Is your fitness up to par?

Former Toronto Argo Fabian Rayne says one surefire way to improve your golf swing is to improve your fitness.

But where do you start?

With the core, naturally, says the 33-year-old kinesiologist.

“The core is super important,” explains Rayne, who’s on the board of directors for the Ontario Kinesiology Association. “Muscles such as your erector spinae muscles, transverse abdominis and rectus abdominis, those muscles are super key when you’re talking about strengthening the core and making sure you’re stable as you’re going through these (golf-swing) motions.”

Here are Rayne’s three favourite core exercises (as demonstrated by one of his clients):

1) Bird dog

Get down on your hands and knees. Extend one arm forward and the opposite leg backwards while maintaining square hips. Alternate with the other arm and leg.

2) Front plank

Keep your body stiff and straight as a plank while perched face-down on your elbows and toes. This isometric exercise, made popular in Pilates and yoga, takes practice to master.

3) Side plank with rotation

Start by lying on your side in this variation of the front plank. Prop yourself up on your elbow, while keeping your body stiff and straight, and your feet stacked one on the other. Take your top arm and reach underneath your body while rotating your torso. Don’t forget the other side.

For more from Fabian Rayne, click here.

And click here to check out my Keeping Fit newspaper feature on him.

Tags: Fabian Rayne, golf fitness, Ontario Kinesiology Association, Toronto Argos