Tag: anti-rotation golf exercises

Side plank rear delt raises are a great golf exercise to improve core control and shoulder strength and mobility

If you’re serious about improving your golf swing power, shoulder stability, and core control, it’s time to add the Side Plank Rear Delt Raise to your golf training routine.

This golf-specific movement blends frontal plane core stability with posterior shoulder strength, helping you activate and control the pulling phase of your swing—especially through the transition and follow-through. For golfers aiming to generate clubhead speed without sacrificing control or shoulder health, this is a foundational move.

What Is the Side Plank Rear Delt Raise?

At its core, this is a hybrid movement that combines the lateral core engagement of a side plank with a rear delt raise, which targets the posterior shoulder and upper back musculature. You’re training your shoulder girdle and scapular stabilizers under the demand of core control and anti-rotation.

How it’s performed:

Begin in a modified or full side plank position, with your bottom elbow directly under your shoulder.
With the top arm extended straight in front of your torso, hold a light dumbbell or resistance band.
Raise the arm back at shoulder height in a reverse fly motion, squeezing your shoulder blade as you lift.
Control the descent, and repeat without allowing your hips to drop or rotate.

Why Golfers Should Care: The Biomechanical Benefits

The Side Plank Rear Delt Raise isn’t just a gimmicky combination—it directly transfers to essential swing mechanics. Here’s how:

1. Frontal Plane Core Stability

Golfers often train in the sagittal (forward-back) or transverse (rotational) planes, but frontal plane control is critical for maintaining posture and resisting unwanted lateral sway during the swing. This exercise trains your obliques, glute medius, and quadratus lumborum—all key for side-to-side stability.

2. Posterior Chain and Scapular Control

The pulling motion during the golf swing—especially in the transition and follow-through—relies heavily on the posterior deltoid, rhomboids, and rotator cuff muscles. This exercise strengthens the “braking system” of your swing, improving shoulder stability and helping prevent overuse injuries.

3. Rotational Control

Even though this movement isn’t overtly rotational, the side plank challenges your ability to resist unwanted rotation, helping you build the torso-pelvis separation necessary for powerful swings.

Who Should Use It?

This movement is ideal for:

Golfers who slice due to upper body dominance and lack of posterior chain control
Players recovering from shoulder instability or imbalances
Anyone looking to improve pelvic control and trunk stability during the swing

How to Program It Into a Golf Workout

Sets/Reps: 2–3 sets of 8–12 reps per side
Tempo: Slow and controlled on both the concentric and eccentric phases
Progressions: Increase load, extend hold at the top of the raise, or move from modified side plank to full side plank

You can pair this with rotary core movements like cable lifts, or anti-rotation holds like Pallof presses for a comprehensive golf shoulder and core circuit.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Letting the hips sag: Keep your body in a straight line for optimal core engagement.
Using momentum: This is a controlled strength movement—avoid swinging the weight.
Neck compensation: Make sure your upper trap isn’t taking over the movement.

Final Thoughts: Why This Matters for Golf

Golfers spend a lot of time focusing on rotation—but the real magic is in controlling rotation through core stability and strong shoulders. The Side Plank Rear Delt Raise delivers both, making it an essential part of any golf performance program.

If you’re building a more powerful, efficient, and injury-resistant swing, start incorporating exercises like this to train the body the way the golf swing demands—in multiple planes, with control, power, and purpose.

Want more golf-specific workouts like this one?

This exercise is just one of the dozens of targeted golf exercises in our PinSeeker Performance Program—a 6-week, lifetime-access golf workout program designed to build mobility, strength, and power exactly where you need it.

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We help answer the question, what are the best exercises for golf.

The 5 Training Buckets That Should Be in Every Golfer’s Program

If you’ve searched “what are the best exercises for golf”, you’re not alone—and you’re asking the right question.

But here’s the truth: There is no one-size-fits-all list of “best exercises.” Instead, the best approach is to train within five key movement categories, or buckets, that mirror the physical demands of golf. These buckets allow us to progress or regress movements based on fitness level, age, mobility, or training goals.

Whether you’re a weekend golfer looking to avoid injury, or a competitive player trying to add 10+ yards to your drive, these five categories form the foundation of any smart golf fitness program.

1. Jumping: Build Explosiveness from the Ground Up

Why it matters:
The golf swing starts from the ground. The better you are at producing and controlling force through the lower body, the more clubhead speed and ball distance you can generate.

Jumping exercises train your fast-twitch muscle fibers, build explosive power, and improve how you absorb force (which helps prevent injury).

Sample Jumping Exercises for Golf:

Broad jumps
Depth jumps + stick landings
Split stance jumps
Med ball overhead throws

Jumping focused exercises also teaches deceleration—a critical skill during the downswing when force must be redirected through your lead leg.

2. Hip Hinges and Squats: Strengthen Your Base

Why it matters:
Your hips are the engine of your swing. Without strong glutes, hamstrings, and quads, your swing won’t have the power—or stability—you need to repeat it consistently.

Hinge and squat patterns build the posterior chain and increase lower body strength. This also complements your jump work and helps transfer force into your upper body.

Best Exercises in This Bucket:

Trap bar deadlifts
Rear foot elevated split squats
Kettlebell goblet squats
Romanian deadlifts
Iso lunges (holds for resilience)

These aren’t flashy, “golf-y” exercises—but they work. And they scale easily across fitness levels.

3. Anti-Rotation: Train Stability to Unlock Speed

Why it matters:
Speed without control is a recipe for swing faults and back pain. That’s why anti-rotation exercises are essential for golfers.

They build core stability, improve low back control, and help maintain posture throughout the swing.

And here’s the kicker—when the core is trained to resist rotation, it actually improves your ability to rotate efficiently through the thoracic spine and hips.

Key Anti-Rotation Golf Exercises:

Pallof press (standing or half kneeling)
Dead bug variations
Bird dog holds or reach + pull
Cable anti-rotation holds with stepping
High Bear pull-throughs

Think of this bucket as the glue holding everything together—protecting your spine while increasing rotational efficiency.

4. Push/Pull Patterns: Build Balanced Strength

Why it matters:
Golfers need strong shoulders, lats, legs and upper backs—but it’s not about being jacked. It’s about building unilateral strength, control, and balance across your pushing and pulling systems.

You need horizontal and vertical pulls, and yes, pushes too. This bucket should also include a rotational push/pull component that will compliment our mobility bucket.

Smart Push/Pull Movements for Golf:

Seated or half kneeling single-arm lat pulldowns
Face pulls (for shoulder external rotation)
Horizontal rows with mid-back rotation
Unilateral dumbbell presses (with opposing pulls)
Landmine presses + cable pulls

This bucket builds the neuromuscular coordination of your swing, especially when you match push and pull patterns across the midline.

5. Mobility: Own Your Range of Motion

Why it matters:
Mobility is more than flexibility. It’s the ability to control strength through full ranges of motion—especially in the joints critical to the golf swing.

The most important mobility areas for golfers:

Thoracic spine (mid back)
Hips (internal + external rotation)
Ankles (for ground contact + balance)
Shoulders (for swing plane and overhead control)
Neck + wrist (for fluid rotation + release)

Without mobility, your swing gets out of sequence. You compensate, lose posture, or overload other areas like the low back.

Best Mobility Exercises for Golfers:

90/90 get-ups
Adductor rock backs
Thoracic mobility drills
Deep lunge with rotation

Mobility is a daily practice. It should be woven into your warmups, cooldowns, and recovery days.

How We Program This at Kinetix Golf Performance

Every golfer we work with—online or in person—gets a plan built on these five movement categories.

That’s how we built our 6-week golf performance program:

Mobility and activation in the A block
Strength and power in the B/C blocks
Finishers, contrast training, and recovery baked in
Adjusted for fitness level and equipment access

We don’t chase trends. We build repeatable athleticism for real-world golf performance.

Final Thoughts: The Best Golf Exercises Come from Smart Buckets

If you came here looking for a magic list of “Top 5 Golf Exercises”—you now know the real answer.

It’s not about finding one perfect exercise. It’s about training within the right buckets, in the right order, with the right level of progression for your body and goals.

Train smarter. Build capacity. Hit better shots.

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