Exercise

Entries Tagged as 'exercise'

Golf- Hobby Or Sport

After some examinations of the calories burned during a round of golf, a sports scientist has determined that the game most people love is a sport, not a hobby. more people play golf, if you want to have a try, the first thing is that you can choose a set of cheap golf clubs.

In his study, the director of the Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences in Denver, Neil Wolkodoff, choose eight male volunteers with devices that measured heart rate, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production and the distance they walked during four nine-hole rounds on the front side of hilly Inverness Golf Club in suburban Denver.

The volunteers, ages 26 to 61, burned enough calories, Wolkodoff conclude that it is right to call golf a sport. “one of the more interesting things I found was that the actual act of swinging a golf club, such as taylormade r9 460 drivertakes significant energy,” he said. The conclusion refutes some claims that swinging a golf club is not decent exercise.

“as far as physical exertion, it’s not the same as boxing, but it’s definitely more than people thought,” Wolkodoff said.

Wolkodoff said golf, though good for one’s health, does little to improve overall fitness or aerobic capacity. “You need to ask yourself, is the goal better fitness, or is it better fitness and better health?”

Wolkodoff plans to submit his test results to the Journal of Applied Physiology, the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

For the test, the subjects went through fitness tests prior to the experiment to determine their baseline anaerobic thresholds; i.e., at what point they began to burn fuel without the help of oxygen. when people cross their anaerobic thresholds, lactic acid begins to build up, which makes muscles start to burn and causes fine-motor skills to deteriorate.

This is important in golf, as the higher a player’s anaerobic threshold, the more ability he has to ascend steep hills or walk long distances quickly without losing the motor skills needed to execute shots. “when the motor skills start to go, you can get the yips, lose coordination,” Wolkodoff said.

He find in the examination that:

There is virtually no difference in calories burned between carrying (721) and using a push cart (718). “normally, calories are measured on how much weight you had to move up a hill,” Wolkodoff said. “But in this case, it shows that even with another 15, 16 pounds to push with the cart, you’re more efficient at moving that way than if the bag is over your shoulder.”

Not surprisingly, walking the course with a caddie carrying the clubs burned fewer calories (613) and playing while riding in a power cart burned even fewer (411).

“it gets back to the idea that walking gives you a certain amount of time to think about a shot, to rehearse, go through the stuff,” he said. “Where in a golf cart, you’re holding on, then, boom, you’ve got to get up, go to the ball and make a decision pretty quickly.”

Players who walked and carried their bags averaged scores of 45 for nine holes. “some people say, I play better golf when I’m carrying,’ ” he said. But this study says, ‘no. A carry bag is not necessarily better.’ It’s not an intuitive thought for people.

Players reached their peak heart rates after climbing to the top of two uphill holes at Inverness. when carrying or pushing the cart, their peak heart rates went past their anaerobic thresholds. he noticed a marked spike in scoring on the tougher of the two holes under these circumstances. he attributes this to the buildup in lactic acid, which decreases fine motor skills.

The upshot is for golfers to get in better shape to increase their anaerobic thresholds so they don’t exceed it while playing golf. Workouts on a treadmill or in a spinning (bicycle) class will help. “Weightlifting can come into play, too,” he said. “as you go up a hill, whether you’re carrying your own body weight, or a carry bag or a push cart, the stronger your arms and legs are, the better you can make it up that hill without fatigue.”

After this, his conclusion is that golf uses a lot of energy and can be considered as a sport. “The study shows there’s significant energy expenditure in golf, more than bowling and some other sports it’s been compared to,” he said. there are a lot of sports that don’t have this level of energy expenditure. Yes, golf is a sport, and it is a popular sport.

Unique Kettlebell Exercises to Strengthen the Core and Improve Stability for Golf

These two exercises are not seen too often in your local gym or course facility. One resembles a movement from traditional yoga, and the other is an exercise long forgotten but made popular by old-time strong men back in the early 1900′s. Both exercises have tremendous benefits to golf. particularly when dealing with core strength and stability. The first exercise is the kettlebell windmill. The kettlebell windmill is a tremendous core exercise for the shoulder girdle, rotator cuff, trunk rotators, side flexors, buttocks, and hamstrings. this exercise will develop strength, increase flexibility, and develop body awareness in the hips, spine, torso, and shoulders.

To perform the kettlebell windmill

1) Clean and press a kettlebell overhead with one arm.

2) Keeping the kettlebell that is overhead locked out at all times, push your butt out in the direction of the locked out kettlebell.

3) Turn your feet out at a forty-five degree angle from the arm with the locked out kettlebell. 4) Slowly lower your torso until your non-working hand touches the floor or front foot. Pause for a second and reverse the motion back to the starting position. Remember to squeeze your buttocks when rising up.

Next is the kettlebell bent press. The bent press is an “old school” move that has a huge carryover to golf. this exercise was once made popular by Eugene Sandow, the father of modern bodybuilding, in the early 20th century. this exercise will target your shoulder girdle, rotator cuff, trunk rotators and side flexors, and hamstrings. it will develop strength, flexibility, coordination, and total body awareness. this exercise can train various physical abilities and movement planes all at the same time.

To perform the bent press:

1) Clean a kettlebell with one arm. Push your hip out in the direction of the cleaned kettlebell.

2) Turn your feet out at a forty-five degree angle from the arm with the kettlebell. while you are sitting back and lowering yourself, contract your lat as hard as possible and move your body away from the kettlebell.

3) Continue to bend to the side until the kettlebell is locked out. you then simply hold the bell in position and extend your forearm as you shift your weight away from the kettlebell. Remember to squeeze your buttocks as you rise back up.

Unique Kettlebell Exercises to Strengthen the Core and Improve Stability for Golf

Lightweight Golf Bag For the Season?

Are you looking to get some more exercise while you are playing golf? Many golfers do this by using a carry bags or stand golf bags. As the number of walking rounds increase, golf stand bags are the majority of all of golf bag sales. Over the past few years, the manufacturers have been able to use different materials for the bags as well as to develop better bag strap technology to make many light weight stand bags. Today, many of the total weight of these light weight golf carry bags are around three and a half pounds.

In the late 70′s, nylon was first used to make carry bags lighter than their predecessors. Not long after, Sun Mountain Sports introduced the Eclipse model. the eclipse model was special because it was the first bag that you could carry with a stand. When the golf bag is placed on the ground, spring activated legs would pop out and into place to support the bag. In 1996 and 1997, the sales of golf stand bags increased by forty five percent and have basically made a stand on all carry bags standard equipment.

Although the consumer wants their golf bag to be durable and fashionable, they are also demanding that they are also light as possible. Again, the current light-weight stand bags weigh give or take three and a half pounds. Today ballistic nylon, rich polyesters as well as woven twills are the materials being used to satisfy the consumer.

PGA Professional Stuart Lambert states “Today the manufacturers are not only looking for new fabrics to please their customers. In addition, you will see better systems to divide your clubs and to make it easier to get golf clubs in and out of stand golf bags.”

Depending on what part of the country and how often you have the opportunity to play golf, most golfers are in the market every three to four years for a new golf carry bag. Options to consider for your next golf bag would include: full-length dividers, pocket configuration, weight and price range.

Advice from Stuart Lambert includes “While trying the golf bag on in the store, place a set of irons and a couple of woods into the bag. In addition, do not be shy and adjust the straps to fit your body. this will give you the true feel of the actual weight that you will be carrying while on the golf course.”

Lightweight Golf Bag For the Season?