The Parthenon Principle in Golf

The Acropolis of Athens was burned by invading Persian forces during the Persian War which ended in 479 b.c. Following the war, the Athenians began rebuilding their city, which culminated in the construction of the Parthenon, the greatest of all Greek temples of the Classical Age.

Dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom and patron deity of the city of Athens, the Parthenon stood more or less intact for some 2,000 years until the middle of the seventeenth century, when it was partly destroyed in a war between the Turks and the Venetians.

The Metaphor

The performance goals you are working toward as a golfer are as important to you as was the Parthenon to the Greeks. It took many years of painstaking planning and excruciatingly hard work to affect this magnificent temple. The same is true of your own golf performance. A level of commitment that was quite extraordinary was essential to the ultimate success of the Athenians' undertaking. No less is required of you. Like the Parthenon, your total golf performance is also supported by pillars, each of which is central to its integrity and its survival. The Parthenon was "built to last." So too, your golf performance achievements must be based on rock-solid principles.

The Principle

Imagine the result of a small increase in the strength of each of the supporting pillars of the Parthenon. As each is strengthened, it will affect the robustness—the durability—of the structure. Clearly, a small change in each pillar will give rise to a large change in the overall structure. The same is true of your golf performance potential. This gives rise to what we call the Parthenon Principle.

Incremental Changes

Golf-specific and customized 'physical' training for your body is now known to be an essential 'pillar' supporting your total golf performance potential - regardless of your level of play. Moreover, within the 'physical pillar' of golf performance, there are the specific physical ingredients including posture, balance, flexibility, strength and conditioning —each of which supports the body as a whole. Improve one and the overall health and physical performance potential of a golfer improves. Improve them all by just a small amount and the golfer will experience a significant increase in health, energy, and performance.

Action Exercise
What improvements could you make in your golf-specific physical ingredients of posture, balance, flexibility, strength or conditioning to make your golf performance goals easier to achieve? How could you alter or improve your physical conditioning to support your golf-specific performance potential? Do you have a golf-specific fitness training professional to help you evaluate your individual physical conditioning needs and to design your customized fitness training program that will meet your needs and keep you safe?

To learn more about golf-specific fitness training or to contact Dr. Paul Callaway directly, please visit www.CallawayGolfFitness.com , email Paul@CallawayGolfFitness.com or call 630-567-7572.

The Little Things

"It's the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class."
-- J. Willard Marriott Sr., hotel executive

And, as a golfer, one 'little thing' that you can do that often pays 'big' dividends with regard to your overall golf performance is strengthening your 'core' muscles. Strengthening the 'core' region of our body is helpful for many reasons. However, if hitting the ball farther and with greater accuracy and consistency is important to you, then gaining fucntional strength in your lower and transverse abdominal muscles (core) is critical!

Here is an example of a simple but very targeted exercise for strengthening your core muscles called a 'Pelvic Tilt' ...

1) Lay on your back with your hips and knees bent to about 45 degrees and your feet rested on the floor.

2) Pull your lower abdominal muscles down and into your spine then rotate your pelvis back and flatten your lower back down into the floor.

3) Hold this backward 'pelvic tilt' for 2-3 breaths then relax.

4) Repeat up to 1 set of 50 pelvic tilts per day for up to 5 times per week.

5) Continue doing this level until it becomes easy.

There are many possible advancements of this exercise to progress to when you are ready. However, starting with and mastering this 'basic' level is where you need to start. It is recommended, before you advance, that you contact a golf-specific fitness expert to help you fully customize a fitness program designed to efficiently and safely meet your specific needs.

For more golf fitness information, please visit www.CallawayGolfFitness.com or contact Dr. Paul Callaway directly at 630-567-7572 or Paul@CallawayGolfFitness.com .

How Do You Eat an Elephant?

You've probably already heard the question, "How do you eat an elephant?" Well, no surprises, the answer still is, "one bite at a time."

This simple 'elephant' metaphor has, in most cases, always applied to achieving big goals. How do you achieve a huge goal in life? One step, one task, one measure at a time.

It's interesting though, as the first Golf Fitness Expert to the Pros and golf fitness coach for thousands of amateur golfers, I amazed just how reluctant most golfers are to setting big goals when it comes to their desired performance. Many golfers are hesitant to make 'elephant-sized' goals - perhaps because, from their past experience, they don't really believe that they will be able to play much better!

Golfers will all agree that they'd like to be 'more consistent'. They all will also say that they want 'more distance' and would like to be better 'ball strikers'. But, when I ask them for clarification, very few golfers, regardless of their experience, are prepared to specifically define the exact amount of positive change they would ideally like to experience within their golf performance ... nor, in what time frame.

So, to help them out, I have a 3-step process that helps my golf clients reduce the 'elephant' into bite-size morsels that they can easily chew and digest.

Step #1:Identify Your Most Valuable Element of Change
I start out by asking my golf clients the question,

"What one area of your total golf game, if improved, would make the biggest change in your overall performance?

Step #2: Physical Evaluation
Then, whatever their answer, I perform an evaluation to identify the physical relationship connected to that specific performance factor and design a customized fitness training program based on the findings. In fact, in most cases, if the golfer can tell me what they 'don't like' about their game - what's going wrong - then, I can evaluate what it is about their posture, balance, flexibility, strength, stability, conditioning and/or control that needs to improve in order for them to reach their stated ideal. And, like eating the elephant, we design the program to take one 'bite' at a time until their new structure supports their new function.

Step #3: Customized Golf Fitness Program Design
Once the golfer's structural relationship to their golf performance dysfunction is clear, then designing their step-by-step customized fitness training program becomes quite simple. After all, by law, to achieve the desired function, you first need to create the proper structure. In other words, build 'it' properly, and 'it' will perform the function you design it to perform. No matter what the 'it' of the equation is! And, in the case of golfers, if you design the correct sequencing and integration into the golfer's program that sufficiently takes into account the other essential performance factors including the mental game, professional instruction and club-fitting, it's absolutely amazing how much golfers can accomplish if they break their tasks down into bite-sized pieces, set deadlines, and then do one piece at a time, every single day.

What Do You Really Want?

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true."

-- Leon Suenens, Clergyman

If you can tell me what you really want then I can show you how to get it. If you aren't sure exactly that you want ... then that's where we need to start.

It's true, only after we know what we want ... really want ... can we begin the steps of getting it. Sounds simple and even silly to say, doesn't it? But, in my 30 years of working with people to facilitate what they want, I frequently have to help them identify exactly what they want first. Many golfers I interview think they know what they want, but it is either too general or, after some brief discussion and clarification, what they initially thought they wanted isn't what they truly wanted after all!

For example, when I ask, "What do you really want"?, a golfer will typically answer something like, "I want to be more consistent". Good! That's a nice start! But, what does "more consistent" really mean?

And, how do we objectively measure the improvement in consistency? All the experts suggest, for a goal to be proper, it must be specific and measurable. It also must have a deadline and, if it is really the 'ideal' goal, it must create a good feeling inside when we think about already being in possession of the goal's intended result.

So, taking the next clarifying step, I will ask my client, "What specific part of your game would you like to be more consistent"? And, their response will be something like, "I would like to have more consistent ball striking ... I want to hit the ball more solidly". OK! We are now moving in the right direction but we have a long way to go at nailing down what this golfer really wants and having it stated as a goal that is specific, and measurable.

Moving forward, I'll ask, "How are you striking the ball now"? Their answer, "Oh, very 'thin' and sometimes a little 'chunky' , or I'll slice it to the right or pull it hard to the left."

Me: "I see! Just how big a problem is this during a typical practice session or golf round"?
Golfer: "On average, I'm hitting about 4 out of 10 shots poorly right now".

Me: "I understand. How many shots of of 10 would you like to hit well?
Golfer: "That's easy! I want to hit them all perfectly solid"!

Me: "By when"?
Golfer: "I want to hit all my shots perfectly in 3 months ... by the start of next golf season".

Me: "And what would that feel like to hit 100% perfect shots"?
Golfer: "Fantastic! I really would feel like I'm playing golf much closer to my true potential".

Me: "Got it! And, if you continue on the path that you're on ... getting the same performance results you're getting now ... how would that make you feel"?
Golfer: "That would be very frustrating! I might even consider finding something else, more enjoyable, to do other than golf".

Me: "So, how would you put into words, one 'present tense' sentence, what you'd 'really like' to have ... you're 'ideal scene' ... as it relates to your golf game"?
Golfer: "I'm so happy grateful and proud now that I hit 100% solidly-struck golf shots that hit my intended target each and every time".

Me: "Great! Now I totally understand what you 'really' want! And, we can now go to work together to determine what it's going to take to make this your reality on or before the next 3 months to reach your goal".

Do you see the process? We now have a specific goal that is measurable, has a deadline, and would produce the type of emotional connection for the golfer that will inspire and continue to motivate them through the various obstacles that may present themselves in the process of accomplishing this worthy goal.

In summary, there really is nothing more important to think about and make clear for ourselves then, "What do we really want?" ... for our golf game and in life! But, if your not sure, or you want to make it clearer and want/need help creating a strategy for accomplishing your dream result, then let me know. I'd be very happy to help!

Because, if you can tell me what you really want, I can show you how to get it! Guaranteed!

Flu Shot This Season? What Should YOU Do?

The big question surrounding this flu season - especially with all the fear out there about new and stronger strains of flues including the Swine flu, etc. - is "Flu shot or no flu shot?" What should we do?

Obviously, each person has to make their own decision for themselves and for their family after consulting with their physicians. However, I felt compelled to write this blog to give you another possible option to consider before making up your mind about resorting to the flu shot this season.

Prevention, as a health care philosophy in this country has traditionally been a tough sell. Westerners have been slow to take a more proactive roll in their health to the same degree that people from Asia and the Far East have done for centuries. Mostly, we have somehow bought into the 'if it ain't broke - don't fix it' way thinking that thought it was better to live our lives as 'full out' as possible, never caring too much about taking the necessary steps toward keeping our bodies healthy. And instead, placing more concern and financial investment into our 'back-up' system of 'health insurance' to pay for whatever health problems we might encounter in the future - but with no real belief that we would ever get sick or injured ourselves! That only happens to other unfortunate people! Right?

Well, as the cost of treating sickness has skyrocketed in the past 20 years, that reactive way of thinking has now become less and less affordable to most Americans. Moreover, as the 'bugs' that can 'get' us have become more virulent, many people have started to open their minds ... and their pocket books ... to alternative or complimentary methods for preventing sickness and proactively staying well. In fact, it is estimated by top economists like Paul Zane Pilzer in his book, The Next Trillion, that by this coming year, Americans - led by the 'baby boomers' - will be spending one trillion dollars on products and services that prevent sickness and help keep them well!

As a physical therapist, performance enhancement specialist and wellness consultant, I've joined the ranks of health care professionals who support the movement for integrative and complementary 'wellcare'. I believe that we can and should take greater proactive responsibility for our own health and wellness. I believe that each person (family) should take a page from the global leaders in total health ... Japan ... and establish a 'well care' team composed of the full range health care and well care experts including medical doctors, psychologists, physical therapists, and nutrition counselors to name a few. We should meet with our team and design a specific plan for staying healthy starting with a philosophy and definition of total wellness that includes a balance in five key areas called the '5 Pillars of Health':

1) Mind
2) Body
3) Family
4) Society
5) Finances

In addition to regular check-ups including 'early-detection' diagnostic testing, our prevention plan should also develop specific strategies for our diet, exercise, stress-management and recovery, and body structural rebalancing. Professional guidance and support should be provided for proper sleep quality, hydration quality, and other essential elements for creating a 'wellness home' and/or office environment ... the places where we spend the most time ... to provide our total, natural 'energy' needs that will help keep us well.

In the Spring of 1994, I got very sick. I was confined to my bed and missed two weeks of work with severe nausea, headaches, body aches, high temperature and body sweats. It turned out that I had a severe sinus infection that ultimately was helped with medicine, rest and time. For a while, however, I thought that I was going to die. I had no real warnings ... no indications, that I was aware of ... from previous symptoms or smaller-degree sinus problems to indicate that this terrible problem was coming. Everything seemed just fine - totally normal - even one day before the sickness started. But when it started, it knocked me immediately off my feet! It is an experience I'll never forget!

But, the silver lining to the story is that, I survived! Plus, in surviving, I came out of this nightmarish experience with a totally different, enhanced appreciation for feeling well and functioning normally. The truth is, when I was in bed, sweating like the Devil, and not knowing what was happening to me, I felt extremely helpless, totally dependent on others, and I was scared!

It is amazing what a stressful, traumatic event in a person's life can do to promote needed changes. I began asking questions and doing research from a variety of health and wellness experts to gather information about how I could do everything humanly possible to prevent this from ever happening to me again! I didn't want to be sick, helpless, and afraid ... any more!

The results? At 53 years of age, I can now honestly share with you the good news that I have never been sick, even for one day, in the past nearly 16 years! No colds, no flues, no headaches, no sinus infections, no medicines of any kind, no missed days of work, no helplessness, no fears, and no doctor visits - other than for my regular 'well care' checkups with my wellness team.

I have successfully been able to optimize my immune system by enhancing my energy support environment both in my home and my office. I have proactively invested both time and money to support my personal and family's total health and wellness objectives. I have adopted the more 'Eastern' concept of 'wellness' being defined as the complete, synergistic balance in the '5 Pillars of Health' - healthy mind, body, family, society and finances. I now leverage state-of -the-art wellness and energy-support technologies that provide sufficient quality and quantity sleep, air, water, nutrition and fitness. I am healthier, have more energy, feel better and accomplish more at 53 than I did when I was 35! What a difference this approach has made in my life...and my family's too!

For me, I have been able to take back the control of my health and answer the question, "Flu shot or no flu shot this season?" I can answer with a definite, "No!" My energy system is completely supporting a bullet-proof immune system function. It really would not matter what 'bug' I would be exposed to any more. I no longer can get sick! After all, it is very well known that bacteria, viruses and germs don't really make us sick - but weak immune systems do!

Therefore, if you want to stay healthy, reduce the fear of getting sick and take back control of your own personal and/or family wellness - forever- then I suggest you create a proactive, customized total wellness plan. I'm sure that I did!

For more information about the specifics of my plan or to discuss how you could develop a comprehensive wellness plan for yourself, please contact me at Paul@CallawayGolfFitness.com .

You Swing Like You Eat: How to Get a Performance Breakthrough with Better Golf Nutrition

Is it really true what the health and nutrition experts say, "You are what you eat?"

Well, as one of those so-called 'experts' ... at least in the specialty area of golf fitness and performance training ... I'm here to tell you that it's TRUE! Moreover, as a golfer, what you eat is not only what can make or break your general health and wellness, but it can also determine your total performance potential and prevent painful injuries. So, simply put, 'You swing like you eat!' If you put 'junk' in to your body, your body will become junk ... and, if you're body is junk then all it can produce is junky golf swings. Make sense?

So, here are some basic 'rules' for building a solid nutrition plan that will help you both 'on' and 'off' the course. These are the types of basic nutrition guidelines that you must do on a consistent basis IF you are serious about improving your total wellness and want to experience a major performance breakthrough in your golf game.

First off, like with any game that we want to play, there needs to be some rules. The rules aren't designed to hold us back or penalize us in any way. Instead, they are there to help us WIN! And, in the game of healthy nutrition, when you lay by these rules ... everyone wins!

However, if these established rules are a bit different from what you are used to, then changing over to this new set of rules - just like changing any other habit - can be difficult. It will take a sincere desire ... a 'want' ... to change AND it will take a specific strategy ... a 'how' ... for change. The “want to” will be your personal decision ... it is all your own. But the “how to” is my job. My area of expertise and what I've dedicated my professional career to is helping people to help themselves by first identifying 'what' they want, and then creating a success formula for 'how' they can achieve what they want.

In most cases, for people to get what they want, they will have to change their rules ... their beliefs, thoughts, feelings and behavior (habits) to be successful at getting what they want. After all, if my clients already possessed all these things, then they probably would already have what they want - before they met me. So, for me to be successful, I had to learn how to be very good at facilitating change in other people. If they don't win, then I certainly don't win! That's the name of the game in my world.

When considering the necessary changes In the rules for building a proper nutritional program for improved golf performance, many things will have to change, above and beyond the way you eat, including the way you sleep, they way you look, the way you feel when you wake up in the
morning, and they way you perform in day-to-day activities and when you practice or play golf.

But, for this blog, I’m only going to start you off with the basics - a system based on what is known as the 'Triple S' criterion. The 'Triple S' criterion represents a 3-step way of evaluating a strategy for its usefulness.

• Step 1 – Simplicity: Are the rules easy to follow?
  
• Step 2 – Science: Are the rules based on sound scientific principles?
  
• Step 3 – Success: Have the rules produced success in past clients?

Using this 'Triple S' criterion, here are 10 Nutrition Rules for Optimal Golf Performance and Wellness. This nutrition success system, fully integrates the basic habits of good nutrition, and supports the nutritional needs for high level golf performance, total health and weight management, stress recovery and injury prevention.

Rule #1: Eat every 2-3 hours – whether you think you're hungry or not! But, you don’t need to eat a full meal every 2-3 hours. On average, you need to eat 6-8 meals and snacks that align with the other rules that follow.

Rule #2: Consume complete, lean protein each time you eat. Select an animal food item every time you eat. Note: If you’re currently a vegetarian, this rule still applies. There are still plenty of animal-related foods, rich in protein, that will be consistent with your philosophy to choose from.

Rule #3: Consume vegetables each time you eat. In addition to a complete, lean protein source, you need to eat some vegetables every time you eat. You can throw in a piece of fruit here and there as well. But don’t miss the veggies!

Rule #4: Only eat non-vegetable/non-fruit carbohydrates like rice, pasta, potatoes, etc. - after you exercise. Although these grains are dietary staples in North America, there is a known relationship between the large amounts of these foods in our diet and the prevalence of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. So reward yourself after a good workout with a good carbohydrate meal. Your body will tolerate these carbohydrates much better after exercise). And, remember, every 2-3 hours of your day, eat lean protein and a delicious selection of fruits and vegetables.

Rule #5: 25-35% of your diet must come from the right kinds of fat. There are 3 types of fat; 1) saturated, 2) monounsaturated, and 3) polyunsaturated. Eating a healthy balance of all three fats can dramatically improve your health and even help you lose excess body fat. Your saturated fat should come from your animal products and you can even use some butter or coconut oil for cooking. Your monounsaturated fat should come from mixed nuts, olives, and olive oil. And your polyunsaturated fat should from flax seed oil, fish oil, and mixed nuts.

Rule $6: Stop drinking all calorie-rich drinks. All your drinks should be non-calorie beverages. Fruit juices, alcoholic drinks, and sodas need to removed from your daily consumption. Your absolute best choices for adequate, daily hydration and nutritional support are purified, ionized, alkaline balanced and oxygen-rich water, and green tea.

Rule #7: Concentrate on eating whole, organic foods. The majority, if not all, of your daily nutrition should come from whole, organic (no chemical pesticides, preservatives, artificial additives, etc.) foods. There are a few times when organic, whole-food supplements are also useful. But do your best to invest in whole, largely unprocessed foods for your regular meals.

Rule #8: 10% foods are OK! 10% foods are foods that don’t follow the rules above – but foods you’re still allowed to eat or drink 10% of the time! 100% nutritional discipline is never required for
optimal progress. For example, if you’re eating 6 meals per day for 7 days of the week – that’s 42 meals. 10% of 42 is about 4. Therefore you’re allowed to “break the rules” 4 meals each week.

Rule #9: Develop food preparation strategies. The hardest part about eating well is making sure you can follow the 8 previous rules on a consistent basis. Therefore, working with your nutrition consultant to design effective meal planning and food preparation strategies that you can stick to and support these 10 rules is vital to your success.

Rule #10: Balance daily food choices with healthy variety. During the week - when you’re busiest - you will often confront time constraints for preparing large, elaborate, gourmet meals.
up gourmet meals. When this happens, you’re going to want a list of tasty, easy-to-make foods that meet your nutritional needs, and that you can eat, day in and day out. Then, once every day or so, when the time restrictions are less demanding, eat something unique.

It's true! We are what you eat! And, as golfers, like it or not, what we eat also significantly influences how we perform on the course ... and in life! These '10' Nutrition Rules for Optimal Golf Performance and Wellness are what I incorporate into each of my customized, golf fitness and performance programs with my clients. If you want to have a nutritional strategy that is simple, science-based, and successful, this '10' Rules system could be exactly what you need to achieve your goals. After all, isn’t it about time to feel great, look great, have unlimited energy and realize your true golf performance potential?

Stop Golfer's Back Pain - Forever!

Year after year, the #1 injury in golf is to the lower back. As frequent as injuries are to golfer's shoulders, elbows, necks and hips, golf injuries to the lower back still reign #1 ... by a mile!

There are many theories to why so many golfers continue to hurt their lower backs. Some experts blame poor swing mechanics and technique, some suggest tight hamstrings and weak abdominal muscles are the cause, while others point their finger at the game itself ... just too much bending and twisting for how our body is designed!

While any or all of these and other factors seem reasonable and most certainly could be contributing to low back injuries in golfers, there is one other major cause that, in my nearly 30 years working as a physical therapist specializing in the treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of golf-related injuries, that is most often missed. And, if corrected, can permanently stop golfer's back pain - FOREVER!

Most golfers who suffer from low back pain, regardless of their medical diagnosis, are 'shocked' to find out that there is such a simple and permanent solution to their pain. In fact, in most cases, it is so easy to correct that I can't believe more golf-fitness specialists and medical practitioners are not aware of it. So what is this common problem to golfer's low back pain? And, how is the problem so easily fixed? Well, here's the answer ...

Over 90% of the golfers I have the opportunity to evaluate, regardless of age, levels of golf experience and/or skill, have muscle imbalances (combinations of muscle and connective tissue tightness and weakness) throughout the key muscle groups in their 'core'. Their foundational muscles in the hips, pelvis, spine, torso and shoulders are not 'balanced'.

Therefore, just like the old-fashioned camping tents that used a center pole to keep the top of the tent up, if one or more of the 'core' muscles (tent ropes) of a golfer's body is pulling on the spine (tent center pole) unequally, then the spine (center pole) and the whole body (tent) would be 'unstable' and lean in the direction of the greatest pull.

Moreover, as the law of 'Structure governs 'Function' establishes that the degree of 'function' of any physical object is dependent upon its 'structure', then, in this state of structural instability, even a relatively normal stress experienced within a golfer's body... a golf swing (wind blowing on the tent) ... could cause it to dysfunction (i.e. poor golf swing mechanics) ... or even worse, become injured (collapse the tent)!

This is exactly what happens with most golfers who develop lower back pain. They all have structural imbalances that cause one or more postural asymmetries. And, these asymmetries in their pelvis and spine regions cause movement dysfunction when they play golf that creates stress in the lower back that eventually causes strain, injury and pain. All preventable ... if you know how!

The most commonly evaluated postural asymmetry in golfers is called a 'pelvic torsion'. Simply stated, their pelvis is slightly twisted so they have the appearance of one leg looking a bit longer than the other. To see an example of what I'm talking about, visit http://paulcallaway.vpweb.com/MyApproach.html. You will see a how a golfer's standing posture directly impacts their address posture and how their imbalanced address posture prevents their 'ideal' golf swing.

Typically, this 'torsion' is caused by muscle imbalances the golfer develops from the the stresses and de-conditioning experienced with every day life - without the techniques necessary to effectively 're-balance' the golfer's body and prevent injury. Once identified through the proper initial evaluation, then the simple, corrective exercises and treatment techniques can be performed that will eliminate the torsion, reduce the postural stress and prevent further swing compensations and injury.

In my experience, these corrections can be made for most golfers in one week or less. In some more difficult or complex cases, it may take up to one month. This is quite rare, however, as most golfers are feeling and functioning much better in a few short days when they apply the proper 'releasing', 're-education' and 'rebuilding' exercises (for more information, visit http://paulcallaway.vpweb.com/MyApproach.html) and treatment techniques I provide for them.

Therefore, if you really would like to end your lower back pain problems forever, I suggest that you contact a golf-specific health and fitness professional who can properly evaluate your posture and full body structure and provide you with the quick and easy corrective techniques to feel and function better. This could be the most important and helpful thing you'll ever do for your back and for your game! Trust me!

If you'd ever like to talk more about this and how it could specifically help you, let me know. I'm happy to provide you with a FREE, no obligation, phone consultation to provide you with the information and help you may need. Simply email me at Paul@CallawayGolfFitness.com and request that I give you a call and I will get back to you about scheduling the phone conference.