Starting fitness from scratch with Sam Heffer.

In 2018 I stopped playing team sports, hung up my football boots and turned my competitive attention to golf. It was a sport I’d always wanted to get good at and was curious to see that if I committed to it fully, could I become a single figure golfer. After getting my first official handicap of 12, it took less than 6 months to achieve that particular goal.

Off the back of my passion for golf, my own achievements & my background in the fitness industry I started focussing my efforts on helping other passionate golfers improve their game through the means of better fitness training.

In this article I’m going to talk about the three things I’d do straight away if I was starting from scratch tomorrow and wanted to improve my fitness for the golf course.

FIND 2-4 NON-NEGOTIABLE TIMES EVERY WEEK TO TRAIN The biggest thing to get right with a training plan is your ability to stay consistent which means it makes sense to not leave that part up to chance. The way I see it, a ‘basic’ programme completed well 3x per week knocks the socks off a so called ‘perfect’ plan done once a month.

Find 2-4 time slots of 30-60 minutes in your diary that you can commit to training and make them nonnegotiable.

LEARN HOW TO LIFT WEIGHTS SAFELY & EFFECTIVELY Two of the biggest factors that lifting weights can bring to your golf game are reduced risk of injury and an increase in club head speed which means that you can play and practise more often and add yards to your game.

Learning how to lift weights safely and effectively will massively help you fill your 2-4 time slots every week and help ensure you’re always ready to give your best on the course.

CREATE SOME ACCOUNTABILITY TO SOMEONE It’s all well and good having the best laid intentions, but having someone there to check in with and make sure you’re doing the things you said you would, greatly increases your chances of being successful.

Once you’ve committed to training, make yourself accountable to someone and get them to ask about your progress. This can be a mate, partner, family member or if you’re learning how to train properly, go all out and hire a coach for a period of time who will not only teach you about training and hold you accountable but will help measure your progress as well.

STARTING FITNESS FROM SCRATCH By Sam Heffer

Sam is a fitness coach who helps golfers to consistently beat their mates, hit longer & straighter drives & shoot lower scores with his simple power hitters fitness formula. Follow @samgolffitness on Instagram or email sam@samgolffitness.com to enquire about joining his programme.