Promote Your Golf Health

Recently I contacted Lynda Lippin, a certified Pilates Teacher Trainer, Personal Trainer and Reiki Master, after seeing a post from her on Facebook to a golfer friend of mine discussing a couple of Pilates programs that were being used successfully by golfers. I asked her if I could get her neck pain and lower back pain Pilates programs for my personal use and as a basis for a review for this blog.

Lynda graciously agreed to send me a ‘review’ program with no strings attached other than to give it a go and write about my experience, pro or con. I have a friend locally that conducts Pilates training programs but I have not taken advantage of his classes due to the fact that he is clear across town…hmmm, suggests a motivation problem on my end perhaps?? Actually it was a lack of understanding of the benefits Pilates provides.

Lynda delivered her programs to me quickly via email (how convenient is that?) and I got started immediately, anxious to see if I could get relief from the constant pain I have in my neck and shoulders and intermittent lower back pain. Perhaps I was a little too eager because I tried to do both programs (neck and lower back) one right after the other. OK. That was like taking one step forward and two steps back for me. I was ‘undoing’ what I was helping doing it like this. What I learned (from a consultation with Lynda) is that the better way for me was to focus on one program daily for a couple of weeks and get consistent relief THEN add the next one. What a difference that made!

The relief I have felt with my neck and shoulder stiffness, lack of mobility and pain is hard to measure in words. Since this is my biggest source of discomfort I have concentrated more on this area of my body than the lower back. It is amazing how the simple movements that Lynda incorporates in her programs and the short duration of the exercises (approximately 30 minutes) can deliver such profound relief and even work up a sweat. I found the physical benefits transferred to my golf game as I was able to swing more smoothly and with some additional rotation. My best rounds were towards the end of the season in large part, I feel, due to the Pilates programs I was using.

Rather than try myself to explain the reasoning behind this I asked Lynda to provide some information on what she does and why it works so well especially for golfers. Below is what she provided but I am also adding a video I found on her site that I think will help explain what Pilates is all about and its background. Enjoy!

“Golf is a high spine impact activity that puts great stress on the spine, hips, and shoulders. Any imbalance in the muscular usage of the torso can cause pain and injury to a golfer, and can also detrimentally affect one’s game. Pilates helps to open up the chest, promote shoulder stabilization and mobility, and strengthen pelvic stability to allow for a greater turn with less sway and slide in the hips. Pilates practice leads to better alignment and less chance of injury. Plus the pelvic, ab, and back strengthening help to maintain better stability and alignment through the entire body while golfing.

The great thing about Pilates exercises

is that they all work many muscles at once, some to stabilize and some to move. Plus many can be done standing. Realistically most Pilates exercises involve both stretch and strength. If your hamstrings are not as strong as your quads, then any hamstring intensive exercise should also be a quad stretch and vice versa. Generally I think people in general and especially golfers tend to focus too much on stretching their hamstrings and not enough on stretching the quads, hip flexors, and IT Bands. Also, people focus too much on flexibility at the expense of functional strength. Pilates requires both, which makes it very difficult to master but extremely worthwhile.

I created my Back and Neck/Shoulder Pain Pilates audio programs to give people easy to follow short (30 minute) exercise sequences that they could do anywhere with their iPod or mp3 player to help relieve basic lower back and neck/shoulder pain and tension. But once my golfer friends got a hold of them I started hearing how much their game was improved by doing one of the audios before going out to hit the ball. They all experienced better shoulder turns, easier hip mobility, and a better, more pleasant, and less painful golf experience!”

So, if you have wondered about and/or considered taking Pilates courses but haven’t yet taken that step, let me encourage you to do so. I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t find it anything but helpful whether it be to help your golf game or to just feel better overall. Lynda is wonderful and is accessible online or there are probably many certified Pilates Trainers in your city if you prefer a face-to-face encounter. Give yourself the gift of improved health, you deserve it!!

Lynda Lippin has been teaching Pilates for over 20 years with students from all levels from basic mat to post spinal cord injury, to athletes, teens, mothers, celebrities, and other Pilates teachers. My academic background is in writing and philosophy, and I maintain that cerebral connection through my writing in books, blogs, social media sites, and magazines. I am a certified Pilates Teacher Trainer, Personal Trainer and Reiki Master, so I have both a very western workout approach as well as a more eastern energetic healing approach. I have had a lot of golfer clients and worked very closely with Mike Wright for a number of years. We have several articles at Titleist Performance Institute and I am certified through him in Pilates for Golf. I believe that fitness should help us function in our everyday lives so we can do whatever it is we enjoy without worrying about pain or injury. I currently teach in the Caribbean, at the exclusive COMO Shambhala Spa at Parrot Cay, where Strength Without Struggle is my mantra!

Thanks for stopping by Ladies on the Tee at www.sherrytabb.com. It’s time to post this and get off the computer so I can relieve my neck and shoulder strain form sitting at this computer most of the day

View Original Post at sherrytabb.com

• Filed Under:  
• Golf, Sports, SportsPLUS, Health & Fitness, Exercise

• Tags:
• Golf Fitness for Women
• golf fitness
• Workout
• golf aches
• aches and pains
• golf pain
• good health