The Loop

Fitness Friday: An easy pre-round warm-up

February 27, 2015

About a decade ago, my old friend Mark Verstegen at Exos (@teamexos) introduced me to a fitness term that has been a part of my workouts and pre-round warm-up ever since. He calls it "movement prep." What it means is that before you do anything strenuous such as swinging a golf club at 100 mph or doing olympic lifts, you need to warm your muscles up with a series of basic movements.

In the past, people might have prepared for an athletic activity by stretching. It's become widely accepted that long-hold stretches aren't the best way to prepare for strenuous movement. You want your muscles pliable, but taut enough to contract when needed. Long-hold stretches might actually hinder muscles from firing properly.

So whether you're working out or getting ready to play golf, consider doing a handful of basic exercises to warm your body up. To see me demonstrate three "movement prep" exercises I like to use before working out or playing golf, click on the video below.

Ron Kaspriske is the fitness editor of Golf Digest.*