The World Golf Fitness Summit
Last weekend I spent three days at the World Golf Fitness Summit listening to lectures, checking out new vendor products, networking with other fitness professionals and working out. This gathering is a huge “nerd fest” for fitness enthusiasts and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it!
Although it is called the World Golf Fitness Summit (I listened to lectures on a variety of subjects from Neuro-learning for golf to centrating the shoulder joint) the topics really encompassed all aspects of fitness, not just those relating to golf. I think it’s important to attend these events for a number of reasons: It can qualify as continuing education for most trainers and physical therapists; it offers an environment to network; and most importantly, I always seem to walk away with at least a few nuggets of wisdom that I can immediately apply to my current training. With that in mind, I must now thank my Monday clients, who inevitably become the victims of my new-found ideas and training approaches..
Over the years I have spent a great deal of time actively pursuing information from a variety of sources – the web, newsletters, website memberships, online articles and books. I have acquired a broad understanding and knowledge of the latest fitness, nutrition and corrective exercise trends and theories. I also typically attend 3-4 events a year ranging from small intimate seminars to large gatherings like this most recent. After a while, there becomes very little “new” information. What I DO walk away with from these events are the two “R’s”: REMINDERS and REINFORCERS. Both hold tremendous value with me. The “Reminders” are ideas, exercises and concepts that I had learned at one time, but had forgotten about or programmed them out of my fitness repertoire without realizing it. The “Reinforcers” can be anything from confirmation that my exercise programming is on par with the industry’s best, to knowing how to coach my weight-loss clients to lose the most weight possible through exercise. I took away three big “R’s” from this past conference.
1. The notion of Recovery as an essential part of the process towards a fitter and healthier life. Recovery can be but is not limited to massage, hot/cold showers, nutrition, corrective exercise, stretching and sleeping. Essentially it’s anything that allows our body to better adapt to the continuous stresses we put on it through exercise. While the exercise we do breaks down our body, its the recovery we must follow through with to maximize our results. Below are some tips to help enhance your recovery time:
A. Drink a plant based protein shake immediately after your workout
B. Supplement with a free form amino-acid drink before your workouts
C. Keep up with your stretching and corrective exercises on off days
D. Take complete rest days!
E. Get 8 hours sleep
F. Eat protein at every meal and don’t skip breakfast
G. Drink plenty of water throughout the day
2. Instructing junior golfers in the 6-9 age range must focus on FUNdamentals. In other words, trying to teach kids the same way you would teach adults will not work. The main point here is to avoid early specialization with kids. To develop a great golfer, kids must learn to play all sports and continually put themselves through learning based movements like kicking, striking, throwing, catching, jumping and running. This is a major part of what is called the Long Term Athletic Development Program. The point being, learning to play great golf requires building the overall athlete. I have utilized this approach in the past when designing summer training programs for junior golf camps. Our drills had to achieve three things to capture a junior’s attention. First, kids want to have fun so every drill had to be enjoyable to them. Secondly, kids want to learn, so each exercise is related to one of the specific movement skills I described above. Thirdly, kids want to compete, so at the end of every session we awarded prizes to the winning teams or we made each drill an event where one child could compete against another.
3. The most thought provoking and informative lecture I attended was by a man named Don Tolman. When you hear him speak concerning the state of education and learning, you will know why he proudly states that he holds no credentials, certifications or degrees. He does claim to have spent many of his early years gathering a wealth of knowledge on holistic healing through real life experiences spending time with age old native tribes in countries across the world. He was introduced by the MC as the man who to prove the resilient powers of the human body, went 40 days without food and then ran a marathon after drinking a quart of grape juice immediately before the race. While I disagreed with some of his points, his main message was clear and undeniable. If we pollute our bodies with processed, unnatural, and toxic food, drink and medicine we open ourselves up to a variety of widespread and all too common diseases, deficiencies and toxicities. If we just ate what the land offered us and supplemented when we suffered symptoms of deficiencies we would live a longer, healthier and more active life. The way God intended. He challenged me to think beyond what was fed to me by the endless bombardment of commercials and ads on the latest energy drinks, nutrition fads, E.D. meds, and fast food. I could go on a huge rant here, but I won’t. Instead I will offer your some small tips about eating well that I needed to be reminded of.
A. Eat REAL food
B. Eat REAL food and mostly fruits and vegetables
C. If you want “Buns and Rolls” eat Buns and Rolls. (Sorry I can’t take credit for that one, that was a Tolman line!)
D. If you are deficient in a nutrient, supplement
E. Drink lots of water