Weighted Training Clubs - A Heavy Topic

I belong to several LinkedIn Groups, most of which are related to golf, sports or fitness in general.  These groups regularly have "discussions" stated by a group member who is looking to elicit comments and open dialogue between the members.

Recently, a discussion was started regarding the use of a Weighted Club as a warm up tool. The person starting the discussion related a study done by experts and a video which included Dr. Greg Rose and Dave Phillips, the founders of TPI (Titleist Performance Institute). In the video it was asserted that swinging a weighted club just before playing will decrease your distance throughout the round. The reason, they claimed, is that it affects your swing speed negatively.

This opened the floodgates for comments from fitness professionals, golf teachers, me and many others who had similar or contrary thoughts on the subject.  I pointed out that in the best selling book by the late Harvey Penick, "Harvey Penick's Little Red Book" he said the following in his Chapter titled "Heavy Clubs": "Every golfer from young adult through Seasoned Citizens, should own a heavy practice club that weighs at least 22 ounces". He went on to say, "Swing the weighted club the night before a round, not in the morning before you tee off.  Save your strength for the golf course".

Many can argue that a weighted club should or should not be used for warming up just before playing, but it can't be denied that it is a great training tool to help golfers groove a swing and can help just a little with flexibility.  Allow me to demonstrate a very good workout using a weighted club..

What do you think?

Good Luck with your training.

Ken Pierce
Inventor of the GolfGym PowerSwing Trainer.

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It's Official - 80 Pounds Gone!

Yes, as embarrassed as I am to say it, this was me about 7 years ago. I tipped the scale at 327 pounds.

Because I am 6'-2" tall, everyone used to tell me that I carried it well. Oh, I carried it alright. At the time, the picture above didn't look so incredibly bad to me, because I saw that same physique every day in the mirror. It wasn't until I got into better shape that I realized how huge I was back then.

I went from a chubby kid to a very athletic person, back to a very, very chubby grown man. I got myself in fantastic shape (in 1968) while refereeing amateur ice hockey and teaching at the Jim Campbell Power Skating Hockey School at the Wagon Wheel Lodge in Rockton, Illinios (just north of my home town of Chicago).

It was actually very simple, I loved hockey and would do anything to get on the ice. From driving into the city to play a game at 4am in a cold Rainbow Arena to refereeing a Mite Game (7-8 year olds) at 6:30am at the Elmhurst YMCA outdoor rink in 20 below zero weather. Yes, it is true that lips and tongues will stick to a metal whistle at that temperature. I went on to become a professional ice hockey official for 9 years and loved every minute of it.

Ok...enough of strolling down memory lane, I am now in the best overall shape of my life, especially being 64 years old.  Here is a more recent picture of me. Although I am not ready to go shirtless just yet.

I am now at 247 pounds and moving towards my goal weight of 227. That would be 100 pounds down. It is getting a bit more challenging to drop the pounds, but I am committed. AND...I realize that with all the exercise I do every day, from golf specific to general conditioning, it is the food intake that makes weight loss possible. The old adage is true, "Garbage In - Garbage Out".

I'll admit, this post is very much about me patting myself on the back for my success, but it is also about inspiring you to dedicate yourself to something you love (golf?), and doing the things that will help you play better.

We have created some simple 3 Minute Workouts that will work if you just dedicate the time.  At the time of this post, there are three (3) of them on the GolfGym Website with more coming each week.

In the picture above, I am using the GolfGym PowerSwing Trainer which I invented in 1986. I use it  every day to get my golf specific training in.  It is easy to use and it only takes a few minutes.

Thank you for reading this post and sharing in my journey.  Please visit our website for more ways that you can get in better shape for golf.

Sincerely,

Ken Pierce

President GolfGym LLC

Click Here to get my FREE eBook, "Golf Fitness, What Is It Really?"

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