A brand new Pilates Studio opens at Camiral Golf & Wellness offering a range of benefits for golfers on and off the course.
Golf is both a mental and physical challenge, requiring concentration, precision, balance and power. Hours can be spent in search of the perfect swing, building confidence around the greens or simply knowing your game better. However, injuries such as shoulder tightness, knee soreness and lower back pain are common issues that can impact your performance on and off the course.
If you’re looking to overcome some of these issues, wanting to improve on course performance or simply keen to take the next step in your game, Pilates might just be the solution you have been looking for.
Pilates gives golfers an edge mentally and physically. The practice reduces injuries, speeds recovery time, improves range of motion, promotes efficient breathing techniques, and develops a mind-body connection.
The golf swing uses the same muscle groups repetitively, which can cause muscle imbalances and hinder performance. Pilates targets the areas golfers struggle with the most: postural alignment, balanced muscle strength, and functionality of movement through core body strength.
Pilates can also be really helpful in aiding the recovery process, using nonimpact exercises which guide your body through a range of movements and muscle activation to aid circulation, focusing on the deep stabilizing systems of the body to improve biomechanical efficiency and muscular balance – just what your mind and muscles need after a day on the course or at the driving range.
8 key benefits of Pilates for Golfers:
- POWER: Golf is centred around rotation of the body and driving power from the ground, through your core to the club and the ball. Pilates helps strengthen your core, develop strong balanced muscles around the joints and improve your rotation and mobility. The practice also teaches you to engage your core when you play golf, so that you can deliver maximum power.
- ROTATION: Golfers require a great deal of rotation in the chest and upper body in order to generate power to increase swing speed and control the club through impact. Pilates helps golfers develop strong, flexible, balanced muscles to achieve this rotation without injury.
- SHOULDER MOBILITY: A golfer requires good shoulder mobility in order to generate rotation in the golf swing. Pilates practices can improve a golfer’s shoulder movement and develop shoulder stability so that maximum power can be generated, while avoiding the chance of injury.
- BALANCE: A consistently powerful and composed swing requires a stable balanced body. Pilates programmes can be designed to help gain such balance and achieve improved consistency in your game.
- RANGE OF MOTION: Golf requires an effective range of motion in the shoulders, trunk and hips. Pilates is designed to improve this range as well as deliver the stability needed to transfer the power generated through a swing with a reduced chance of injury.
- POSTURE: Poor posture will impact a golfer’s ability to generate power and maintain good form throughout the full 18 holes. Pilates is designed to correct a player’s posture, which will in turn improve performance and endurance on the course, helping to deliver a consistent and reliable swing throughout the round.
- REDUCED PAIN & INJURY: Golf is repetitive in its movement patterns. If muscles around a joint are unbalanced and your core is weak, other muscles work harder to compensate. Over time, this can lead to pain and even injury. Pilates helps strengthen your core and encourages the development of strong balanced muscles, minimising the chance of pain and injury.
- FORM: Golf – similar to Pilates – is all about technique. By focusing on core strength, improving muscle balance and increasing overall flexibility, Pilates can help you develop good form and enable you to play (well) for many years to come.
Pilates at Camiral Golf & Wellness
Whether you have a Pilates class before your golf game as a full body warm up to set you up for the day, or after a round to stretch, unwind and recuperate, you can find a programme that suits you at the new Pilates Studio at Camiral Golf & Wellness.
Equipped with state-of-the-art apparatus from ARREGON® and created by master teacher Maria Earle, we can offer customised programmes to meet your individual needs and realise your golfing goals.
Visitors can benefit from traditional Reformers, Cadillac tables and a wide scope of specialised machinery, including Ladder Barrels to activate core muscles, Wunda Chairs for full body workouts and Arm Chairs to accelerate muscle recovery.
Offering tailored 1:1 sessions, duet and trio training, our Pilates classes utilise a circuit training format in which guests focus on their form, alignment and breathing. Group mat classes are also available, complementing other training guests may be pursuing.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for even more ways to improve your physical and mental wellbeing, join one of our carefully curated Wellness Retreats or browse the range of technology-led treatments at our Wellness Centre, so you can begin your journey to Eat, Live and Play Well.