Did you ever notice in those big-box commercial gyms that there always seems to be a few pieces of gym equipment no one ever uses? Perhaps you’re guility of breezing past an aparatus or two that you can’t quite figure out what it’s used for.That is often the case with flywheels, which are truly unique and useful machines in terms of training. If you’re not familiar, flywheels use inertia instead of gravity to challenge you to move in certain ways. You pull the cables attached to the wheel (concentric movement) and the wheel pulls back (eccentric) with the same amount of force you apply. In other words, the machine adapts to your current strength capabilities while challenging your muscles harder than can be achieved in more traditional workouts.
Eccentric training, the lengthening phase of muscle contraction, has long been considered valuable in training for golf, not to mention other sports. In terms of injury prevention, the goal of being able to safely decelerate a golf swing comes from your ability to eccentrically move. The lengthening of muscles and other soft tissue such as tendons helps prevent the tears and dislocations that come from quick, jarring movements. As famous speed coach Tom House has often said, you can only move as fast as you can slow down. The same is true of a golf swing. If you want to swing faster, you can’t do it safely unless you know how to apply the breaks, so to speak.”Golfers need to learn to brake eccentrically and store energy before they can explode concentrically,” says Paul Gozbekian, a Golf Digest Certified Fitness Trainer who works with golfers in the Boston area. Gozkebian is recognized by Golf Digest as one of the Best Fitness Trainers in America.”For eccentric exercises, there is nothing better than the flywheel. It emphasizes eccentric control and the exercises can be adjusted to transition focus to concentric muscular action. I like a belt or harness squat with rack support for my older golfers. As they get stronger and more confident, I transition them to a split squat with dowel support and then no support.”Gozbekian, who demonstrates three of his favorite flywheel exercises in the YouTube videos below, said perhaps the best feature of this gym equipment is that it can be used by begginers and veteran gymgoers alike, because it’s self-regulating.
“They will only work at an intensity level you are comfortable with,” he says.KBox Lateral Squat with Rope Lift (3 sets of 5 to 7 reps per side)KBox Squat with Rotational Rope Lift (3 sets of 10 squats, 5 lifts to each side)KBox Split Squat with Dowel Support (3 sets of 5 to 7 reps per side)In case you’re wondering about adding one to your home gym, flywheels aren’t exactly inexpensive. Gozbekian says they range in price from $800 to $4,000, but their versatility might make it worth it. KBox systems, which is the flywheel pictured at the top of the article, start around $1,500 but its manufacturers says it can be used for 70 exercises. Click on this link if you’re interested in becoming a Golf Digest Certified Fitness Trainer.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
