Photo and video by Ahmed Abd El-wahab

The off-season is no time to get complacent as maintaining fitness is crucial 

By Matthew Brookes
The off-season is here as well as the heat in Dubai, but don’t let this stop you from improving your game. Now is the time to prepare yourself for the next golf season and, with professional advice, it’s so easy to do so. Off-season for me normally has two sections and these are ‘post-season’ and ‘pre-season’. Both of these sections require different training methods. Today we are covering ‘post-season’ and this is all about increasing your body’s overall strength. 

Benefits
Did you know that hitting a golf ball can be the equivalent of a three-rep max in the gym, so the greater your three-rep max in the gym the further you can potentially hit the ball. There are obviously other factors to consider, but this is the exact reason why the players on all tours are all working just as hard in the gym as they are on the golf course. 

Method
The training method is called ‘5×5’, which involves completing five reps for five sets with up to 3 minutes rest between each set. This should consist of lifting as much weight as you can for those five reps, really helping to focus on increasing your strength.

Compound
Each workout will consist of compound exercises that focus on increasing the strength of your push, pull and legs. This will also help you increase the strength of your ‘Power Chain’ which is something I have talked about in past videos, so do check that out to find out more. 

Safety
Professional advice is always important, especially with this sort of training. Having the correct movement patterns is vital when performing these exercises and past work or exercises need to be completed in order to prepare you for these types of lifts, to help reduce the risk of injury.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf-specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

More golf tips and instruction:
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Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker