Lose weight while improving your golf swing
One of the benefits I often hear from my clients is that they lose weight while working to improve their golf games. While it is not a priority for many who enter the golf fitness program, it is a welcome benefit.
The key to a successful golf fitness program is to isolate the anatomical weaknesses identified through physical evaluation. This often involves a combination of specific stretching and strengthening exercises, performed on a regular basis, to help restore balance to the golfer’s body. This is essential, as research is now very clear that muscle imbalance is the primary cause of most swing failures, inefficient golf shots, poor performance, and both acute and chronic injuries.
One of the benefits of this search for a better game of golf is the loss of body fat. As with any exercise program that incorporates a strength component, muscle tissue is improved. This not only improves strength, balance, and power, but it also makes you a better calorie-burning machine.
It takes 2 to 4 calories a day to maintain one pound of fat in your body. It takes between 50 and 70 calories a day to maintain one pound of muscle. That is quite a significant difference! Muscle is what drives our metabolism and when you increase muscle, you increase the amount of calories you burn throughout the day.
Most of us had more muscles when we were kids running around the neighborhood and walking to school, uphill, 6 miles each way. Then, for one reason or another, we slow down and sit more. This wears down our muscle and, as a result, lowers our metabolism. We generally don’t modify our eating patterns to compensate for the slower metabolism, in most cases the eating patterns get worse, so we gain weight / fat.
When a golfer begins an exercise program to improve his swing efficiency, he will inevitably need to include strengthening exercises to correct any weaknesses he has (and we all have some). This progressive strength component, generally of moderate intensity, has a positive impact on body composition. As you tone your muscles, and this bears repeating, you increase your metabolism and burn more calories. Increase the amount of calories expended during the day and you will lose weight.
Now be careful, muscle is also denser than fat and will weigh more on the bathroom scale. So don’t be alarmed if the scale doesn’t change that much, but it can still fit in those jeans you haven’t worn since high school.
A few words about cardiovascular exercise. Keeping your heart and lungs fit is imperative and will help you in the bottom nine when fatigue can lead to poor shots and increased potential for injury. Cardiovascular exercise is important and should be included. You’ll burn calories while exercising and for an hour or two afterward as your body returns to rest. However, cardio will do nothing for strength development or increase resting metabolism. That must come from strength training.
Whether you want to or not, exercising to improve your golf swing will have additional benefits for your health. One of these, if you are consistent with your workouts, is a slimmer body. Ultimately, this will improve your ability to burn calories and lose weight / body fat. Therefore, you will not only improve your satisfaction with the game, it will also improve your sense of well-being.
