By Helen Bond
Photography by Jon Neuschwander of Quad Photo

Here’s to no excuses. The shorter days of winter can regularly keep you off the golf course or tennis court, but it doesn’t have to doom your skills.

Outwit the weather and the aftermath of the recent holiday food frenzy by hitting the sports club or your at-home workout area. The bonus: By seizing the off-season to stay strong, you can whip your game into shape, notes Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, universally considered the "father of aerobics" as founder, president, and CEO of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas.

"Being conditioned reduces injuries dramatically and enables you to perform better in the second half of the game, or the last five holes, or the last set," Cooper says. "Conditioning helps you later in the season if you are playing competitively to outperform your competitor who might not be in the same condition. It can prolong your competitive career."

Need more convincing? Year-round fitness can reduce depression, improve self-image, and be a serious lifesaver. Not to be too morbid, but Dr. Cooper adds that studies show that more people die on the golf course than while jogging.

"People can get uptight when they play golf," Dr. Cooper notes, adding that the tension, stress, and rising heart rate that often accompany the game can wreak cardiovascular havoc. Aerobic conditioning boosts energy and helps you cope with the stress of making a crucial putt or getting out of the sand trap.

"The medical advantages of year-round conditioning are so significant and powerful that it’s not logical to put those on the shelf for part of the year," says Dr. Larry Gibbons, president and medical director of the Cooper Clinic and a research associate at the Cooper Institute. "It would be like saying, ‘I’ve taken my high blood pressure medicine for six months, now I’m taking six months off.’ Staying fit is just as important."

Before beginning any conditioning programs, consider assessing your physical shape and specific swing mechanics with a fitness specialist who knows your sport, suggests Laura Alton, a personal trainer and licensed physical therapist at Cooper Fitness Center.

This checkup could lead to small sport-specific fitness changes and big-time results. Weak posture in your address position caused by tight hamstrings, for instance, might be restricting the rotation for a full backswing.

So let’s get started.

Golf and tennis are skill sports, but also require strength and stamina. Off-season programs should address endurance, strength training, and flexibility — all vital and winning golf or tennis game components.

To be in top shape, the folks at Cooper recommend three, or most ideally, five days of cardiovascular conditioning at a minimum of 30 minutes to 45 minutes, depending upon your intensity. Fatigue is the enemy of any good golfer, Gibbons says. Boosting your cardiovascular energy pays off in lower scores because you don’t tire as easily.

FLEXIBILITY
Why you need it: Increase flexibility to prevent injury, add power, and enhance the range of motion your body needs for a solid swing.

How to get it: A few stretches to help you become more flexible.
• Shoulder Stretches. 1. Grab your golf club with your hands at both ends. Bring the club up over your head and down behind your neck to stretch your shoulders. 2. Stand with your feet hip distance apart and hold your right arm out straight. Place your left hand on your right elbow and pull the right arm across your chest to stretch the back of your right shoulder. Hold for a count of 30. Switch arms.

• Hamstring Stretch. Lie flat on the ground on your back, wrap a towel around one of your feet and extend your leg upward. Pull your leg as far as possible toward your chest. Keep your leg straight and your lower back on the floor. No bouncing. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch legs.

• Trunk Armless Swing Stretch. Stand in the address position for golf. Cross your arms across your chest with your hands on your opposite shoulders. Mimic the motion of a backswing and follow through. For a challenge, hold your golf club across the front of your shoulders as you try this stretch.

• Hip Stretch. Stand on one leg. Support yourself with your golf club on the ground. Rotate to the left on your standing leg; then back to the right. Repeat 10 to 15 times on each side.

BALANCE
Why you need it: Golfers need balance over their base of support and throughout the swing to hit the ball. In tennis, balance allows you to run for that drop shot with the greatest of ease.

How to get it: You can work on balance while doing almost any exercise simply by alternating the surface that you work out on. Trainer Alton says, "Use any type of surface that you can to throw your balance off. It makes you work harder."

At Cooper, Alton’s clients often incorporate balance drills using the Dyna-Disc, an air-filled disc that you can stand on (available at many sports clubs and online). Made of the same material as a gym ball, the lightweight tool looks like an inflated Frisbee and offers the dynamic instability to rev up your core and beef up balance.

With each foot resting on a disc, go through the motion of your golf swing. Walk in place or work on balance as you move your feet in a circle, forward, to the right, backward, and to the left. Tweak any workout by closing your eyes or performing drills on a different surface, such as an exercise mat, instead of the health club’s floor. You can simulate golf swings or tennis strokes. For instance, take a jump step forward onto the right foot while performing a forehand volley, then jump step back. Repeat on the left foot with a backhand volley.

CORE STABILITY
Why you need it: The muscles of the core — the abdomen, chest, and back — stabilize the rest of your body. Core stability allows you to generate more power, quickly change direction, and rotate your body faster for long golf drives and powerful forehands. The core is an area we often ignore, but can pay off to improved fitness, Gibbons says.

How to get it: Stability balls, those oversized beach ball-looking exercise tools, develop and strengthen the abdominal and back muscles and improve posture.

Try these motions:

• Supine Trunk Curl. Start with the top of the ball beneath the center of your back. Press your lower back into the ball and tighten the abdominals as you curl the rib cage toward the pelvis. Slowly return to the starting position.

• Prone Ball Roll-up. Kneel down behind the ball and roll it out face down until your feet are on top of the ball. Your hands are on the floor in a push-up position. Curl your trunk and roll the ball underneath you. Straighten out.

• Ab Roll. Place your arms parallel to one another on the ball. Pull your belly button toward your spine and roll forward until your chest touches the ball. Pull your body back, using arms and abdominals, and arch your back. Repeat 8 to 10 times. And don’t neglect your lower back, a staple for golf and tennis players, Alton says about this next exercise.

• Back Extension. Lie face down with the ball under your hips and abs, with your legs straight and balancing on your toes. Clasp your hands behind your head or behind your back and lift your chest off the ball, bringing your shoulders up until your body is in a straight line. Repeat 16 to 20 times.

STRENGTH & POWER
Why you need it: Strength and power will help you generate faster clubhead speed and increase the distance you can hit the ball. Weight train at least 20 minutes two to three times a week.

How to get it: Free weights are great, but the trend in strength training, says Gibbons, an avid tennis player, is to work a specific set of muscles (rather than one muscle at a time) for a range of motion that can simulate and strengthen a golf or tennis swing.

The Free Motion Cable Cross system used at the Cooper Aerobics Center allows you to adjust angles to simulate a backswing, downswing, forehand, or backhand. Another option is circuit weight training at the club or create your own stations at home. Basics such as sit-ups, push-ups, leg lifts, pull-ups, lunges, and squats will do the trick. Do 12 to 14 reps in 30 seconds.

Along with improving your flexibility, balance, core, and strength and power, the off-season is a great time to work on your agility. Use a rope ladder, or chalk out a space with about 15-inch squares, to move sideways, forward, up, and back. Hit the stairs, treadmill, or stationary bike to boost quadriceps and build muscle for quick, lateral movements and powerful shots you get from strong bent knees.

While you are on the track to fitness is a great time to lose any excess weight, Gibbons notes. Even a 5-pound weight loss can make an "amazing" difference in quickness and swing speed, he says.

So go ahead, while your partners and friends are buying new equipment to improve their games, stick close to home or the club for results that will really pay off.

"Your body is the one thing that stays consistent with your golf or tennis game," Alton says. "It is the one tool that you always have in your bag."

SPORTS-SPECIFIC FITNESS ALTERNATIVES
Looking for other ways to beef up your backswing or lengthen your drive? Consider these options.

• Cardio activities such as jogging, elliptical machines, or cross-trainers.
• Yoga for both flexibility and strength.
• Machine and free weights for strength.
• Tai chi for strength, flexibility, and balance.
• Boxing for quickness.
• Stationary bike and stair training to build the often-neglected quads.

THE DOC’S OWN PRESCRIPTION
Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, who coined the term "aerobics" in 1968, learned the value of total body condition the hard way. At age 55, he could run five miles in 40 minutes without breaking a sweat, but, when he hit the ski slopes for a couple of hours, his quadriceps muscles burned so badly that he had to head to the warming hut.

"I was able to run five miles, but I couldn’t pick up a sack of groceries without pulling my back out," Cooper recalls.

These days, Cooper is still devoted to aerobics sports, but he also works out on weight machines for about 20 minutes twice a week, paying particular attention to those quad muscles. On his 73rd birthday last March, Cooper skied eight hours.

With research continually proving that you can build muscle mass at any age, he recommends boosting weight training to counteract strength loss that inevitably comes with age.

"This has a bearing on the ability to play golf," Cooper says. "If you want to play at the top of your game at 65 years of age — and score as well as you did when you were in your 40s and 50s — it takes effort. There is still a possibility of improving your strength and endurance, which, without question, will add a benefit to improving your golf score."

WORKOUT FORMULA
Studies show a mix of endurance conditioning and strength work is the key to fitness. Because we lose muscle mass as we age, the workout balance changes as we get older. To reverse the effects of Father Time through weight training, consider these conditioning versus strength recommendations for your age group:

• 40 and younger: 80 percent aerobic/20 percent strength training.
• 41 to 50: 70 percent aerobic/30 percent strength training.
• 51 to 60: 60 percent aerobic/40 percent strength training.
• 61 and older: 55 percent aerobic/45 percent strength training.

Example: If you exercise 2.5 hours a week and you are 40 or younger, focus two hours (or 80 percent of your time) on aerobic conditioning and the other half hour (or 20 percent) on strength work.

Source: Regaining the Power of Youth at Any Age by Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper (1998, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)