Today we’re talking to Dan Hellman about the piece of the Golfer fitness puzzle that no one is really talking about. Even in the circles of fitness and strength training, not many individuals are talking about post-round or post-exercise routines.
Dan, a licensed physical therapist and owner of Hellman Holistic Health in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is one of the most well-respected medical and fitness professionals in golf. Dan is a former senior faculty member of the well-known C.H.E.K. Institute and has studied extensively under pioneering French osteopath Guy Voyer, and is qualified as an instructor of Voyer’s SOMA Method.
SOMA stresses that training — whether for performance, rehabilitation or maintenance—must begin with an understanding of how the entire body moves and works. His extensive educational background and experience make Dan Hellman “THE guy” to talk to when it comes to preventative measures to take after the round to keep you strong, healthy, and playing this game as long as you want to play it.
Dan Hellman’s Background
- Dan Hellman is a licensed physical therapist and accomplished health and fitness professional who is also one of the nation’s most respected experts on golf fitness. He did his graduate work in physical therapy in an osteopathic environment, which fueled a life-long quest to understand the way the systems of the human body work together for performance, healing, and well-being.
- After graduating from the University of North Dakota with a B.S. degree in athletic training, Dan earned his M.S. in physical therapy at Des Moines University, formerly the University of Osteopathic Medicine and the Health Sciences.
- Dan is a past senior faculty member of the prestigious C.H.E.K Institute, which educates fitness and healthcare professionals in a uniquely integrated and holistic approach to health, fitness and well-being. He has traveled North America and the world teaching personal trainers, physical therapists, chiropractors and osteopaths the C.H.E.K philosophy.
- He applies that knowledge to his work with golfers and was named one of Golf Fitness magazine’s “50 Best Golf-Fitness Professionals in America” at the end of 2017. Dan has combined his love of the sport with his in-depth understanding of the human body’s limits, potential and movements to develop Golf Body Pro. This program helps golfers at all levels play better by conditioning the body for the demands of the golf swing or adapting to physical limitations that may affect the swing. He has helped golfers from youth level to the top players on the PGA Tour.
- Dan is the owner of H3 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida—a center that offers a well-rounded approach to fitness and provides professional education and training to fitness professionals. Before establishing H3, he practiced physical therapy in several outpatient orthopedic centers specializing in sports medicine and spine rehabilitation.
- Dan has personal clients around the world, including in Kuwait, Trinidad, India, Bahamas, Barbados, Europe and Canada. His motto – – Better Body. Better Golf.
Highlights from this Episode
- How he found himself interested in both osteopathy and golf and how they both fed into each other to blaze the trail for how his career of golf fitness and rehabilitation.
- The preventative techniques he’s found that both the older and younger generations of weekend warrior golfers need to start focusing on to play the game better and longer, like what some of these recovery symptoms can appear themselves as, such as how in our swing we can twist in a way that demands too much on the lower lumbar spine which can lead to both health issues and swing deterioration over time and where we should go first after we finish our round and before our post-round beer.
- The “ELDOA”: the magic bullet for back pain that he learned from Guy Voyer. Dan explains how these 1 minutes strengthening exercises can revolutionize your spinal health and golf game.
- He defines myofascial stretching and goes in depth the importance post-game fascial stretching while you’re body and fascia are warmed up and how these different fascial structures are connected to different organs, bones, and joints to keep you limber, mobile, and moving correctly.
- Both what the professionals like Tiger and Spieth are doing to keep their body in peak competing condition, as well as what the younger generation should be aware of and focus on so that they can have the body capabilities of the professional golfers at the older ages
Parting Questions for Dan Hellman:
Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack
What would be your walk-up song? Leash by Pearl Jam
If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be? The Old Course with Buddha or Tiger
Any last piece of advice for the 18Strong Audience? Golf is the greatest game, you are only gifted one body. Better Body, Better Golf.
Sources Mentioned:
“Strolling Under The Skin” Video
Learn more about Dr. Hellman and his work at:
Find out more about his upcoming course with Guy Voyer and if interested, be sure to email him at [email protected] or call his office at 954-566-0585 and mention the 18Strong Podcast to get 20% off!
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