Joan Breibart talks with Mike Wright
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Q: Why Pilates and Golf? Doesn't golf have a reputation as a “non-physical” sport?
In the past, most amateur golfers thought that lessons with a PGA Pro and more practice and more play was the answer to better golf. Now amateur golfers realize that an important piece of equipment is their own body. Typically, lessons, practice and play dominate all sport, but now golfers are conditioning because they read about Tiger Woods' routine. And most of the Pros say that conditioning will reduce injury and benefit performance.
Q: Is golf hard on the body?
When the amateur drives the golf ball, they are reaching nearly 90% of peak muscle activity. This is similar to lifting a weight that causes muscular failure after only four times! The golfer performs just such an activity 30 to 40 times in 18 holes. Add to this the fact that the golf swing takes place in approximately one second, and you have the acute variables of speed, momentum and force that are found in sports such as football or ice hockey. And remember, playing golf does not get you into condition to play golf, especially if you ride in a cart. The total time actually swinging the golf club is approximately two minutes during 18 holes!
Q: Isn’t the lumbar spine a vulnerable area in the golf swing?
Yes, because the golf swing produces eight times your body weight in compressive forces on the spine. Shearing forces are caused by compressive and rotational forces in the golf swing. These forces average 125lbs in the golf swing; they approximate weight lifting squats that produce 154lbs of shear force. The highest area of risk is in the lumbar spine. Over time, playing golf with poor body mechanics may cause stress-related bony injury or arthritic changes to the spine itself.
Q: Can a person who is out of shape still play and enjoy golf ?
Yes, but the problem is that you will probably get injured. Example: Peter Jacobs won the Champions Tour in August 2004. He was in the lead Saturday night, but on Sunday he had to go out and walk 36 holes as a consequence of a rain delay. He succeeded, maintained the lead and won the game, but his struggle was evident. He was clearly out of shape. His high skill levels and mental focus overcame his physical weakness. Ultimately, he had to have hip surgery.
Q: Didn’t Michael Jordan, the great basketball player, call golf “a game that you can’t conquer”?
The golf swing is the ultimate complex, biomechanical movement. If I were to invent a movement that would ruin someone's low back it would look like golf. Golf, more than any other game, combines both physical and mental elements. Golf requires coordination, rhythm, balance, stability and control. And now there is the emphasis on strength and flexibility. And golf also has an additional component, one that is lacking in many sports and that is effortlessness.
Q: Specifically, how does Pilates improve the golf body?
Strengthening of the core. The pelvic floor, pubo-cocxgeous, transverse abdominals, lumbar-multifidous are accessed in Pilates. Also the diaphragm is involved in that co-contraction and that's why breathing is so important.
Q: Golf and Pilates body conditioning seem to be very compatible.
Yes, because as we know Pilates is more than exercise. It is neuro-muscular reprogramming. It is progressive; there are hundreds of exercises that can be designed specifically for the golfer. Since Pilates is not simple, repetitive movements, it strengthens the mind-body connection. Accessing, controlling and coordinating musculature and bones together to perform a complex, fast movement is more mind than body.
Q: Where else does Pilates contribute?
In golf, you also need functional movement, which is stabilizing and accelerating and decelerating. The golf swing is taking place in all three planes of movement. It initiates in a static address posture. You are accelerating, then decelerating. . . you are coming up and stretching, stabilizing, then reversing and stretching toward the ball . . . going through the ball, then decelerating and stabilizing. To accomplish this action, we need higher levels of the eccentric strength and that is where Pilates is preferable to any exercise regimen.
Q: It seems that a golf conditioning program should be popular.
It is estimated that 50% of golf-related injuries can be prevented by a consistent conditioning program. Also, if injury does occur, healing times are reduced from 40% to 70% for those involved in exercise programs. Statistically, after the age of 30, golfers sustain injury every 3years. After age 50 the number climbs to once per year! But as more golfers condition, these numbers will drop.
Q: So our popularity as core exercise is a plus?
Every part of the body can be said to have its own core, namely, the deeper stabilizing muscles. Single joint stabilizers usually connect the muscle directly to the bone that they stabilize. For example, gluteus medius, which stabilizes the pelvis, plays an important role in the golf game. During the back swing a strong right gluteus medius prevents a “fault” known as sway and a strong left gluteus medius prevents the slide fault. Then there is the axial core. Sometimes it is described as the “third leg”. By using the two legs properly, one can create the stability which the “third leg” implies. Where the body starts at the coccyx, the spine, that's the axial core. It’s significant in rotation. In golf we want to turn on the axial core in neutral.
Q: Golf talks about alignment and so do we.
Alignment refers to plumb lines. Am I working with gravity? If I hold this stick in the air and it's balanced, I only need two or three muscles to hold it up. As soon as it starts to get off balance, it is working against gravity. Then I have to use 20 more muscles to stabilize the stick. Alignment in Pilates and alignment in golf is very similar. So in the back swing, we have a foot, knee and pelvic alignment that should remain through the back swing. Alignment in golf is also about keeping the proper spine angle. In golf, if you lose your spine angle the result is “coming out of it”, or a spine angle fault.
Joan Breibart, is a co-founder of DietDirectives.com and President of the PHYSICALMIND INSTITUTE, which certifies Pilates instructors in the body conditioning Method that is now the leading trend in fitness.
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