Accomplishing Your Golf Fitness Goals

It’s February—the luster and excitement of those lofty New Year’s resolutions have faded away for many of us. Here’s hoping you’ve kept up with yours but chances are it’s been a struggle. And it’s likely a great many of those on-life-support resolutions revolve around fitness. Eat less, eat better, work out, maybe lay off the sauce a bit, and hit the ball a hell of a lot farther… This was the year you were going to do all that. Unfortunately those goals are already fading away, if they’re not already gone.

Why is that? Why is it so damned hard to follow through and actually get in the shape you want to be in? The truth is that it doesn’t have to be. As cinema giant and philosopher Rob Schneider once said, “You can do it!” Jan. 1 is just a date on the calendar, that’s all. So let’s get you back at it. This time with a plan and a method that can help you make lasting gains that will translate to the golf course and your daily life.

First, let’s revisit the “why.”

A Pre-Game Speech

I won’t belabor the point that getting in shape is a good idea. Fire up the Google machine and search “how to prevent chronic illness” or “how to live longer” or “how to thrive as you age” and see what comes up. I’ll save you the trouble: the top two hits will be diet and exercise.

But for you, the golfer, let me drive the point home a little more clearly. We’ve all heard the cliché that “golf is a game you can play your whole life.” Well, it won’t be if you don’t take care of yourself. That probably comes across as harsh but think about it. If you’ve forfeited your strength, mobility and flexibility, are you really going to want to keep playing the game as a broken-down shell of the golfer you used to be or, maybe worse, the golfer you could have been?

Despite what you may have been told, you absolutely can get stronger, faster, more mobile, and play better golf despite your age. You can hit it farther at 40 than you did at 30. It is possible to lose body fat. You can regain mobility and range of motion in your swing, regardless of your age. It is possible to lower your handicap even as you get older. You can build the endurance to walk 18 instead of riding. Whatever your golf goals are, they are achievable if you want them bad enough! But you have to start doing the work now. Especially if you want to keep playing the kind of golf you want to play as you age.

It’s About Habits

The adage that old habits are hard to break is especially true when it comes to health and fitness. In some cases, the habit in question has reached the point of addiction. As in the case of smoking or excessive alcohol, caffeine or sugar consumption. If you’re unhappy with your current fitness, I’m willing to wager you’ve got some poor eating habits to break along with the habit of hitting the snooze bar and skipping the workout you know you should do.

Which leads me to New Year’s resolution pitfall No. 1: Too much, too soon. A smoker probably didn’t start smoking by diving right in at a pack a day. Likewise, you can’t start your health and fitness habit by going from the couch to Mr. Olympia’s training routine. I get it. You’ve set goals and you’re anxious to get after them and reach your full potential. I applaud that enthusiasm but there’s no quicker way to kill that enthusiasm than debilitating soreness, overtraining or worse: an injury. 

Start Small

Start small and up the ante over time. You can be aggressive about how much you add and how quickly you add it as you monitor your progress, but the most important thing you can do is to do something. If you haven’t worked out in years, rather than signing up for that gym membership right away, start with three sets of 10 push-ups and 10 body-weight squats each morning. You’ll be amazed at the impact on your overall health from just that bit of effort. If you can start small and make that a habit, then you can start adding in another set or perhaps some yoga or mobility drills. Once you’re successful there, then go get that gym membership and start pumping iron with your long-term goals now a little more attainable.

Your diet should follow the same rule. If you try to go the full cold turkey route on that bowl of Rocky Road you’ve been hoovering every night, try to cut the frequency by a third or a half first. If you’ve taken to putting away a six-pack of brewskis every Saturday, trim it to three first before you reduce that to just one on special occasions (if that’s the goal). Otherwise, you’ll inevitably cave, go full five-alarm binge and never get the diet on track. Instead, like exercise, start small to break poor nutrition habits and start new healthy eating habits.

It’s Not Supposed to Be Easy

Gary Brecka of social media health and wellness fame and founder of The Ultimate Human describes aging as nothing more than “the relentless pursuit of comfort.” It’s pretty accurate if you think about it. When was the last time you sprinted hard or pushed your muscles hard against heavy weight? When did you last sweat profusely, on purpose? We’ve become susceptible to quick-fix solutions where we can stay comfortable. Take this pill, do this quick routine, buy this device, and presto … you’ll get in great shape.

Why are you after “quick and easy”? When did you ever covet something or set it as a goal because it was easy? When you made your first birdie, I’ll bet the first thought in your brain wasn’t, “That was easy.”  The reward and the feeling of accomplishment and gratification that pushes you to do more comes from the process, the grind and putting the work in, just as much as the achievement itself. Why deny yourself that reward for your dedication with an easy quick-fix?

Avoid The Quick Fix

Those quick fixes aren’t going to really fix much in the long run. There are certain unavoidable truths to health and fitness and you should be exceedingly wary of any fitness tip or solution that suggests you can get around them. To lose weight, you must be in a consistent caloric deficit. Meaning you have to burn more calories than you consume. The diet plan you’re thinking about buying that says you can eat what you want when you want? Yeah, probably not a good buy. To build muscle, you have to stimulate an adaptation. Meaning put enough stress on the muscle to force it to get bigger and stronger. That over-the-counter herbal testosterone booster isn’t going to do that for you.

You may have set yourself up for failure at the beginning of that New Year’s resolution because you may have put your faith in quick-fix solutions. It’s time to accept that to make the changes and improvements you want to make, you’re going to have to get uncomfortable. Sweat some. Get some of that lactic acid burn in your muscles. Get out of breath and learn to love it and look forward to the next time. Again, the process is as much of the reward as the accomplishment itself.

You Need Help

It’s amazing how many golfers out there are self-made isn’t it? They’re swinging their swing and digging it out of the dirt themselves. While being sponges for every magazine tip and YouTube instruction video that drops. Despite the well-intentioned suggestion from their golf buddies, they’re not going to get a lesson because, damn it, they know what they’re doing. I probably just described somebody you know, right?  Well, he’s at the gym, too.

The fact is that the gym is loaded with guys and gals who “know what they’re doing” but probably know less than they think they do for optimizing their physical fitness. The truth is that if you desire to do something that is optimized for your fitness goals, find a professional. Put simply, you cannot train like a bodybuilder and then head to the course and expect to play like a golfer. Sure, there is a time and place for heavy weight training (it’s called the off-season) but gaining clubhead speed requires explosiveness that comes from ballistic movements. Think jumps and medicine balls.

Programs

Fortunately, there are lots of resources available to you that are designed to enhance not just your fitness but also your golf game. Perhaps the most prominent is Mike Carroll’s Fit for Golf. Fit For Golf offers an app-based training experience complete with golf fitness training programs specific to your golf skill level, fitness level and your goals.

Other options include Hit It Great from Coach Joey D, who counts Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka among his stable of athletes. GolfForever, GolfWOD, Trainfully … you have options. The point is that you don’t need to go it alone and you shouldn’t. In this day and age of fancy-pants smartphones, you can get the help of a professional expert trainer. As well as, do it very cost-effectively and have perpetual access to training designed to take your golf swing to the next level. Why wouldn’t you?

Conclusion

So get back at it! Start small in making and breaking habits, understand that you’re going to have to get uncomfortable and earn it and enlist the help of professionals. This year can still be the year you tackle those fitness goals!