John Little - Strength Training for Golfers: A Proven Regimen to Improve Your Strength, Flexibility, Endurance, and Distance Off the Tee

STRENGTH TRAINING FOR GOLFERS

ALSO BY JOHN LITTLE

Advanced Max Contraction Training
Beginning Bodybuilding
High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way (with Mike Mentzer)
Max Contraction Training
One More Rep! (with Robert Wolff)
Power Factor Training (with Peter Sisco)
Static Contraction Training (with Peter Sisco)
The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer (with Joanne Sharkey)

STRENGTH TRAINING FOR GOLFERS

A Proven Regimen to Improve Your Strength, Flexibility, Endurance, and Distance Off the Tee

John Little

Foreword by Cary Howe

SKYHORSE PUBLISHING

Copyright 2008, 2012 by Northern River Productions, Inc.

Photographs copyright 2008, 2012 by Northern River Productions, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-61608-730-2

Printed in China

This book and the information contained herein is for education and entertainment purposes only and does not advocate or prescribe a specific exercise or nutritional plan for anyone, regardless of age, sex, or experience level.

Like all bodybuilding, exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition books, we strongly advise that you get the approval of a qualified medical/health authority before beginning any exercise program or making any dietary changes. The authors, publisher, people featured, or anyone associated with this book in any way shall not be held liable for anyones actions either directly or indirectly.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife, Terri, and to our children, Riley, Taylor, Brandon, and Benjamin, who encouraged me in the research, experimentation, and development of this protocol. It is also dedicated to my late father, William T. Little, who first introduced me to the game of golf (alas, when I was too young to appreciate it) and to Sally and Gord Sisco, who reintroduced me to the game many decades later. And finally, this book is dedicated to those individuals who value reason and science in their training and do not follow the herd mentality that so dominates popular culture.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

When I first walked through the doors of Nautilus North Strength and Fitness Centre in 2004, I was green by fitness industry standards to the whole concept of strength training. Although I had read many books on strength training and had played sports and trained with weights for years, I had no way of knowing that there was a right way and a wrong way of exercisingand that I (and most everyone else) had apparently been misled by the industry into thinking that there were only different ways. I worked with John Little from that year to the present and we agreed to test everythingevery workout protocol, every recovery interval, every nutritional consideration that we had heard about. As a result, many concepts that were popular were found to be without foundation, and a new direction began to emerge.

We conducted studies on protocols to test training theories on large numbers of people to see what worked, to what degree it worked, and whether or not better results could be obtained. As someone who likes to golf, my interest in how to improve my game was always in the back of my mind. Many of the clients I train are also golfers and are hungry for knowledge on ways to improve their games as well. What taking part in all of these studies gave was an objective view of the data. Neither I nor my clients cared about the fitness industry, or what was the new hot trend. Instead, we wanted resultsthe quicker the betterand if that meant we didnt have to be in the gym three to four days a week, that was fine by us as wed rather be out golfing anyway.

In the first year that I worked for John and Terri Little I personally supervised some 7,500 workouts and our facility oversaw some 25,000 workouts. Indeed, since we kept workout records on all of our clients there was already a considerable database of cause and effect relationships prior to setting out to conduct our more formal studies into the effects of exercise.

One of our first studies involved devising a means to determine an individuals optimal training frequency. For instance, when did the body produce a change in muscle mass and at what point would it begin to lose size after it had been produced? The results were astonishing. The first few days following the workout revealed to us that a trainee is not stronger, but weaker. Indeed, since recovery precedes growth, the data revealed that a trainee is not ready to work out again and would not make any meaningful progress for at least a week after a workout. We also discovered that, despite what the fitness industry has been saying for years, one did not lose what one had gained if one did not work out again within ninety-six hours. With help of the Bod Pod body composition testing machine, we were able to scientifically track what happens to the body in the two weeks after a high intensity workoutthis was the first time that such a test had been performed.

Then we wanted to see how much fat could be lost in a ten-week period. Again, this had relevance to the game of golf as muscle is what contracts (not fat) and it is muscular contraction that moves the clubs. However, we had seen that the fitness industry belief was that you had to spend multiple hours over multiple days per week in order to lose body fat. Was this true? Or was there a better, simpler way? These were questions we wanted answers for when we conducted our second study. The answers to these questions will surprise you and are laid out in this book. The combined time of all ten workouts is less than what most personal trainers would have you go through in your first session. This study not only will change how people look at fat loss but it also spoke to how little training is actually required to accomplish it.

By reading this book and following the training guidelines you will become a stronger athlete, and a stronger athlete is a better athlete. Will it bring you up to the upper levels of the PGA? Probably not, but it will certainly allow you to better your own game and allow you to chase that little white ball much longer and to hit it a hell of a lot fartherwithout living your life in the gym.

Cary Howe
Lead trainer, Nautilus North Strength & Fitness Centre Bracebridge, Ontario

INTRODUCTION: TOWARDS A NEW PERSPECTIVE

To begin, it should be pointed out that this is not a golf book. It will not at any point speak of how to grip a club, how to position your feet, the arc of the swing, graphite clubs, or the inner game of golf. It is assumed that the reader already has some knowledge of these facets of the game, and presently is looking for a means of improving his overall strength and fitness levels so as to be able to improve upon his ability to play the game of golf more efficiently and with greater power.