While I am not a golfer, I know what muscles create success on the course. Postural problems create distortions in the golf swing and hinder force production. Therefore, I work with my clients to improve their posture and strengthen the posterior-lateral muscles of the lower body. I formed this philosophy from working with many people who have weaknesses in the muscles in the shins, lateral hamstring and glutes. I tell the golfers “If your butt is strong, you can’t go wrong.” It's a silly but memorable slogan. Truly, a golfer needs a powerful, rapid contraction of the gluteal muscles to transmit the necessary force through the club and into the golf ball.
Members don’t necessarily know the details of what might be stalling their progress, so they usually turn to our PGA of America Golf Professionals for help. With a new golf season upon us, one of my primary goals for 2024 is to increase the engagement and collaboration between our golf pros and our fitness team. Exercise in the fitness center empowers the student's body. The swing coaches may then guide them to move better and attain improved performance on the course.
My varied experience with physical and mental training began with Japanese martial arts and Zen Buddhist meditation in my teenage years. I eventually found martial arts to be unnecessarily prone to injury, so I turned to a safer movement system - yoga. After completing yoga teacher training in 2012, I earned a personal training certification in 2017. I subsequently obtained additional certifications in corrective and therapeutic fitness while primarily working with those who were elderly or injured.
I moved to Fredericksburg, Texas from Houston in 2020 and joined the team at Boot Ranch in the summer of 2021 to conduct yoga classes and provide personal training services to club members. In late 2023, I was promoted to Director of Fitness to manage the 3,800-square-foot fitness center and growing team of professionals.
I have had great success at Boot Ranch helping members overcome injuries and chronic pain and attain new levels of strength. Our demographic is older, yet still quite active. In addition to the fully equipped fitness center, members enjoy group fitness classes with strength training, HIIT and yoga, as well as a flexibility training class that is highly beneficial for our golfing members.
Michael Perkola is the Director of Fitness at Boot Ranch in Fredericksburg, Texas, and the Founder of the United Yoga Company.