Step inside Talor Gooch’s performance training routine in this episode of LIV Lessons. From mobility to golf-specific movement work, see how a pro prepares his body for peak performance on the course.
Stay tuned for Parts 2 & 3: weight training and indoor golf drills.
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Oh yes, and that’s a share of the lead for Taylor Gu. I’m Taylor Gu, proud Oklahoma State Cowboy, the 2023 Live Golf Champion. Welcome to my live lesson. Taylor, he displayed all the guts and temperament of a champion. You’re going to get all my top tips on stretching and pliability workouts in the weight room and also we’re going to get into the golf sim room and we’re going to have a little fun there too. All right guys, these are the workouts that we’re about to do. The exercises that are going to get you ready to go straight to the course and be ready to fire. Cat cow. Open book rotation. Hip circles. Straight leg heel rocks with rotation. Split stance band rotation. Strap load to explode. Split stance medball rotation lunge. Lateral bounce. Single leg ball slams. Let’s just get into it. We’re going to start with a few stretches. start getting things loosened up and warmed up. So, let me show you how I do that. So, I always start with just a few body movements just to get things moving. Like, that’s truly what it is for me. I like to get my um T-spine, my my middle of my back kind of loosened up. I’ve had some injuries in the past with that. So, that’s something I’m always focusing on. So, the first one, uh you yoga people are going to know this. It’s cat cows, right? So, you’re just going to get on all fours and you’re going to just extend. You’re going to do this a few times. I usually do anywhere from, you know, six to 12 of those. So, then I like to start working on some rotational movements. Uh there’s a few different ways to do that. One of my favorite ones is what we call an open book. So, you’re going to get, you know, kind of on your side here. You’re going to put a leg over, have it try to stay on the ground. Uh, and then you’re going to go from here, and you’re going to reach. So, you want to do these anywhere from six to 10 times. So, we’ll start on one side and then from there, you’re going to move to the other side. And again, you want to try to keep this as close to the ground as possible. I can’t even keep it fully on the ground. It’s going to come up a little bit, but what this is doing is it’s separating your lower body from your upper body, which is T-spine mobility, right? That’s that’s that rotational movement that if you don’t have that, you don’t have a golf swing. And again, with this exercise, we’re working on rotation, T-spine rotation. So, when you’re keeping this knee as close to the ground as possible and then moving this arm around, what that’s doing is it’s making your upper body and your lower body separate, right? Upper body is turning while your lower body is staying still. And that’s working again on that rotational movement. It’s in the T-spine where your body has to move to separate your lower body from your upper body. And if you don’t have that separation in your lower body and your upper body, you can’t create speed. You’re going to probably get injured and you’re just not going to have a have much rotation, you know, much of a back swing, and you’re not going to be able to to rotate through through very well. So, the T-spine rotation is huge, and that’s why this is a staple for me in the gym to to begin my my workout. So now after you’ve done some T-spine work, I like getting to working on, you know, your glutes, your hips. Um cuz like I said earlier, you know, your feet, your legs are what’s connected to the ground. So you got to work on that. So we’re going to work uh do a few movements for just getting some some mobility going, some movement going. So these are called hip circles. They’re very simple. You’re going to get on all fours and then you’re going to try to make a circle with your hip. And I’ll turn this way so you can see it. So you’re going to go like that. I usually do 10 this way and then you do 10 the other way. What this is doing is it’s starting to fire these muscles all through your hips and your glutes. Um, and it’s just working on again the the your range of motion. Um, and it’s it’s getting everything in there starting to move and starting to fire up a little bit. So, you’re going to do 10 one way, then 10 the other way, and then you’re going to go to your other leg. And same thing, do 10 this direction, and then you’re going to do 10 the other direction. So, that’s a good way to start getting things fired up, get some blood flowing, uh, get some range of motion going. And then the next kind of favorite hip um, movement I like to do before we really get going in here is just a heel rock. So, you’re get on one knee, straighten out the other knee, keep this foot on the ground, pointed out that way. And all you’re going to do is you’re going to start from this position and then you’re going to rock back and try to sit on your heel. You start by doing that. And then the next progression in that is you’re going to rotate your foot. So you’re going to try to get it to point to the sky. I know this looks easy, but good luck trying to do it. And same thing, you’re going to do this anywhere from six to 10 times. And then obviously we’re going to go to the other leg. Same thing. Make sure this leg is is straight out. You don’t want it bent. You want it straight out. And you’re going to start foot pointed out. You’re going to rock. Again, you’re going to do that six to 10 rocks. And then again, you’re gonna rotate this foot. Try to get it up to the sky. And again, like I said, six to 10 of those. And then from there, we’re going to move into starting getting into using some bands, using some weights, uh using some of the cables, and then we’re going to get, as my trainer and I call it, we’re going to get a nice lather. We’re going to get some sweat going. Yes. I mean, stretching is is obviously key to staying healthy, plain and simple. uh if if you don’t have the pliability, if you don’t have uh the ability to lengthen your muscles for any kind of repetition, you’re just putting yourself in a in a place uh to to fail. So, stretching is just so key, but it’s also not everything. All right, now we’re going to get off the ground. We’re going to start getting some different types of movements. Uh we’re going to start getting athletic. And the whole idea behind it is to get more explosive. the more explosive that you can get, the better the those fast switch muscles are working, the further you’re going to hit a golf ball, right? So, one of my favorites with the bands is you wrap the band around any kind of pole you got in the gym. Okay? And it’s a split stance band rotation is what we call it. Okay? So, you’re going to get your stance split up. the outside leg. You’re going to rotate across, but you’re going to do it quickly. You’re not going to do it just slow. You’re gonna you want to do that six to 10 times. And then just like with all the other movements, we’re going to be working both sides of the body, right? Because in reality, right there for me, I’m a right-handed golfer. So, I swing like this. That movement that I just did was almost like a left-handed swing, right? I’m rotating this way. So, it’s good not only for your back swing, but again, you want to try to make your body as equal as possible. You don’t want one side to be stronger than the other. You don’t want one side to be more flexible than the other. You want to try to create as much symmetry as possible. So after you do the six to 10 of the split stance band rotations, then you’re going to switch to the other side. Okay? So you’re going to split your stance again. The outside knee is the knee that you’re going to rotate over. And again, it’s not a slow movement cuz we’re trying to get fast. We’re trying to get explosive. We’re trying to get athletic. So, you’re going to do six to 10 of these. So, this is something again that I’m always doing before I go out to the range tournament days. Like we talked about, rotational power, rotational strength, rotational range of motion is absolutely necessary. Um, and that is a great great movement to get better range of motion, to get better speed, just get more athletic. And for pre-ournament, what I’m always doing with everything that we’re going through here, I only do two sets of it because again, before a tournament, for me, that’s not a full-blown workout. We’re just trying to warm up. We’re trying to get to the point to where we have a nice lather. Everything is firing. you get to the range, you just point and pull the trigger and you’re not thinking about anything. Your body’s already warmed up. It’s already firing on all cylinders. And that’s what this is about. And that’s why we’re only doing two sets of everything in here. Um, another great tool to use when getting the rotational movement going is this thing right here. So, it’s a strap to hook up to this pulley system here. We’re add just a little bit more weight here. And this simulates the golf swing in the gym about as good as anything that you can do. Okay. So, you’re going to step out and you’re going to rotate into the side that’s facing that’s closest to the machine. You’re going to rotate and then explode. Rotate, explode. Again, you’re going to do six to 10 of those. And what that’s doing is it’s simulating the golf swing for when your back swing when you’re going back, you’re turning into that hip, right? So, that’s working on that internal rotation of the hip. And so what this is doing with the weight that’s added to it, it’s just putting more pressure into that rotation. So it’s helping you get deeper into that hip movement, which again, this is not a stretch, but what it’s doing, it’s dynamically helping you get a better range of motion, right? So, and then also like we keep talking about explosive. We want to try to get speed. We want to try to get explosive. So that’s why I said as you rotate in then you explode through. So as you have to do it with both sides with everything we’re going to do it from this side also. So same thing you’re going to turn and explode. Turn and explode. You’re going to do six to 10 of these. You’re going to do two sets of them. Uh, and again, it’s about going slow here, getting that range of motion, getting that depth into this hip and explode. Being dynamic and being athletic is the key. And that that’s different for everybody. And what you know works for you, it’s going to work for everybody else. Like everybody needs the same things. And and that’s, you know, again, these dynamic movements, that’s getting athletic, that’s getting stronger, that’s getting faster, that’s getting more pliable, that’s improving your flexibility. It’s all of it. But that’s not just sitting there and touching your toes. That’s not just sitting there and, you know, arching your back. You got to get dynamic. You got to put yourself in athletic positions and and, you know, push your body to new limits, if you will. Um because golf is such a repetitive sport and whether we think it or not, it’s a physical sport. You’re you’re pounding your your joints and your ligaments. Um and you have to have strength. You have to have flexibility. Your muscles have to have that elasticity, but also you need to have the the refined motor skills of balance. And you have to have your brain working with all of your muscles to make sure you’re not trying to think about good balance. because in the gym, you’ve already trained that balance. So, when you get on the golf course, it’s already in your muscle memory and you don’t have to think about it. Another great movement that simulates uh what the golf swing is like, uh but that’s going to add some more uh range of motion and just continue to help make you dynamic is we got to get this med ball here. Okay. So, you’re going to have one foot on the ground, one foot on the bench, and then what you’re going to do is you’re going to squat into the leg that’s on the ground. And as you squat into this leg, you’re also going to rotate. Okay? So, just like if this was a golf club and I’m swinging, I’m rotating into this hip, right? And that’s what this is simulating here. So, you’re going to start here. You’re going to hug the Bosu ball and as you go down going to rotate. Now always try to get this elbow to get across the knee that’s down. So go down and then up. Down, rotate, and then up. And that’s really really firing all of these muscles throughout your hip and glutes to to stabilize fire. Because again, if you don’t have the the proper strength here or the proper balance, when you go down, you’re just you’re going to you’re going to fall, right? And so, again, this is working range of motion. It’s working stabilization. And then, of course, when you’re coming up, this is working on your strength, right? This is firing this glute as you’re as you’re coming up. So, it’s down and up. So, then same thing, we’re going to switch legs. So, this one is going to go back up on the bench. This one is forward. And as we go down, same thing. And rotate over and then up. Rotate over and then up. And again, same thing. We’re going to do six to 10 of those. And we’re going to do two sets of those. Now, we’ve really gotten, you know, the rotation going. Your T-spine’s working. Your core is working. You’ve got glutes working. Uh, your hips are firing up. I mean, you can’t see, but I got a nice little lather under here. So, we’re starting to get going. Uh, and we’re getting close to being going out and getting onto the golf course. Couple things that I like to do to kind of end the the warm-up is explosive movements. So, one one of the movements is is simply just lateral bounds, lateral jumps. Okay? So, you’re going to start here. You’re going to jump. You’re going to jump. But one thing this is doing is you’re landing on one leg. That’s the key of this. And when you’re landing on this leg, you have to stabilize. Your your legs have to lock into the ground to make sure you’re not falling, right? Cuz similar to a golf swing, when you swing, you don’t want to be falling over or be falling back. And that’s what this is doing. You know, in a golf swing, you’re driving into this leg. And then this is posting up and you’re stabilizing. You’re having balance here. So same thing here. You’re going to go here and stabilize. Same thing. So it’s explosiveness. It’s stabilization. It’s getting you athletic. It’s getting you dynamic. It’s getting you ready to go hit a golf ball. Another one that I’ll usually finish with is ball slams. And again, this is just explosiveness, right? So you’re going to get the ball slamming it. So I like to do it on one foot. Everything that we do, we try to be as dynamic and as athletic as possible. When you’re always on two feet, it makes things easier, right? So the better you can be on one foot, it’s going to make when you’re swinging on two feet, it’s going to make it that much easier. So I always do one foot usually do four to six of those because again explosive movements, you don’t want to do a bunch of them, right? You want to do them short, quick, fast, and just a few of them. So, we’re training those fast switch muscles to fire up right now. And don’t fall. And by this point, I’ve got a dang good lather. So, it’s time to go uh go to the range and get ready to compete.
