February 14, 2025 • 9 mins
In this solo episode, Chris Finn dives deep into the world of knee health with a focus on managing pre-arthritis conditions. He discusses innovative approaches for someone looking to increase vertical forces without exacerbating knee issues. Chris explains how by focusing on hip-centric exercises, upper body strength, and enhancing the posterior chain, one can maintain and even improve knee functionality. He emphasizes the importance of technique adjustments post-strength gains and shares insights on how to work around joint limitations, proving that even with knee sensitivity, you can adapt your fitness regimen effectively. This episode is a testament to the value of knowledgeable coaching in navigating fitness with joint constraints. To see how your mobility stacks up, take our research-backed mobility assessment here: https://www.par4success.com/podcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What's going on golf Fitness Bomb Squatters. This is the
Chris fin your host, and today we're going to dive
back in. I got some really good feedback that a
lot of you really enjoyed the topic of the total
knee that we did a couple episodes ago, and that
you guys kind of like the insight into the We
have the the pretty exclusive diamond level membership that we offer.
(00:32):
We're basically those few members basically get to meet with
myself and the leadership team every month and kind of go,
you know, talk through some things. So happens, it just
so happens. Byron, one of our guys in that group
had some pretty arthritic knees, and he was asking about,
you know, basically, how to navigate getting stronger so that
(00:55):
he can increase his vertical his vertical forces and to
help us club at speed with out pissing his knee
off right, because basically he's been super diligent. Basically, the
question was, I've been super diligent with the program and
the bulk of my body's loving it. My arthritic knee,
you know, is struggling. I'm having to have it drained
because there's been some swelling, how do I increase my
(01:15):
vertical leap and my golf.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Club at speed?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So this is somebody So if you guys remember from
the other episode, if you didn't listen to that episode
on Total Knees and you do have knee pain, go
check it out a couple of weeks ago, a couple
episodes prior to this. But basically, I think there's there's
a couple of points to take away here, and that is,
you know, there's literally a thousand different ways that we
can improve vertical force. And the thing with knees or
(01:41):
with any joint is that, unfortunately, you got to kind
of like there's there's no magic bullet in terms of
the hey, I know exactly which exercise is going to
work for you. And so I think this is the
case that we've been working through with you know, with
this this member in this instant it says, hey, let's
try this this week. Let's see how it goes. Okay, Oop,
that didn't go really well. Okay, let's let's pivot to
this exercise.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Ultimately, what's gonna end up being the best fit is
probably something that's actually, you know, we're gonna be just
because of the nature of how arthritic than he is,
we're not gonna be able to do very heavy knee
dominant work. We're gonna have to do more hip dominant,
rely on more of the posterior chain work to drive
that clubhead speed. From a lower body standpoint, the other
(02:25):
thing is we got to look at also the you know,
the upper body and how strong is that and how
how good can we get that? And when you're working
around a limitation like this, that's where you say, hey,
if we're not getting surgically, if this isn't being surgically replaced.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
This is what we got right? At some point, sometimes
it's just what I got is what I got.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
John Robm's a great example. He had a club foot.
He his swing is very different because of he's what
he's got. He's got what he's got, and he's actually
made that work pretty damn well. Right, He's made a
few dollars doing that that way. And so in this case,
if you're somebody who struggles with a joint, that you
just have to work around, right, So this would be
in this case, right, and you're saying, how do I
(03:01):
get faster? How do I get better? With this limitation?
In mind and how do I do that in a
way where I don't have to go get my knee
drained every week. That is where you're going to say, Okay,
I know at this point, I think we've tried a
lot of the knee dominant stuff. It's not it's just
pissing the knee off more.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Right, So the ROI is not there.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So let's look at the post of your chain. How
good can we get that? How do we just maintain
the you know, the knee dominant strength kind of quads
and those sorts of things where they're at and do
and do that in a way where it doesn't piss
it off. But then how do we get stronger in
the back and the backside right dead lifts kind of
like a kettlebell swing, those that side of type of
a movement, a hip hinge, we know, the spans, weights, whatever, maybe,
(03:37):
and then how do we look at getting the upper
body as strong as possible too? And then once we
have those, then you know, if club at speed is
the golf, which for a lot of you it's, then
there's more ways to get club at speed than just physical. Right,
if we can get our body to the point where
it can support more speed, but we're just not getting it.
That's where we can look at technique changes. We can
(03:58):
you know, longer back swings, we can look at lifting
the front foot to you know, the longer the backswing,
your general you're gonna have longer time to apply force.
This means your impulse goes up, which means your club
as he goes up. Right, So there's there's lots of
different technical adjustments that you can look at making. There's
also equipment adjustments that that we can look at making.
And then obviously there's intent as well too. So the
short answer to this is, in some cases, you may
(04:20):
just have to work around the joint, right, That's.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Sometimes that's just the case.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
But the good news is you can always work around
the joint. There's never been a joint that I have
found that I have not been able to figure out
how to work around it. Now, is it going to
give me the same level of vertical input? You know,
for this for this gentleman, like, is he going to
have the same level of vertical input as somebody who
had two good knees.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Who could do squatting?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Who could you know, who could do you know, low
impact biometrics and work on their elasticity a little bit
in their lower body, like no, like that's there's good.
There's gonna be a limitation there. But we can try
to have as you know, the best hip internal rotation
that we possibly can to protect the new and get
as much thorrascic rotation and shoulder rotation, to get as
much road like like as much length in the backswing
(05:04):
as possible, to increase our impulse as much as possible.
We can try to work on our timing of our forces. Right,
So you have two people who have this produce the
same amount of force, but the person A doesn't produce it.
To write an impact in person B produces it. You know,
right as the downswing starts, person Be's going to swing faster. Right,
So it's not all about how much force. A lot
(05:25):
of it can be efficiency of force and when you
apply that force, and then there's.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Some of you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
When we look at you on force PLA, it's like
you may not even really you may be a horizontal driver.
You may be a tow heel kind of person, right
like you may have a different superpower that isn't actually vertical.
I know a lot of the the research and a
lot of the talking is on about vertical vertical vertical,
and don't get me wrong, it's important, but there's two
other level, you know, two other forces. There's lots of
other ways that you can inproduce that you can produce
(05:51):
force and increase club it's being. And so I guess
the point of this being there's not one way to
skin the cat. And if you you know, if this
sounds like something that you're struggling with, maybe it's not training,
Maybe it's your hip or your elbow, your wrist, whatever.
Maybe like you don't have to keep pounding your head
on the wall and keep going to get a train
and keep getting injections like think of you know, trying
if it doesn't work, like a plan doesn't work, that's fine,
(06:14):
Like we adjust and then we figure when we try
the next plan. I've had some cases we're taking five
different five different plans, and I've been like, well, each
of those five worked in this exact situation and different people,
but they're just not working for you right now.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So let's let's go to the next one.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And I think that's the importance when you bring in
a coach knows what they're doing, and a coach who
can pivot that way and have that many different ideas
and creativity around that, and it's obviously what we try
to do here at for us. But I think if
you're that type of a person that you're struggling with
that you're not only looking for that in a physical coach,
you're also you know, a therapist trainer, like a personal
trainer or physical therapist. You're something looking for that in
(06:51):
a golf coach, somebone who can kind of help you
work around technically, you know, working around the limitation that
you may have. But I think the best case scenario
is when you have not only the golf coach, but
also the physical therapist and the personal trainer. Maybe sometimes
they're the same people. There's a lot of physical therapists
who are also you know, strengthing conditioning specialists. But like,
when you have that team around you who can help
(07:12):
you coordinate all of that, that's when, really, you know,
that's when you can really optimize and you know, your longevity,
that's when you can optimize your health, you know, on
the golf course and obviously minimize as much of the
discomfort is as humanly possible. Sometimes it's you know, it's
just a it's a timing game of just waiting until
it gets so bad you go get it replaced. But
other times there's been lots of people that I've seen
(07:34):
and worked with or conservative treatment we're able to you know,
never have to get the joint replaced. So it's obviously
the case by case, but hopefully that gives you guys
some insight in terms of types of things to think about.
And if you do have this joint, you know, number one,
optimize everything else around the joint that takes. Try to
take as much pressure off of it as humanly possible.
(07:54):
But you know, then I guess number two, don't be
afraid to experiment, but like do it with intent and
with the intelligence, and like have a reason why you're
experimenting with X, you know, different move or X different exercise.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Then you know. My general rule of thumb is the
two week rule.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
If you try something for two weeks and you're not
measurably seeing any improvement, you don't feel any better, Like,
like two weeks is long enough generally, if something is
going to work, you're going to start to see some
form of measurable change.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's why we met. We we it's like we literally check.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
We check mobility every two weeks, particularly in the beginning, right,
because we want to make sure that what we're doing
is working. And you should be doing that for yourself
no matter what you're doing. If you're playing the game
of golf, you're practicing a new move, right, track your
data before put in the two weeks of work, commit
to it, and then recheck what do you notice anything change?
If it's all exactly the same or it got like
incredibly worse, it's.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Probably not the right thing.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
So yeah, I just definitely, particularly in the physical realm
of things, you know, thinking about the two week rule
has been has been absolutely huge and transforming for people
to kind of pay I can commit to two weeks
and then let's reassess. I think if you can do that,
that kind of give makes it in a digestible format
for you. So so right, hopefully that was helpful for
(09:05):
you guys. Definitely keep them in the feedback. This is
you know, this is born out of out of your
guys feedback. Definitely some interest a lot of you guys
having some knee problems and then also you know, wanting
to get some insight in terms of what sort of
questions are are people asking other golfers your age asking,
So it's been it's been fun to kind of dive
into these questions a little bit with you guys.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So I've enjoyed it. Let me know and we'll do
it some more. So thanks so much hanging out with
me here in the golf with the Pom squak, and
we'll catch in the next episode.
What's going on golf Fitness Bomb Squatters. This is the
Chris fin your host, and today we're going to dive
back in. I got some really good feedback that a
lot of you really enjoyed the topic of the total
knee that we did a couple episodes ago, and that
you guys kind of like the insight into the We
have the the pretty exclusive diamond level membership that we offer.
(00:32):
We're basically those few members basically get to meet with
myself and the leadership team every month and kind of go,
you know, talk through some things. So happens, it just
so happens. Byron, one of our guys in that group
had some pretty arthritic knees, and he was asking about,
you know, basically, how to navigate getting stronger so that
(00:55):
he can increase his vertical his vertical forces and to
help us club at speed with out pissing his knee
off right, because basically he's been super diligent. Basically, the
question was, I've been super diligent with the program and
the bulk of my body's loving it. My arthritic knee,
you know, is struggling. I'm having to have it drained
because there's been some swelling, how do I increase my
(01:15):
vertical leap and my golf.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Club at speed?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So this is somebody So if you guys remember from
the other episode, if you didn't listen to that episode
on Total Knees and you do have knee pain, go
check it out a couple of weeks ago, a couple
episodes prior to this. But basically, I think there's there's
a couple of points to take away here, and that is,
you know, there's literally a thousand different ways that we
can improve vertical force. And the thing with knees or
(01:41):
with any joint is that, unfortunately, you got to kind
of like there's there's no magic bullet in terms of
the hey, I know exactly which exercise is going to
work for you. And so I think this is the
case that we've been working through with you know, with
this this member in this instant it says, hey, let's
try this this week. Let's see how it goes. Okay, Oop,
that didn't go really well. Okay, let's let's pivot to
this exercise.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Ultimately, what's gonna end up being the best fit is
probably something that's actually, you know, we're gonna be just
because of the nature of how arthritic than he is,
we're not gonna be able to do very heavy knee
dominant work. We're gonna have to do more hip dominant,
rely on more of the posterior chain work to drive
that clubhead speed. From a lower body standpoint, the other
(02:25):
thing is we got to look at also the you know,
the upper body and how strong is that and how
how good can we get that? And when you're working
around a limitation like this, that's where you say, hey,
if we're not getting surgically, if this isn't being surgically replaced.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
This is what we got right? At some point, sometimes
it's just what I got is what I got.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
John Robm's a great example. He had a club foot.
He his swing is very different because of he's what
he's got. He's got what he's got, and he's actually
made that work pretty damn well. Right, He's made a
few dollars doing that that way. And so in this case,
if you're somebody who struggles with a joint, that you
just have to work around, right, So this would be
in this case, right, and you're saying, how do I
(03:01):
get faster? How do I get better? With this limitation?
In mind and how do I do that in a
way where I don't have to go get my knee
drained every week. That is where you're going to say, Okay,
I know at this point, I think we've tried a
lot of the knee dominant stuff. It's not it's just
pissing the knee off more.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Right, So the ROI is not there.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So let's look at the post of your chain. How
good can we get that? How do we just maintain
the you know, the knee dominant strength kind of quads
and those sorts of things where they're at and do
and do that in a way where it doesn't piss
it off. But then how do we get stronger in
the back and the backside right dead lifts kind of
like a kettlebell swing, those that side of type of
a movement, a hip hinge, we know, the spans, weights, whatever, maybe,
(03:37):
and then how do we look at getting the upper
body as strong as possible too? And then once we
have those, then you know, if club at speed is
the golf, which for a lot of you it's, then
there's more ways to get club at speed than just physical. Right,
if we can get our body to the point where
it can support more speed, but we're just not getting it.
That's where we can look at technique changes. We can
(03:58):
you know, longer back swings, we can look at lifting
the front foot to you know, the longer the backswing,
your general you're gonna have longer time to apply force.
This means your impulse goes up, which means your club
as he goes up. Right, So there's there's lots of
different technical adjustments that you can look at making. There's
also equipment adjustments that that we can look at making.
And then obviously there's intent as well too. So the
short answer to this is, in some cases, you may
(04:20):
just have to work around the joint, right, That's.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Sometimes that's just the case.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
But the good news is you can always work around
the joint. There's never been a joint that I have
found that I have not been able to figure out
how to work around it. Now, is it going to
give me the same level of vertical input? You know,
for this for this gentleman, like, is he going to
have the same level of vertical input as somebody who
had two good knees.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Who could do squatting?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Who could you know, who could do you know, low
impact biometrics and work on their elasticity a little bit
in their lower body, like no, like that's there's good.
There's gonna be a limitation there. But we can try
to have as you know, the best hip internal rotation
that we possibly can to protect the new and get
as much thorrascic rotation and shoulder rotation, to get as
much road like like as much length in the backswing
(05:04):
as possible, to increase our impulse as much as possible.
We can try to work on our timing of our forces. Right,
So you have two people who have this produce the
same amount of force, but the person A doesn't produce it.
To write an impact in person B produces it. You know,
right as the downswing starts, person Be's going to swing faster. Right,
So it's not all about how much force. A lot
(05:25):
of it can be efficiency of force and when you
apply that force, and then there's.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Some of you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
When we look at you on force PLA, it's like
you may not even really you may be a horizontal driver.
You may be a tow heel kind of person, right
like you may have a different superpower that isn't actually vertical.
I know a lot of the the research and a
lot of the talking is on about vertical vertical vertical,
and don't get me wrong, it's important, but there's two
other level, you know, two other forces. There's lots of
other ways that you can inproduce that you can produce
(05:51):
force and increase club it's being. And so I guess
the point of this being there's not one way to
skin the cat. And if you you know, if this
sounds like something that you're struggling with, maybe it's not training,
Maybe it's your hip or your elbow, your wrist, whatever.
Maybe like you don't have to keep pounding your head
on the wall and keep going to get a train
and keep getting injections like think of you know, trying
if it doesn't work, like a plan doesn't work, that's fine,
(06:14):
Like we adjust and then we figure when we try
the next plan. I've had some cases we're taking five
different five different plans, and I've been like, well, each
of those five worked in this exact situation and different people,
but they're just not working for you right now.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So let's let's go to the next one.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And I think that's the importance when you bring in
a coach knows what they're doing, and a coach who
can pivot that way and have that many different ideas
and creativity around that, and it's obviously what we try
to do here at for us. But I think if
you're that type of a person that you're struggling with
that you're not only looking for that in a physical coach,
you're also you know, a therapist trainer, like a personal
trainer or physical therapist. You're something looking for that in
(06:51):
a golf coach, somebone who can kind of help you
work around technically, you know, working around the limitation that
you may have. But I think the best case scenario
is when you have not only the golf coach, but
also the physical therapist and the personal trainer. Maybe sometimes
they're the same people. There's a lot of physical therapists
who are also you know, strengthing conditioning specialists. But like,
when you have that team around you who can help
(07:12):
you coordinate all of that, that's when, really, you know,
that's when you can really optimize and you know, your longevity,
that's when you can optimize your health, you know, on
the golf course and obviously minimize as much of the
discomfort is as humanly possible. Sometimes it's you know, it's
just a it's a timing game of just waiting until
it gets so bad you go get it replaced. But
other times there's been lots of people that I've seen
(07:34):
and worked with or conservative treatment we're able to you know,
never have to get the joint replaced. So it's obviously
the case by case, but hopefully that gives you guys
some insight in terms of types of things to think about.
And if you do have this joint, you know, number one,
optimize everything else around the joint that takes. Try to
take as much pressure off of it as humanly possible.
(07:54):
But you know, then I guess number two, don't be
afraid to experiment, but like do it with intent and
with the intelligence, and like have a reason why you're
experimenting with X, you know, different move or X different exercise.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Then you know. My general rule of thumb is the
two week rule.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
If you try something for two weeks and you're not
measurably seeing any improvement, you don't feel any better, Like,
like two weeks is long enough generally, if something is
going to work, you're going to start to see some
form of measurable change.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's why we met. We we it's like we literally check.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
We check mobility every two weeks, particularly in the beginning, right,
because we want to make sure that what we're doing
is working. And you should be doing that for yourself
no matter what you're doing. If you're playing the game
of golf, you're practicing a new move, right, track your
data before put in the two weeks of work, commit
to it, and then recheck what do you notice anything change?
If it's all exactly the same or it got like
incredibly worse, it's.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Probably not the right thing.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
So yeah, I just definitely, particularly in the physical realm
of things, you know, thinking about the two week rule
has been has been absolutely huge and transforming for people
to kind of pay I can commit to two weeks
and then let's reassess. I think if you can do that,
that kind of give makes it in a digestible format
for you. So so right, hopefully that was helpful for
(09:05):
you guys. Definitely keep them in the feedback. This is
you know, this is born out of out of your
guys feedback. Definitely some interest a lot of you guys
having some knee problems and then also you know, wanting
to get some insight in terms of what sort of
questions are are people asking other golfers your age asking,
So it's been it's been fun to kind of dive
into these questions a little bit with you guys.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So I've enjoyed it. Let me know and we'll do
it some more. So thanks so much hanging out with
me here in the golf with the Pom squak, and
we'll catch in the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.