8board Golf : Training,
Play the 8 Way
Improve your Game- Do the 8!!! The
8 Board Experience
The 8 Board is a revelation in more ways than one. You
will almost have a spiritual experience by doing the 8. This
activity leads you back to your very initial stages of child
development by reestablishing your core balance. One cannot
have true balance in life until you have physical balance, and
that is what the 8 Board will help you do.
Low Back Pain: 80% of the population will experience some
sort of low back pain episode in their life that will last 1-2
days. As a physical therapist I know that those episodes
not only become more frequent with time and age, but also the
duration of the episodes last longer with more severe disabling
results that take you away from the very things that you enjoy. Why
is there so much back pain? We have become very sedentary
in our work and activities of daily living. This results
in a decrease in our abdominal muscles along with a tightening
of our hips and lower leg muscles, which in turn put more physical
stress to our backs. Our trunk muscles become very weak
with poor posture secondary to forward head position and forward
rounded shoulders with increased thoracic spine kyphosis. This
puts the trunk muscles at a disadvantage by not allowing them
to help stabilize the spine during simple movement patterns,
resulting in low back pain. The 8 Board targets all of
these areas that not only can help with low back pain but also
help to increase tone in the hips and buttocks while also helping
to lose inches around the waistline. The 8 Board specifically
targets the golf muscles to help increase strength and stabilization
of the hips and lumbar spine to allow us to play with less effort
and less pain.
Rhythmic Stabilization: The health industry focuses on Core
strength and stabilization, but what good is it if you do not
have core balance to use the core strength in dynamic movements. If
you do not have core balance with dynamic activities, you will
still revert back to poor mechanics to achieve the movement at
the expense of your core. So you have done all of this
core strength training and you still have horrible mechanics,
which is not rocket science, which is common sense. Unless
you have learned how to use your new strength, you will not know
how to use it dynamically. The 8 Board helps you use your
core strength dynamically more efficiently to function in a more
balanced manner that helps decrease your chances of injury. The
8 Board completes the puzzle of core training by teaching you
how to use your core strength dynamically. The 8 Board
facilitates your Mechanoreceptors in your lower extremities,
lumbar, thoracic, cervical spine through rhythmic stabilization,
the essence of neuromuscular rehabilitation. The 8 Board
takes your neuromuscular system beyond its normal functioning,
which will allow you to function beyond normal in normal activities
of daily living. Feel the difference, do the 8!
Hips: One great thing that all great golfers/athletes have in
common is great hip action and core balance. This is a
system that tells the truth, you cannot have great hip action
without great dynamic core balance.
By having great hips allows the golfer/athlete to utilize the
larger muscle groups to perform the golf swing/movements, which
means increase in consistency with the swing. This is one
reason why the PGA golfers are so consistent with their swings,
they let the larger muscles do the work, while amateurs try to
do the work with the smaller muscle groups, resulting in inconsistent
swings and increase in injury. One of the biggest swing
faults by amateurs is the slide during the back swing. Why? No
sense of dynamic body balance and weak hips and trunk rotators. This
is why low back pain is the number one injury in amateurs. If
you cannot rotate and load your right hip with normal movement,
you will compensate in some way to do the movement that your
body cannot do efficiently secondary to physical limitations. You
will slide with your hips instead of rotate around them, translate
and shift in the Lumbar spine causing a shear force, and increase
in unnecessary arm movement to get to the top of your back swing. This
throws off your entire center of gravity outside of your base
of support and your spine angle has changed. You should
keep the same spine angle throughout the entire swing for optimum
efficiency to maximize your potential with your swing. You
should rotate around your spine angle, which requires you to
rotate and load your right hip to its fullest potential. You
will then be using your larger muscle groups to perform the swing,
which allows you to perform a more efficient swing with much
greater consistency. There are many swing faults, but many
are a result of physical limitations that can be helped by the
8 Board.
The 8 Board accomplishes dynamic balance for you! After
using the 8 Board you will totally know and feel where your body
is at in space during the golf swing; what we call Proprioception. By
having better dynamic balance, you will be able to optimize all
of the energy in your swing to translate that into clubhead speed
and distance. Here is the catch; you are doing it all more
efficiently and reducing your chances of injury! Change
your game, do the 8!
The 8 Board Training Sequence:
I have 7 steps to the 8 Board Sequence for a great way to either
warm-up or utilize this as a training session to work on your
swing mechanics. The sequence starts out with general warm-up
movements on the board to get accustom to the 8 Board that progresses
you right into your actual swing and hitting balls.
The first step is using a rod across the back of your shoulders
and turning in both directions trying to get the rod to at
least 90 degrees shoulder turn, if not further. Try to
do this 15-20 times in each direction. A good turn will
be 100-110 degree turn. Do not be surprised if you should
feel low back and torso soreness 1-2 days following this exercise.
Step two is using a weighted ball. I would recommend starting
with a 4-pound ball and build you up to 8-10 pound ball. Putting
both arms out as you would with your set-up, holding the ball
gently swing the ball into both directions keeping the same plane
as your swing. Do not get too up right with this exercise. Keeping
your rhythm is crucial with this exercise to help control the
momentum with the ball. I really like this portion of the
sequence because the weighted ball forces you to stay within
your center of gravity and it also put a good load onto the right
hip for the back swing and also the left hip for your finish. I
think for some of you, this may be a first time experience. You
should start out doing 10 thrusts into each direction and build
up to 20-25 while also increasing the weight of the ball after
you can do 20-25 thrusts with the current weighted ball.
Step three is
using the Swing Fan while actually go through your actual golf
swing. This is a great tool on and off
the 8 Board. This is my seconde favorite golf-training
tool. Try to swing into both directions and keeping your
balance. The Swing Fan really works the torso, the actual
swing muscles. You should try to start swinging into each
direction 10-25 times. Really try to maintain your balance
while using this, as it will also require you to stay within
your swing potentials.
Step four is now using the Momentus Iron or Driver. I
like using the iron and if you have both or are going to purchase
both of them, you will need to work up to the driver. Make
sure you hold onto the club because after the Swing Fan even
the Momentus Club feels light and that it wants to fly out of
your hands when swinging it. This too is another great
favorite of mine as it works on the actual golf swinging muscles
that translate into actual gains with your own swing. If
you have not seen a pattern, I am more of a functional therapist
that tries to find exercises to benefit the patient that will
automatically transfer into positive outcomes for patients in
their everyday lives. Golf is no different for me. I
do realize that we need to do some nonfunctional exercises to
work ourselves up to the functional exercises. You should
try to start swinging into each direction 10-25 times.
Step five is now
doing air swings with your own club. Once
again, hang onto your club because it will feel like it wants
to leave your hands after the Momentus Club. I love this
sequence and I know you will too. You should try to start
swinging into each direction 10-25 times.
Step six is actually
hitting balls with your club while still on the 8 Board. I
would expect to see shot to the right and also thin shots. I
recommend that if someone is able to assist you during this sequence
to have them place the balls on tees in the hitting mat. This
is what I do for my students because I feel placing the balls
on the tee takes the 1 inch difference out of the equation from
the actual 8 Board. You
can hit as many balls as you like while on the 8 Board but do
not stop until you are hitting the balls that either match your
typical flight pattern or the flight pattern that you are after;
draw, fade, or straight. If you were using this as a warm-up
session prior to a round I would hit 10-25 balls while on the
8 Board. If you are using the session as a practice session
you can hit a small bucket of balls.
Step seven in now stepping off the 8 Board and hitting balls
off the mat or turf. Expect to see the same transition
with your flight pattern as when you first started hitting balls
on the 8 Board; shots going right or thin shots. I have
noticed that it takes about 2-5 swings for people to get comfortable
with the new feeling of stability and sense of balance before
your actual swing returns. When your swing returns, as
it will, you will notice usually crispier shots with better ball
flights and distance. Here again, if you were using this
as a warm-up session for a round I would hit 10-25 balls. If
you are using the session as a practice session you can hit a
small bucket of balls.
By going through this sequence on a regular basis I guarantee
that you will see a change in your golf game. Now please
do not mistake me that this will cure all of your swing faults,
you will need to do all the other things as previously stated
that is custom to you to optimize this experience as well.
Hip Rotation on 8 Board: This is a great hip stretch to
increase your turn for your back swing and to allow a better
finish with improved balance. This is very functional and
transversal to your actual swing. You can do this without
an 8 Board, but the 8 Board allows for you to do it with much
great ease and achieve a better stretch to your hips. Go
to 8board.com for more information on this great golf swing aide. To
stretch your right hip to increase your hip turn you put your
left foot on the 8 Board while the right foot is on the floor. You
should be in your address position while standing on the 8 Board. Now
start your take-a-way and allow your left foot to turn on the
8 Board. You should be able to rotate your left foot 90
degrees and be perpendicular to your right foot. You will
feel a deep stretch in your right hip and possibly in your right
buttocks. If you are getting any back pain you are going
too far or pushing to hard. You should not have any back
or hip pain while doing this stretch! To stretch your left
hip you just reverse the process. You will put your right
foot on the 8 Board and left foot on the floor. Assume
your address position and go into your follow through allowing
the right foot to rotate 90 degrees and be perpendicular to your
left foot. You should feel a deep stretch in the left hip
and possibly the left buttocks. Make sure you get all the
way into your finish and over exaggerate your finish to look
like the professionals do when they finish their shots. DO
NOT BOUNCE WITH THIS EXERCISE/STRETCH!!! Hold each stretch
for 5-10 seconds and repeat it 10-15 times for each hip. If
you should note some soreness or discomfort following the stretch
discontinue the exercise all together. You may feel deep
muscle soreness or tenderness that is typical for starting a
new stretching exercise.
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