you, parallel to the floor.

Great examples of the need for these stretches include times when your son has been spending an inordinate amount of time doing schoolwork that requires lots of keying in on a computer. The hands, wrists and forearms and elbows can get almost locked in place. If you head to the range right after this, your son’s tendons and ligaments may be slightly misaligned and could be damaged unless proper stretching/warm-up takes place. (photo from developersaccomplice.co.uk)

Also, in our house, S3 and I love to play Call of Duty and especially love killing zombies together. After hours of holding the PS4 controller my wrists start to ache and I feel like I almost need to crack my fingers loose to get them out of the PS4 position. We do have an absolute blast and we are big fans of parents playing video games, in moderation, with the youngsters. However, when we put down the PS4 and head to the driving range, we all know that special stretching is needed to switch over the hands, wrists, forearms and elbows from video game mode to golf mode. Injury prevention, if you please.

See you on #1 tee… and you better be stretched out… Sam

Junior Golf: More Stretching=Better Golf

In this Wednesday Waggle we’ll see how more stretching equals better golf. Yes, your daughter is as nimble and flexible as a piece of string, but she will benefit from proper stretching. The best golf is a result of many things including a body that is properly stretched out. Tight muscles just cannot get into the proper positions to execute good swings.

Even with the innate agility that comes with youth, your daughter still needs to start investigating a solid stretching, strength and conditioning program. The easiest to implement is the stretching because it requires no special equipment or clothing. 40 years ago the only guy doing anything remotely resembling these things was Gary Player. Look at him today. He looks great and can allegedly outwalk the young pros on tour! It’s no accident. His years of extra conditioning work have really paid off. (Jason Duffner photo from golfdigest.com)

Where do you start with the stretches? Our family has a series of stretches that have helped 100% of the folks we know have properly used them. These were given to me by an orthopedic surgeon 20 years ago when my lower back was knotted-up. They are designed to stretch pretty much everything on your back side from the base of your skull to your Achilles’ tendon. And with a knotted-up lower back, I was pain-free and better than normal after 16 days of doing these stretches 2x daily. Now they are an integral part of my fitness regimen. And they stretch the quads and calves too!

Today virtually everyone on the PGA/LPGA has some sort of fitness routine. The competition demands it. Sometimes kids take more readily to new things if they are fun, so here are 2 stretching situations that you can certainly make “fun” to your daughter. It is just plain “fun” to watch Miguel Ángel Jiménez do his brief stretches on the driving range. They are quick and easy, but they may not be the only warmups he does. Find a video and go for it. (photo from i.ytimg.com)

Another great video from The Golf Channel, I’m sorry I don’t remember the specific show: is one of the guest instructors showing quick stretches to do when your daughter is late getting to #1 tee and there is no time for formal routines. It is great and it takes just a minute or 2.

See you on #1 tee…and your daughter better be stretched-out and ready to play… Sam