I’ve never really been a proponent of exercise. I never played sports in school. In middle and high school, I would come up with any and all excuses to get out of gym.
When I was in my twenties I was a little more athletic. I rode my bicycle around NYC but that was the extent of my exercise regime. After my kids were born, I worked out with the neighborhood girls at someone’s home with free weights. We talked a lot and had a good time, but I never worked up a sweat.
Within the last few years, I started to play golf. I figured I would be outside and getting exercise at the same time! What is better than that? I never realized that golf was not exercise.
Some may argue with me. I know I didn’t believe my trainer when he told me that playing golf was not working out. I continued to play, thinking that I could eat anything I wanted because I “worked out” for five hours! Interestingly I noted that when I wore my calorie counter, I only burned 250 calories in five hours! That is certainly not working out. I checked my pulse. It stayed on 65 – 70 throughout the round. Was I working up a sweat? No. Was I burning the calories I needed? No.
Last August, I hired a personal trainer and started lifting weights. I didn’t really see a difference with my golf game anytime soon thereafter. However, when I went to the Berkshire‘s with my husband for the first time all season, I played the best game of my life!
Why? I believe it was the exercise and the strength training with my core that elongated my strokes. I cut more than 10 strokes off my game. It felt so good.
So while I struggle to lift weights and train with my trainer, I know that it’s certainly doing something — it’s making me stronger, especially for golf to better my game!
