Pilates Not just For ladies
'I felt the muscles in my back squeak with the rotation I was making but the club felt like a feather in my hand, and the simulator was showing a draw around the corner on the dogleg in front of me. I had spent an hour on and off a weighted machine designed to create the right swing path. Regular and stiff shafts used to give me uncomfortable vibrations, but here I was, hitting them like a pro, with an ease that felt exhilarating. The strength in my back and core felt amazing.’ - Linda
I started with Pilates about 14 years ago. Before Pilates I suffered from terrible back and neck pain, and I definitely couldn’t touch my toes. My instructor made me fall in love with the flowing movement of the exercises and it started to help with my back pain, overall body strength and flexibility. My technique still wasn’t great though. It took quite a few years later until I could see how the exercises were connected, how the muscles worked and so much more. I also realised that getting golfers to understand this process would require a bit of thought.
My dad was an athlete in his youth and when a knee injury in his 20s put a stop to his training, he found golf instead. He ended up becoming one of the pioneers of golf in Finland, and as soon as I was old enough to walk, he put a golf club in my hands. From then on I spent my time on the golf course trying to beat my sisters. I finally had the chance to mix golf and Pilates when the association I was getting my Pilates education from decided to create a Pilates for golfers programme for their students. I ended up writing up marketing material to help other Pilates instructors to understand and connect with us golfers, and finishing my Pilates education at the same time.
Helping golfers with lower back pain has become one of my specialities, and I train golfers to understand how muscles, bones and joints work together. It’s easy to get fixed by health professionals but it’s not always clear how to create quality of movement to get stronger and more flexible.
What makes me different from majority of Pilates instructors is my ability to look at the exercises and movements, both from a golfer’s, and fitness specialist’s point of view. If you want to talk about your swing, equipment or yesterday’s golf game that’s what we do first, and then mix in the movements we are trying to achieve and build in the exercises.
The golf swing is very complex, majority of muscles and joints are active so finding the right exercises are essential to improving posture and reducing risk of injury. I always recommend golfers to start with an individual Pilates programme and then join a class. Working in a group keeps you motivated. The men only classes are popular because we keep talking about golf and they all encourage each other. My golfers tell me they feel flexible, connected to their core muscles and in control. I also educate other Pilates instructors on how to train golfers.
My business partner, Zoe Hodgson, has spent 30 years teaching Pilates and opened the 3rd Pilates studio in the UK. She had a serious car accident in 1992 and lost her balance on one side of her body. After one year of training in Pilates she improved 100%!
We teach online providing Live Streaming Pilates classes on Facebook, Zoom, FaceTime and Skype. Join the Facebook Golf Pilates Live Streaming classes
What is Pilates?
Pilates (pronounced puh-lah-tees and not pie-lates) emphasises your body’s core — the abdomen, obliques, lower back, inner and outer thigh, bottom, and so on. It has a much lower chance of injury than with other forms of exercise but develops — strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, coordination, balance, and good posture to name a few.
You are working with correct form instead of going for the burn and with so many exercise variations and progressions, you may have a hard time getting bored with Pilates. You engage most of your body, and at times, you may try to strengthen one muscle while stretching and lengthening another. It can take lots of concentration; and when you think you’ve mastered the move, the Pilates instructor adds another version that’s a little different and a little harder!
Linda Segerstam is a renowned Pilates instructor in the golf industry who specialises in teaching movement training to golfers. She set up her company ‘The Intelligent Core’ in 2014 after 15 years working for corporations such as Callaway Golf and the Financial Times. Linda provides private lessons and classes for golfers including online coaching and bespoke Golf Fitness travel. She has been involved in many projects in the golf industry: speaker for the Ladies European Tour; the Staysure tour, the PGAs of Europe summit and the prestigious PGA Merchandise show in Orlando, Florida, with over 40.000 PGA pros attending. Linda and The Intelligent Core have been featured in several golf publications. She is based at the ZH Pilates Pavilion, Ember Lane, Esher, KT10 8EG, UK.
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