Hey Golfer--Fitness Is Your Friend And So Is The Gym

 I know that I am the last person to preach fitness and its importance in golf. Having a certain higher level of fitness is important to playing the game well for most people.  Of course there are exceptions, but if you are in relatively good shape, you will play better.   It's really funny though that I don't take my own advice. You have to tune up your body in order to play good golf.  It is just that simple.  Do I do this, no. I have decided that it is time to return to the gym and work out, not only for my golf game but for my overall health.
     Six years ago I took up the banner and ran with it. It was time to loose weight and get more physically fit. I am allergic to running and always have been. I'm not built for speed, being a plow horse not a race horse.  My PE coach used to time me with a calendar in the mile. I am bulky and built low to the ground. I don't run. However, I don't mind walking on a treadmill for thirty or forty minutes and going through a circuit training routine as well as a few stretching exercises.  As a result of going to the gym and taking care of myself, I lost 60 pounds. I shaved about ten strokes off my golf game and gained extra distance on my irons--about one iron--and my drives--about 25 extra yards.  I felt great!
     I am afraid that I have some bad news for you.  For a number of reasons I stopped going to the gym. In fact, for a long time I stopped playing golf because of some serious life changes.  There is just something about marital relationships, getting older--or not wanting to get older and I won't go into details on that one though it is related to the marital component--retirement and medical issues that just play havoc with life in general. Golf and the gym took a backseat .
     Where did that course of action get me? First, I gained thirty of the sixty pounds I lost back which began a sort of snowball effect in my body which wound me up in the hospital for congestive heart failure not once, but twice--funny thing about medication for hypertension is that if you don't take the medication, the condition worsens.  On my second visit I was told that I was very close to dying.  Hmmm...maybe I should listen to the doctor.  
       Maybe you do have to hit me over the head with a hammer, not once, not twice but maybe three time. The third time is the charm they say, but so is a very angry wife.  That kind of works too.  Speaking of which, hold on a minute I have to take my medications...

Ok, that was painless. I do want to let you know that my blood pressure is almost back to normal and I am taking my medications religiously.
      I also want to get back into the gym regularly as well. The fact that I can explode a driver only 190 yards off the tee is really beginning to make me angry, so it is time to reconsider the whole notion of returning to a certain higher level of physical fitness. I have no notions of competing in Olympic Power Lifting but I do need to get back on my cardio program and circuit training routine in other words hit the gym again.  After all, I want to see that ball fly further off the driver and pick up some distance with my irons.
      This morning, I forced my body up out of bed and went to the gym for the first time in almost two years. The endorphins have kicked in and I feel wonderful. Today's workout was just to see if I could still workout so it was a very cut back version of what I used to do, but I got through it and didn't have any heart issues. I will gradually increase what I am doing but that will take time.  At least I am back in the gym and I should see some of the work translate over into my golf game.  By the way, I need to play more golf. This once every three months thing is really getting me down.
     I could come up with a very profound closing paragraph for this, but I won't.  Its very simple.  Get more fit if you can and play better golf.  I am on that road again and it feels great.
  
   

Me at 300 pounds before I lost the 60 pounds. I felt great after the weight loss.