Preparing for a new season – training and health

Winter is officially upon us and the courses are browning nicely. What that means is colder weather and unfortunately less golf for me even though golf is year round here in Chiba.  Below 10 degrees Celcius and golf just isn’t as fun! 2011 was a great year of golf for me, I played more regularly than every and shot more consistent scores than ever however as father time catches up to my body I found that the increased frequency of my rounds also took a toll on my body. Aches and pains and a battle with arthritis in the joints all made recovering from one round to the next quite a task. I’ve also realized that I am not getting any younger so it will only get worse.  I’ve decided to use the time off from golf (don’t get me wrong, I am still getting out but not as much as I would like to because of the cold) to improve my fitness, swing and overall well being.

Many of us obsess of over equipment and forget that the foundation of a sport like golf goes beyond the clubs we are using to our core fitness and metal well being. We all want to hit the ball further but we put all the emphasis on finding a club that will produce miracles rather than starting from the source, our own bodies. Building a strong core and flexibility as well as being in great overall shape and having strong mental focus will improve our games as much if not more than having the best clubs out there – if there even is such a thing as the best clubs.  We can’t control what golf brands do but we can surely dictate how we live our lives and prepare ourselves.

I’ve given myself two main focuses that I will concentrate on as I prepare for the new season. One is conditioning in other words for golf, building strength, balance and flexibility. This takes motivation and dedication and of my two focuses can actually be considered the easier one as there are many conditioning programs and training aids to help with core fitness.

My second focus is improved health and general well being (which is also of course connected to the first focus). Improving health and physical well being aren’t only about exercise. As we get older its harder to stay in shape, eat the right things and combat ailments and illnesses. I realize that I am not a chemist nor am I or my wife a nutritionist. Tourspecgolfer and I were discussing how time is flying and how we are aging along and he suggested I take a look at supplements which fill in the gaps of what may be missing in my diet. He peaked my interest so I began researching more on supplements. Many generalize a supplement as simply a vitamin but its more than that.  While many supplements certainly do provide vitamins they go beyond that and give the body much needed nutrients like minerals, fiber, fatty acids or amino acids. In other words they give the body balance by giving you whats missing in your diet.

I am the kind of person who researches something very thoroughly before I can commit to it, whether it be golf clubs or cars or computers, I spend a lot of time educating myself on what I need to know. The truth is there are many dietary supplements out there so where do I start? Tourspecgolfer and Tourspecgirl have been using products from a very well know nutrition company call Shaklee, and having very good success. I thought I would see what Shaklee is all about so began researching their background and what they have to offer.  It turns out Shaklee has been in the nutrtion business over 50 years and boasts 54 Olympic gold medalists using Shaklee products.  They have invested 250 million dollars into research and development and have produced over 100 scientific papers, 90 of them published in peer-reviewed journals. Based on the fact also that Shaklee products are based on purest natural ingredients I decided to give them a try.

I started with two products the Vitalizer which you could say is the ultimate multi vitamin. An all in one supplement with 80 bio-optimized nutrients to improve vitality and health in every way. Sounds pretty good huh? The second product was Shaklee’s Joint Health Complex which is supposed to reduce joint pain and increase flexibility and joint stability leading to improved muscle strength. Now this is what I really looked forward to trying. Anything that could reduce joint discomfort and increase my flexibility would be like finding gold. These are only two products in a wide and vast offering from Shaklee but I was not about to buy everything they had without trying first.

I was not planning on writing about Shaklee until I knew for sure it made a difference. As you may have guessed by me writing this post, it has made a difference far faster than I expected! Starting a month ago I began taking a daily strip of Vitalizer and 3 capsules a day of the Joint Health Complex. Within a week my joints felt better and I’m experiencing much less aches and pains now compared to before.  Some of the benefits of the Vitalizer include stress reduction/management as well as heart and brain health thanks to a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anti-aging phytonutrients, omega-3 fatty acids, and probiotics. I spend a lot of time as you can imagine sitting at my desk in front of my computer and my focus can surely wander but after being on Vitalizer for month I’m feeling more energetic, I’m sleeping better, I’ve got better focus and I feel generally refreshed. At first I thought perhaps it was all in my head but then I realized I was feeling much more alive after lunch whereas in the past I would feel more like taking a nap after lunch (that’s what I get for working from home!).

So while its still early, I feel I’ve had a pretty positive start with Shaklee products. I had a talk with Tourspecgolfer and Tourspecgirl who have been using Shaklee for the last year and they echo the same sentiment in their experiences with Shaklee products.  I’m glad I was able to get the chance to try and if it didn’t work for me I would have simply stopped.  The more we talked about it the more we thought it would be a good idea to do  a test run and make Shaklee available in the pro shop for anyone who would be interested in trying.  If you are health conscious, looking for a change of direction and something to help supplement your physical training, consider Shaklee for performance nutrition.  Now hitting the weights and honing my swing seem easier than ever!

[poll id=”48″]