Stretches & Strength Exercises for Golfers

Video Transcript

" This is Johnny Miles from The Lake Powell National Golf Course in Page, Arizona with another hot golf tip for Expert Village. Okay, what I’m going to talk about right now is something I think is very important not just for golfers, but especially all senior golfers and golfers are going to be soon seniors. When you take a golf club and you swing it back behind your shoulders and you swing it forward, you need a little flexibility. Well let me tell you something, I’m an expert on this. I’m 57 years old. I’ve got rheumatoid arthritis; I’ve had it since I was 36. I’ve got a ruptured disk at the L4 L5, and guess what: I still play scratch golf. I’m a plus 2 handicap. Hey, and I can back it up. What I do to maintain that is every day when I get up, after I get after I brush my teeth—and I do it in the buff and I’ll explain that to you in a second—is I take 2 little gadgets. One’s a stretch core and one’s 2-3 pound weights. What I do is I stretch my body out. It only takes a few minutes. First thing I do, I take this. Put it up in the air and I stretch behind my shoulders and down just like that. I stretch one side out and then I stretch the other side out. Don’t go to the point where it’s pain. You’ve got to work into over a few weeks. But you’re here, you’re pulling that down, stretching those shoulders out just like that. Then you put it up behind your head and you go like that. You can really feel those shoulder muscles and those chest really work. You’re giving them a nice exercise; you’re stretching them out getting them ready for the day. Just like that. Great tool; only takes a few minutes, you already feel better. It’s better than a cup of coffee, almost. Then I take 2-3 pound weights. Put my feet apart a little bit. Remember, it’s always exhale on exertion, so I put them just like this together and I breathe out and slow down. Fast up, slow down. I’ll do some repetitions. I’ll work up to …you don’t want to kill yourself, but I’ll do about 10-12 repetitions. Then I take it and I kind of make like the karate kid. Put my feet apart and I take it up just like that and I bring it down. Up and down. Then I practice some curls just like that. You can feel this really work your lower back, believe it or not, as well as your shoulders and your back muscles. Now, you can build your own routine; what feels good for you, but I like this last one, trust me. It’s getting tougher and tougher to tie my shoes in the morning. What I do is I take these 2 weights, I put them by my side and I go down and touch the ground and I practice crunch. Now, you can spend a lot of money on expensive machines and practice this ab crunch. I’m down here and I go up, then I go down. I hold it for just a minute and then I go up. Guess what, you can still tie your shoes at 57 with rheumatoid arthritis and a bad back. Why do I do it in the buff? Let’s face it, if you look in the mirror, there’s such a thing as skin cancer. Now, you’re not there to admire yourself other than just to check your body out on a daily basis. So not only do I stretch, I check it out. "