Source: Vietnam News

Unfortunately, when people nag and point out your shortcomings, human nature dictates that you dig in your heels and deny everything. My wife keeps telling me that I need to get in shape…and that results in an immediate counter-attack: "Hey, "round|" IS a shape, ok? Get off my back!"

But, deep down, I know she is right.

The biggest problem facing me is a pack and a half cigarette smoking habit. As long as I continue to smoke, getting in shape will remain difficult. You can’t even begin to consider jogging a few kilometres every day when you hack up your lungs just walking to the bathroom in the morning.

I don’t smoke at home…well, not inside the house anyway, because I don’t want the smell of smoke anywhere near the baby. So I stand outside freezing my fat butt off like a fool and before you get on my case, yeah, I wash up and chew gum before getting near the kid again.

However, the friggin cigarettes have also got to go. If anyone has a great way to quit smoking, please let me know…but please don’t say "cold turkey" because all it does is turn me into a screaming lunatic.

In the old days, people claimed that golfers were not really "athletes per se, probably because they wore cardigan sweaters and just strolled around a meadow while occasionally whacking a ball whenever they came up upon it.

Granted, professional golfers didn’t help their own image either. Some smoked, many drank and many were, shall we say "larger than life" and continued up until a few years ago. Craig Stadler and John Daly are now exceptions rather than the rule.

Tiger Woods is a big believer in physical training, something that many playing professionals shunned in the belief that weight training was detrimental to the golf swing. Fortunately, modern conditioning techniques have proven that belief to be false and more professionals are touting the benefits of being in good shape.

If you’re in good physical shape, you can finish a round of golf almost as strong as when you started. I see many players come staggering into the clubhouse after 18-holes looking simply frazzled. These are also the same players who I know drink until the cock-crows the night before. Their dietary habits also seem less than ideal. Look, a handful of peanuts and a beer does not constitute a balanced meal, ok?

Most teaching professionals advise their students to stretch properly before the round, but unfortunately not too many tell their students to perform light workouts with weights and stretch periodically to maintain flexibility. Also, not too many teaching pros tell their students to go jogging a few times per week or do aerobics.

But they should.

Being in good physical shape helps you on the golf course. Think about it, after walking up a steep hill your heart begins pounding like a trip hammer as you address the ball. There’s no way in Hell that you’re going to make a relaxed swing…and putting is affected even more so.

So, now that the weather is getting more comfortable, it seems like the perfect time for me to pull out my trusty Strongman mountain bike and start pedalling my fat behind all over Ha Tay Province. Yes, this is the same bicycle that decided to play "rodeo" with me a few years.

It also give new meaning to the phrase "I’ll get in shape, or die trying".