The Secret to Great Golf!
The real secret to get the most out of your swing and your golf game is…… Control!
Without control your technique and form will fall apart quite quickly whereas once you have the strength and stamina to aid your technique you can concentrate on the target and let your muscle memory do the rest.
Let’s look at the major muscle groups that come into to play during your game:
1. Core strength muscles are the key to maintaining form throughout your swing and without these you develop bad habits to compensate for the lack of strength. Your body is trying to bypass the area of weakness which leads to inconsistency in both your short and long game.
2. Thighs and Buttocks I am going to group together because they work together in every movement that either muscle group performs. If your thighs are weak you will be unable to hold your set up position for any length of time and you tend to ‘rush’ your shots because of the fatigue in these muscles. Your Buttocks work with your thighs to keep your posture and stability throughout your swing and help to take the pressure off the lower back. You may find that the front nine your technique and form are good but as the game progresses and that fatigue sets in your ability to play with control and be relaxed disappear and we tense up with disastrous results.
3. The forearms are often a forgotten muscle group with golfers and without good strength in this area our control of the club head is reduced enormously. Building strength in this area allows us to perform numerous repetitions of the same movement (swing) without falling down in control or technique.
4. Shoulders and Chest are key areas for golfers to get the follow through and alignment that is needed for distance and accuracy and, like the thighs and buttocks, they work together to allow proper rotation. Weakness in this area will cause lower back pain and stop you short of driving to the target with your arms.
Now the key to performing at your best is strengthening these muscles groups in conjunction with the tendons and ligaments that control your joint movement. Doing Functional strength exercises which replicate the way the muscles work in real life, especially during your round, will improve your game out of sight and make sure you stay on top form for years and years.
Using Free Weights such as dumb bells and medicine balls will teach the muscles to work together so that you’re getting the most out of your strength training workout.
Wishin you continued golf success and a lower handicap,
Ric
Five Top Tips for Looking & Feeling Great on Your Wedding Day
1 Drink lots of water. In my experience, the vast majority of the population are dehydrated. If you suffer from lethargy (both physical and mental), afternoon headaches or dry skin try drinking more water. Even if you don’t suffer from these symptoms drinking lots of water will make your skin glow, your eyes sparkle, enable you to think more clearly and feel more energetic. And if you’re trying to lose weight water also helps to create a feeling of satiation. A word of warning, though: don’t try and increase your water intake suddenly. It takes a couple of weeks for your body to adjust to receiving additional hydration. Flooding your body with water when it’s not used to it will create abdominal bloating and all-over water retention.
2 Eat regularly throughout the day. You should be eating three nutritionally balanced meals each day, and you should have at least one or two healthy snacks. By regularly keeping your ‘metabolic furnace’ stoked you’ll have more energy, will drop dress sizes, have more stable blood sugar levels and be less inclined to reach for that coffee and sweet treat at 3pm. You’ll also have more energy and stamina for the demands of the day.
3 Never, ever skip meals, especially breakfast. To give yourself maximum energy on your wedding day and for the days and weeks leading up to it, you need to eat breakfast. This is especially important for brides who want to lose a few kilos before their wedding day. Even if you don’t exercise at all – breakfast remains the most important meal of the day. Your breakfast should contain complete proteins and complex carbohydrates (if you’re trying to lose weight, you should eat the bulk of your complex carbohydrates at breakfast and lunch and only have vegetable carbohydrates at dinner). On your wedding day itself you probably will be feeling too nervous and excited to think about eating. Even so, try having something small and light: your body will thank you for it!
4 Remember the benefits of exercise. Remember that feeling of euphoria you experienced after a particularly good work-out? You experienced that feeling because the most powerful “feel good” drug in the world – endorphins – are coursing through your veins. If there is a panacea, it’s exercise. Nothing feels better than the post-work-out high you experience after exercising. Revel in that feeling. Let it wash over you and truly experience it. Etch that feeling in your brain. It will fuel your motivation on those inevitable days when you just don’t feel like exercising. Being physically fit affects every single aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better, and live better! On your wedding day you’ll positively glow and you’ll have the stamina that you need to really enjoy your big day. Exercise has also been shown to effectively reduce stress. Exercise regularly in the weeks and months leading up to your wedding and you’ll positively sail through the day with a big smile on your face!
5 Set exercise appointments with yourself. Use your diary to set appointments for exercise – and then stick to them. Make your health your number one priority: you wouldn’t miss a fitting for your dress or appointment with your wedding planner, would you? So don’t miss your exercise appointment with yourself. Nothing is more important than your health. Nothing. Everything else will crumble around you if your health goes south. So make your exercise appointments a priority. If you find it difficult to keep these appointments, then consider hiring a personal trainer who will hold you to your commitment. On your wedding day itself aim to go for a short walk: it will help to dispel some of that nervous tension and start the day on the right note!
Five Ways to Boost Your Metabolism
“Metabolism” is the name of the bodily system that converts food calories to energy needed to perform various tasks, like pumping oxygen to muscles during a long walk. Many variables contribute to your metabolism, including heredity, gender and age. But you can quicken yours; here’s how.
Exercise more. When you walk, run, or lift weights, you increase the energy required of your body, which raises your metabolism then, and for hours afterward.
“It’s not a huge spike, but it makes a difference,” says Gary Miller, PhD, associate professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Read more
10 Best Foods for Your Heart
Simple food choices go a long way when it comes to your heart’s health. Focusing on fresh foods full of heart-healthy fats and antioxidants can decrease your risk of developing heart disease and cut your chances of a heart attack. These 10 foods will help keep your ticker in top shape.
Oatmeal
Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear.
Opt for coarse or steel-cut oats over instant varieties — the coarse and steel-cut contain more fiber — and top your bowl off with a banana for another four grams of fiber.
