Golf clubs clean and ready to go! Club membership paid and up to date! Tee time booked! But what about you, are you ready? Are you fit for golf?
The average golfer plays for fun, but at any level, any sport including golf requires a level of commitment and training to play well and avoid injury. We have good days and bad days but what if you could have more good days by preparing your body and ensuring you are fit for the sport.
Here at Hever Health we have put into place a team of experts who are able to set you up to enjoy the game by setting up your body to play to the best of your ability. All you need after that is time on the course (and maybe a few lessons with the pros to get you up to scratch).
Flexibility:
Every sport requires a degree of flexibility. So, question one; how often do you stretch? If the answer is never or once or twice a week then you probably aren't making any progress. A good stretching routine should be carried out each time you play but regardless of this should be carried out at least every other day, if not daily to see a difference. If you stretch every three or four days you are unlikely to see much change over time. The best way to compliment home stretching is massage therapy. We currently have two massage therapists who are able to help you reduce your chance of muscle injury (or recover form injury) and improve your flexibility. The second question; what do you do to compliment your golf? Yoga and Pilates compliment golf perfectly, targeting strength, flexibility, balance and mindset. All qualities that professional golfers rely on.
Paracise classes also help maintain a healthy body and mind and with the included stretching routines, aid flexibility.
Mindfulness:
Mindset in golf can make or break your game. Are you able to clear your mind of all stresses, work commitments, appointments, dinner plans to allow you to focus truly on the moment, focus entirely on that drive? You might think you are focused but the majority of the time we have 101 thoughts in our head getting in the way of what we are trying to achieve (getting the ball to the green without hitting that bunker!). Mindfulness is a way to bring your focus entirely into the moment. You become completely aware of what is happening now without any interruptions and without judgement. It brings with it relaxation and reduced stress which is a fantastic skill to have in our hectic lifestyles but in the game of golf it means you are completely relaxed and ready to focus on the game. Jenny uses Mindfulness within her Pilates classes and leads a specific Pilates for Golfers on a Monday. She also holds Mindfulness sessions and is available for one to one sessions. Sue runs our monthly Gong Bath, an hour long mindfulness and relaxation class, the perfect way to reset your body and mind after a busy month.
Nutrition:
What about nutrition? Our body gives us the best it can based upon the way we fuel it. Add quick release carbohydrates and sugars and we feel that energy buzz immediately, but then we crash. We have to fuel our bodies correctly to give us stamina, to feed our muscles for strength and to enable our cardiovascular system to keep us alive and kicking. Many of us carry extra weight or eat for convenience not health. Our bodies therefore don't perform to the max and our energy levels rise and fall. We all want to live long healthy lives but we also want to enjoy food. You can do both! The right food for you can still be enjoyable. If you want to seek advice on the best way to supercharge your diet or loose a few pounds then we have expert nutritionist Claire Hargreaves who covers all aspects of nutrition, diet and supplementation. Often this is the missing link for sports performance.
Body Mechanics:
When we talk about body mechanics we are describing the way you hold and use your body to move. If your body is working well you are more likely to avoid injury and perform to your best. It allows you to have maximum power through correct technique and body function. So what does that actually mean? Have you ever felt like you just can't get the rotation you need in your swing? Maybe you have adopted a different technique to compensate for restrictions in your body but this does not give you the same range as you would hope for? If this is the case it is likely that you have restrictions somewhere in your body so its not able to optimally function. Osteopathy, Physiotherapy and Body Stress Release can all help to improve joint mobility in your hips, spine, pelvis and shoulders in order to maximise rotation in the golf swing. This could enable you to return to your preferred swing and begin to get full movement, range and power again.
Chris Green, Physiotherapist and Paul Moody, Osteopath are both TPI trained here at Hever Health and are able to work with you to establish optimum body mechanics.
Injury and Operation
Sometimes the worst happens, you get injured. We try everything to avoid this but accidents happen, the body sometimes throws curveballs at us and we need time out to recover. If an injury does occur the most important thing is to come back stronger.
Injuries can occur for many reasons, imbalances in the body can put areas under significant strain and make them prone to weakness. Trauma or impact can put stress onto joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons. Physiotherapy, Osteopathy, Sports Massage and Body Stress Release treatments can be used to recover quickly from an injury and allow you to rehabilitate and strengthen to avoid an injury to reoccur. Speak to one of our team for advice on what therapy is best suited to your injury or circumstances.
Sometimes surgery is necessary, it may be a repair from a sports injury or even joint replacement surgery. Its well known that physiotherapy is suited to help you recover from an operation, but did you know that it is beneficial to see a physiotherapist pre operation? If you start to prepare and strengthen the area before an operation you will generally be better set up for a quick recovery afterwards. If you have surgery planned and want advice on pre or post op rehabilitation then do get in contact.
Sharon runs our Paracise class in the studio on a Monday. Paracise is an exercise class perfect for getting back to fitness when regular classes are too demanding. It is therefore well suited if you are returning to fitness form an injury or surgery. The class is low impact, low intensity and there is no floor work!
Final Thoughts:
Golf for you may be a Sunday outing, a professional ambition or a hobby that you just cant give up! Whatever it means to you I'm sure you want to get the best from it. Here at Hever Health we have everything you need to keep you playing and keep you playing well. If we don't have it we will find it for you so do contact us for an informal chat if you want to find out more about how we can help you get 'Fit For Golf'.
See you at the 19th hole!
Gemma, Chris and Paul
Hever Health Directors
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