sports payoff

I find myself warming up for my golf game by performing "shoulder dislocates" with my driver. No, I'm not actually dislocating my shoulders, although that might be the ultimate in looseness needed for a good golf swing.  No, that just means I'm holding my driver with one hand on each end and passing it back and forth overhead. Once I'm loose, it feels great! The exciting thing for me about this simple warm up is that I couldn't do it at all last year unless I was just barely touching the end of the club head.  This means what? It means my shoulders are more flexible than they were last year.

No big surprise, it's from CrossFit.  CrossFit doesn't just transfer to everyday functional movements we perform, it also has a wonderful payoff in other sports we enjoy.  What better than to feel more comfortable moving around the field/the court/the course without thinking too much about our physical ability to do so.  You just do it.  Then you can concentrate on the other aspects of whatever you are doing...scanning for teammates/ball placement/club swing follow through/etc...you just do it.

When I first realized my progress in this measurable movement of a "shoulder dislocate", it gave me a little inner-zing both on the course and back at the box.  Nothing like measurable progress, no matter how subtle, to fire you up.

As for my golf, my drives are better, but the overall skill of golf is a never-ending process.  At least I know I can trust my body to work, so  I don't have to think about anything but the club swing...that's quite enough!  There's a CrossFit Certification for almost every sport.  Is there one designed for golf yet?

*early season overhead squat practice*