Tag Archives: sport

Health Perks of Playing Golf

28 Thursday Apr 2011

Posted by in Cardio, Exercising, Golf, Metabolism, Sports

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This week I started golf lessons. I’m not a beginner. I’ve actually started playing the game 15 years ago while living in picturesque Connecticut. Back then, I bought my first set of clubs, took lessons from a pro and off I went. I immediately fell in love with the sport and was hooked. Soon I was playing up to four times a week on four different courses. I played rain or shine, joined a ladies league and carried my clubs with me everywhere I went in the trunk of my car, just in case I decided to hit the range or play an unexpected round.

Just like every now and then I hire physical trainers to change up my gym routines or to focus on certain areas, I also like to work with a golf pro to improve my swing and my game. No longer living in Connecticut, I don’t come close to the amount of time I use to put into the game. With numerous days between rounds, I feel I’m a bit off my game and losing my swinging touch. So now I’m back to a pro to hopefully correct any bad habits I may have developed and to sharpen my game all around.

Golf is a very popular sport worldwide and can be played at all ages. First invented on the coast of Scotland in the 15th century, there are over 50 million golfers in the world, more than 11,000 golf courses in just North America and nearly 32,000 courses found all over the world. Over 22% of the players are female, including Kathy Whitworth who has won 88 professional tournaments during her amazing career—more than any other male or female golfer in history.

While golf may seem more leisure and strategic than an exerted workout, there are some undeniable health benefits to playing a round. It is a form of physical exercise and it does use muscles in the entire body. And it can provide benefits ranging from improved circulation to improved flexibility and better balance.

Golf movements consist of walking, swinging, squatting, twisting, bending and lifting. Golfers can experience increased strength, mobility, hand-eye coordination and range of motion. The sport is also good for weight control if you choose to skip the cart and pass on the cold beverages. And a long four-hour-day on the course can lead way to a great night’s sleep. The following are additional benefits.

Cardio. You can get a good cardiovascular workout when walking an entire golf course. While buzzing around in one those carts is great fun, it also takes away a great opportunity from working up a good sweat. Walking is a good low-impact cardiovascular activity that gets the heart pumping. Research shows walking several miles around a varied terrain course has the same health benefits of a full 45-minute fitness class.

Strength. Carrying your bag of clubs of approximately 30 pounds is a simply way to add resistance training and muscle strengthening while walking the 18 holes. It will help to strengthen your core, arms, legs and shoulders and improve your overall muscle mass. Swinging your clubs will also help to tone up those very same muscles.

Metabolism. Walking a course will help to burn fat, improve your good cholesterol levels and speed up your metabolism. It’s been noted that a round of golf burns about 300 calories per hour in a 150 pound individual while carrying clubs, 230 calories when riding the cart and 200 calories when just hitting balls at a driving range.

Vitamin D. Playing out in the sun for a few hours has the benefit of soaking up the valuable Vitamin D from the sun without a second thought. Vitamin D is essential for having strong bones, regulating the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the blood, and helping to control the growth of skin cells.

Additionally, golf is a great stress reliever and helps to strengthen your eye-hand coordination. Risk of an injury is low, but like any other sport you should still warm up and stretch before playing, especially your back, shoulders and arms. Lift and carry clubs safely and remember to wear sun protection. Stay hydrated; drink water before, during and after your game. And the best part? Just having fun with a group of friends!

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana

The Surprising Health Benefits of Downhill Skiing

07 Monday Mar 2011

Posted by in Cardio, Exercising, Skiing, Sports

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This month I will be traveling to Sunday River, one of Maine’s largest and most visited ski resorts. It has 132 trails across eight interconnected mountain peaks and 16 lifts. Its highest vertical drop is 2,340 feet; peanuts when compare to the drops out West, but here in the East, it’s pretty decent.

I’ve been skiing since the fifth grade. I got into the sport by chance. My then best friend at the time, Beth Johnson, was just learning to ski. For months during the winter, her dad took us to a nearby ski area. I fell in love with it immediately and have been downhill skiing ever since.

Some might be surprised to think of skiing as a great sport that benefits your body. One could think of it as dangerous, hard on the knees or too exposed to frostbite. While skiing is a strenuous form of exercise, the healthy advantages to downhill skiing are numerous.

One of the biggest benefits of skiing for fitness is that it is great, complete body workout, exerting every major muscle group from your head to your toes and toning your entire torso. This terrific aerobic activity improves balance and coordination and is an excellent way to stretch and strengthen leg muscles, particularly in the thighs and around the knees, as well as help with joint mobility. Your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and gluteal muscles will all be worked, due to the semi-squat position skiers take, as well as your abductor and adductor muscles from all of the lateral motions.

Downhill skiing is also an excellent cardio workout, strengthening your heart, improving your circulatory system and releasing oxygen to your muscles. It is an excellent fat burning activity, burning 450 to 600 calories for an average 165-pound person while mogul skiing can burn almost 900 calories an hour. Skiing also boosts your metabolism and helps to regulate good cholesterol levels in your body.

Skiing requires a certain level of balance, strength and endurance so pre-conditioning in the weeks and months leading up to the slopes to increase your endurance and lessen a chance of a possible injury is a must. Pilates will work your core before taking on the mountains while yoga is a good discipline to improve your strength, balance and concentration. The Awkward Pose is one of the better positions, which when done correctly, increases your overall strength, tones the muscles of your legs and aligns your skeletal system.

Ski injuries that due occur seem to either happen early in the day when muscles aren’t loose yet or late in the afternoon when the muscles are fatigue. So just like you stretch before a long run, stretch your muscles before heading out to the lift lines. This includes your shoulders and back, but most particularly your legs which will receive the brunt of your workout. To help prevent altitude sickness, stay well hydrated continually and avoid caffeine and alcohol. And always remember to wear your helmet!

What is the best benefit of skiing? That it does not seem like you are working out for six or more straight hours. Instead, you feel like you are eighteen again as you fly down the snowy slopes set against magnificent scenic surroundings. You are able to experience the great outdoors in the cold crisp air, explore endless miles of trails and enjoy the endorphins that kick in right before you hit the hot tub!

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana