Week 19: 36-hole fitness

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Five exercises that will give you the stamina to play back-to-back rounds of golf.

When you travel to a beautiful new course, it is tough to resist playing two rounds on it. You want to enjoy every nuance of the layout, which is difficult to do in just one round. But to get the full enjoyment out of 36 holes, you want to be fit enough to play at your best for every hole. Try these basic exercises to increase your cardiovascular fitness. You will have the stamina to play like a champion for back-to-back rounds.

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Walking
The average length of a golf course is usually somewhere between three and four miles. So to play 36 holes, that is probably the best place to start. Walking is a great, low-impact exercise that anyone can do anywhere, even at your local mall. If you can gradually work your way up to seven miles of walking on a nice weekend morning, you will have the leg strength to walk 36 holes of your favorite course. Do not concentrate on speed. Just work you way up to completing the distance over the span of a few weeks.

Stairs
Climbing stairs is one of the simplest forms of exercise. You can do it anywhere, and it does not require any equipment. Taking the stairs will help you drop a few pounds while you strengthen your quadriceps and other leg muscles. It will make walking the hills of the course much easier. Best of all, you can do it in small intervals at your convenience. Even a few flights of stairs every day will lead to significant gains in leg strength and stamina.

Swimming
Perhaps the most leisurely form of summertime exercise might be the best for developing stamina in your golf game. Swimming is a great low impact exercise that works most of the body. Specifically, it allows you to exercise the rotation of your shoulders, arms and hips all essential to maintaining a steady golf swing through 36 holes. Start slowly with a few laps and gradually increase your time in the pool. Do not worry about how fast you are swimming. It would be like worrying about how fast you are playing golf. The time you spend in the pool is more important. The more time you can swim at a leisurely pace, the more prepared you will be for the golf course. If you can work your way up to 30 continuous minutes of lap swimming, you should be fine on the course.

Jump rope
Unlike most cardio exercises, jumping rope requires a little skill. The good news is that it is a skill that you can learn very quickly and easily. First, get yourself a rope that matches well with your height. If you're under 6-foot-tall, a nine-foot rope will do the job. If you're taller, you may want a 10-foot rope. Start slowly. As you turn the rope, gently hop over the rope with one foot as the rope turns beneath you. After a few hops, you can switch feet. At first, try just to get the rhythm right. If you can start jumping rope 20 times in a row without making a mistake, you are catching on. Slowly increase to ten one-minute intervals with one minute of rest in between.

Interval treadmill training
If you already have a base level of fitness, and are looking for an efficient way to gain stamina, interval training on the treadmill is the exercise for you. Set the treadmill at a speed of 1.0 for a minute. You will be walking very slowly. For the second minute, increase the speed to 2.0. Every minute after that, increase the speed of the treadmill by one setting until you feel you can not run that fast comfortably. For most fit runners, that will be around 7.0. Some may even be able to get to 8.0. Do this cycle four times, and you will build cardiovascular fitness and stamina very quickly.

A lack of stamina is not the only thing that can put a damper on 36 holes of golf. If knee pain is preventing you from completing back-to-back rounds, you might be suffering from osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Various treatments for OA do exist, such as ORTHOVISC®, which provides up to six months of knee pain relief. Made from ultra-pure natural hyaluronan, which is found in healthy joints, ORTHOVISC® is injected into the knee joint where it acts to replace your natural joint fluid, to help cushion, protect, and lubricate your knee.

ORTHOVISC® is a proud sponsor of PGATOUR.com. Talk to your doctor to see if ORTHOVISC® is right for you. Or visit our Web site at www.orthovisc.com for more information on how to maintain your knee health to help you keep playing the game you love.

Follow us on Twitter for up-to-date information on maintaining joint health and the prevention/treatment of knee pain due to sports-related injuries or the early symptoms of osteoarthritis.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

ORTHOVISC® is for patients who do not get adequate pain relief from simple pain relievers like acetaminophen or from exercise and physical therapy. ORTHOVISC® is not for use in people with known allergy to hyaluronate preparations, to gram bacterial proteins, with infections or skin diseases in the area of the injection site or joint. Common side effects include joint pain, back pain, headaches and pain or redness at the injection site.

This is a paid placement by DePuy Mitek, Inc. The opinions expressed above are those of DePuy Mitek, Inc. and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the PGA TOUR.