Extreme Golf Fitness

Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho & The Barcelona Team At The Home Of Golf!

Just thought I would post a random blog about Niall and I meeting Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho in St Andrews, the 'Home Of Golf'.

Barcelona football team are staying at St Andrews in the Old Course Hotel as they are training here for a week, so Niall and I decided to go along and see if we catch a glimpse of them leaving the hotel.

Much to our amazement, the whole team were just wandering around the hotel and we didn't know which way to turn, that was until Thierry Henry walked through the lobby and then I knew exactly what to do. He signed an autograph for Niall and I had my photo taken with him. However, it was a camera phone that I had to deal with as Garry had taken the memory stick out of our Nikon camera the night before without telling me! That's why the photo looks really dodgy and it was dark in that lobby!

Ronaldinho walked through and Niall shouted over to him and asked for his autograph. He very kind and  signed Niall's Brasil shirt then as I was fumbling around trying to sort out my camera phone, he stopped and came back for a photo with Niall. How nice was that? Astonishingly, there were no other cameramen, press or fans anywhere to be seen, how lucky were we!

I wonder if there going to try any golf this week, if they do, I'll try and get a few snaps!

E-mail me at liz@extremegolffitness.com and visit my website: www.extremegolffitness.com

The British Open, Tigers Balls & Alcohol Fuelled Crowds!

Friday 20^th July: Day 2

In the afternoon, my husband Garry, son Niall and I decided to go along to Carnoustie. I couldn't believe the price of the admission fee; £50!!  Lucky for us, my husband, Garry is a PGA member so he gets his fee refunded, I had borrowed a pass off a friend of Garry's and Niall gained free admission due to the fact he's under 16. So all in all, it worked out well.

Next, I wasn't surprised to find that mobile phones and cameras are completely banned. I'm quite glad about that as I've been to other tournaments (especially in China), where the crowd happily snap away, not having any consideration for the players. Unfortunately, I then wasn't able to get any snaps of players, but did see plenty.

We watched Tiger stroll up to the practice green where he looked so focused and relaxed. I'm sure he wasn't, but he has such a calmness about him. His first tee shot of the day saw his ball out of bounds in the Burn to the left of the fairway. Some lucky young boy, who strangely Garry had taught at
St Andrews Links Academy the previous day, rescued his ball from the burn by jumping in. The press were round him like flies, taking hundreds of photo's. He was actually offered £500 for the ball there and then! Maybe I should consider selling Niall’s ball that Tiger gave him in Mission Hills in China.

 

You can see more on the ‘Ball In The Burn’ story here: 'Teenager Seizes The Moment'

On our travels, I spotted a Radio DJ celebrity, Spoony, who also plays golf and hosts the Spoony Classic, which is a charity fund-raising Golf Tournament. Niall got his autograph and told him that he thought he was a really good golfer. Spoony told Niall that he was lying!

As I mentioned earlier, Garry has been teaching the guy who find Tigers ball in the Burn. He’s over here with a US Juniors Tour group and Chris DiMarco’s son is also in that group. Garry has been teaching them all week and apparently Chris DiMarco’s son plays left handed but putts right handed! Garry has been teaching them this morning again. As I write this Chris DiMarco has shot 66 today and is -3 for the tournament, so they’ll be happy with that.

The only disappointing thing about The British Open, which I was disgusted to see, were many very drunk men wandering or staggering around the course with beer in hand, slumped against posts, on the floor or actually throwing up! They probably hadn’t even seen any golf.
Considering that cameras and phones are confiscated at the gates upon arrival, due to them being misused, then why are men free to wander around in a drunken state quite able to cause a scene at any point. This kind of behaviour was seen by Garry as he watched a Radio Presenter interview Peter Dawson from the R & A, when at one point a drunken man shouted abuse at the Radio Presenter!
Why are people allowed to drink themselves into a stupor at such a highly publicised sporting event? The R & A should re-consider allowing so much alcohol consumption.

Visit my website www.extremegolffitness.com for fre.e golf exercises or e-mail me on liz@extremegolffitness.com

What To Eat Before, During and After Your Golf Game

There have been a few times when I completely forgot to pack anything to eat into my golf bag and I can honestly say that my concentration, my energy levels and my complete game went downhill from the moment I started to feel hungry. My mum can verify that!! I am not a happy golfer without food.

It's really important to pack a few healthy foods into your bag for the duration of your game. Well, You wouldn't go for four hours without eating at work or at home, so why do it during an athletic event!! Your body needs to fuel itself for stamina, strength and concentration.

Below are a few basic guidelines and ideas about what to eat before you tee off, during and after your game.

1. 2 Hours Before Tee Off:

• You will need some important proteins early on in the day, around 2 hours before you tee off. These can include turkey sausages, eggs, bacon, fish or oatmeal. Typically, this woul be breakfast time if you had an ealy tee off time.
• Drink plenty of water or unsweetened fruit juice. Avoid caffeine and alcohol at all costs as they will only make you dehydrated.

2. Just Before Tee Off:

• At this time you will need foods that are slow-releasing carbohydrates. These can be a slice of rye bread, oat bran muffin, whole grain cereals, orange or grapefruit.
• Again, have a drink of water (with added minerals is best).

3. On-Course Snacks:

• Water, water and more water!
• Apples, grapes or nuts are best foods to snack on throught your game.

4. Just After The First Nine:

• Just after your first nine holes, eat something a bit more substantial such as dark flour bread (no white bread), bagels, slow-release energy sports bar and an unsweetened electrolyte drink.

5. The Last Hour Of Play:

• You may need a quick boost of energy now, so go for a banana, raisins and unsweetened fruit juice.

6. After Your Game:

• It's important to give your body and muscles recovery foods so that you'll be ready for your next game! This time you'll need fast-releasing carbohydrates such as a sandwich with chicken, beef, tuna or turkey. Salads, cheese and yoghurts are also on the list here.
• Drink water, fruit juice and you now may have a tea or coffee!

These are just a few helpful ideas of the types of food you should be eating to play great golf.

If you want any further advice on golf nutrition, please e-mail me:

liz@extremegolffitness.com

The British Open Is Under-Way...well nearly!

I just read Tiger Woods blog about him coming over to Carnoustie and his mention of when he played here in St Andrews. It's really weird to hear someone like that talk about the place where you live...and with it being such a small place too!

I just wanted to write something about the British Open and felt that I could just waffle on about how excited I am that we have all these great golfers coming here and you can just see them around the place. You can guarantee that you'll see someone and maybe if you're lucky you might just get to ask them a question too. If I do, I'll make sure I ask them about their fitness regime! I'm sure they'll be happy to talk about that.

Jim Furyk came over on Saturday and he was doing a clinic for the St Andrews Links Junior Golf Association. My husband Garry and my son Niall managed to see him but I was a little busy enjoying a barbecue on the beach at the time!

I''m going to try and report back during the Open and if I manage to talk to anyone, I'll post their response here. More than likely there will be photo's anyway.

For more information on golf fitness, or for your F.REE exercises log on to www.extremegolffitness.com

or e-mail me on liz@extremegolffitness.com

Top 5 Ways To Maintaining A Healthy Low Back

As you may be aware, low back pain is very common among golfers. Back pain is also one of the most common medical complaints, so even if you don't already play golf, you might want to start strengthening your posture to prevent any back pains.

                                                                                                                

Here are my Top 5 Tips for how to maintain a healthy, strong back and how to cope with any existing low back pain.

1. 1. Stronger Abs
   By working on strengthening your abs, you will not only reduce any existing back injury but also avoid any further injuries. A strong core is essential to avoiding the dreaded back pain as the abdominals act as a supporting belt for your spine.            
2. Stronger Legs
   Again, building up your leg strength is essential in maintaining a strong back. However, strong legs also has another benefit for golfers....more power! So what are you waiting for?
3. Stay Flexible
   Tight hamstrings will put more strain on your back. If you're not flexible, chances are you'll hurt your back. This is an area NOT to be missed out of your daily Golf Conditioning Program.
4. Improve Your Posture
   Try sitting on a Swiss Ball at the office instead of a chair. This will keep you perfectly aligned and put less strain on your muscles. Posture for golfers is really important, think about how many minutes you stay in your address position over 18 holes!! 
5. Always Warm Up
   I don't know how many times I repeat this over the course of a week! Teeing off from the 1st tee without warming up is a mortal sin! Cold muscles will increase your chances of getting a pulled muscle and straining back muscles. Warm-ups only takes a few minutes and you'll feel the benefits straight away.
   If you don't know what warm-up exercises to do, contact liz@extremegolffitness.com

For more information on the types of exercises you can do to strengthen your abdominals and legs, send me an e-mail to liz@extremegolffitness.com or log on to www.extremegolffitness.com

GOLF SPECIFIC TRICEPS TRAINING FOR BETTER GOLF

The triceps are the muscles on the back of your upper arm. They are called triceps because they are made up of three smaller muscles; long head, lateral head and medial head.

These particular muscles are most active during the initiation of the downswing and during the follow-through phase after impact.

During the golf swing, the triceps work in harmony with nearly all the muscles in the body.

                  

For this reason, when you're doing your golf specific workout, you should train your triceps but DON'T isolate the triceps by doing exercises such as a seated machine triceps extension (Figure 2), as you won't be helping them in any way because as you can see, this is a

movemement that differs from the actual swing movement.

                                    

The triceps aren't isolated during the swing, so don't train them in isolation?

Seated Tricep Extension Machine - Wrong x

                                                                                                                                             

The correct exercise to do is the Cross Body Tricep Extension. This exercise is particularly useful for strengthening the arm muscles for the golf swing and reinforcing the follow-through.                                                                                                          

                                               The Cross Body Tricep Extension.

• Set a cable column about chest height. If you don't have access to a cable column, you can just as easily use a Strength Band.
• Set it at a comfortable weight for you, not too heavy.
• Position your hand so that your palm is facing your chest and the handle is just below your collar.
• Pull your arm across your body,moving your shoulder and elbow joint together.
• Keep your trunk still.
• Do 2 sets of 10 reps on each arm.

   

For further information about this exercise or any others, please e-mail me at liz@extremegolffitness.com.