Health…The Greatest Gift…The effect of “GOOD POSTURE” in life and golf.
Surgism: “The setup determines the motion.”
We have all heard the statement that “all the money in the world can't buy you health.”
I think money and/or good health care insurance certainly can if your health issues are treatable with good care and medical treatments that can cure, correct or control the problem.
The key issue here is prevention and good maintenance.
Through living healthy lives with diet and nutrition, good physical exercise (like playing golf with good setup posture and a swing that moves in accordance with our human body design), and through regularly scheduled visits with your various doctors.
I can hear you thinking:
“Where is The Surge going with this, and what does this have to do with improving my golf game?”
It came to me yesterday while I was waiting to see my Chiropractor, Dr. Chris Ehlich, for my regular spinal adjustment to keep me in tip top shape.
Dr. Chris always has handout information and newsletters for his patients that keep them informed about the importance of good health practices and medical and chiropractic data important to making good lifestyle decisions.
So, while I waited my turn, I picked up this week's reading material titled: “Fatigue and Forward Head Position.”
It caught my attention because of the term “Forward Head Position,” which I knew was important in maintaining good posture for good spinal health.
And, the following 3 short paragraphs, just about knocked me out of my chair, telling me that I had to discuss this in my next issue of “Surge Says.”
“Dr. Roger Sperry, the 1980 Noble Prize Recipient for brain research, has demonstrated that ninety percent (90%) of ALL the energy output from the brain is used for posture alone – keeping the body upright under gravity. Only ten percent (10%) has to do with thinking, metabolism and healing.”
“The poorer your posture, the harder your brain has to work to keep you upright leading to a lifetime of chronic fatigue, impaired concentration and a virtual trance-like state.”
“The better your posture, the more usable energy your brain has for other things. Such as thinking, metabolizing, healing, digesting, reproducing… OH, AND LIVING!!!” Being the Surge, I will add… AND PLAYING GOLF!!!
This was the first time I'd ever heard about this.
I always knew posture, as part of setup, is the key to the swing as my Surgism above states.
I just never knew it was this important!
Heck, 90% not only is important, it is almost everything.
I guess we now all need to take an oath to strive for “perfect posture” in all we do, and especially in our golf.
We certainly don't want our pastime, fun, enjoyment, relaxation, and for Tour professionals, their job, to be the cause of problems with our health and body movement.
The newsletter was filled with some other awesome test and data results that are important to good health and also relate to the importance of good golf posture.
Let me give a few excerpts.
Dr. Rene Cailliet, director of Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of California, in his prize-winning book, “Rejuvenation Strategy,” outlined 7 big problems caused by the forward head position.
I'll give you four of them.
#1. The first and biggie that affects all the rest is “incorrect head position leads to improper spinal function.“
#3. FHP or Syndrome as it is sometimes called, results in loss of vital capacity. Lung capacity is depleted by as much as 30 percent.
#5. FHP causes an increase in discomfort and pain.
#6. FHP causes loss of healthy spine-body motion. The entire body becomes rigid as the range of motion becomes diminished, and the person's body becomes rigid. (How many of us can relate to this feeling in our golf swing?)
The next paragraph in the newsletter states:
“Nutrients essential to the brain for survival – such as oxygen, glucose, and others – are transported from the body to the brain through the fluid that flows inside your spinal canal. This fluid is called 'Cerebrospinal Fluid.' FHP and other subluxations [incomplete or partial dislocation of a bone in a joint ] will lead to abnormal and reduced flow of oxygen, glucose and other important nutrients to the brain. That is why the spine – brain connection is so important for the entirety of your life. ”
I hope now that you are seeing the importance of good posture in your total life, and that good posture MUST…MUST exist also in your golf setup.
The next short two sentences by Dr. Ehlich in the newsletter really says it all:
“A bad back or a bad spine will literally give you a bad brain! Correcting and maintaining your spine not only gets you functioning better, it gets you thinking better.”
Good setup posture is the foundation of dynamic balance!
Dynamic balance is needed to make a smooth, efficient and in sync, powerful swing.
And, even with a perfect posture and dynamically balanced setup, you must then swing in accordance with your body design and the laws of physics for the swing to remain in dynamic balance.
Swing in violation of human body design and or the laws of physics, you fall out of dynamic balance.
You have breakdowns in the smooth flow and sync of motion, loss of power and balance control.
Tension both mental and physical builds up, as well as stress and strain.
And the ultimate conclusion is the swing is not consistent, does not work, and poor to shots are the norm.
Have you ever heard or even said yourself after making a bad swing and hitting a bad shot, “I must be stupid or lack talent. No matter how much I concentrate, I just can't seem to do this swing.”
Or after a good shot something like, “why can't I hit it like that more often or even all the time.”
The good news is you're not stupid.
And likely have enough talent to play well enough or even better than your modest goals.
BALANCE is the problem…the EFFECT is poor setup posture, and if you have good setup posture, it is incorrect swing motion.
Motion that is not in harmony with human anatomical design and the laws of physics causes the body to loose balance, and malfunction no matter how much or hard you concentrate.
Here is a test I do with my students on the lesson tee to explain this concept.
I ask the student to stand up straight and in balance. I then reach out to their right shoulder and give them a pretty good push backwards. Despite catching them off guard, no one has fallen down.
What happened and Why?
I point out to them that the instant, I pushed them backwards, their BRAIN, told their right leg to move backwards to get under the falling torso to regain balance and REMAIN STANDING. Remember the 90% brain activity energy output is to posture to keep us standing up, that I- we just learned about in Dr. Roger Sperry's Nobel Prize winning research.
I would then ask the student if they had to actually have a conscious mental thought to move their foot.
Every one, one hundred percent, all came back with the same answer. “NO…It just happened.”
You bet it just happened and thankfully it did, because if the foot didn't move to save their balance and they fell, I may have been punched out a few times or at the least yelled at.
So, why did the foot move to save as we can say “save their butt” from hitting the ground?
Because we have two best friends, autopilot systems, built into our minds that function one percent (100%) of the time on auto pilot.
They are Breathing and Balance.
We never have to think about their function.
They are like the Energizer Bunny. They just keep going.
I call the auto pilot system my “BALANCE BUDDY.”
He has only one job… keep you balanced and standing up.
And, he will do it even if and when you have poor posture, or make a swing contrary to the laws of physics and physiology, no matter how much you concentrate.
He will keep you standing because it's his job, never mind the fact that golfers are suppose to finish in a good balanced position, and especially if you are wearing white pants.
He'll do his job every time, never fail, guaranteed.
Thanks Balance Buddy!
So, now you know why “the setup determines the motion” and why dynamic balance is the foundation of The Peak Performance Swing.
All this from one little old newsletter I picked up in Dr. Chris Ehlich's office this morning.
Thanks Doctor Chris!
You can start having a dynamically balanced swing — completely in harmony with the laws of physics and even gravity — by getting your Peak Performance Golf Swing DVD's.
There's zero risk and we even pay for your shipping.
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