Fitness in Pool.

Tramp Steamer said:
(snip) tell us how physical training improves focus. I'm almost certain that playing and practicing pool does.
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Blood flow, muscle strength, eye health, coordination, overall confidence, endurance, break speed, touch, etc.

2 hours a week exercising, at the cost of not playing pool those 2 hours,* is a net benefit.

Just like exercise does for anyone, chess players, quilters, house painters, copy repairmen, engineers, pilots.


Jeff Livingston

* FYI: During those 2 hours, I do 3 x 2 specific exercises for my shooting arm and bridge and grip, and heart-rate management, so the whole 2 hours is not non-pool.
 
Albatross Cues said:
Aloha

There is one aspect that when added to physical training/conditioning that will propel the person to the next level in sports, and that is mental imagery. I have found that while I am doing my work out I force my mind to focus on my pool game. I can visually see every aspect of the game happening in my mind as I am working out. I can see the break, the lay of the balls, the PSR, shot alignment, pocketing the balls. By focusing on each and ever suttle movement, I am training my mind at the same time I am keeping my body in shape.

Here is a small excerpt from one of the many studies on the subject of mental imagery.

How Mental Imagery Works

The reason visual imagery works lies in the fact that when you imagine yourself perform to perfection and doing precisely what you want, you are in turn physiologically creating neural patterns in your brain, just as if you had physical performed the action. These patterns are similar to small tracks engraved in the brain cells which can ultimately
enable an athlete to perform physical feats by simply mentally practicing the move. Hence, mental imagery is intended to train our minds and create the neural patterns in our brain to teach our muscles to do exactly what we want them to do (Porter, 17).

Works for me and makes sense, seeing how pool is mostly a mental game anyway. Try it some time and see how it might help, or review one of the many studies on the subject. Your game will love you for it.

Aloha
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On my last trip to Maui, where that photo was taken, I read Psycho-Cybernetics, a book I'd been meaning to read for years. I've read dozens of self-help books in my life, and wish I had read this one way back when, instead of this year. It goes into self imaging and its benefits. I've known that but this book really helped lay it out to easily understand and implement. Pool players could benefit from it greatly, imho.

I've also used mental imagery when exercising. I workout in my pool room so between reps, I sometimes shoot a few balls to "tell" my muscles fibers how to line up for rebuilding after the workouts. I know that works for my stroking, as it is easier to go into automatic mode when competing, if that makes sense.

When my heart is racing from the exercise, I pretend I'm in a critical match shooting a critical ball and listen to my heart and feel it and then I shoot a very soft touch-shot that requires a calm demeanor, all the while my heart is racing like hell. Then when I'm in a real match with my heart racing, I laugh to myself and say, "I know how to handle this nervousness, I've done it a million times," and then shoot with increased confidence.

Jeff Livingston
 
Fitness is important in my opinion but not to the extent of toasty. Stretching, running and eating well helps me in every aspect of life including pool. I transitioned from golf to pool and I think they are two very similar games especially mentally. You create your own destiny. There's no running back that can run 100+ a game, no all start point guard good for 30 a night or a pitcher or goalie that can steal you a game. Golf and pool don't require fitness but it certainly helps, for me it's very noticeable. The last few years, two little kids and not much exercise I noticed a significant decrease in my pool game not to mention less table time. Table time hasn't changed much but the last few months since taking better care of my body, I've picked up where I left off years ago. I feel I make lazy decisions when I'm feeling lazy and tired, sharp and attentive when I eat right and my body feels good.
 
CJ Wiley said:
If it wasn't for my martial arts studies and teaching I would have never reached the levels I did in pocket billiards. Pool is an art form, much like martial arts in my opinion....Pool gives us a way to improve physically, mentally and even spiritually.
'The GAME is the teacher'
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I doubt that pool has much impact from a physical standpoint. It can be tiring, yes, but I wouldn't say invigorating.
Pool can certainly be mentally challenging. One Pocket shows us that.
As for spiritual. I don't think so. There was only once when I thought I saw the second coming, but that turned out to be only the girl on the table next to me.
Come on CJ, a lot of people aren't going to buy into this existential view of pool. When I walk in to my local pool hall, excuse me, sports bar and grill, I don't hear Enya singing, but I do smell feet and onions. Jeff and pj, however, night agree with you. They're a little out there.
And, Jeff. Quilters? :)
 
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Tramp Steamer said:
I(snip) Jeff and pj, however, night agree with you. They're a little out there.
And, Jeff. Quilters? :)
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Out there?????...because I exercise?

OK, then....I'm out there.

Quilting requires endurance. Pick ANY occupation or hobby....exercise helps mental and physical abilities. Haven't you ever exercised for a long enough time-frame to know all of this? Pity the man that rarely does physical labor.

It works for me and many others to help play better pool. Maybe a guy oughta look into that?

What if it works for you the way it works for others? Wouldn't you be glad you tried it then?

Jeff Livingston
 
Texdance said:
In my late 30s I worked out for a year following a pro-designed regimen.

Afterword, I told people "I lifted weights for a year, and all I ever got was tired."

Then in my late 40s I remarried into a house with Grandma, Wife, and Wife's Daughter, all great cooks, all cooking their tastiest dishes.

Of course, with a Thanks-giving size meal six or seven times a week I gained 60 pounds. Fast.

I've been trying to lose those pounds for the past 10 years without much success.

No way am I going to work out any more, and just get tired. I'll limit carbs and hope to lose a pound here and there.

Someone else can win the Senior Olympics of Pool, I am out of the running, so to speak.
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Please exercise. It's all about about calories taken in and and calories expended. It's called portion control and eating the proper well rounded meals. Limit carbs. Texdance, you did not put the weight on fast. Do the math. 60 pounds in ten years is only 1/2 a pound a month. 10 years = 120 months. 120 months x 1/2 pound = 60 pounds. Trust me, you can take it off faster than that. Do resistance training and get enough sleep. You will be invigorated not tired. Of course you have to want to.
 
i agree. random stuff that is very tedious and takes a lot of concentration and is very repetitive i think transfers well into pool. when you play for hours at a time, you have to be concentrated and not let outside things distract you.

one of the things i do when im warming up hitting a few balls, aside from hitting balls to get loose is to really get in the zone mentally. really since ive been doing this, ive noticed a big improvement when i stepped to the table ready to play. instead of just hitting balls, im hitting balls and concentrating on tuning all the noise out around me. almost like putting myself in a transitive state, because thats what really being in stroke feels like to me is a sense of mental clarity also physically looseness.

if im not concentrated and am listening to people chatter around me, and not paying attention i play like shit. i guess people are different though. some people can naturally concentrate better than others. which is why for me stuff like puzzles etc. keeps my concentration ability up despite not being at the table.
 
chefjeff said:
Try it.
Or just watch a gaggle of ol' gals doing it for hours on end.
Jeff Livingston
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Well, alright. But, if in nine months, or so, one of these gals come beating down my front door, I'm going to say, "It belongs to Mr. Livingston, I presume." :smile:
 
SeabrookMiglla said:
i agree. random stuff that is very tedious and takes a lot of concentration and is very repetitive i think transfers well into pool. when you play for hours at a time, you have to be concentrated and not let outside things distract you.

one of the things i do when im warming up hitting a few balls, aside from hitting balls to get loose is to really get in the zone mentally. really since ive been doing this, ive noticed a big improvement when i stepped to the table ready to play. instead of just hitting balls, im hitting balls and concentrating on tuning all the noise out around me. almost like putting myself in a transitive state, because thats what really being in stroke feels like to me is a sense of mental clarity also physically looseness.

if im not concentrated and am listening to people chatter around me, and not paying attention i play like shit. i guess people are different though. some people can naturally concentrate better than others. which is why for me stuff like puzzles etc. keeps my concentration ability up despite not being at the table.
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Seabrook,I never hear anything when I am down on the shot. I don't think anybody does because you are only paying attention to the job at hand. If in your mind you hear chatter or music, then naturally, you're not focusing. What I am saying is that I don't believe you consciously have to tune things out. You basically just tune one thing in.
 
Didn't Paul Newman do a bit of working out in TCOM? I seem to remember Eddie in a swimming pool on his road to AC.....
 
CSI did a 10 question interview with a few top pros not too long ago . They're on YouTube.

One of which is," What's your biggest regret in pool" .


Shane answered "Not working out earlier in his career "
 
Tramp Steamer said:
You DO NOT have to involve yourself in a regimen of physical exercises to play good, or even great pool. The notion is absurd.
If exercising makes you feel good, then by all means do it, but never think for a minute that your superior physical condition is going to win you a game of pool.
A classic example would be the great Luther Lassiter. I doubt that Mr. Lassiter ever did one sit-up in his entire adult life, other than to get out of bed in the morning, or in the late afternoon after a long night of pool play. And, he was a smoker.
I doubt that Scott Frost is a jogger, and I'm almost certain that Buddy Hall isn't.
This type thread has been gone over before and the bottom line is, playing pool is not a particularly demanding game, physically.
As far as your nerves go. That's a different story. :)
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What he said.
I have ridden thousands of miles on my bicycle- this year- and all it does for my poolroom time is use it elsewhere.

And hungry it makes me. Always. Nothing better than having to eat pool hall food every couple of hours, while you try to be not the hunted.
 
I'm a fitness and health fanatic. That said, with respect to pool, I do not believe it can help anyone reach a "higher" level of play. What I do believe, however, is that it can allow one to play at their personal best longer hours in a day, and also longer years as they get older.

So while Tramp Steamer above uses Buddy as an example showing fitness/health is not important, I would use Buddy as an example of the opposite. If he was fit, he'd be right there competing with Efren today, instead of basically ending his career 20 years ago.
 
SeabrookMiglla said:
...almost like putting myself in a transitive state, because thats what really being in stroke feels like to me...
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I think being in dead stroke doesn't just feel like it, but actually is being in a transitive (trance, meditative, flow, Zen, etc.) state.

pj
chgo
 
Fitness

Yes fitness is extremely important in pool. Its all about endurance and you have to train to build that up. This is what i do for a living is help people find a program that works for them...
 
KellySnead said:
Yes fitness is extremely important in pool. Its all about endurance and you have to train to build that up. This is what i do for a living is help people find a program that works for them...
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Kelly, go to your local pool hall and find out how many players are into any sort of fitness regimen. You can cull out the smokers fright off the bat.
My guess is you might find one in twenty, if that many.
And, while you're at it, find the best One Pocket player there who smokes and drinks and play him for fifty a game and let us know how that turns out.
Also, welcome to the forum. Kudos for jumping right in there with both feet. I'm giving you a greenie. :)
 
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