In order to improve your golf handicap, there are many things you can do, including following a great workout regimen specifically tailored to golf.
However, you may have limited or no knowledge at all of how to build a workout routine for a serious golf player.
If you are ready to break a serious sweat, and wish to strengthen your body to improve your golfing power, control & flexibility, then diligently follow the golf dumbbell workout routine outlined down below in this article.
We designed this workout routine so that the only things you will need are dumbbells, and your own body.
How is the Best Golf Dumbbell Workout split up?
To get optimal performance out of your golf game, you need to have great power, control, flexibility & endurance in your muscles.
Each of these elements plays an important role in how well you play golf, and there are specific exercises tailored to improving each of these elements.
Each power and control exercise will be done for 3 sets of repetitions, with a variable number of repetitions, depending on the exercise.
The flexibility exercises only need to be done for 1 set. Of course, you can add extra sets if you wish to increase your flexibility further.
In this best golf dumbbell workout, requiring only dumbbells and your own body, you will be training 3 or 4 days a week, with a rest day between each workout day.
Taking a rest day between workouts is extremely important to let your muscles rest and build themselves back a little stronger.
Without rest days, your muscles will not be able to adequately repair themselves since the last workout, and you run a higher risk of injury, on top of wasting your workouts.
In fact, when you work out, you are creating micro-tears in your muscles, and they need to repair themselves through rest, sleep & a good diet.
If you keep tearing into the muscles through excessive workouts without letting them get repaired, injuries are bound to occur.
In this best golf dumbbell workout, you will first focus on power, then control, and finally, flexibility.
To train your endurance, we will attempt to somewhat simulate a day out at a golf course. How? During the entire workout, try to stay standing up when you can; avoid sitting.
Your legs will feel tired during the workout, but by staying standing up, you can train your endurance. Over time, you will notice your leg endurance is better when you are at the golf course, and standing up for hours will feel less exhausting.
Finally, when you do the exercises, choose a manageable weight. Do not try to impress anyone and risk injuring yourself. The only competition you have is yourself.
If you have not worked out with weights before, or you do not have the correct form for exercises yet, use dumbbells with small weights until you get comfortable with the exercise technique.
During the exercises, try to slowly move the weights across space in a controlled manner, rather than by jerking the weights quickly and ruining your technique. If you are jerking the weights, they are likely too heavy for you.
Best Golf Dumbbell Workout
In this best golf dumbbell workout, for each exercise listed down below, you need to figure out the weights you should use. How?
For any single exercise, look at how many repetitions you need to do. For example, for the squats exercise, you will do 3 sets of 20 repetitions.
You need to choose dumbbell weights big enough to feel like your last repetition, in this case the 20th, is tough to complete, but possible. Basically, you need to push yourself hard, without making it impossible for you to complete the 3 sets.
For example, if you are a beginner, 20 squats with just your bodyweight and no dumbbells may already prove challenging.
However, if you find yourself easily blasting through the 3 sets of 20 repetitions, you need to pick up dumbbells with enough weight to challenge yourself until the last repetition of each set is hard to complete.
Warm-up
Before lifting weights or stretching your body parts to render them more flexible, it is extremely important to warm up your body temperature.
Think of your body as a rubber tire on a formula 1 car or a high-end sports car. To avoid the car losing control and crashing into a wall, the rubber tires on the car need to be warmed up through slow driving in order to become softer and increase their grip on the ground.
Your body functions similarly. If you do not warm up your body, you increase your risks of injuring yourself because the muscles are stiff and not soft.
By warming up your muscles, they become a little softer, just like warm rubber tires, which allows them to contract and extend more safely.
To warm up your body, a short cardiovascular exercises is often the best option.
You can choose between running for 10 minutes, either outside, or on a treadmill, or you can do jumping jack or burpees for 5-10 minutes.
After doing this warm up, you can move to the exercises. Do not let your body cool down too much before doing the exercises.
Workout Exercise List
Down below is a list of the exercises included in this best golf dumbbell workout that you can screenshot to take with you to the gym, or keep handy.
Warm-Up (10 min running, or 5-10 minutes jumping jacks or burpees)
Weight Exercises
3×12 Bench Press or Push ups
3×12 Bent-Over Rows (with or without bench)
3×8 (on each side) Stiff-Leg Single-Leg Deadlift
3×10 (on each side) Lateral Hockey Plyometric Jumps
3×20 Squats
3×12 (on each side) Lunges with Twist at the bottom
3×12 (on each side) Russian Twists
3×10 (on each side) Standing Knees Bent Twists
3×25 Crunches
3×12 (on each side) Sword pulls (Light Weight)
3×12 Skullcrushers
3×12 (on each side) Bicep Curls
3×12 Wrist curls, normal & reverse
Flexibility Stretches
30 seconds Elbow Stretch (each side)
30 seconds Shoulder stretch (each side)
30 seconds Door Frame Chest Stretch
30 seconds Lying Toe Touch
30 seconds Cobra Stretch
30 seconds Child’s Pose
30 seconds Cat & Cow Pose
30 seconds 90/90 Hip Stretch
30 seconds Butterfly Stretch
Important Precisions for Each Exercise
3×12 Bench Press or Push Ups
This exercise will help you increase your carry distance, especially with you driver. When performing this exercise, use explosive, yet controlled movement to simulate the fast club speed you use while driving a golf ball.
If you have a bench, perform the bench press and use sufficient weight.
If you do not have a bench you can use, perform the push-ups instead with your bodyweight.
If 12 push-ups are not challenging enough for you, increase the number of repetitions you will do in each set until you struggle to finish the last repetition.
3×12 Bent-Over Rows (with or without bench)
This exercise will strengthen your back, notably to help you avoid back injuries.
You can perform this exercise either by laying down on a bench, or by bending your knees and bending over slightly.
3×8 (on each side) Stiff-Leg Single-Leg Deadlift
The Stiff-Leg Single-Leg Deadlift is a great exercise to train your balance and many muscle groups at once, including your legs, your core, and your back.
3×10 (on each side) Lateral Hockey Plyometric Jumps
To perform this exercise, pretend you are skating like a hockey player, and jump laterally from one leg onto the other leg, travelling as much distance as you can from left-to-right and right-to-left.
When you land on your other foot, make sure you absorb the impact by squatting down onto the landing leg, or you can end up hurting your knee.
This exercise will help you get more power and balance into your legs, which will help you drive into the strong with more force whenever you try to hit the golf ball far away.
3×20 Squats
If the bodyweight squats are too easy for you, hold some dumbbells and increase the weights as you get stronger.
Do not go too low, and make sure your knees do not move further forward than your toes if you wish to avoid injuries.
This exercise will also help you get more power and balance into your legs, which will help you drive into the strong with more force whenever you try to hit the golf ball far away.
3×12 (on each side) Lunges with Twist at the bottom
Perform lunges, and at the bottom of each lunge, twist your arms and core to one side, then the other side on the next lunge.
To make the exercise more difficult, you can hold out some light weights in front of you that you will turn with your core whenever you twist your body.
This exercise will also help you get more power and balance into your legs, which will help you drive into the strong with more force whenever you try to hit the golf ball far away.
3×12 (on each side) Russian Twists
Sitting down on your rear end, with your legs raised up, hold weights in your hands, and twist to one side before twisting to the other side.
This exercise will strengthen your core (your abdominals) which will help you with general strength, as well as give you massive rotational power whenever you shoot a golf ball and follow through.
3×10 (on each side) Standing Knees Bent Twists
Take two dumbbells in your hands, and hold them out in front of you. Squat down slightly to bend your knees, then twist your upper body to one side (left or right), then twist to the other side, and repeat until you finish the set of repetitions.
This exercise will also strengthen your core (your abdominals) which will help you with general strength, as well as give you massive rotational power whenever you shoot a golf ball and follow through.
3×25 Crunches
If this exercise is too easy for you, you can hold a dumbbell against the top of your chest as an extra load.
This exercise will strengthen your core (your abdominals) which will help you with general strength and balance.
3×12 Sword pulls (Light Weight)
Focus on performing this exercise slowly with a lot of control. Do not attempt to move heavy weights for this exercise; choose a small weight that you can control.
This exercise will strengthen your shoulders and improve the control you have over your arms.
3×12 Skullcrushers
For this exercise, make sure you do not drop the weight on top of your head. To minimize the risks of dropping a weight, take a smaller weight in each of your hands instead of holding a big weight with both hands.
This exercise will strengthen your triceps muscles and aid in strength and muscle control.
3×12 Bicep Curls
For this exercise, make sure you go slow and perform the full range of motion for the exercise.
This exercise will strengthen your biceps muscles and aid in strength and muscle control.
3×12 Wrist curls, normal & reverse
Do not use an excessive weight for this exercise. Use enough weight to feel like the muscles in your forearms are burning at the end of your set.
This exercise will strengthen your forearm muscles and aid in strength and muscle control.
30 seconds Elbow Stretch (each side)
Do not pull too hard on your arm, or you can injure yourself.
This pose will stretch your triceps muscles.
30 seconds Shoulder stretch (each side)
Extend your arm in front of you and take your other arm to full your first arm across your body.
You should feel a good stretch in your shoulder muscles.
30 seconds Door Frame Chest Stretch
Stand in front a door frame and place your hands on each side of the wall, extending your arms to each side.
Walk forward into the door frame while leaving your hands on each side of the wall.
You should feel a good stretch in your chest muscles.
30 seconds Lying Toe Touch
Lay down with your buttocks and legs along the floor, then reach to your toes and hold the stretch for 30 seconds.
This will stretch your leg and back muscles.
30 seconds Cobra Stretch
Lay flat on your stomach, then push your upper body up and arc your lower back.
This will stretch your abdominal and back muscles.
30 seconds Child’s Pose
Lay down on your knees and reach your arms forward as if you are praying.
This pose will stretch your hips, thighs, shoulders, and ankles.
30 seconds Cat & Cow Pose
Lay on all fours and alternate between arcing your back towards the sky, and then towards the ground.
This exercise will stretch your shoulders, spine & neck.
30 seconds 90/90 Hip Stretch
Sitting on the floor, bend one of your legs 90 degrees at the knee. Next, bend your other leg 90 degrees at the knee, flip it over so that the outside of your leg is face upwards.
Your second bent leg should be placed at 90 degrees relative to your other leg. Your first leg’s calf and your second leg’s thigh should form a square shape.
This pose will stretch your back, buttocks, abductors, adductors and hip muscles.
30 seconds Butterfly Stretch
Sit down on the floor and put the bottom of your feet together. Hold your feet and press onto your knees with your elbows, resisting their force with your leg strength.
This pose will stretch your groin and inner thigh muscles.
How To Get the most out of this Best Golf Dumbbell Workout?
To get the absolute most out of your workout and find real gains in strength, balance, control, flexibility & endurance, there are a few elements to consider, listed below.
Progressive Overload
As your body gets stronger over time through working out, your current exercises will start to feel easy for you.
In order to keep growing your gains, you need to keep challenging your muscles, or else you will stagnate and go into maintenance mode.
Whenever your exercises start to feel easy, you need to employ the concept of progressive overload.
Progressive Overload stipulates that you need to progressively increase the load on your muscles as your body gets accustomed to your workout.
The load in question that is required for progressive overload can be increased through both more weight added and more repetitions per set.
If you want to get growth & gains, you need to keep challenging your body during your workouts.
Sleep
During the night while you sleep, your muscles have time to repair the micro-tears you created during your workout.
As your muscles repair their tissues every night after a workout, and during your rest day, your muscles grow a tiny bit bigger every time.
Therefore, it is important to get at least 8-9 hours of good, uninterrupted sleep every night if you truly wish to optimize your workout gains.
Diet
The food you put into your body is essential to making good physical gains to improve your golf performance.
In fact, the pieces of food you consume are the building blocks of your future body. After multiple days, your old cells are all replaced with new cells, new cells created from the food you consumed.
It is primordial to have a good, healthy diet with enough protein in order to make muscle gains that will aid you in golf performance.
Consistency
To make gains in strength, flexibility, endurance, control & balance, you need to remain consistent with your workouts.
Work out at least 3 times a week.
If you only work out only 1-2 times a week, you will probably make only minimal gains, or simply maintain your current shape.
If you work out too little, such as 0-1 times a week, or take a break of a few weeks, you will even lose gains.
Controlled Movements
When performing the exercises, make sure you move the weights with very controlled movements.
Do not jerk the weights up and down or sideways. If you are jerking the weights, you are likely using weights that are too heavy.
If your technique suffers, so will your muscle growth & gains.
Flex your Muscles to the Limit
By really squeezing and flexing your muscles, you can get the most growth out of them, and strengthen the mind-body connection controlling them.
To get a feel for this squeezing practice, let us take a bicep curl. If you squeeze your bicep extremely hard without trying to bend at the elbow, your elbow will still slightly bend and the weight will move up a little.
Squeezing your bicep hard in the same way, then moving the weight up by bending at the elbow, you will get the most strength out of your bicep, because you are improving the mind-muscle connection.
Similarly for all muscles, when training, squeeze your muscles very hard first, then move the weights to get the most out of the exercises, even though this highly increases the difficulty.
Conclusion
There you go! After reading the golf dumbbell workout routine outlined in this article, you have a great roadmap to toning and beefing up your body to become a much better golf player.
If you put in the work and follow this golf dumbbell workout, at least 3x a week while progressively increasing the weights you use for each exercise, you will see your body change, and your carry distance increase.
If you feel odd pain, do not keep pushing. Stop the exercise, and go to the next exercise. There is no use in injuring yourself, as injuries are one of the common pitfalls to becoming a great golf player.
How often do you workout? Which muscle groups do you need to train more? Let us know in the comments down below!
