Side bend is an extremely important part of the golf swing. It helps increase shaft lean at impact and improve compression with irons; it gives you greater clubface control; it stops you early extending and losing your posture; it allows you hips to clear easier; and it generates more consistent ball-striking.
Side bends bring balance to your entire body. They lengthen the abdominal muscles, hips, and thigh muscles, while improving flexibility in the spine. Side bends also stretch the muscles between the ribs (the intercostal muscles).
Many golfers have a hard time balancing torso rotation and side-bend in the backswing. This can lead to a few common swing faults, most notably a loss of posture or a flat shoulder plane. For players that fall into this category, it can be helpful to focus on side-bending immediately at the start of the take-away.
Early extension in the simplest terms is any movement of the lower body toward the golf ball during the downswing. It causes your arms to get “stuck” behind your body and forces your torso to rise up as you come through the ball striking zone, resulting in a two-way miss.
Side bend encourages greater shaft lean as the motion of driving your right shoulder towards the turf in the downswing – while your left shoulder moves up and around – will decrease your angle of attack and cause you to hit it fat if you don't get your hands ahead of the ball.
At address, the spine should actually be angled ever so slightly to your right (for a right-handed golfer) – about 5° of tilt is all it takes. Put another way, the right shoulder should be just a bit lower than the left.
Life and sports require strength and flexibility: lifting, reaching, turning and bending move you through your day and keep you in the game. Bending exercises improve flexibility by stretching and opening tight areas of the body and by leveraging body weight to strengthen muscles and joints.
Side bends are an easy but powerful exercise that you can do quickly during any workout. They're a great way to work your oblique muscles for increased core strength, which helps support your body during other workouts. You'll be a step closer to getting that six-pack with strong obliques!
Joint range of motion refers to both the distance a joint can move and the direction in which it can move. There are established ranges that doctors consider normal for various joints in the body. For example, one study determined a normal knee should ideally be able to flex, or bend, to between 133 and 153 degrees.
What Can Happen If You Stand Too Close To The Golf Ball? Standing too close to the golf ball will result in a posture that's too upright, which could result in inconsistent shots and no control over the ball. Standing too close to the ball can result in slices and shanks, which are very common among average players.
Standing up at impact is the golf swing error that involves changing the forward spine angle during the swing, specifically at impact. First set at address, the forward spine tilt is meant to be kept intact all the way through impact with the ball.
The point of a 'squat' in the golf swing is to gain every ounce of power from the whole body. The squat lengthens the quadriceps (thigh) and set of gluteus muscles (backside) causing what is known as an eccentric contraction which then allows those muscles to contract (shorten) faster and harder.
Caution—the side bend is an asymmetrical exercise. Provided you have a healthy spine and you perform it with correct form, the side bend will strengthen your body's core muscles and increase their robustness and resistance to injury. If, however, you have back problems, you want to avoid this exercise.
Even performing side bends while holding a single dumbbell on one side of the body isn't very effective at targeting the lateral core because of the angle of force involved. There's just not much resistance. The dumbbell is very close to your body, giving you a mechanical advantage over the weight.
Side bends primarily target your obliques, which are the muscles that wrap around your waist and torso.
Skip: Weighted Standing Side Bends
Holding a dumbbell on one side of your body during side bends “puts the spine in a compromised position, and it's hard to maintain alignment to isolate the obliques properly,” says Snow.
Again, do you have the urge to stretch? Getting started with a stretching routine is a great way to improve flexibility and enhance quality of life. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that adults perform flexibility exercises at least two to three times per week.