Article on: 42 ways to get fit

[boogielicious]

from golfdigest.com

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2015/01/fitness-friday-42-ways-to-get-1.html

Fitness Friday: 42 ways to get fit

By Ron Kaspriske

Being "fit" can mean a lot of things, says Golf Digest fitness advisor Ben Shear (@ben_shear), who trains many of the game's top players, including Luke Donald, Russell Henley and Webb Simpson. It can be anything from having your best blood-pressure reading in a decade to being able to slip into a decommissioned pair of jeans again. When he says "get fit," what he really means is get fitter. Below are 42 ways to do it (one a day for the next six weeks). Embrace as many of these as you can, and it won't be long before you look better, feel better and, yes, play better golf.

1. Drink more water. A lot more. That's still not enough.

2. Walk. Walk more rounds. Walk to work. Walk to the store. Walk around the block. Walk the dog. Stand up from reading this right now and walk.

3. Write down how much you sleep each day. Your goal is 60 hours a week.

4. Strengthen the most important muscles in the golf swing: your glutes (buttocks).

5. Constantly check your posture. In fact, stop right now and sit up straight. But don't arch your back when you do.

6. Take the stairs; two at a time if you can.

7. Buy a $10 foam roller, and knead the muscles of your body three times a week while you watch TV--especially your hips.

8. Eat low-glycemic fruit such as pears, grapefruits, cherries, peaches and apples.

9. Quit smoking. You can do it.

10. While sitting upright, rotate your upper body each way without letting your lower body move. Repeat for one minute.

11. When you're done with that, flex your ankles in and out, and back and forth. Make circles, too.

12. Cut your starchy-food intake by half. Start with white bread.

13. While waiting on the tee or in the fairway, extend your club in front of you, and move it up and down and side to side using only your wrists and forearms.

14. Breathe using your belly, not just your chest.

15. Make your lunch. You're much more likely to eat healthier when you control the ingredients--and you'll save money!

16. At least twice a week do a low-intensity physical activity that you enjoy. Who doesn't love a leisurely bike ride?

17. Eat more vegetables. Potato chips and carrot cake are not vegetables.

18. Tap into your inner Elvis. Get in your address posture, keep your upper body still and twist your pelvis back and forth. Do this for 30 seconds.

19. Put your back to a wall, and slide down it until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds.

20. Whenever you do a push exercise, immediately follow it with a pull exercise. No break.

21. Brace yourself against a planted golf club, and rotate one knee in toward the other. Switch it up and go the other way.

22. Strengthen your hamstrings. Pull your kid in a wagon.

23. Consume a lot more omega-3 fatty acid. You can get it from flaxseed oil, fish oil, mackerel, salmon and walnuts.

24. Stabilize the muscles of your core by raking leaves, paddling a canoe or sweeping floors.

25. Then strengthen them. Planks are great.

26. Make sure most of your protein comes from the best sources: eggs, beans, nuts, fish and poultry.

27. We like chocolate, too. Switch from milk to dark. The darker the better.

28. Do sprint/walk intervals. Shoot for 30 seconds of running followed by 30 of walking. Try the intervals six times or more.

29. Instead of downing pills, find food sources that supply those vitamins and minerals.

30. Get more good fats into your meals such as avocados, nuts, olive oil and egg yolks.

31. If you're going to drink alcohol, limit sugar every way you can. Example: Drink vodka and soda instead of vodka and tonic, or drink sauvignon blanc instead of Riesling.

32. Don't forget to do exercises that move the body laterally and/or rotationally.

33. Drop down and do push-ups whenever you can. Go slow, and strive for perfect form.

34. Let your body hang from a flexed-arm position. Can you do it for a minute? Then skip that and do pull-ups regularly.

35. Jump rope. It's great for your conditioning, coordination and golf posture.

36. Jump in general. Two legs, one leg, sideways. It will improve lower-body strength and tap into your inherent coordination. Yep, it's still in there.

37. Eliminate soda and fruit juice, especially ones with artificial sweeteners.

38. Buy a medicine ball. Find a sturdy wall. Throw the ball into the wall. Catch and repeat.

39. At the 19th hole, reach for nuts instead of pretzels.

40. Go out when the sun's out. Small doses of vitamin D will help keep your bones healthy and muscles functioning.

41. Don't skip breakfast. Ever.

42. Once in a while, ignore Nos. 1-41 and indulge.

[scorpion12]

I like #42. It's the answer to "what's the meaning of life?"

[AbsoluteTruths]

These are great. I do about 90% of them regularly.

[Torres9]

These are good. I am in a stage in my life where I must get fit. I'm so out of shape now it's embarassing. Hard to believe how I used to be and where I am today, just sneaks up on you.

[Patch]

Water, lots of walking, hiking (or climbing), and a decent diet is what us mere mortals need. The older you get the less carbs, and/or sugars are something  to look at. Of course getting a professional medical (MD's) opinion is also a good thing. A few beers a long the way is never a bad thing if you are old enough. Wine works too.  Helps withe kidneys......

[mvmac]

Mostly pretty good advice. My favorites would be 1,3,4,7,14,20,26,28,33,34. Not a fan of 8 and 41.

[bmartin461]

Not a fan of 8 and 41.

There is a lot of research on #41, eating breakfast is important for a variety of reasons, not just to give you energy.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/07/23/why-is-skipping-breakfast-so-bad-for-our-heart-health/

[mvmac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmartin461

There is a lot of research on #41, eating breakfast is important for a variety of reasons, not just to give you energy.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/07/23/why-is-skipping-breakfast-so-bad-for-our-heart-health/

You can eat 1 meal a day or 8, if the calories stay the same, the results will be very similar. I haven't eaten breakfast in a year and a half and it's helped me get fit and stay fit. It's worked out great for me and many others who do intermittent fasting. Not saying one is better than the other, you have to do what's best for you. Skipping breakfast doesn't cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, obesity, eating more calories than you burn causes those things.

People that skip breakfast will get hungry mid morning or at noon and make unhealthy choices because they're so "starved". It can result in a feeding frenzy, usually on carby, calorically dense foods.

http://www.theflexiblediet.com/2013/07/the-late-night-eating-breakfast-myths.html

Quote:

There could be a number of reasons why breakfast eaters tended to weigh less. People who are into health have generally been brainwashed into the idea of ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. As a result, people who tend to exercise, be more aware of calories, eat healthier foods and have more of a vested interest in how they look will also eat breakfast. It is more likely that it is these other things which make them weigh less, and it has nothing to do with the fact they eat breakfast.

[Elmer]

I am trying to incorporate alot of these, however the daily grind just seems to beat me down.

I had started jump roping at the begining of the year, in the garage. However it snowed, alot, and I had to put my car in the garage.

I am doing 45-60 second planks every morning And I am lifting weights as often as I can.

Always something to work on!

[No Mulligans]

I am trying to incorporate alot of these, however the daily grind just seems to beat me down.

I had started jump roping at the begining of the year, in the garage. However it snowed, alot, and I had to put my car in the garage.

I am doing 45-60 second planks every morning And I am lifting weights as often as I can.

Always something to work on!

Exercise burn out is so common, look at all those with gym memberships that seldom make it to the gym.  The whole fitness club model is based on most members not showing up.

I think for some of us, it's better to be the tortoise than the hare.  Don't make your routine too difficult, just get in a routine.  Even if it's only a 30 minute walk every morning, that's still better than what most people do.

[Elmer]

Exercise burn out is so common, look at all those with gym memberships that seldom make it to the gym.  The whole fitness club model is based on most members not showing up.

I think for some of us, it's better to be the tortoise than the hare.  Don't make your routine too difficult, just get in a routine.  Even if it's only a 30 minute walk every morning, that's still better than what most people do.

During the winter I walk 30 minutes on my lunch break.

During the nicer weather, I do the same, but also take my dog on a 2.5 miles walk after work.

My issue is that I sit at a desk all day and I am busy. By the time I get home I am just worn out. Especially after cooking dinner and helping my kids with their homework.

Now when I get home I do my best not just to sit down, but to stay on my feet and moving!

[RandallT]

On 2/1/2015 at 10:47 AM, mvmac said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmartin461

 

There is a lot of research on #41, eating breakfast is important for a variety of reasons, not just to give you energy.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/07/23/why-is-skipping-breakfast-so-bad-for-our-heart-health/

 

You can eat 1 meal a day or 8, if the calories stay the same, the results will be very similar. I haven't eaten breakfast in a year and a half and it's helped me get fit and stay fit. It's worked out great for me and many others who do intermittent fasting. Not saying one is better than the other, you have to do what's best for you. Skipping breakfast doesn't cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, obesity, eating more calories than you burn causes those things.

 

People that skip breakfast will get hungry mid morning or at noon and make unhealthy choices because they're so "starved". It can result in a feeding frenzy, usually on carby, calorically dense foods.

 

http://www.theflexiblediet.com/2013/07/the-late-night-eating-breakfast-myths.html

 

Quote:

There could be a number of reasons why breakfast eaters tended to weigh less. People who are into health have generally been brainwashed into the idea of ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. As a result, people who tend to exercise, be more aware of calories, eat healthier foods and have more of a vested interest in how they look will also eat breakfast. It is more likely that it is these other things which make them weigh less, and it has nothing to do with the fact they eat breakfast.

@mvmac I think this NY Times Health section article echoes what you are saying (if I'm reading the post above correctly- I think it got malformed in the cutover). I think bmartin was extolling the virtues of breakfast, while you cautioned him that there are alternative studies.  Anyway, I just saw this today and searched "breakfast" here to see if it was discussed. Thought I'd post here.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/ask-well-does-skipping-breakfast-cause-weight-gain/?ref=health&_r=1

Quote

But experimental studies that randomly assigned people to eat or skip breakfast have found no such thing. One of the most recent,published in February, found no difference “in weight change and most health outcomes” between people assigned to eat breakfast for six weeks and those assigned to skip it.

I've heard my entire life about eating a good breakfast, and it has seemed to be decent advice for me. Periods of my life where I was my least healthy were times when I was too stressed and rushed to eat well in the morning. So which is it??

Seems like the nutrition world has had a lot of these conventional wisdom things get questioned lately.

[Lilfrier]

So, I'm curious, what do people consider "a lot" of water? I think that's where a lot of these kinds of suggestions lose people. They just say "do something," but the extent is never explained, and that makes goals hard to set.  10 and 11 are a good example, where it tells you to work on the upper body for a minute, then to just to something for an undetermined time with your ankles. You're told to consume certain foods to add good protein and omega-3s, but no mention of where to go to replace the vitamins from your pills. Too much vague information for my liking.

[mvmac]

14 hours ago, RandallT said:

Seems like the nutrition world has had a lot of these conventional wisdom things get questioned lately.

I think it's like that in a lot of industries.

[Lihu]

Kind of sounds exactly like my old martial arts training regimens except the golf part. . .

[Mr. Desmond]

Gosh ... 42 points and much of it common sense, so 42 is not a big deal.

1. Breakfast -- whatever works for you. I can't exercise without fueling up. Get cranky, tend to blow up at others when cranky - I try to avoid negative people - and any exercise better be non-thinking -- no program, just a bike or a walk.

2. Food. What's healthy these days? The one consistency is avoid sugar or foods that are related to making sugar. I avoid fatty meats just because I am gambling on the side of lean.

3. Since this is from a golf media -- gosh, buds, we need some golf specific stuff. KB and weights are great, and let's mix in a bit of Joey D or even much more kick-butt, the SKLZ GolfStrong - 45 minutes of 3 different programs and 2 stages -- old man doesn't do 45 min, I do 25-30, or whatever I can fit in, and do the rest the next day. Tough.

[windlaker]

As far as the gym membership goes...

I've been a member for about 10-12 years.  It's right on the way to work (A huge factor for me).  I have to view it as part of my job.  Wake up, grab a bite to eat, go to the gym, shower, then go to work.  I go to the gym almost every day I go to work for a 30-45 minute workout.

I do see the results...keeping the weight off, no more back problems, easier rehab from my double knee replacement.  But I still don't like going there.  

[pganapathy]

The whole breakfast thing comes down to one simple thing.  THE BODY METABOLISM SLOWS DOWN DRAMATICALLY AFTER 12 HOURS WITHOUT FOOD.  Essentially most people eat at least an hour or two before going to bed and then sleep for 8 hours or so.  If you then don't eat once you wake up (breakfast), you mostly wind up crossing that 12 hour barrier and having your metabolism slow down.  That is why breakfast is considered so important