Inside Tiger Woods’ brutal exercise regime which underpinned golf legend’s return

Tiger Woods is perhaps slowing down with regards to the variety of tournaments he contests however with regards to his personal private health the sporting icon has by no means been extra devoted. Woods was pressured to endure a seven-month lay-off from the PGA Tour after withdrawing from the third spherical of The Masters at Augusta National in April. He subsequently underwent a subtalar fusion on his proper ankle that pressured him to overlook nearly all of the season, together with the Open Championship at Hoylake, the place he had famously clinched the Claret Jug in 2006.

The 15-time main champion lastly returned to motion final month on the Hero World Challenge within the Bahamas, earlier than which he revealed that he not had ache in his fused ankle, however was feeling it elsewhere in his physique.

Woods attributed his eventual return to not solely the success of his operation but additionally the devoted coaching regime he has continued to observe that has enabled him to maintain competing on the planet of elite golf regardless of the quite a few severe harm setbacks he has endured over time.

His fundamental routine contains stretching, core coaching, cardio classes and weight coaching. The American will begin his day with as much as 40 minutes of stretches earlier than his exercise even correctly begins. This is to enhance the vary of movement in his joints and make the blood circulation in preparation for his workouts.

Flexibility coaching can be key to a tension-free golf swing, one of the vital frequent causes of accidents within the sport. Once totally stretched, he’ll deal with core muscle tissue. Not solely does this permit him to strike the ball tougher, but additionally helps to forestall additional again issues.

Woods’ cardio session will both be working or on a motorbike. When working, he’ll both do a three-mile velocity run or an endurance run of as much as seven miles. A mix of the 2 is right for working each sluggish and fast-twitch muscle fibres.

His weight classes can final for 2 to a few hours however are used for a really particular goal. Explaining the thought on his private weblog, he wrote: “The idea is to build the strength I need to crush a golf ball rather than develop big muscle volume.

“I lift sub-maximal weights at higher reps, sometimes 25 to 50, because I’m going for tone and endurance instead of bulk. Bodybuilders usually lift heavier weights in sets of six to 12 because they’re going for mass. Sometimes, I add plates to break up the routine and challenge myself, but I rarely lift a lot of weight.”

The mixture of workouts Woods performs retains his muscle tissue guessing and might shock them into new development, however as a substitute of working to the purpose of ache, he works them to the purpose of failure.

He works all of his muscle teams however particularly focuses on his again, shoulders and legs. The latter is extra necessary than maybe first evident as a result of the facility from a golf swing begins with the decrease physique.

When it involves food plan, the PGA star is true on the cash. For breakfast, he’ll sometimes eat an egg white veggie omelette. Lunch is normally salads, lean meats, seafood and greens. Carbohydrates are key for golfers and Woods will get most of his from fruits, greens, and sports activities drinks.

Following his surgical procedure, Woods could have additionally been following a strict rehabilitation physiotherapy regime for his fused ankle. That he was unable to really feel any ache within the affected space earlier than returning to motion in late November demonstrates how devoted he has been to his restoration.

Woods will flip 48 on Saturday and as he prepares for subsequent season he has already made it clear that he can solely realistically count on to play in round a dozen occasions in 2024, focusing on one a month.

But by sustaining the bodily situation that he does, the legendary star can proceed to defy his doubters for just a few years extra and who would wager in opposition to him discovering a technique to land one other tour title if not a significant?