To build power--and prevent injury--golfers work the core

Here’s what some LPGA players are doing to amp up their game.

Natalie Gulbis

With a steamy wall calendar, advice column and reality show under her belt, Natalie Gulbis represents the hipper, fitter face of the LPGA, and she takes her conditioning seriously.

To maintain her 252-yard driving average, the 24-year-old works out five days a week, 1 1/2 to 2 hours per session, when she can. Although she does a complete workout -- cardio, lifts and stretches -- she emphasizes moves that improve core strength and stability, protecting her back against the twisting motion inherent in golf.

While driving, “your lower body stays stable and in the matter of a second or two, you put a lot of wear and tear on your body,” she says. “Strengthening my core helps improve balance, gives me strength to exercise and protects my abs and lower back.”

David Leadbetter, an internationally known golf instructor who’s worked with a number of LPGA players, agrees that in golf, core strength is key. Having strong abdominal and back muscles helps the golfer stay in balance while adding power to the drive. “You can only get your upper body to work as fast as you can stabilize your lower body,” he says. “You can train the heck out of your legs and core without affecting hand dexterity.”

Gulbis’ workout generally includes 15 to 20 minutes of cardio, such as active stretches and lunges, 30 to 40 minutes of lifting -- bicep curls with 20-pound weights and bench presses (100 pounds). Between lifts, she does crunches -- and works a stability ball for balance and core strength. She also does explosive exercise, such as very fast push-ups and jumping jacks to build endurance and agility. For variety, she’ll take a kickboxing, hip-hop or Pilates class.

Like many LPGA players, she’s adopted a low-fat diet with plenty of protein. A typical day includes protein shakes and protein bars, large salads, lean protein and steamed vegetables.

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Nancy Lopez

At age 50, golfing pioneer Nancy Lopez knows a few things about how the fitness routines of LPGA players have changed over the years. “When I was a rookie on tour, we didn’t have the facilities we do today and I don’t think any of us thought about fitness,” she says.

But by 1998, she says, when she was routinely driving the ball 245 yards and as far as 260, the women were working out with a vengeance. “Annika Sorenstam set a precedent for what you need to do to stay in shape,” she says.

Lopez, who has competed only sporadically in the last few years but plans a return, does much of her workout in her pool to preserve her joints, jogging and running against the resistance of the water and doing pull-ups on the diving board. Her pool work is designed to strengthen her upper and lower body -- to boost endurance as well as driving distance and accuracy.

She also exercises with elastic bands to enhance flexibility, uses 5-pound weights for bicep curls and uses a balance board in her gym to work her abs.

“Building endurance is key,” she says. While competing, in addition to walking at least 5 miles on the course, up and down hills, “You’re out there standing on your feet for eight to 10 hours, warming up, playing, practicing, signing autographs.”

After years of fighting her weight, Lopez has settled into a low-calorie, high-protein diet. She generally chooses salads with lean protein, fruits and vegetables.

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Laura Diaz

At age 31, Laura Diaz, whose driving average is 255 yards, is spending more time on her workouts than ever before. In the last 10 years, she says, “I’ve seen a surge in LPGA players working out.”

Like many players, she’s had to cope with maintaining her game while pregnant, then getting into shape afterward. “I started working out four weeks after the birth of my son” in February 2006 and was back competing two months later, she says.

In the latter stages of her pregnancy, she walked a minimum of 9 miles a day and played a tournament at 7 1/2 months. “I didn’t do very well,” she says, “but I played.” While pregnant, she didn’t need to adjust her swing, but lost some speed. “At lot of women play better when they’re pregnant,” she says. “I don’t know why.”

Like Gulbis and Lopez, Diaz is on the core strength bandwagon. “While I’m doing any exercise, I’m always focusing on tightening my abdominal muscles, because to generate enough speed you need to do it from your core and from your legs.”

To strengthen her legs, Diaz’s workout includes lots of lunges and squats of all types, sometimes with 8-pound hand weights. She also uses stretchy bands to work the upper body. “I do a lot of maintenance on my upper body,” she says, primarily to avoid injury and protect her rotator cuff. Diaz maintains a balanced, low-fat diet that includes plenty of protein and salads, meal bars, protein cereals, peanut butter sandwiches on the course and even protein water.

-- Janet Cromley