I need your help!

[neudi]

This is the time when I am starting to really get serious about my golfing career. I have just started working out and am going to start running. I'm quitting smoking and mostly drinking. I am very very serious about doing this.

My problem is that I went online and found a workout plan and yadda yadda( seinfeld if anyone gets it haha) but is anyone here as serious as this? Do you have a workout plan? I am going to be getting up at 6 A.M. and do about a half hour of running ( I smoked so it will be tough until I can train my lungs to handle it). After that I will go and do my workout routine. Go to class so I can finish school in order to have something to fall back on. Then I will walk to my home golf course and begin work on the camera to perfect my swing.

I have made up my mind that this winter will be it. This is the start of something that could go very well or something that could make me realize that it won't happen. I am not going to let the latter get into my head though. Anyone can do it if you work hard enough at it right?

I am asking all of you if you have any information on how you do your workout routines and such to help me out. I am not going to be bench pressing 200 pounds because as a golfer its to risky to pull a chest muscle or a back muscle and as I have felt before that hurts like a bitch. But I want to get my cardio up and my body able to handle walking 36 holes a day carrying my own back.

Thanks for all the insight you will leave me.


Stats: 6' 170 21 years old playing the game for 17 years smoked for 3 years

[DirtCheap]

What motivates you?

I am a cheap bas*ard (as my name would imply)
So what I have done, is to pay an entry fee into a half marathon for January 2009.

So between now and 2009, I HAVE to train to run 13 miles in 3.5 hours or I will lose my $90 entry fee..

It would drive me NUTS to think I spent that money for nothing!

[907golfer12]

First, congrats on quitting smoking and drinking, and secondly I am also this serious about golfing. Although I think I'm becoming more serious for a different reason, I am 15, and want to play college golf. I go to a personal training session once weekly to build muscle and I work on golf muscles and cardio/endurance. I have also been looking for a golf coach, and finally found one that I really like and will be figuring out payment tomorrow, but I play on have 2-3 lessons a week with my coach. And finally about running, it is the middle of winter here (Alaska) so it's hard to run right now, although I could if I wanted to, but during the summer I get up at 4:30 or 5:00 and run a few miles. Hope this is informational, and good luck with quitting smoking and drinking.

[neudi]

So your saying I should enter into something like a marathon that would have to make me perform to get my cardio up to where I would need it? Would this hurt my body more than help it as a golfer though? Instead of focusing on my golf swing I would have to train for the marathon...maybe i just misunderstood. I do like the idea though. Thank you

Edit: I was just thinking every year I play in the Pub Linx Tournament and you walk 36 in a day...I usually use a pull cart but maybe my goal could be to not only carry my bag for all 36, but to not be tired at the end of the day as well...that could almost be my sort of marathon.

[DGStinner]

I don't know how old you are or how long you've been smoking but it would probably be a good idea to start out very light with your workout so you don't get discouraged and quit before it really gets started. Instead of running at 6am, maybe start with a brisk walk or moderate jogging.

[sbgolfin_06]

i have begun to get this serious about golf. if you look at some of my earlier posts, you will see. recently though, i decided that it is definitely my mental approach that needs the most attention. i was on a schedule with my coach where we would meet once a week, even if i didnt need it. until he put it very bluntly, that i knew enough about the swing to do it on my own and that i had to start thinking about the errors that i was making and not keep letting him tell me what i was doing wrong. well, he was right. now, when i miss a shot, i can feel exactly what it is which helped a lot with my confidence during 18 holes. i still have my blowups, but i recover much better from them.

as for fitness, i have been an athlete all my life and dont see much need for working out to play golf. but i did get a medicine ball to train with, which has helped A LOT with my distance. im sure dumbells will work, but the medicine ball is nice because it forces you to use both arms together. in the swing, the most important thing for me to think about is to keep the shoulders and hips moving together so there ya go. and i picked up a balance board. my reasoning is, what good is all the strength in the world if you cant put it into the ball? i like to think of it in terms of engine horsepwer vs. the rear wheel horsepower for a given vehicle. anyway, hope this helps as it has helped me quite a bit.

[neudi]

As for my diet...should I be eating a lot of meat or salads? If there is a nutritionist on here that could throw some insight in that would be awesome.

[lamebums]

I'd strongly suggest hitting the gym, especially lifting weights. It will increase your total strength, but more importantly, especially if you use free weights, it will give you more control. It'd be important not to overdo it and pull something (I suggest a personal trainer - I've got one, and with him I've gotten from near-zero to socially acceptable numbers, lost 15lbs, and not done any damage to myself in the past six months.) If you'd need any backup to believe in lifting weights, look at Tiger now compared to back in the 90's. You can be damned sure he spent some time pumping iron.

[FIJIGolf23]

  neudi said:

As for my diet...should I be eating a lot of meat or salads? If there is a nutritionist on here that could throw some insight in that would be awesome.

Fitness is something I am really getting into this offseason. My main motivation is a Spring Break cruise in 3 months. My other motivation is overall fitness/strength/endurance for golf. I dropped my handicap from 2.5~3.0 down to 0.0 this summer. I'm going to be playing a lot of tournaments and practicing a TON this next year because I want golf to be a career. I am going to interview with a country club tomorrow looking for a job, and then ultimately get started on the PGA program. !!!! Disclaimer: I'm not an expert and I don't claim to be !!! As far as working out, you definitely want to be lifting weights. Light weight or heavy weight is mainly irrelevant as in both cases you want to stretch a lot to maintain flexibility. If you are just starting then just take it slow, keep the weight a bit lighter, and work on form. Good form is priority as strength will increase regardless since you are just starting. Cardio also depends on your goals. Do you want to lose weight? If you want to lose weight then you need to be running 30-45 minutes per session. Don't worry about running x.x miles. You should focus on keeping your heart rate up over a period of time. The food you eat is also extremely important. If you eat like a slob then working out and running are pretty pointless as it will affect your results. Pastas, whole wheat bread, chicken, tuna, lean beef, fish, fruits, vegetables, milk, water, etc. are what you want to eat. Get rid of sodas and fast foods.

[neudi]

Thanks fiji, very good insight...just what I was looking for.

I found this program online, is this good for someone starting out, and then I will increase it more after week 8.

http://www.health24.com/fitness/Prog...-2350-2109.asp

[FIJIGolf23]

  neudi said:

Thanks fiji, very good insight...just what I was looking for.

That's actually a pretty good starting point.

[g-funk13]

I just want to throw out an IMPORTANT idea:

Your workout has to work for you, NOT the other way around. It should increase your stamina, balance, and control. Your fitness should in turn give you a mental edge over your opponents, as you look and feel more fit.

If you get really gung-ho to work out, but it cuts into your practice rounds and practice sessions, you risk becoming a more fit version of yourself at your current ability level. Also, if you run or lift to the point where you must skip practice due to soreness/fatigue or, even worse, INJURY, your work is in vain.

In the awesome Golf Digest article on Tiger this January, Diaz reported that while Tiger seeks out crazy Navy Seal workout routines, etc. he also runs risky routines past his trainer, because he understands that injury is the OPPOSITE of what he wants. But this is from a person who has much more free time on his hands than you:

Streamline and Balance your schedule. Prioritize which things are the most important to improve your game. Improve your nutrition and fitness, cut out the smoking, but make sure that you organize your ENERGY so that when you show up in your practice rounds your mind and body are right, and you are able to give 100% in the practice session, because in the end, either your workouts are working for you or YOU are working for them, and the bench press machine don't give out no million dollar prizes!

Just my 2 cents

[LBlack14]

Hell, I can hit a shot, take a drag off my cig and swill beer all at the same time...can't everybody? I thought that was part of the game!

If ya don't think that's a work out...TRY IT!

[golfchief]

Thats great your going to work out. A few words of caution, don't lose track why your going to the gym. It's very easy to get hooked up with guys that can sway you into power lifting and bulking up, thats not good for golfing.
You want strength and stamina to help you game. I think I read somewhere tiger can bench over 300 pounds but does not do it all the time because it would not help his game. strength and bulk is not the same.

[ks8829]

strength, flexibility and cardio exercises for golf. Lots of pros are doing what Tiger is doing and working out, so most of the golfer today are in the best shape, I would guess that there is a way of find out what they are doing and how much of the time is spend on the strength, flexiblity and cardio exercises for golf.

Yoga, Pilates, running, weights, stretching are exercises that I heard many of the golfers are doing. It a matter of figuring out how much and what exercises to do along with your golf practices works for you, maybe you need to consult with a personal golf trainer to get you started.

I wish you the best of luck in the future golf career.

[neudi]

Thanks guys, yeah im pretty lucky because my apartment complex has a personal gym so its really convenient.

[g-funk13]

  neudi said:

Thanks guys, yeah im pretty lucky because my apartment complex has a personal gym so its really convenient.

that is great news for you! streamline it baby!

[Shindig]

  neudi said:

Then I will walk to my home golf course and begin work on the camera to perfect my swing.

I'm surprised no one has commented on this yet.

If you're a scratch player, as your listed handicap suggests, your swing is fine. Why aren't you working on your short game to get up-and-down more often, take more bogeys off the scorecard, and make more birdie putts go in? Jim Furyk, to use one example, probably wouldn't be where he is today if he ever cared about perfecting his swing. He knows how to score in golf, and that's far more important to golf success at any level than how "perfect" your swing is.