Fit for Success: Unlocking Health and Performance

(SPEECH)
[MUSIC PLAYING] 

(DESCRIPTION)
A laptop appears with a title on its screen: Wednesdays with Woodward (registered trademark) Webinar Series. To the right of the laptop, a red mug features a Travelers umbrella logo. 

(SPEECH)
JOAN WOODWARD: Hi there. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Joan Woodward, President of the Travelers Institute, which is our public policy and educational arm of Travelers. Welcome to Wednesdays with Woodward. We have an amazing program for you today. I'm so excited by it. I even have my Travelers Championship golf shirt on in honor of what we might be talking about today. 

So before we get started, I'd like to share the disclaimer about today's program.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: About Travelers Institute (registered trademark) Webinars. The Wednesdays with Woodward (registered trademark) educational webinar series is presented by the Travelers Institute, the public policy division of Travelers. This program is offered for informational and educational purposes only. You should consult with your financial, legal, insurance or other advisors about any practices suggested by this program. Please note that this session is being recorded and may be used as Travelers deems appropriate. Wednesdays with Woodward (registered trademark) Webinar Series. Fit for Success: Unlocking Health and Performance. Logos: Travelers Institute (registered trademark), Master's in Financial Technology (FinTech) Program at the University of Connecticut School of Business, MetroHartford Alliance, Insurance Association of Connecticut, Connecticut Business & Industry Association. 

(SPEECH)
I'd also like to thank our terrific webinar partners today, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, UConn's Master in FinTech Program, the Insurance Association of Connecticut, the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, or PIA, and the MetroHartford Alliance. Thanks for being here. 

Today is our-- today, our focus will be on your health. So, how many of you, like I always do, made a New Year's resolution to get fit and healthy? OK, so raise your hands. A lot of us did. So how's that going? We're on day 31 of the new year, and hopefully you have not fallen off the wagon and you're sticking to it, but we're going to talk about that in a minute.

But you're in good company if you've fallen off the wagon. Many people have by this point in the month. And only 28% of Americans are meeting the CDC's minimal physical activity guide of 22 minutes every day of aerobic exercise, two days a week of resistance training, etc. So less than a third of our country is working out as they should be.

For those 72% who aren't meeting that minimum, physical inactivity is associated with lots of really bad things. So depression, stress, low energy, poor sleep, loss of productivity at work, which a lot of us care about, and obviously poor physical health. But it doesn't have to be that way. So physical activity and taking charge of your life can really change things. And I know personally. For those of you who've known me for a long time, I lost a significant amount of weight about five years ago. And I just made up my mind, looking at my four kids, it's about time, Joan, to get healthy. So I did that for myself. Now I've gained some weight back, but not only did I do that, I took up more exercise in my life. And during the pandemic, I've never played golf in my life, and I became a golfer. So who knew that could happen to a woman my age?

So I try to get regular exercise, but I do struggle with it. I travel extensively, and I know a lot of people on this call do as well. So it does make a difference when we exercise. I feel so much better. And today, my fantastic guest is going to tell us the tricks of the trade.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Speakers. Joan Woodward, Executive Vice President, Public Policy, President, Travelers Institute, Travelers. Karen Palacios-Jansen, Golf and Wellness Coach, Founder, CardioGolf.com 

(SPEECH)
So if I can do it, you can do it. 

And so I invited my friend, Karen Palacios-Jansen. Karen is an LPGA Master Professional, a National Academy of Sports Medicine-Certified Personal Trainer, a Nike Golf Performance Specialist, and a Pilates instructor. Karen has an amazing career and now has developed a golf-specific fitness system called CardioGolf, which I love, and she was so kind to give me a trial subscription a while ago. My audience today is also going to get a free trial from Karen. So see the link in the chat. Make sure you sign up, folks. It's really amazing.

And what I like the most about it, it's bite-sized nuggets of things I think I can do throughout the day. So you don't have to wait to go to the gym at-- or in the morning at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. These are things you could do and weave them into your daily life.

So, I want to kick things off by asking Karen, can you tell us a bit about you and your story and how this all happened? And just things that we should know about you before we get into-- We're going to do live exercises. We're going to talk about tips and tricks. But first, Karen, tell us about yourself.

(DESCRIPTION)
Karen Palacios-Jansen, CardioGolf (registered trademark) Creator, L.P.G.A. Master Teaching Professional, N.A.S.M. Certified Personal Trainer, A.F.A.A. Group Fitness Trainer, Certified Pilates Instructor, Golf Instructor on the Golf Channel. A GolfDigest Certified Fitness Trainer credential names Karen Jansen as a 2023 recipient. Text: Awards: L.P.G.A. Teacher of the Year, Top 50 Golf-Fitness Trainer, Top 50 LPGA Golf Instructor, Best Indoor Golf-Fitness Studio. Logos: Golf Digest 2019, 2020 The 50 Best Golf-Fitness Instructors, L.P.G.A. Top 50 Best Teachers, G.F.A.A. The Business of Golf Fitness, Health & Wellness 2023 Award Winner. 

(SPEECH)
KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Well, first of all, thanks for having me, and I'm so excited that so many people have signed up. Golf and fitness are my job, but it's also my passion, so I just love it that everyone is into this. And it's really necessary these days. Unfortunately, as you said, a lot of people don't get a chance to exercise for whatever reason. So my job here is to help you, as Joan said, weave some exercise into your daily routine. 

So let me just start off. I'm coming here from North Carolina. I live in Charlotte-- this is where I've been based for about 20 years-- but I'm originally from Chicago. I grew up in Chicago. And my dad is-- still is a neuroradiologist, and he's a Mexican immigrant. And these two things are important for you to understand.

Because when I was growing up, because he worked at a trauma hospital, he saw every kind of injury, from sports to car accidents, daily life. My sisters and I were a little bit sheltered. We weren't really allowed to play a lot of sports. And being old-school Mexican, young ladies didn't lift weights, do things like that. But somehow, we played golf. And golf was OK because the ball was going away from us, so we weren't going to get injured. 

I got pretty good at golf. I got a golf scholarship, and I played golf at Stetson University in Florida. When I went to college, I wasn't really strong physically, so I didn't hit the ball that far. So I had to take a lot of lessons to get my technique better. I took lessons from a man named David Leadbetter in Orlando, and if you're a golfer, you might know that name. Some of his students, besides me, include Nick Faldo, Nick Price, Ernie Els.

And so I took so many lessons there that when I graduated from college, they offered me a teaching job, and that's how I got into teaching. And it was about the same time that I met a lot of people that were into fitness, and I got into fitness to have something away from golf. And as I got stronger because we were lifting weights doing dance aerobics back then, I started taking care of myself-- more eating better, cooking, learning about nutrition, my golf got better. I got stronger; I started hitting the ball farther.

(DESCRIPTION)
Logo: CardioGolf, Trim Your Score, Shape Your Swing. Text: Golf and Fitness, CardioGolf.com. In photos, nine CardioGolf participants swing and stretch with clubs, fitness balls and weights. 

(SPEECH)
So I brainstormed one night and I came up with this-- and this is 30 years ago, this concept of golf fitness. And this is even before, really, golf fitness was a thing. Golfers weren't really doing a lot of golf fitness until a guy came out on tour named Tiger Woods. And Tiger Woods started beating everybody, and he was into lifting weights, into fitness. So golfers started to take notice, and they started to do some golf fitness. 

Now my early years of my cardio golf program, I actually taught probably more non-golfers. I had this one lady that would come to my golf fitness class at 5:30 because that was the only time that she could come. So she took my class, and she learned how to play golf from my class. So I had a lot of non-golfers. So if you're not a golfer, don't worry, I'm going to have a lot of things to help you with your functional fitness. But if you are a golfer, hopefully I can help you, too. 

But that's how my program started. And then I got married, I moved to North Carolina. I started to develop some equipment. I incorporated Pilates into my program. And then, of course, the pandemic hits and I had to take everything online. And it was a bad thing at the time because I couldn't teach in person, but also a good thing because now I have my program online. And so you can do CardioGolf from anywhere all over the world.

And as Joan said, my program is really bite-sized nuggets for people to do. I always tell my students, it's better to do something five minutes-- practice five minutes every day than to wait till you have two or three hours at the end of the week. Those long practice sessions never happen. So my whole theory is, if you're a golfer, you know you need to exercise for better health, so why not practice your golf at the same time?

If you're not a golfer, I'm still doing functional fitness exercises for you to improve your mobility, your strength, your endurance, balance, all those things that you need to lead a full life. And as Joan said, I have a subscription, and anyone that wants to sign up can get three full months.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: CardioGolf (registered trademark) Online Studio App Available at Apple Store and Google Play. Above four screenshots of the CardioGolf app, text reads: "A New Way to Practice," "Golf-specific workouts to help golfers of all levels," "Full workouts, swing drills & exercises" and "Download today and start your workout." Above a CardioGolf logo, four participants practice with weights, swing drills and stretching exercises. Text: Free Trial Subscription, Link in Chat. CardioGolf (registered trademark) Online Studio Subscription: A New Way to Practice at Home Golf and Fitness. Golf-specific workout routines, flexibility routines, strength routines, golf swing tips, swing drills. 

(SPEECH)
It's an app. So once you sign up online, then you can go download the app on Apple or Android, and you can take CardioGolf with you. 

And what I do is I have a daily workout. So you can just go on there. I do a warmup. We might do a strength or cardio, I do a little golf instruction, and then I have a lot of stretching and things like that. So even if you're not a golfer, you can go on there and still get your daily exercise. So that's where I'm at with my program.

I have some equipment that I want to show you that you can do at home. So most of my practice is based for people at home that aren't members at country clubs. So these are things that you can do at home to practice your golf, so when you do finally get to go play or practice, you don't have to start over every single time.

JOAN WOODWARD: Let's talk about your hubby, your love.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Dan Jansen. In photos, Karen and Dan smile together at an event and on a golf course. In a third photo, Dan speed skates. 

(SPEECH)
KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: So, I got married to Dan Jansen. We've been married for 23 years. I actually met Dan when I was working at the golf academy. He came and took a golf lesson. And we instantly gelled because of our love for golf and fitness. And he's one of my bigger influences in my program. Obviously, he was a world-class athlete. If you don't know who Dan was, you can Google him. He won a gold medal in the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. If you don't remember Dan Jansen, you probably remember the Tonya and Nancy story. He was in there somehow. 

So anyway, he really influenced my program to help with endurance and cardio, which is his specialty. So I've weaved a lot of Dan’s program-- and we're going to talk about this a little later, also about seasonal training. What he taught me about seasonal training, how athletes train, they don't do the same thing all year round. I incorporated that for just regular folks as well.

But yes, Dan Jansen, he's my husband. 

JOAN WOODWARD: Very fun, super fun. All right, Karen. So I like to get my audience engaged. And so we kick off the program-- and thank you for the background. It was-- it's fascinating. I didn't know about your father. We like to ask our audience a question-- or a couple of questions. We have two today. So let's throw that on the screen and see.

So first question. How often do you work out? At least 20 minutes. So is it five to seven days a week? Couple days a week? Or I don't work out. So you have three choices here. Are you really-- are you a gym rat? Or you do it occasionally? And please be honest. No one's checking your answer.

And, all right, looks like 21%, they don't work out at all, so we've got some work to do there. Thirty-six percent say they work out a lot. I mean, a lot is five to seven days a week. I do not do that. I'm in the middle. I work out a couple of days a week and obviously on the weekends.

So we have a mixed audience. A mixed audience of people who work out or don't work out here. So let's talk about that. How to squeeze in work-- workouts. So my first question for you, Karen, is we make these resolutions, we're busy professionals, we're in hotel rooms, we're not-- even at our home or maybe have access to gyms, we land late at night, jam-packed days. So how do you fit in exercise in someone's life who just think they don't have time? They may be a working mom, coming home, making dinner, doing laundry on the weekends, you just don't feel you have the time.

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yes, I get it, and it's a problem with a lot of people. Time, money. People are tired at night. We're overworked, we're underpaid. It's difficult. But all I have to say is that fitness is life. And we have to think about our resolutions not as a one-year thing, but as a lifetime.

So I think what happens a lot of these times with resolutions-- and resolutions are good because we need to make changes in our lives, but I think what happens is people make these big resolutions and they think they're going to do them in a short period of time. And then when they don't materialize, they get tired or they get frustrated.

So most people make a resolution during the first of the year, and it's in that first few weeks of the year, right about now, that people start to lose interest in their resolutions, mostly because they don't-- they bit off more than they can chew.

So my whole theory with CardioGolf-- and I did a little study of a Japanese method called kaizen. And kaizen is a method to do small changes every single day gradually over a long period of time. And I'm talking a long period of time. Not a year, not two years. We're talking five, 10, 15, 20 years.

So that's what you want to look at as your fitness journey. You don't want to look at your fitness journey as, oh, for the next six weeks, I'm going to work out every single day and do a Peloton workout. You'll never be able to sustain that. But if you said to yourself, I can do five to six stretches that are going to take five, 10 minutes every single day for the rest of my life, you are going to be able to do those stretches for the rest of your life because you're doing them all the time.

So you have to look at your fitness and those resolutions as a long term. Not a year, not two years, five, 10 years. So I remember when I was about-- I was just about-- you can do the math. I've been playing golf for 50 years, and I started when I was eight. So I'm 58. When I was 50, I set a goal that I wanted to hit the ball longer when I was 60.

So now I'm coming up to that, and I'm actually just about hitting it longer than I was. But this has been a 10-year thing. So a lot of people that I teach are like, I want to hit the ball longer. They want to do it next week. Well, it's a long process, and that's how you have to think about your fitness.

JOAN WOODWARD: Great, great. And we were asking the audience while you're speaking here how many of them made a fitness resolution. So only 24% of us said they did make one, 21% said it's not going great, and a majority of us said we did not even make one this year. So I don't know if that's because you don't need to make one because you're already working out so much or because you just don't think you need it.

So, OK. Let's get into-- I want to pivot a little bit and talk about the benefits of exercising. So what good can a daily workout actually do for us? Let's talk about why it's so important, especially as we get older. So what are those benefits, Karen, in your view?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Well, so let's just start with brain function. As we decline-- as we get older, our brain function declines if we don't do anything about it.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: The Benefits of Regular Exercise. Improved brain health and cognitive function, A reduced risk of anxiety and depression, Anti-aging, Anti-injury, Disease prevention, Improved sleep and overall quality of life, Improved physical fitness, Improved work performance. Multiple sources, including C.D.C. 

(SPEECH)
So a lot of people think brain function comes with reading and doing puzzles and things like that, and that's true. But also, physical activity is part of our brain function. If you're not very mobile, if you're sitting all day, you are probably not being super active or social. So that has a lot to do with your brain function. 

You probably get more agitated because you're frustrated, you can't do things for yourself because you're less mobile. So that has a lot to do with physical fitness, not just reading-- and you need to do those things as well.

But also, as you have here this great list right here, it helps with anxiety and depression. When you exercise-- and I can explain this a little later, what happens with the physiology of when you start to exercise, your body produces some good hormones and endorphins and those help you feel better. So it helps with that.

Anti-aging. Of course, there's something called sarcopenia, and as you get older, our muscle mass declines if you don't do anything, but if you do lose-- lift weights, you can minimize that, so that's going to help you with anti-aging. Anti-injury. If you don't have a lot of upper body strength and then you trip and fall, you might not be able to hold yourself up, so you're going to be susceptible to fractures.

Disease prevention. You've been living under a rock if you haven't heard about how cardiovascular exercise is good for your heart health. It improves sleep and the quality of your sleep. It gets you tired, and it gets your hormones working so that when you do sleep, you go more into a deep sleep.

And it improves just the way you move. And for a golfer or for a tennis player, the more-- the better you move, the better you're able to react and do things more efficiently. And that's really what my golf program is about. It's not about lifting weights, getting stronger, but when you become more efficient at your movement, the golf swing becomes easier. And so it's easier to make the swing, it's easier to hit the ball longer.

And then of course, all those things together are going to help your work performance because you're going to have a better cognitive function, you're not depressed. People that exercise usually are more organized, so you more have more time to do other things and fit that into your schedule.

JOAN WOODWARD: OK. That's a great list. Any single one of those are benefits, but all together, imagine if you are regularly exercising, you're getting the benefit of all those. OK, I want to talk about water. I want to talk about sleep. Our CEO, Alan Schnitzer, talks about getting the right amount of sleep and getting the right kind of sleep. There was a book Matthew Walker wrote, “Why We Sleep,” and he talks about sleep a lot for us at the company.

So water, sleep and then healthy eating. So let's go with water first. How much water should we be drinking? And is it different for men or women every day? And is it different for young people or older people?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: That's a good question. And I watched your seminar a couple of weeks ago, you had a nutritionist on, and she recommended 100 milliliters of water every day. So I don't know how much that is, but the recommendation for the National Academy of Sports Medicine, which I'm a personal trainer, says that men should get about 16 cups of water. So that's probably eight glasses of water a day. And for women, maybe 10 or 12.

So you pretty much should be drinking water for every hour you're awake. We're probably awake, I don't know, 16, 17 hours out of the day. So you probably should be drinking a glass of water throughout the day. And this is important. You want to spread your water out. You don't just want to drink in the morning and then not have anything all day and then drink at night.

And that's-- you're going to get the benefit of water, but you don't want to get to the point where you're dehydrated and then trying to catch up. So you want to try to drink water throughout the day. A doctor told me that you should be going to the bathroom at least once an hour. If you're not, you're probably not getting enough water.

JOAN WOODWARD: Once an hour. OK. That's a lot. OK.

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: That's just a lot, right. OK. And then the sleep obviously goes with fitness. You need to have good quality sleep in order to do the fitness. But I will tell you, if it were up to me to get some sleep in the morning or to get up and do some fitness, I would opt for the sleep. I think most of us are sleep-deprived. Again, NASM recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night, and I'm sure people are not getting that at all-- I don't know what the national average is, but I know that's not happening.

And I'm sure you guys have all heard it. You're supposed to power down your electronics, not have any light-- that blue light in your room. So all those things are true. We just need to be disciplined about it.

JOAN WOODWARD: OK. Great. So now for the fun part. I'm actually going to turn off my camera. So the whole screen will go to Karen because we're going to talk about a fitness and longevity indicator. The things that you could do literally right now today-- you might want to do it. If you're sitting alone in your office, you could just do these.

But the first one-- before I turn my camera off, the first one involves this. Karen said go out and get a jar of pickles. So my whole team went out and got a jar of pickles. All right, Karen, what are we doing with this?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: All right, so grip strength, there's two indicators of the longevity of your life, and more importantly, the quality of that longevity. So you can assess your fitness right now. A lot of people ask me, where do I start with a fitness program? Well, first of all, you should assess your fitness, and here are two simple ways to assess your fitness.

And one is your ability to open a jar of pickles-- or a jar of anything on the first try, and I'll tell you why. Jars of pickles are vacuum-packed. And the pressure that they put on, in order to open that, you need to have at least 40 pounds-- very good-- 40 pounds of push strength with one hand in order to open a jar of pickles.

So if you cannot open a jar of pickles, you probably can't push 40 pounds. And why would that be important, Joan, to be able to push? Back in the day, we needed to defend ourselves. We needed to open doors. We needed to-- in everyday life, we need to move things. So if you don't have that ability, you’re-- you probably don't have a lot of mobility in other areas of your life. So that's a good indicator of where you should start. Women tend to have a little less grip strength than men. So we need to work a little bit harder with our grip strength.

JOAN WOODWARD: What are the-- tell us what-- and I'm going to go off-camera here. So tell us, while you're talking about it-- I know you're going to step back and do some other things. What can we do to get grip strength?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yes. OK. So any kind of resistance training is going to help you with your grip strength. So I'm going to just step back here and show you.

(DESCRIPTION)
In a fitness studio in front of a CardioGolf sign, she lifts two hand weights.

(SPEECH)
So anytime that you lift up, for example, dumbbells or weights, you're working on your grip strength. So this is really important. You need to have grip strength in order to be able to do upper body strength. So if you don't have a lot of grip strength, it's going to be difficult for you to do any kind of weightlifting. 

One of the best ways to increase your grip strength-- and we'll talk about this in a second-- is doing a plank.

(DESCRIPTION)
She puts down the weights, then picks up a rectangular piece of exercise equipment shaped like a slope. 

(SPEECH)
So this is my CardioGolf Slope. It's a fitness step, and I'm going to show you how to use it for golf. But one of the ways to modify a plank-- and this is going to help you with your upper body grip strength-- is to use a platform where it elevates you so that you have less body weight. 

(DESCRIPTION)
With the Slope on the floor in front of her, she places her hands near the Slope's two longer sides. Then, she balances on her toes in a plank position. 

(SPEECH)
And ladies, this is a great way to help you develop some upper body strength that's not too taxing. So you hold your plank for as long as you can, you rest, you roll your wrist out and then you get up and do it again. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She stands up, and her elbow sticks out as she pretends to swing a golf club. 

(SPEECH)
And if you're a golfer, if you've ever had a golf lesson before, and you tend to chicken wing through the swing, it's probably because you don't have a lot of grip strength. So doing a plank like this is a really important exercise. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She reaches for tethered resistance tubing that hangs on the studio wall. She demonstrates pulling on the resistance tubing, then releases it. 

(SPEECH)
Any kind of resistance with bands is great for your grip strength. So I have a lot of these bands. This is the golf-- we call this the PowerBandz right here. And I have it hooked to a little carabiner. And this is really great to develop grip strength and some body and core exercise. 

So as you exercise, do upper body exercises, that's going to improve your grip strength. But grip strength is really important to-- an indicator of how much body strength that you have.

JOAN WOODWARD: OK. You can just roll right into the next one on the longevity test. I think it was core strength. Next, mobility.

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yeah. So another test that indicates the longevity is your ability to get up and down off the floor without using your hands. So, if you get down on the floor like this, and then you're unable to get up without using your hands, it indicates that you have a lack of core strength.

(DESCRIPTION)
She kneels on the floor, then stands without using her hands. 

(SPEECH)
You're unable to lift your body weight. 

So it's an easy test to do. You just get down on the floor as far as you can, and then you stand up without using your hands. And it seems simple enough, but I've seen a lot of people not be able to do it. They have to get on the floor and then they need to push their hands and use their upper body weight. 

So if you can get up and down off the floor, great, you passed the test. If you can't, don't worry, you're not going to die. One, you probably just need to practice getting up and down off the floor. Two, you probably need to start to do some core and hip and lower body strength exercises.

A really great core exercise-- and Joan loves these, are planks. Again, the plank is a great way to get a total body workout.

(DESCRIPTION)
She returns to the plank position. 

(SPEECH)
So if you can do your plank like this-- and if you want to make this more challenging, a plank on your elbows is actually a little bit more challenging, and this gets more into the shoulders and into the back right here. So this is a great way to improve your core strength. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She places her elbows on the Slope and does a plank, then sits back on her knees.

(SPEECH)
So you don't need to go crazy and hold your planks for a long time. I think the world record is four hours. You don't need to do that. You need to just hold them for 10, 15 seconds at a time and do multiple planks. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She rises to her feet. 

(SPEECH)
So one of the things that I have in my office-- I have my CardioGolf Slope in my office. So sometimes when I have to write articles or be at my computer, I will do a couple of emails, whatever I have to do. And then I might come over and do a plank for 30 seconds just to get my blood flowing, just to feel my core a little bit. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She does a plank, then returns to a standing position. 

(SPEECH)
So those are ways that you can incorporate those exercises into your daily routine. 

But two indicators of longevity, and most importantly, the quality of that longevity is your upper body strength, your grip strength, and your ability to get up and down off the floor without using your hands.

(DESCRIPTION)
She kneels on the floor, then rises without using her hands. 

(SPEECH)
JOAN WOODWARD: And what is that we're supposed to do to improve our upper body strength? You said something about maybe pull-ups or something? Or what was that? 

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yeah. So another thing-- in my office, I have a pull-up bar. Pull-ups are very hard. You have to have a lot of upper body strength-- and it depends on your muscular as well. But just hanging on the bar is a really great way to get some upper body strength. So you grab onto the bar. And you don't even need to really take your feet off. You just let go a little bit and hang.

(DESCRIPTION)
She lifts her arms above her head and pretends to grip a bar. Then, she bends slightly at the knees with her feet shoulder-width apart. 

(SPEECH)
It’s a great strength-- it's a great strengthener for your hands. It's a great shoulder workout. And also, it's a great upper body and back stretch. So I have a bar in my office, and every time I pass it, I hang on it for 10 seconds or so.

JOAN WOODWARD: OK. And those are the kind of things you could just put over a door or something, right? They sell them online. 

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: They're at Amazon. You just get a little bar that connects into your door frame. And you just keep it there at all times. So one of the things that I try to help with my clients is, if you have these things lying around, you see them, you're probably more likely to get on them and do the exercise.

If you have to go to the gym or if you have to put everything away and then pull it out, you're probably not going to do it. So if you have a little office that you can have some of this equipment out, then it's easy for you to go do it in between emails and things like that.

JOAN WOODWARD: Yeah. I have a little story I have to say to my audience. And those of you who know my family will appreciate it. My son was playing football in high school, and he got himself a little hang bar. And I think he paid like probably nothing for it because it was so cheap. And that made huge holes in my drywall, and then the whole frame of his bedroom door collapsed one day.

So get a good one, folks. Don't be cheap about buying the hanger. Anyway. And install-- have an adult install it. That was probably my other mistake, letting him install. OK, let's move on. I want to talk about getting older because we just had a webinar-- and if you haven't seen it, folks, go back and look at the retirement webinar. Even if you're not thinking about retirement in the next 10, whatever years, it was just so interesting to hear how they talked about that stage of their lives.

And one of the things I want to talk about here is-- maybe just because I'm very selfish, I always think about myself when I put on these webinars, but a lot of people are aging. The baby boom generation is retiring in droves. Ten thousand people retire every day in this country.

So as we age, what are those key exercises or target areas-- is it balance, mobility, strength? What should I really be thinking about? Because you hear a lot of people who are elderly-- 70, 80, 90-year-old people who have fallen and they never recover. So we want to get strong before potentially we might fall as we get a lot older. So what can we do as we age?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Right. So for any workout program, no matter what level you're at, what fitness level you're at, you want to have a nice, balanced program to help you with everything. Your strength, mobility, your balance. So there's pretty much what I call five functional exercises, and these are movements that you need for everyday life. They're great for golf, too. So if you want me to, I'll go through the whole--

JOAN WOODWARD: Yeah. I definitely want you to go through five. I'm going to turn my camera off again because I have to watch and get up and do some of these while you're doing them. So let's go.

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: So in order to have a well-balanced fitness program, you need to have at least these five functional movements. And so if you go to a personal trainer, I'm sure that they'll put you through these, but I'm going to take you through them.

So first of all, the first one we call locomotion or mobility, and that's just your ability to move and get around. So I'm demonstrating with my CardioGolf Slope.

(DESCRIPTION)
She turns her Slope so that one of the longer edges faces her. Then, she steps up and down from the Slope with alternating feet. 

(SPEECH)
So a step-up would be an example of a locomotion exercise. And why would you need this? You need to move around. You need to get up and down off the stairs. 

And we need to practice this movement. If you don't go up and down stairs, the times that you need to go up and down the stairs, they are going to get harder and harder as you get older. So stepping is a great way.

(DESCRIPTION)
She stands with both feet on the Slope's highest point, then side-steps her left foot onto the floor and follows with her right foot. Next, she repeats the movements on the right. 

(SPEECH)
So the other thing is you want to do movements that take you side to side. Think about it. We don't really do this kind of movement during the day. So you need to seek out exercises that move you side to side in this frontal plane. So anything that you can do to move side to side, up and down, backwards and forward is a great way to help you. 

And you can see, as I'm doing this, any kind of locomotion exercise-- mobility exercise like this is going to get your heart rate up. When you get your heart rate up, it pumps your heart, it improves your cardiovascular system so that you can increase your endurance. So with the CardioGolf Slope, you can do a little step-up, you can do a jog. If you don't want to do high-impact, you can do low-impact exercises. You can do side-to-side motion.

So what's great about the Slope here is because it's curved, it's like as if you were in nature. In nature, you're never walking on a completely flat surface. So you want to practice with a little bit of instability. And when you step on it, because it's curved, it actually makes your core work harder. So this is a good device to have if you want to work on your endurance.

So the next thing would be a pushing exercise. So why would we need pushing? Back in the day, we needed to move things, we needed to defend ourselves. So you want to have exercises that require you to push.

A basic push exercise-- what we would call a chest press. So a lot of guys do chest press, but I would say, women don't do this as much.

(DESCRIPTION)
She moves to the floor and rests her back against the Slope. With her knees up and both feet planted on the floor, she grips a hand weight in each hand and lifts them straight up toward the ceiling with a pushing motion. 

(SPEECH)
So the pushing exercise, anything that you can do where you're pushing your arms away from you-- this would be considered a push exercise right here, that's going to strengthen your chest and your back. A military press would be a push exercise. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She stands up, then bends her elbows and lifts the weights over her shoulders with a pushing motion. 

(SPEECH)
We have to put our suitcases up above in the overhead bins right there. 

I see so many times, people have to ask somebody else to help them. So you want to make sure that you are mobile and that you can do it on your own.

(DESCRIPTION)
She puts the weights down, then places her palms on the longer edges of the Slope and does push-ups while balanced on her toes. 

(SPEECH)
A push-up would be a push exercise. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She stands and pretends to throw an object with both hands. 

(SPEECH)
Any kind of throwing motion. So you want to incorporate those into your daily routine. 

So as I'm doing these exercises, you can see, they're resistance exercises, but they are getting my heart rate up as well. So a lot of times, you can get some cardio in when you do your resistance.

The next thing would be a pulling exercise, the opposite of pushing. So demonstrating with my little bands here, any kind of row exercise is a pull exercise.

(DESCRIPTION)
She pulls two tethered resistance tubes toward her chest. 

(SPEECH)
So anytime you're pulling your arms in towards your body. So these are great exercises for the back of your body. A lot of us focus on what's happening in the front, but the back needs exercise as well. So when you pull, you're strengthening your back, and your chest and your arms, obviously. 

Another pull exercise is a basic bicep curl.

(DESCRIPTION)
She releases the resistance tubes and picks up the hand weights. Her elbows point toward the floor while she pulls the weights toward her shoulders with a curling motion. 

(SPEECH)
These you need to incorporate into your daily routine. These are helping my grip strength as well upper body. What else would be here-- 

JOAN WOODWARD: Karen, we had a quick question come in. How heavy are those weights? And what do you recommend, really, for beginners? So someone who's not doing any exercise, we want to talk about the 30% or so who say they're not doing anything right now. And some people might just want to go online and buy Amazon or something to do this at home, but what do you recommend to start out versus a more experienced person?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Great, yeah, great question. So just starting out, I would start with resistance tubing because you can pull, and they also stretch at the same time.

(DESCRIPTION)
She pulls on the resistance tubes with both hands, then picks up the weights again. 

(SPEECH)
So resistance tubing is great to start out if you are just beginning exercise. But if you want to know how much weight that you want to do, you have to do a little bit of a test. It's the 8-rep test. 

So you take a certain amount of weight. These are 10-pounders right here. And then let's just say we're going to do a bicep curl. So you're going to do eight repetitions. And the last couple of the eight repetitions should be challenging, and that would be the right amount of weight.

So if I have these 10-pounders and I could go all day doing 100, it's probably not enough weight for me. And if I had to struggle like this, then it's too much.

(DESCRIPTION)
She leans back and struggles to lift the weights. 

(SPEECH)
So you want to take whatever weight you have, and a bicep curl is a great test, and you do eight repetitions. And the last two or three repetitions should be quite challenging for you. And that indicates that you're working, and then that would be the right amount of weight for you. 

So beginners are probably going to have to start with some resistance tubing and some lighter weights. And as you get stronger, then you can work up to heavier weights. And that's what you want to do with your training anyway. Start out light. And then as you progress, you are going to want to lift heavier anyway.

JOAN WOODWARD: And so let me ask you, while we're on the weights and doing this-- and I do that. I have-- my son has given me all sorts of things that I need to do to get ready. We have a wedding coming up this spring, folks. A little personal information, my daughter is getting married, so I've got to look good in my gown.

Question. So how many-- I do eight reps, and the last couple should be harder. I get that. So then, how many sets of reps should I do on that same exercise, the same exercise? Because I know I'll go off and do some planking or I'll do some treadmill time, then I'll come back and do another rep. So how many of the eight reps do we do?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Right. So that's a good question, and it's going to depend on what your goal for your fitness is. If you're trying to just get some muscular endurance, you might even have to do 12 to 15 reps. So if you're using lighter weights, you can go a little bit longer and that's going to help you develop muscular endurance.

If you're trying to get stronger, you want to lift more weights, you have to go heavier. Then you're going to do less repetitions. So maybe only eight. But basically-- and this was back in the First World War. A doctor 100 years ago came up with this little program to rehabilitate soldiers. And the fastest way they found to get them in shape was to do 10 to 12 repetitions, three sets of each exercise. So that's how that originally started.

But now you might have a trainer that does something differently because they've done tests, but it depends on what kind of thing that you're trying to train for. So if you're trying to look better, maybe, and tone your arms a little bit, I would start out by doing some muscular endurance exercise-- and do maybe 12 sets-- or excuse me, 12 repetitions, 3 sets. And then you do that for a couple of weeks.

And then increase your weight the next week and maybe do only 10 reps, three sets. And then the next time, get some more weights and maybe do only eight sets. So as you increase, you can do less repetitions, but as the weight gets harder.

JOAN WOODWARD: OK. Another question coming in while we're still on weights. How many times a week ideally should I do those weights and those reps?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Right. So the recommendation is doing resistance two to three times a week. And you want to make sure that you're hitting all the muscles in your body. So if you're doing upper body one day, you can do lower body the next day. If you're doing a total body workout where you're lifting from head to toe, then you want to make sure that you spread it out over a couple days so you have time to rest and recover and get those muscles to repair themselves. So again, it depends on what you are trying to work on.

Weightlifters-- and I think it's a great way, even for the regular person to lift weights, is they do one body part a day. So one day you do legs. The next day you do your pull. The next day you do your push. And that way, you're hitting every single muscle, and you're spreading it out so you can lift weights every day. If you don't have that kind of time, the upper body/lower body is a good way to spread it out. One day you do upper body, the next day you do lower body.

JOAN WOODWARD: Great. And I think you had one more. Was it rotation you wanted to talk about before we--

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yes. So the other-- so just to recap, you want to be able to have the get-around exercises. A push, a pull. Also, a raising and a lowering of your body.

(DESCRIPTION)
She places the heels of her sneakers on one short edge of the Slope, then squats by bending her knees and lowering her body. 

(SPEECH)
So a squat is a good example of that. 

(DESCRIPTION)
With the left toe of her sneaker on the Slope, she bends her left knee, steps forward with her right leg and bends her right knee. 

(SPEECH)
A lunge is a good example of raising and lowering the body. 

(DESCRIPTION)
With both feet, she jumps onto the Slope.

(SPEECH)
A jump like that. So that's another functional exercise. 

And then rotation is a really important thing. And rotation is your ability to rotate your upper body in the opposite direction of your lower body, and that's really important for golfers. Because the golf swing, you want to wind your upper body, and then on the downswing, you unload your lower body.

(DESCRIPTION)
She holds tethered resistance tubing while she demonstrates a golf swing. Her right knee bends as she pulls the tubing and rotates her torso to the left. 

(SPEECH)
And where a lot of people go wrong is because they're fused, and they don't have that good rotation and mobility, they move everything together. So rotation is really important. And for every day as well, too. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She rotates from side to side while pulling the resistance tubing, then puts it down. 

(SPEECH)
So when you do-- when you put together your fitness program, you want to have those five functional movements. And that's going to be a pretty good workout for you. 

JOAN WOODWARD: OK, great. So I want to talk a little bit-- we have some questions coming in the chat here-- about your equipment. So you were kind enough, Karen, to send me this. And I use it every day now.

(DESCRIPTION)
Joan grips two handles on a bow-tie shaped resistance tubing device. 

(SPEECH)
It has a little indentation-- it's probably hard for folks to see. It has a little indentation. It is kind of a golf shaft. So it's where to put your thumb, where to put this. But you don't need to be a golfer to use this. 

And so I want to talk about this for a second. And then people are asking me where they get it. And then the platform on-- the curved platform, what is that called? Someone asked me what that is called and where to get that. So let's talk about your equipment.

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: OK, so we call this the PowerSwing Trainer. And yes, it is for golfers. It has a molded grip, like Joan said.

(DESCRIPTION)
Karen places one end of the PowerSwing Trainer on the floor and stands on it with her left foot, then pulls the opposite end and swings as though swinging a golf club. 

(SPEECH)
And it simulates your golf swing. But it's a great tool for warming up. So you can throw this in your bag. This is for you when you travel, Joan, to do every day. So I'll just go through a great exercises for you. 

So you use this as resistance, it's tubing. And this is a great back and chest-opener. And this is an excellent exercise for people who tend to sit a lot.

(DESCRIPTION)
She grips the handles of the PowerSwing Trainer, then lifts it up and over her head and lowers it behind her back. 

(SPEECH)
This is opening my chest and back. This is opposite of what we do during the day, looking at our phone or computer. So you want to do a chest and back-opener. So this is our pull exercise right here. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She grips the handles of the PowerSwing Trainer in front of her chest, then extends her arms to the right and left to pull the tubing outward. 

(SPEECH)
We're doing-- we're doing that. You can step on this. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She steps on one end of the PowerSwing Trainer and pulls the other end. 

(SPEECH)
Here is another pull exercise. 

So this is like a mini-gym. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She stands on one end of the PowerSwing Trainer with her left foot and holds the opposite handle with her left hand. Then, she lifts her right arm above her head and stretches her torso to the left. 

(SPEECH)
I love this for side exercise. I'm pulling, it has resistance right here. You can connect this to a door frame or a wall, and you can do lunges, and it has the resistance. So it's a great tool. And then this is my favorite way to use it for your golf.

(DESCRIPTION)
She grips the handles of a wall-mounted PowerSwing Trainer and practices her golf swing. 

(SPEECH)
This helps you learn how to rotate and how to sequence your swing. So it is for golfers, but it's not just for golfers. 

JOAN WOODWARD: Right

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: The PowerSwing Trainer.

JOAN WOODWARD: PowerSwing Trainer. OK. And then the thing on the floor, what are we calling that? And that looks like it’s a multi-purpose thing. You laid on it and you laid over it and you're jumping-- OK. So what is that now? 

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: The platform? I call it the CardioGolf Fit Slope right here.

(DESCRIPTION)
She puts the Slope on the floor, then grabs a short golf club and practices her swing while standing on the Slope. 

(SPEECH)
I really designed it to help golfers rehearse the uphill and the downhill lies that we get on the golf course, but there's nowhere ever to practice them. But it is a regular fitness platform. So, we can use it for our cardio. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She steps up and down on the Slope, then steps from side to side. Next, she practices her swing and sets down her short club. 

(SPEECH)
We can use it for our golf-specific exercises. 

So this is a really great tool if you need practice getting up and down without using your hands. You can sit on this, and when you raise your heels, it assists you to get up a little bit.

(DESCRIPTION)
She positions her feet on a shorter edge of the Slope, which angles her toes upward. 

(SPEECH)
I use this a lot in my Pilates classes, and we do a lot of stretching. So this is great ankle mobility right here because the curvature. It acts as a yoga block.

(DESCRIPTION)
She plants her left hand on the Slope, lunges and lifts her right hand over her right shoulder. 

(SPEECH)
You can use it to do yoga. If you've ever done Pilates, you might have gotten what we call a Pilates arc. And this is a great chest and back-opener. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She rests her left side on the curve of the Slope. Then, she sweeps her right arm in circles above her body. 

She rises, then picks up the Slope with both hands using a pulling motion.

(SPEECH)
It weighs 8 pounds. So here is your pull exercise. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She grips the longer edges of the Slope and pushes it away from her chest, then rotates from side to side. 

(SPEECH)
Here is your push exercise, here is your rotation exercise, here is your raising and lowering exercise and then your agility. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She stands on a shorter edge of the Slope while raising and lowering herself in a squat, then faces a longer edge of the Slope and steps up and down with alternating feet. 

(SPEECH)
So that's the CardioGolf Fit Slope. 

JOAN WOODWARD: All right. That's amazing. I don't have that yet; I have to get that one. Thank you for that. And I assume these are all available on your website. What about if I went on the app-- or I know a lot of folks are going in to do the free trial. So you have these videos on there. And so how long is each video? And you go-- is it-- it's daily, right? You would get an email saying, here's your daily workout or--

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: It is. My recommendation is 30 minutes of exercise every day. I know that's not possible for everybody. On my platform, I have a weekly workout. And that way, you don't have to go search for what you want, so you can just do the weekly workout.

So my main staple in my CardioGolf program is the warmup. A warmup, especially for golfers, is so important. If you're a golfer, you want to warm up before you go play or practice. Hitting balls on the range might be a warmup, but think about it. If your muscles are tight and you go to hit some balls, your swing is going to be short and choppy.

(DESCRIPTION)
She demonstrates with a short club. 

(SPEECH)
So then you start to mess with your swing. 

Well, if you had just done some mobility exercises, then it would be easier to take your swing through full range of motion. So a warmup is a staple. So if you're a golfer, you have the app, you can do one of my warmups before you go play or practice.

And then for the week, I do a little seasonal training. So we're in the off-season right now. So we're doing a little bit more strength and conditioning. So you'll go on there and you have strength and conditioning exercises. And then my signature workouts, I call them Groove Your Swing. They're all swing drills where I take you through a battery of exercises and show you different ways of how to practice your swing.

And if you don't get a chance to play or practice, you can still work on your game at home with the Shortee Club. This club is short for a couple of reasons. It's short so that you're not going to hit the ceilings or the walls, the clubhead is closer to your hands and it's easier to monitor your clubface. If you're not a golfer, even holding on to the club and swinging is a great way to increase your grip pressure and get some rotation into your movement, too.

So right now, we're on the off-season, we're doing some conditioning. In the spring, we might do some more golf-specific workouts to help you. And then during the season, which is the summertime-- and even if you live in Arizona or Florida, you want to have some seasonal training because you don't want to be doing the same thing all the time. During the season, I do more mobility/recovery yoga exercises. So if you go on there, I'll tell you everything that you need to do, or you can search for some exercise. And I have tons of swing drills and tips as well.

JOAN WOODWARD: OK, great. I think we want to show the audience-- you even have a recommendation about sitting. So a lot of us sit-- I'm going to say most of the day. I do. I sit at my computer and work when I'm not traveling on the road. And so even if we sit in our offices, whether it's in a building in downtown or at our home office, how should we be sitting and what is this going to help us do?

(DESCRIPTION)
She pulls a chair to the center of her studio.

(SPEECH)
KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Right. So you probably read a lot about sitting is the new smoking. And a lot of it is the way we sit, we're disengaged, we're just conditioned like this. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She slouches with her back against the chair's back. 

(SPEECH)
So you can actually still get exercise even if you're sitting in a chair. So I have a list here I want to show you. 

So the first thing is just sitting on the edge of your chair like this, and then that just makes you aware to keep your shoulders back and down and keep your spine. So during the day, try to sit at the edge of the chair, just be a little bit more attentive. Remember when you were younger, you were a little bit more eager, on the edge of your chair.

From here, you can do a little cat/cow. So you put your hands on your knees, you suck your belly button in, and then you round your shoulders and then try to arch your back. So this is a cat/cow. You can do this during the day. This is a great way to counteract some of the things that happens when we sit.

You can sit and pull one knee in.

(DESCRIPTION)
She pulls her right knee toward her chest and places the sole of her right foot on the chair. 

(SPEECH)
Maybe you're watching a video, or you're waiting for something to download. This is a great stretch for your glute. You're sucking in your belly-- and make sure you do both knees. You can pull both knees in and sit like this. Remember when you were kids? This is a great way to stretch out your glutes and your knees. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She pulls her knees toward her chest and places the soles of her feet on the chair. 

(SPEECH)
From here, try to sit cross-legged every once in a while you're watching your webinar. This is a great way to stretch out your hips right here. You can do-- this is external hip rotation. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She places the side of her left foot on the chair with her knee pointed outward, then repeats the motion on the right. 

(SPEECH)
Doing it this way. This is a little bit more challenging, but this is internal hip rotation, and this will really stretch out your hip flexor. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She places her right shin on the chair with her right foot against the chair back, then repeats the motion on the left. 

(SPEECH)
We don't really do this a lot during the day, so we want to do stretches like this. 

So you can sit like this for 10 to 15 seconds at a time, work up to 30 to 40 seconds. And they say that 30 to 40 seconds is the time it takes to relax the muscle, to stretch it out, so you want to work up to holding these stretches for that long right there. You can do a little butterfly stretch right here.

(DESCRIPTION)
She places the soles of her feet together with her bent knees pointed outward. 

(SPEECH)
A little Pilates every once in a while, stretch out your IT band. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She lifts her right foot above her shoulder and holds it with her left hand while straightening her right leg. Then, she rests the side of her right foot on her left knee and leans slightly forward. 

(SPEECH)
This is great. This is a great glute stretch right here. So you put your knee here. And then try to keep your spine nice and straight. Lean over and you'll feel this in your glute right here. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She kneels on the chair with the tops of her feet on the seat. 

(SPEECH)
Sitting on your ankles is a great way to help you increase your mobility in your ankles. Your quads right here. Then you can even come up on your knees and do a little camel, modified camel. Just make sure your chair is steady.

(DESCRIPTION)
She holds the chair back with her right hand and leans slightly back.

(SPEECH)
A seated twist. You sit here. And then keep your lower body facing one direction, and then use the chair to traction your upper body the separate way. This is great for golfers right here. This is the movement that you want to get good at in golf. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She sits in the chair, then rotates her torso and places her hands on the corners of the chair back. 

(SPEECH)
Right here, you can do knee crunches every once in a while, you can do dips. 

(DESCRIPTION)
She places her hands on the edge of her chair and dips her body toward the floor. 

(SPEECH)
And then like a half dancer's lunge right here for your hip flexor. 

(DESCRIPTION)
While seated, she places her left hand on her bent left knee and her right hand on her hip. Then, she extends her right leg backward. 

(SPEECH)
So you can go through-- I don't have those written down anywhere, but I can write them down and get them to you. And those are great ways to add in fitness into your day. If you did those stretches every day, you wouldn't have to go home and do a whole different stretch routine. 

JOAN WOODWARD: I love that. I love that. Who can't do that in their office? And the great thing would be-- I have an office in Hartford and you're doing this in your office, and someone comes by and say, what are you doing? And you could tell somebody else. You could spread the word that, hey, this is my way of getting in exercise without having to go to a gym at 8 o'clock at night or whatever. So I love that.

Karen, we're going to ask you-- you're not going to believe this, because this never happened before, I'm getting reports in from my team that apparently, your website is overwhelmed right now. And so apparently, we have 5,000 or so people trying to get on doing what we're suggesting, and the good news is-- that's really good news, but maybe folks can try a little later today. Give it a couple hours to try later today or certainly tomorrow, but I think we've overloaded it, Karen, which is a great thing. So we'll-- and I'm sure everyone's on online now trying to get through all these exercises.

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yeah. That's amazing. So, well, just keep in touch on cardiogolf.com. I'm karen@cardiogolf.com if anyone wants to email me as well.

JOAN WOODWARD: OK, terrific, terrific. So we got more. Don't go anywhere. I'm going to give you a little breather because I want to talk about a program we started at Travelers. If you haven't heard-- I'm going to let Karen get a glass of water, we started a program for women who don't play golf, who may want to play golf.

And one of the things that I found, and especially a lot of young women, is it's such a confidence-booster that women have come up to me in the building-- or throughout the U.S.-- and we've done a lot of SHE Golfs in the field. If we haven't gotten to your region yet, we're going to get there. Give us some time. We got overwhelmed by the demand for this, especially with our agent and broker partners. And we've actually hosted some events with agent and broker partners throughout last year.

And the program is only 12 months old, and we've had 1,000 women-- and men-- go through our golf clinics, our basic golf clinics throughout the country. So I'm so proud of it, and want to give a big shoutout to our CEO, Alan Schnitzer, who absolutely supported this program. And I think it's one of the most popular diversity programs we have in terms of just the overwhelming interest.

So it is a program for men and women. I want to say that very clearly and very loudly. And so we welcome all. Watch your inboxes, we're going to have a lot more about that coming up.

So all right, Karen, back to-- well, actually, why don't you comment on confidence in golf. Have you seen people have greater self-confidence-- and maybe someone who's so afraid to even try it-- it's not for them, even though they're in the insurance industry, everyone's going out to play in a scramble, but they don't feel it's for them, if they did some of your workouts, what do you see as the best way to get more women, especially, but other younger men involved in the game of golf?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Right, that's such a good-- you have such a great program. I got to do a couple of clinics with you to introduce some women to golf. Golf used to be an elite sport. We're trying to make it more inclusive, so more people are getting into it. It's a great sport, especially for people with business.

If you go play with somebody, you're hanging out with them for five hours. Where else are you going to get a meeting with somebody for five hours? You can learn a lot from people playing golf. And so it is a hard game and it does take a while, but people who play golf know that it's hard. So when they meet somebody else that's just beginning, they realize it. So they're not going to be critical of you that you're a beginner golfer. They know you're a beginner golfer. They know what they took-- it took them to get to where they are.

So it's intimidating, but I would say, if you want to get into it-- so first of all, it's important to learn the lingo. I would watch golf on TV, get really familiar with what par is, how the game is scored. Then the next thing, if you want to become a golfer, get really good at the fundamentals. And the fundamentals are the grip, the setup, the stance, learning what different clubs go different distances, things like that. Learn the basics of the game.

Once you learn the basics of the game, your athleticism will take over, and you can figure out how to hit the ball. And then golf is a lot of repetition. You have to do it a lot. And again, I've said this before, I tell people, it's better to do it five minutes every day than to wait until you have two hours at the end of the week to go practice, that's not going to happen.

So if you had a little Shortee Club in your office and you practiced your grip, you watched a video, you could do a few minutes. Think about that. If you did that five minutes every day for a year, you could probably get pretty good at hitting a ball. Your swing would look good over a year. If you do it once a month for an hour-- I mean, you're going to progress, but it's going to be frustrating for you.

So master the fundamentals, do it often, learn the lingo. And I promise you, if you meet other golfers, they know how hard the game is. They're not going to be critical of you. They're going to actually be empathetic with you.

JOAN WOODWARD: I found that as well. A quick question from Peggy coming in from Strategic Solutions in Connecticut. What warmups and exercises are best for playing golf in the cold weather like winters in Connecticut? So say you get that day that is maybe in the 40s or 50s and you want to get out there, what warmups should we be doing in the cold weather?

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yeah. So if you're going out to play-- I'll show you with a regular golf club. So to warm up before you play, you want to do a dynamic warmup. A dynamic warmup gets your blood flowing, oxygen to your muscles so that you can swing better. So if you're cold, you're not going to have a lot of blood flow. So you want to do a dynamic warmup.

So hold the club upside down and you want to get some big muscles. So you want to do lots of kicks like this.

(DESCRIPTION)
She leans on the club and does high kicks with her legs. 

(SPEECH)
This will get your heart rate up. You're also stretching out your hips, and you're working on your balance. So eight on each leg. And then do it in a different plane of motion. Do a little side leg lift right here. This is getting my heart rate up, getting the blood flowing, oxygen flowing, but I'm also lengthening my muscles right here. 

The other thing, a squat. Golf is a squat sport. Try to say that fast. You start in a squat, and then you load, and then you use that squat for power. So you want to be doing lots of squats. Squats are great for golf.

(DESCRIPTION)
She leans on the club and squats. 

(SPEECH)
So this is a great way to squat and stretch out your body at the same time. 

This is called a cross-crawl. It's a little coordination-- opposite elbow to opposite knee.

(DESCRIPTION)
She holds the club horizontally in front of her chest, then lifts each knee toward the opposite elbow while she rotates her torso. 

(SPEECH)
If I don't get a chance to warm up before I go play-- I had a lesson, I got to go to the first tee, this is the one exercise I do. It's getting my heart rate up; I'm doing rotation and it's coordination. Your upper body is going different direction of your lower body. 

Then you want to practice the move that you're doing for the day. So loop the club behind your back, and this is a great way to warm up and work on your body motion.

(DESCRIPTION)
Her bent elbows hold the horizontal club behind her back. 

(SPEECH)
So, you set up as if you were going to hit. And you practice turning your back to the target. Then you practice shifting your weight. And you practice turning and finishing in balance. And you want to do it as if you're looking down at a ball. 

So you're warming up, but you're also practicing the movement that you want to be doing for the day. You want to move that up to your shoulders.

(DESCRIPTION)
She holds the horizontal club behind her shoulders, then practices turning her back to the target, shifting her weight, turning and finishing. 

(SPEECH)
This is a great stretch, and you can do that same exercise here. And you don't have to memorize this. I have it all on my CardioGolf platform. I have tons of different warmups. This would be a great one. 

So now, my heart rate got up. I did a few golf-specific movements. Now I can go and swing the club and take my muscles through full range of motion. That would be a good way to warm up before you play or practice in the cold.

JOAN WOODWARD: That is awesome. Karen, the hour has just completely flown by. I can't believe the interest we've had from our audience. You were amazing. It's exactly what I was hoping to get across to my viewers is, it's a really important thing. And self-care these days, mental health, physical health, I want everyone to be healthy out there. And so Karen, thank you so much.

The website, again, is CardioGolf. Karen's available. She lives in Charlotte. I know she gives classes if you're in that area as well. And so Karen, thank you so much. It was just so wonderful, and I do want to give you the last word here. And then I want to talk to my audience about what's upcoming for the next two months at the Institute.

KAREN PALACIOS-JANSEN: Yes. I wanted to finish with a little quote or just a little saying here. So instead of saying-- stop asking yourself how long your fitness journey is going to take. So instead, start saying to yourself, how far can I go with this journey? So, fitness is not a destination, it's a lifelong journey that you have to do every day, and not just for a year. We're talking 10, 15, 20 years. Think about what you want to be like-- if you're in your 30s, what you want to be like when you're 60. And I hope my program can help you.

JOAN WOODWARD: Excellent, excellent. Thank you again.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Wednesdays with Woodward (registered trademark) Webinar Series. Take Our Survey. Link in chat. A title appears on a square podcast logo above a red microphone: Travelers Institute, Risk & Resilience. The bottom of the podcast logo features the Travelers Institute (registered trademark) and Travelers logos. 

(SPEECH)
All right, folks. If you haven't heard, the Travelers Institute just launched our new podcast. So you can hear us on Spotify, Google, Apple. It's called the Risk & Resilience Podcast. There it is right there on the screen. So we have a couple of great events coming up on webinars. 

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Wednesdays with Woodward (registered trademark) Webinar Series. Upcoming Webinars and In-person Events. February 14th: 2024 Economic Outlook with Goldman Sachs' Chief U.S. Economist. February 27th: Economic and Cybersecurity Symposium (Salt Lake City, In-Person). February 28th: Guarding Against Insurance Fraud in the Digital Era. March 6th: Employee Community Involvement: Fresh Ideas and Emerging Trends for Today's Business Leaders. March 13th: Unpacking the Surge in Mass Tort Legal Advertising. Register: travelersinstitute.org 

(SPEECH)
So back to webinars on Wednesdays at 1 o'clock Eastern. February 14, two weeks from now, we're going to be joined by Goldman Sachs' Chief Economist, David Mericle. He's going to give us his 2024 economic outlook. And you don't want to miss that one, he's amazing. We have him on every January. 

In February, we're going to be in Salt Lake City for an in-person cybersecurity symposium. That's February 27. If you're in the Salt Lake area, please join us. February 28, we're going to take a deep dive into insurance fraud with a lens on how the advances in technology have really exacerbated fraud, but what we can do, the tools that the industry has to combat it. So watch that.

March 6, we're going to talk about employee and community involvement programs for your teams. We have two powerhouses and experts in that space are going to join us. I have a lot of feedback from my agent and broker partners that they want to have employee engagement get better. They want their young people to feel like they're going to have a career here, as a career in insurance, as we all know, is a fantastic way to go. But to retain that talent, to attract talent to our offices.

The next one we're going to have is March 13. How many times a day do you hear commercials about Camp Lejeune? Well, there's a reason for that. Join us on March 13. We're going to unpack the surge in mass tort legal advertising.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Wednesdays with Woodward (registered trademark) Webinar Series. Watch: travelersinstitute.org. Logo: LinkedIn. Text: Connect, Joan Kois Woodward. Listen wherever you get your pods. 

(SPEECH)
And as always, please visit us at travelersinstitute.org for everything. Connect with me on LinkedIn, please. I'd love to have you-- I put a lot of content out there every week, so we'd love to have you connected on LinkedIn with me. Thank you again. Karen is amazing, just amazing. Everyone have a great afternoon, my friends. 

[MUSIC PLAYING] 
(DESCRIPTION)

Logos: Travelers Institute (registered trademark). Travelers. travelersinstitute.org.