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Fitness for Life - Spinning the Way to Better Concentration

Posted on: Monday, 30 June 2008, 21:00 CDT

By Mary Powers

Editor's note: This is the eighth in an occasional series of stories profiling Mid-Southerners who are longtime exercisers or who have reclaimed old fitness habits and changed their lives for the better.

Along with weight control and heart health, Fran Shove relies on exercise to help hone his cerebral side.

For him exercise, particularly golf and spinning, is about improving his focus and concentration, as much as it is about keeping his heart and lungs strong.

"The book that got me more interested in mental techniques is 'Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game,'" said Shove, of Lakeland. The father of two describes himself as age 55-plus. He's worked in human resources for several Mid-South companies.

"Zen means 'action with awareness,' being completely in the present moment," he explained. "I contend everyone can be taught to improve their focus and concentration."

On the golf course, both professionals and amateurs benefit from visualization techniques, he said. So, before they begin their swing, they mentally rehearse the needed shot. The goal is to increase their chances of hitting just such a shot. He called professional golfer Tiger Woods the master of such techniques.

"Most of us do not have the innate physical ability and unique talent that Tiger Woods has, but I firmly believe we can all learn some basic focus techniques," he said. "It is easy to lose focus on the golf course."

Shove does more than just read about golf. He's always been physically active. He was a high school athlete who played college baseball at Indiana State University.

"For many years, my exercise consisted of early morning runs, either at home or on the road," he said.

"I used to jog three or four miles around the golf course." He'd often return there later to play 18.

But in recent years he's also done Pilates, core ball and aerobics.

Then eight years ago, he made a spur of the moment decision to join an early morning spinning class.

He climbed off the stationary bike at the Cordova Athletic Club about an hour later with a new passion.

"I've been spinning ever since that day," said Shove, who went on to became a Johnny G certified spinning instructor.

"It is a high-energy, low-impact exercise to music. I've always liked to exercise to music and music drives spinning classes."

"Intense aerobic exercise very often brings on a 'calming effect' both during and after an intense workout," he added.

These days he teaches classes four mornings a week at gyms in Germantown, Cordova, Bartlett and Memphis.

Spinning uses a specially designed stationary bicycle to better mimic the experience of riding a real bicycle. That means the class includes sprints, hill climbs and other types of interval training.

So now when he's teaching a spinning class, he works on guiding students to focus on first one sense and then another.

Students might start by closing their eyes and simply focusing on the sounds around them.

Or, they might focus just on their sense of touch, concentrating on the feel of the towel across the back of their neck or their hands on the handle bars.

"I guess the combination of the music, with deepened thoughts and increased focus, intense concentration and an open mind, allows you to 'get in the zone,'" he said, which he compared with the high that runners sometimes describe.

"We can all benefit from the improved levels of concentration, both during exercise and outside of the gym, in our daily work lives," he said.

Contact Mary Powers at 529-2383. To read more stories by this reporter, go to commercialappeal.com, click on Contact Us at the top of the home page and then click on the reporter's name.

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Share Your Experience

We are collecting stories from our readers about the benefits of long-term physical activity. Look for more personal stories in future editions of Health & Fitness.

To be considered for this occasional series, called Fitness for Life, send your story to powers@commercialappeal.com.

Go to our Healthy Memphis blog at commercialappeal.com/ healthblog to read more stories from readers or to add your own comment.

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Originally published by Mary Powers powers@commercialappeal.com .

(c) 2008 Commercial Appeal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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