|
|
By Charles Staley, B.Sc,
MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
My golf teacher Jeff Campbell recently remarked to me “Golf
and bowling are the only two sports that you can enjoy without
being good at them.”
Luckily for me, I think he’s right. I started taking
golf lessons about six months ago and have a total of 18 holes
actual experience on the course to date. So I’m obviously
a complete novice, but more importantly, I’m certain
that golf is helping my lifting, in at least six different
ways…
|
 |
1) Developing An Appreciation For Precision And Smoothness.
During my first several lessons, I
was literally amazed at the level of precision that golfers must
attain to have even moderate levels of success. Aside from the fact
that you’re aiming at a tiny ball with a thin sliver of metal
at high speeds, striking the ball ¼ off center (in any plane
of movement) turns the shot from great to terrible. Success in golf
is measured not in feet or inches, but millimeters. After calibrating
yourself according to these standards on the driving range, no resistance-training
skill seems beyond your capacity- even Olympic lifts.
The precision required by top golfers
is developed through smoothness, or put another way, the absence
of unnecessary muscular tension. On the surface, this might not
seem like an important trait in a sport that is literally defined
by high levels of muscular tension, but sometimes appearances are
deceiving: unnecessary levels of tension on antagonistic muscles,
or even in synergists can impede the successful coordination required
during strength events. Golf teaches that often, less is better,
and at least at my current level of skill, slower, smaller movements
usually result in faster, longer shots.
2) Acquiring A “Backup Sport”
One of the most important lessons
I’ve learned in the past 5 years is the value of developing
some psychic distance between you and your passion. Steven Pressfield
(author of The War Of Art) explains that identifying too closely
with your job or avocation is dangerous because once you begin to
equate your personal value with your professional success, you become
less and less willing to “put yourself on the line,” which
of course, is fundamentally required for that success to occur.
If, on the other hand, you think of
your avocation as a role rather than an identity, you’re more
willing to put yourself out there, take your lumps, learn from the
process, and improve your game.
If I’m having a bad day in the
gym, it’s easy to think “Well, I’ll have a good session
on the driving range” and vice versa. Having a secondary sport
really helps to “take the edge off,” which paradoxically
helps to maintain your motivation levels in both endeavors.
3) A Fun Active Recovery Workout
OK, OK, maybe you’re saying golf
isn’t terribly athletic. But at least here in Arizona, you’re
getting outside, you’re breaking a sweat, you’re practicing
a physical skill, and even low levels of physical activity tend
to blunt late-night TV-induced junk-food cravings. And truth be
told, I find golf to be a fantastic recuperative activity, particularly
if you’re walking (or as Phil Stevens and I ended up doing
last week) pushing the cart for 5 holes, strongman-style, because
they sent us out with a weak battery!
4) Traversing The Proprioceptive
Landscape
It’s good to learn new sports,
for a number of reasons. Aside from increasing generalized physical
traits, you’re also developing a richer proprioceptive palette,
and from this wider context, you can develop a better understanding
of your primary sport. You’ll develop useful analogies and
parallels— for example, a golf swing and a snatch both start
off slow, as the larger, more proximal joints initiate the movement,
and then finish fast as the smaller, more distal segments allow
you to “crack the whip” at the end of the movement.
And trust me, experiencing the “sweet
spot” as you snag a golf ball just perfectly is just as satisfying
as a perfectly executed snatch, discus throw, or knockout punch.
This is why we work so hard in sport after all— for those fleeting
but beautiful moments when perfectly executed movement creates a
startlingly incredible result. Those rare moments are what sustain
us to slave away in the gym in hopes of experiencing it again someday.
5) Honing The Competitive Instinct
Regardless of the sport, competition
is competition. And the drive to win is at least partly learnable.
Golf is a great way to stoke these competitive instincts, in a way
that won’t physically detract from your gym efforts.
6) Increasing Your Mental Stamina
Last week Phil and I were on the 17th
hole, and I chipped a ball over the green, which then necessitated
a second chip, which also overshot the green. By the time I got
the ball on the green, I was mentally “done” with the
hole, which caused me to cut corners on the putt, which further
increased my score. Top golfers learn to stay with it mentally,
all the way to the end, regardless of how well or how poorly their
day is going. That’s not a bad trait to bring to your assistance
exercises toward the end of your workout. After all, how often have
you had a bad start to your workout, which ended up completely killing
your motivation to at least accomplish something productive before
you left the gym?
Even If Golf Isn’t Your Thing…
Consider a secondary sport or even
a “pseudo-sport” of some type— Ideally something
that’s a complete contrast to your primary interest. If you’re
needing a few suggestions, try investigating fencing, racquetball,
table tennis, and/or bowling. They’re all fun, interesting,
challenging, and most of all, a welcome respite from grinding the
weights.
About The Author
|
His colleagues call him an iconoclast,
a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The
Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches
miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled
in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’
methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious
results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing
demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY
Show and The CBS Early Show.
Currently, Charles competes
in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit,
with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s
World Championships.
|
|
Learn More
About
EDT Training!
Charles Staley’s
training package "The Complete
Video Guide To Escalating Density Training" is available
now!
Click
here to learn more
and get your copy today!
|
 |
|
 |
| |
APT Pro
Wrist Straps
You're training
to compete against the best, so take a look at your
competition: More times then not they will employ APT gear
in some fashion to help them reach their extreme goals,
and so should you.
Flat out,
the best use the best. We
now carry AST Products in our store!
Click
here to go there now
Click
here to return to
Charles' Article Index
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
CLICK
HERE to get your 3-week trial of our EDT-based book "The
Ultimate Guide to Massive Arms" for just $4.95!
|
|
