Tiger Woods' Golf Workout Program

I was at the 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah and had the chance to watch the final Sunday parings of the day tee off. When Tiger Woods came onto the tee the applause was nearly deafening. It gave me goose bumps just being a part of what I (and probably everyone else) thought would be Tiger's day, the day he won his 12th major.

I was part of the Tiger crowd for about two holes and at that point we decided that it was just too crowded. We headed up to the 15th hole and stayed there until everyone came through.

While we were sitting there I had the chance to talk to a few people. All day long the conversation revolved around how Tiger was dominating like his old self. Eventually the conversation turned to conditioning and wondering what Tiger does to be such a powerful, complete athlete.

While I do not know for sure what Tiger's golf fitness program is like, I think I can make a few decent educated guesses on what his workout routine throughout the year is like:

Total Body Golf-Specific Warmup
As Tiger is a very powerful athlete it would make sense that he would do a general and then golf-specific warm-up to prepare his body for the demands of the golf swing. There would be two main reasons for his warm-up: To prevent injury and to increase his power/performance

Static Stretching After His Workout
Static stretching is best done after a workout. There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the most important reason is because after a workout static stretching can help to calm the nervous system and signal to your body that the workout is over.

Cool Down After Every Workout
Closely related to the point above, Tiger's cool down probably involves a gradual decline in movement intensity in order to gradually bring his body out of workout mode and prepare him for recovery. Stretching, light movement and general flexibility training, when the muscles are warm and receptive to static stretching, may be a significant part of his cool down so he can recover faster.

Cardiovascular Work
The work to rest ratio in golf is extremely skewed. You might "work" for one second with very high power output levels and then you have maybe up to 5 minutes to rest before swinging again.

One of Tiger's main goals is to maintain as high of an energy level as possible for as long as possible to ensure that when he needs those bursts of rotational power there is enough gas in the tank to provide it. General cardio training would probably be a big part of developing the general energy levels and endurance needed to perform well over 18 holes over many days week in and week out.

Basic, Compound Movements During The Off-Season
Tiger would probably focus on general strength training during the off-season to give both his body, nervous system and mind a break from the intense training demands of the golf swing and season. Basic movements in the gym would help him keep his strength levels up while also helping to keep his body sharp.

Longer workouts would be acceptable here due to a minimal practice, playing and/or travel schedule. Complete physical, mental and emotional recovery is also more likely due to reduced stress levels.

Golf-Specific Power Exercises During The Season
As with any elite level athlete, the in-season focus will probably be on golf-specific strength, power and flexibility movements. The training would focus on rotational movements at a higher velocity. Most of the movements would probably also be done in a very golf-specific posture.

Shorter (less than an hour), more intense workouts would be expected here due to a busy practice, playing and/or travel schedule. Complete physical, mental and emotional recovery is less likely due to increased stress levels.

Dynamic Flexibility Training Year Round
I can see Tiger doing golf flexibility training year round. Being a power golfer requires speed, strength and flexibility. While Tiger would get a good amount of dynamic flexibility training out of his regular golf workout program he would also probably spend time working on his overall, total body mobility.

While none of us will probably ever know what Tiger Woods does in his golf workout programs, it is a safe bet that many of the points mentioned above are critical components of his golf performance enhancement plan.