Upper Extremity Exercises

Upper body strength is correlated with improved golf. This is a fact. Several studies show the number of push-ups/pull-ups we can do in 60 seconds and our grip strength are significantly correlated with improved scoring. They also show that chest strength is significantly related to higher club head speeds (29). Torres-Ronda et al. showed that specifically, bench press strength is generally greater in low handicap golfers compared to high handicap and is correlated with increased club head speed (29).  None of this should be surprising, in fact high strength is required. Our good friends at Titleist say that swinging a golf club requires quite a bit of upper body strength. In fact, they say that swinging a driver at 100mph requires you to pull back on the grip with 87 pounds of force (31). This goes up with more speed. The long drivers swinging at 150mph require nearly 200 pounds of pulling power (31).  While the golf club may seem light when holding it, swinging it at high speeds produces great forces that we need to be strong to handle.

Similar to the lower body, the upper body needs to not only be strong, but be very powerful and explosive in order to produce large amounts of force quickly. In a very new, very huge study, Brennan et al (2024) found that “upper body explosive strength showed noticeably larger associations” to club head speed “than upper body strength” (33). They found the highest association with jump impulse, another explosive and powerful movement. So, while maximal upper body strength is important, we need to remember that explosive strength, where we express that strength very quickly, is what the swing really needs.

Before we get too far, we need to take a minute to learn a little bit about how the shoulder works. The shoulder is very complex, an understanding of how it works will allow you to train in a way that will maximize your upper body strength. We’ll try to keep it as simple as possible so stick with us.

How the Shoulder Works

The shoulder is made up of the Humerus (arm bone) and the Scapula (shoulder blade). Just like the kid song, “the arm bone is connected to the shoulder blade, the shoulder blade is connected to the clavicle (collar bone).” Well, it’s not quite as catchy but you get it. The important thing to note here is that the Scapula is only connected to our body via the collar bone, that’s it. The little, tiny collar bone is the only bone holding our arms on our bodies. It’s a wonder our arms don’t just fly 0ff while swinging if we only have the collar bone to rely on. That’s right, the Scapula isn’t attached to any bones on our back. It’s just muscles that hold our Scapula in place back there. Hence, the huge importance of the Scapular stabilizers. That’s why in the EMG article we saw so many Scapular stabilizers working so hard. We need stability of our shoulder blades in order to produce any power with our arms.

Think about trying to push a car on a frozen lake. If you are wearing tennis shoes, that car isn’t going anywhere because you have no stability. You could be the strongest person in the world but if your feet are slipping, you aren’t producing any pushing power. You cannot produce power without stability, that’s just a fact. Now imagine you’re wearing ice cleats on the bottom of your shoes. Those metal spikes dig into the ice and give you some pushing power. Now that you have stability and are not slipping on the ice, you can push as hard as possible without fear of slipping. You can use your power efficiently to, hopefully, move the car if you are strong enough. It’s similar with the shoulder. We need our Scapular stabilizers to provide a solid base to push off so that our arms can produce power. With weak Scapular stabilizers, our shoulder blades are wearing tennis shoes on ice. Our arm tries to produce force to move the golf club but our shoulder blade “slips” reducing the power output. You will not be able to tap into your available power very efficiently. So, you can bench press all day, lifting 300+ pounds but if you can’t stabilize your shoulder blades, you are going to waste a lot of strength you worked so hard to build. So, pay attention to the other muscles mentioned below so you aren’t wasting your hard-earned strength on the bench.

As with the lower extremity article, let’s start with the star of the show.

Pectoralis Major

The Pectoralis Major is very active through most of the swing. As we learned in the EMG article, it is the most active muscle in forward swing on the trail side, on lead and trail sides in acceleration phase, and on both sides again in the early follow through. This is why all the studies show being strong in the anterior chest muscles is so important. The Pectoralis Major pulls our arms in front of our bodies toward midline, and also internally rotates the arm. If we think about how important it is to keep the arms, hands, and club in front of our bodies during the swing so the club doesn’t get “stuck” behind us, it makes a ton of sense why this muscle is so important.  

• Bench Press

  • Traditional

    • Is considered one of the best exercises for Pectoralis Major developoment (1)

    • Optimal grip width is determined by laying on the ground with shoulders abducted 90 degrees and holding elbows to 90 degrees. Grabbing the bar from this position will put you in optimal grip width (22).

      • Too narrow will increase Triceps activity while decreasing Pectoralis Major involvement (23).

      • Too wide will increase the risk of injury (23).

    • Traditional bench press activates the Pectoralis Major significantly more than other variants of pressing exercises but performing variants will lead to greater neuromuscular improvements so performing variations to traditional bench press is useful (23).

  • Incline Bench Press

    • Incline over 45 degrees decreases pectoral involvement and increases Anterior Deltoid activation, making them a poor choice for targeting Pectoral Major strength (1, 23).

  • Decline Bench Press

    • Activates the middle and lower fibers of the Pec Major better and decreases activation of the upper fibers (23).

    • Will be useful for increasing neuromuscular adaptations of the pecs.

  • Dumbbell Bench Press

    • Can be performed in the same positions as Barbell Bench Press such as flat, incline, or decline. The same general principles for Pectoral activation still apply.

    • The lack connection between the hands increases the instability of this exercise making it a good choice if the goal is to increase activation of the shoulder stabilizers as well as the Pectorals. (23)

    • This is a good variation to increase neuromuscular adaptations (23).

  • Ballistic Bench Press

    • Ideal to train explosive strength

    • This performed on a Smith Rack with load around 50% of 1-rep maximum of Traditional Bench Press (19)

    • How to perform: Lower the bar down to the chest, pause, then throw the bar vertically as high as possible. (19)

      • The Smith Machine will guide the bar and will result in slowed return back down to you. It is very safe to perform.

    • The speed of this exercise is great for power development instead of pure strength which more closely replicates the power demands of the golf swing.

    • This exercise shows a strong relationship to club head speed and ball speed (19).

• Push Ups

  • Push-ups using elastic bands for resistance show similar EMG to Bench Press and show similar strength gains, so these are a great option for doing at home. (23)

    • How to perform:  Hold an elastic band in both hands with the middle of the band across your back. Grab the band with your hands close to your shoulders so the band will stretch as you straighten your elbows. This will provide resistance as you move into the “up” portion of the Push-up.

  • Push-ups also elicit high activation of the Serratus Anterior which is hugely important for scapular stability (4).  Scapular stability is important for overall shoulder health but is also very important in the golf swing.

    • Being a closed chain exercise, they show optimal activation patterns for all scapular stabilizers, and even the External Obliques. (6,7)

    • Variations such as Push-ups on knees and Inclined Push-ups with hands on bench are an excellent alternative showing great scapular activation patterns as well. (7)

• Ballistic or Clap Push Ups

  • Ideal for Explosive Strength

  • Push very hard and very fast so your hand come off the ground at the top of the push-up.

• Pec Fly or Pec Deck Machine

  • Strength of the chest using a Pec Fly machine is significantly correlated with club head speed. (19)

  • Is a good exercise to isolate the Pectoralis Major.

• Seated Medicine Ball Throw

  • Distance you can throw the ball is significantly related to club head speed (19).

  • While sitting in bench or chair, perform a chest pass throwing a medicine ball as far as possible.

Serratus Anterior

This muscle is the unsung hero of the golf swing. It is highly active during all phases of the swing showing activation levels up to 70% of maximum force capabilities (20,30). This muscle is the ice cleat that stabilizes our shoulder blade allowing us to use the strength we worked so hard to attain. It attaches from the underside of the shoulder blade, running to the first 8 or so ribs. It is also known as the “boxer’s muscle” since the action it produces is shoulder blade protraction which is what happens while throwing a punch (Wikipedia). It works in conjunction with the other scapular muscles to control and stabilize the shoulder blade. It is hugely important in the golf swing not only for producing high club head speed but also to protect the shoulder from injury throughout the swing (30). This muscle should be a focus of your exercise program. 

• Push-Ups Plus

  • This is the classic exercise for the Serratus, it elicits high activation (3,4)

    • How to perform: at the “up” portion of a standard push-up, try to push your back up toward the ceiling as much as you can.

  • Performing this exercise with your feet on exercise bench and hands on the ground will raise your shoulder flexion angle between 110-120 degrees which shows higher Serratus activation levels at this angle. (3)

• Traditional Push-Up

  • Shows high Serratus activation (4).

  • Also shows good activation patterns of other scapular stabilizers (4).

• Quadruped Shoulder Flexion

  • This shows high levels of Serratus Anterior activation as well as Middle and Lower Trap activation which is another very important shoulder blade stabilizer. (14, 21)

  • How to perform: On your hands and knees, keep your elbow straight and raise one arm overhead until it is parallel to the floor. Make sure your thumb is pointing up to the sky when lifting your arm.

  • This works both the moving shoulder and the shoulder of the arm still on the ground making it a very efficient exercise.

  • This is a great accessory exercise to sprinkle into your routine.

  • Use weights between 2-5 pounds

• Dynamic Hug

  • Can be done with elastic bands or a cable machine.

    • How to perform: with the cable stack behind you, simply reach forward like you are giving a large person a hug. You should feel your shoulders moving forward and shoulder blades moving around your ribs toward the front.

  • The Serratus is most active during exercises like this or with reaches across the body. (21)

Middle Trapezius  

The Middle Trapezius is technically not a real muscle by itself. It is a functional part of the larger Trapezius muscle which runs along the spine from the middle of your back (T12) up to the base of your skull and attaches the spine to the shoulder blade. Since it is so large it has different functional areas, the Upper, Middle, and Lower traps, which all perform different actions on the shoulder blade. The Middle Trapezius pulls the shoulders blades together. It is most active in the Forward Swing phase of the swing on the lead arm. It works together with the Serratus Anterior and other muscles to provide scapular stability. It is highly active, around 42-52% of maximum force, during the golf swing (20).

• Quadruped Shoulder Flexion

  • This is a great exercise for the Middle Trapezius as well as the Serratus and Lower Trapezius. (14, 21)

• Side-lying External Rotation

  • Is a great exercise for scapular stabilizers as well as the rotator cuff (17, 21)

• Supine Cross

  • How to perform: Laying on your back with arm out at 90 degrees, have palms facing the sky. Press your arms down into the ground.

  • This is the best exercise for activating the Middle Trapezius (11)

Lower Trapezius 

Like the Middle Trapezius, this is also part of the large Trapezius muscle. The Lower Trapezius is another important scapular stabilizer. It helps to pull the shoulder blade down and in towards the spine (Wikipedia). It is highly active during swing, up 52% maximum force. (20).

• Quadruped Shoulder Flexion

  • Great exercise for Lower Trapezius and scapular stability (14, 17)

• Side-lying External Rotation

  • Lower and Middle Trapezius are both highly active during this exercise (17).

• Pull Ups

  • This is done with palms facing away from you

  • This exercise is initiated by the Lower Trapezius (5)

  • Shows high activation of Lower Trapezius, Latissimus, and Infraspinatus

  • This is an excellent exercise but can be very difficult to perform

    • It can be modified with an elastic band to help support the weight of the body or a Lat Pulldown can be used as a stand in.

Rhomboids

The Rhomboids consist of 2 muscles, the Rhomboid Major and Minor.  The have a similar function as the Middle Trapezius acting to pull the shoulder blades together.  The Rhomboids are highly active during the swing, 60% of max, with the most active phase being the Forward Swing on the lead shoulder (20).

• Rows

  • Very good at activating the Rhomboids (10).

  • Can be done on cable machines or with an elastic band (10, 11).

Infraspinatus

The Infraspinatus is a Rotator Cuff muscle that produces external rotation of the arm and is also the main muscle that prevents shoulder joint distraction (12).  Remember that swinging a driver 100 mph, the club pulls away from us with 87 pounds of force making this muscle very important for shoulder health during the swing. This muscle is not a scapular stabilizer but stabilizes the shoulder joint, keeping the joint centered during movement (wikipedia).  This is a very important muscle for overall shoulder health and injury prevention.

• Side-lying External Rotation

  • This exercise produces the highest activation of the Infraspinatus (12, 17)

  • It also produces high activation of the scapular stabilizers

  • This is an excellent accessory exercise for your workouts.

• Closed Chain Upper Extremity Exercises

  • Closed Chain means the hands are not moving during the exercise, as opposed to Open Chain exercises where the hands are moving such as Bicep Curls, Rows, Shoulder Raises, etc.

    • Closed Chain exercises most typically occur when your hands are on the ground such as with push-ups.

  • Due to this muscle’s role as a stabilizer of the shoulder joint, it is very active during all exercises bearing weight through the hands. (13)

    • This includes all exercises where your hands are the on the ground supporting your weight such as Push-ups or planks.

  • Closed Chain exercises are shown to increase coordination and activation of all shoulder muscles. (6)

    • Increased activation of Serratus Anterior, Middle and Lower Trapezius. (6)

  • Closed Chain exercises are highly recommended for their ability to activate the important stabilizing muscles used in the golf swing.

Subscapularis

This is another Rotator Cuff muscle but unlike the Infraspinatus, this muscle produces internal rotation of the arm. Similar to the Infraspinatus, it provides stability for the shoulder joint and is important for overall shoulder health (32).  This muscle is most active in the Early and Late Follow Through phase in the trail arm working to slow the arms and keep the joint centered.

• Push-up Plus

  • Excellent exercise for Subscapularis (32).

  • It is a closed chain exercise that is also excellent for scapular stability.

• Dynamic Hug

  • Shows high activation of the Subscapularis (32).

• Closed Chain Exercise

  • Will be very active on all closed chain exercises to keep the shoulder joint stabilized. (32)

Grip Strength

A quick word on grip strength. We have already read that grip strength is correlated with improved scoring (29) so we should touch on how to improve grip strength. Generally speaking, your grip strength will increase with traditional weight lifting but an interesting study using a Fat Grips to improve grip strength in golfers may lead more golfers to work more specifically on the grip. The Mississippi State University men’s golf team split into 2 groups, both doing the same exercises, but one group did the exercises with Fat Grips on the handles of the weights which makes the handle larger, requiring more grip strength to hold. After 8 weeks of training, the Fat Grip group showed significant increases in ball speed, carry distance, and driving distance. The other group did not show any increases in golf performance.  Adding products such as Fat Grips are an easy addition to your exercise routine that can improve performance (28).  

Summary 

·      Bench Press strength is correlated with increased club head speed and lower handicap.

·      Scapular stabilizer strength is hugely important for power development through the arms and needs to be a large focus of your exercise program.

·      Closed Chain exercises, with weight bearing through the hands, produces excellent activation of the shoulder and scapular stabilizers important in the golf swing and should be a component of all exercise programs.

   - Closed Chain exercises increase activation and coordination of the shoulder muscles.

All images from kjpargeter on Freepik. Edited on Freepik.

References

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