Exercise for older golfers
Dave Tutelman
Started -- December 1, 2013
Posted -- July 24, 2014
The exercise I do is not all that
golf-specific.
It is really body
maintenance, to keep me in shape as I age. But it certainly helps me
play golf, and walking golf at that. The exercises include muscle
strengthening, stretching, and warding off back problems.
Please bear in mind that I have no credentials in exercise science,
personal training, physical therapy, or anything else related to
exercise. Everything here is personal and anecdotal. I have years of
successful experience with my own exercises -- and I had three
knowledgeable experts review this before publication. So now you have
some idea of how much to trust the information herein.
In my bio I
say, "I'm more an
engineer
than an athlete." That is very true. And I have never been an
enthusiastic gym rat.
On the other hand, I realize the human body needs more maintenance as
it ages. When I turned 41, I realized I was fully a year past "the big
four-oh", and
decided I needed to look after my body if it was to continue to serve
me. Now at 73, I'm still far from being a gym rat, but I do enough
exercise to
stay in reasonable shape. Of course, I am old -- and getting older by
the day. If I'm reasonably healthy today, I can point to the right
exercise that has kept me away from the cardiac care unit and the
orthopedic surgery center. (I have had short visits to both. My
exercise program can take most of the credit that they were short and
not repeated.)
This is the exercise program -- more properly the body maintenance
program -- that I
have been using. Before I say more about about what it is, let me
mention a few things it
is not:
- First and foremost... It is
not going
to take over your life.
Too many exercise books insist that you spend a quarter of your waking
hours in order to get some benefit from it. Too many golf conditioning
books have a program that makes sense only if your goal is to qualify
for the US Open. This program will not do that. I spend less than an
hour
and a half per week on this, a daily average of only 10 to 15 minutes.
- It
is not specifically a set of golf exercises.
The exercises were designed to keep me in good shape generally. Yes, I
have tried to be sure
to include exercises that help me with golf. But it should help with
any sport an older human being might want to participate in.
- It
is not going to make you an animal.
Body maintenance is not body building. You won't get muscle-bound from
this, nor even physically impressive -- just physically fit. You may
consider this point a plus or a minus; that's your choice.
- It is
not a weight loss program.
These exercises fit into a weight loss program well. But two things are
missing that are very important for weight loss -- burning calories and
reducing calories. They are better accomplished by:
- Aerobic
exercise:
These exercises will burn some calories, but not nearly as many as
extended aerobics. Just walking a couple of miles a day will do more
for your weight than the exercises herein. A round of walking golf
(typically 4-6 miles, pushing my clubs on a cart) is great for this.
Running or cycling will burn calories even faster, but my knees don't
permit them any more.
- Diet:
Even with a
generous aerobic schedule, exercise is not going to do the lion's share
of weight loss. My schedule, including three rounds of walking golf a
week plus a 5-10 mile walk on the weekend, is worth only seven pounds
of
weight (for me, YMMV) without changing my intake of food. You must find
a diet that you can sustain long term, not a crash diet to lose weight
in a hurry.
- It
is not terribly demanding.
No
exercises here use weights heavy enough to require a spotter. But I
should warn you not to dive in and do the exercises full-bore, with the
heaviest weights you can handle, right away. Ramp up to them sensibly.
And some of them you might not be able to do if you
have a weakness or injury in the body part being exercised. To exercise
that body part properly, you should see a physical therapist to
prescribe an exercise that works for you.
- It
does not even include pre-golf-round warmups or stretching.
There are plenty of books, articles, and videos that deal admirably
with the topic, presented by people who know a lot more about it than I
do.
Here is the philosophy behind my exercise routine:
- As I said up front, I am not a gym rat. To be more
specific, I don't enjoy any exercise that is just for the sake of
exercise. For instance, I love long walks (5-10 miles), but I go nuts
after
five minutes on a treadmill. Before my knees acquired 70 years of
experience, I loved long bicycle rides (15-50 miles), but I
went nuts after five minutes on a stationary bike. So this needs to be
a
program that doesn't require too much time, or I won't stick to it.
Which brings me to...
- My Saturday morning bike rides -- and now my Saturday
morning
walks -- involve seeing how many yard sales I can visit in some target
number of miles. Over the years, my yard sale purchases have included
plenty of
exercise equipment: weights, weight benches, spring resistance devices,
even golf training aids. In every case, I got a great price because the
owner claimed, "It never did anything for me." The appearance
of the owner
generally had me biting my tongue so I would not say, "Just owning it
won't do you any good. You have to actually use it -- and
regularly." That is
the philosophy behind this program; it is small and simple enough so I
actually use it
-- and
regularly.
So I've based my program on the law of diminishing returns... More
specifically, the 80/20 rule, which says, "Eighty percent of the result
comes from the first twenty percent of the effort." We're going to
spend the first 20% of the effort, and get us 80% of the way to where
the physical trainer from hell would want us to be. If you want
more
and are willing and able to put in the effort, you probably want a
different
program.
The next three pages address the three components of the program:
- Weight
training.
This is what people usually think of when they think "exercise". I use
very little in the way of specialized equipment: just a few dumbbells
and a simple weight bench. (The bench doesn't even need a rack for a
bar. The program does not use barbells.) I have recently added a golf
club (a fairly heavy wedge) for a golf-specific exercise; that exercise
is optional if you don't play golf, and you already have the equipment
if you do.
- Stretching.
I always do stretching after a weight training session. These stretches
can also help when certain muscles get tight or cramp
up.
- Core exercise.
I have a bad back, like a majority of my contemporaries. But golf does
not irritate it, and my back does not hurt during my golf swing. I have
fewer and less serious back episodes than most of the back sufferers I
know. And I can point to these body core exercises to thank for it.
The remainder of my exercise, aerobic training, I get from golf and
walking. No special pages necessary there; it's basic. And I don't
count that as conditioning time, because I enjoy golf and walking
enough to do it
anyway.
[Added after the initial posting of this article... In 2018 and 2023
(at age 77 and 82 respectively), I suffered injuries that threatened my
ability to play golf. Both times, it took substantial physical therapy
to get me back on the course. The lessons of those experiences are
covered in an "Update" page at the end of this article.]
Remember, I am not an exercise professional. I am sharing
these exercises with
you because they have done good things for me and may do good things
for you. But you do them at your own risk. Ease into them, so you don't
do something silly and hurt yourself. Any
exercise can aggravate an existing injury, or possibly even cause an
injury if you do it wrong.
Hope this helps you.
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank several golf exercise experts who vetted my draft for
inaccuracies. They are:
- Bob Forman, owner of GolFIT
Carolina. Bob has a
Masters degree in
Exercise Physiology and is certified by the Titleist Performance
Institute.
- Meryl
Freeman,
head of outpatient rehabilitation for Rex UNC Health Care. Meryl has a
Masters Degree in Physical Therapy. Her specialties are back therapy
and golf injuries. I play golf with her about once a year, and I happen
to know she's a tough
opponent in match play.
- John
Taylor,
owner of JT Clubs in San Francisco. In addition to being a clubfitter,
John is a Certified Personal Trainer and has several Titleist
Performance Institute certifications as well.
I have incorporated most of their recommendations. Any problems
remaining are my fault alone.
Backstory
You may have noticed that the date at the top of each page is from the
Fall of 2013, but the article was not made public until July of 2014.
Why the big gap? It is due to the diligence and expertise of the
reviewers, Meryl Freeman, Bob Forman, and John Taylor. They made
substantive comments on the first few drafts. I had to re-evaluate
quite a few of my exercises for safety or effectiveness. In each case,
I tried following their advice -- not just about the article, but about
the exercises themselves. I tried their proposed changes. In most
cases, I incorporated them into my program and still do them. In a few,
I found they weren't effective for me and dropped them. That took a few
months of evaluation, bringing me past the middle of winter. And it
took until now to take the photos I needed to update the article with
the exercise changes I adopted.
No, the reviewers did not get in the way. They greatly increased the
quality of this article. I have no regrets about asking the advice of
diligent and expert people with good advice to give. If it took longer
that way, it was worth it.
Last modified 5/31/2018
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