Getting fit for golf.

The funny thing is, I know what I should be doing and what I should be eating. I have the same problem most guys have.....its the belly and the butt...legs are decent....upper body ok......

Well I can ask you this...what's the quickest way to start dropping the weight and toning up while adding some strength????

I m about 5'10.5" tall and running about 239 lbs with a 42 in waist...
I really want to get back in golf shape.

go here and see me
www.sweetbethel.com


Looking forward to hearing from ya!!!

__________________
Preacherrr
Tiger Woods Wanna Be
3347960210

Hey Preacher,

I'm the same height as you and have two kilo's to go and I'm pre my two boys weight. I'm currently 77kilos (I suppose times that by 2.2 and you'll have your pounds). I'm happy between 71 and 75.

I've always worked out on my fitness so this isn't my problem. Since having the kids my diet has been the con.

This year I have worked really hard on watching diet. I have toned and lost my weight more so by eating more meals per day with less content.

I'll eat 5 to 6 small meals a day. Apparently tricks the metabolism - makes it quicker and burns more fat.

I love my beer - so I'm into drinking low carb beer. About a 100 cal per stubbie. Been drinking this stuff since August last year. If I can't be bothered having a beer, I'll have a red wine.

I've gone off the white breads, rice and pasta.

When I was really good (before my boys), I limited my intake of fat to around 25 grams per day.

I don't have any butter or marg on my toast or sandwiches.

To stop my cravings I have one bad meal/day per week. I eat absolutely **** for this meal.

Believe it or not, walking is far better for fat burning than running is. A good argument for spending more time on the course.

Hope this helps.

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VP

Preachrr,

There is no "best way" to quickly lose weight - only a sensible and consisent approach. The sensible part is to minimize processed foods - those in boxes and plastic bags. If you need some motivation on limiting them, take a tour of a local food processing plant. That may be enough to keep you from putting that stuff in your body - notice I said stuff and not food. It used to be food, but it's not anymore. If you are having trouble determining if it's too processed, answer this question about any food.

How long would it last in your pantry if you never ate it and just left it there. The longer it will last, the more processed it is. The more processed it is, the worse it is for your metabolism.

To illustrate, let's use Twinkies and bananas as an example. A box of Twinkies will last in your pantry for a long time - very long time. Bananas, on the other hand, will last about a week. In this case, you should choose bananas over Twinkies most of the time. This is an obvious example, but when you start to evaluate your food choices this way, it becomes easier to eat.

The other part of sensible is exercise. You should get some form of exercise on most, preferably all days of the week. The key phrase here is "some form of exercise". It could be walking for 10-15 minutes - that counts and is better than sitting on the couch. Overall, your exercise program should be balanced between resistance training and cardio. Do your weight lifting routine 2-3 days per week and fill in the rest with cardio.

The second part is consistency. Even the best plan won't work if you aren't consistent. Do it everyday as best you can. Don't beat yourself up over the slip-ups - everyone has them. It's how you respond to them that will determine your success.

Let me know if this helps,
Brian

__________________
Need a golf-specific fitness workout or have a golf-fitness question, I can help. Just ask.

Trememdously.....I am at the point now of just doing it.....LOL....since Tiger is my favorite golfer.....his physique is one of my drivers...lets do this....!!!!!!!!

Hey Preacherrr,

Again the Dr. is right. Where I work we have access to a Registered Nutritionist. She comes in once a week and gives us lessons about diet and exercise and meal planning. Of all the nutritionists I've met she probably has the most down to earth approach to nutrition. She advocates eating something for breakfast, it doesn't have to be a full breakfast but have something. Eating 5 smaller meals a day is better than eating 3 (or 2 or 1) large meals. Get a good multivitamin. If your trying to lose weight start slow. Eliminate 250 calories per day. Try to stay away from empty calories (soft drinks, foods high in fat, most processed foods). And don't think about "good" foods or "bad" foods. You can still budget a doughnut or a piece of cake into your diet. You just can't afford a dozen doughnuts or an entire cake. I was a very avid soda drinker. I went to diet soda and in the space of 4 months I lost 24 pounds. I also cut back on a lot of the junk that I dearly loved. My goal is to get to 205 before my birthday and I am at 213 right now. Take small steps and reachable goals. Changing your nutritional patterns takes time but you can get there.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Baby steps.....just eliminate all the junk...got it....!!!! Gonna take time....I want to put myself in the best shape I can be in...to play the best golf I can play...!!!!

How much water are you drinking...???

I try to drink a couple of liters of water per day. Keep in mind that everything we drink is mostly water. If your hydrated enough your urine should be very light yellow to clear. Also don't wait until you feel thirsty to drink something. On the course we have water stations every other hole so I try to drink a couple of 4 oz. cups of water at every station. If it is hot or windy try to drink more. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Hey Dr Brian,

What can program can you recommend to assist/promote better balance.

Time management is an issue. Perhaps 10-20 minutes a night after the kid's have gone to bed.

Got lower back injury. Surgeon said no sit-ups, squats and extendid periods of bending.

I've got a fit ball.

Let's have it!!!!

I just spent 20 minutes replying and got an error message when I tried to post it!

I'll get back to my reply later on this afternoon - sorry I have an appointment in 15 minutes.

Brian

Hey guys,

First of all, sorry I’ve been absent the last couple of days. I just started another session of my group exercise program. The first week is always a little hectic – getting everything and everyone back to normal, whatever normal is.


I’ve got a checklist of the posts I want to respond to, I’ll get to them in the next couple of days. I’ll start off with the balance question by VP.

If you follow a fitness routine, you can incorporate balance into the exercises and effect your total time working out minimally, if at all. To build it into your routine, do all of your standing exercises using some type of balance equipment, eg a BOSU trainer, balance disks or balance boards.

My preference is the BOSU trainer. The BO stands for BOth, the S stands for sides and the U stands for up – BOth Sides Up, pretty clever. Anyway, you can work your arms, shoulders, back, legs, any standing exercise with this. With either side on the floor, simply stand on it in your address position and perform the exercise. If you’re doing squats, you can’t remain in your address position – but you can use your arms to help maintain your balance. The flat side down is easier but will really strengthen your lower legs and ankles – good for rehabbing an ankle sprain (or as in my case, an ankle fracture).

You can do the same with balance disks or balance boards.

If you are working out at home or somewhere that doesn’t have this equipment, use resistance tubing or dumb bells for the standing exercises and perform them on one leg – just make sure to switch your legs, balance out your balance training, so to speak.

If you’d like to add a couple of things using the fit ball (I’m assuming it’s the big ball), two exercises you can do are the knee balance and Superman. Knee balance is just as it sounds – kneeling on the ball while maintaining a stable position. To perform this exercise, roll the ball on top of your feet, lock it into place with your knees and roll on top of the ball. The first few times you do this, make sure you are near a wall for support. Slowly build until you can stay on the ball for 30 seconds. Then, try performing your golf swing. In addition to balance, this exercise really taxes your entire core, the hip complex and the inner thighs.

The Superman is lying on top of the ball with your arms and legs extended (parallel to the floor) like you are flying through the air. Just like Superman. Do your best to keep everything from touching the floor. In addition to balance, this exercise increases lower back strength and improves posture in the shoulders, upper back and neck and increases strength in your hamstrings.

For both exercises, the ball will roll – but shifting your weight to maintain position is what improves your balance.

Give these a try and let me know how it goes – anyone else who wants to try, post your results. I’m sure others would like to see how you’ve done. I’ve got several more of these, so when you need more let me know.

Hope this helps.

Brian

__________________
Need a golf-specific fitness workout or have a golf-fitness question, I can help. Just ask.

Hopping in late on this one too…..

From what I can tell, the reason why most golfers don’t do a conditioning program of some kind is because they think it is going to be super intense or that it will take too much time. It is one of those things you tell yourself you should do and will eventually get to, but the day you get started never comes.

Like was said already, fitness isn’t a cure all. However, it can remove physical limitations that manifest themselves as “swing faults” (not enough shoulder rotation on the back swing as an example). I think that doing anything physically simply enables you to improve your swing quicker than if you did nothing.

I try to get to the gym 3-4 times a week, with the workouts being 1 hour from start to finish. I work all muscles groups each workout in order to get maximum benefit with minimum time investment. Life’s demands can make it tough to workout 3-4 times a week, so when I get some momentum I try to ride it as long as possible.

And I have to agree that for most golfers any kind of general conditioning is more than enough to benefit from.

To really make is specific for golf, always try to get in your golf posture (bent at the hips, knees flexed and arms hanging naturally) when doing your exercises.

You can't get more golf specific than that.

DrBrian is dead on! Do exercises on one leg if you don't have the Bosu or balance discs. Also try them in your bare feet to really rely on your balance through your feet proprioceptors.

It's like running on the beach. Run on the beach with shoes...then take your shoes off...BIG difference!

fitness is so important, I still do streches even though i'm very fit. once when i did'nt i shot 112 [around 95 normaly].
liam,

Just after some feedback Preacher - are you attaining goals?

This topic is awesome.

I'm about to have 2 weeks of vacation, and intended to use them to start up a "golf-improvement/fitness improvement/slash the chubby tummy" program by testing out a multitude of excercises.

I've just ordered one of those huge fitness-balls (including resistance tubing and instruction DVD), and will definately pick up some tips from this topic.