Every once and a while I’ll read an article that makes me question everything else I read in a newspaper. Typically, if something comes from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times or the Washington Post I don’t typically question the veracity of the information (I’m talking about news articles, not editorials). I remember during the financial crisis a few different investment banker clients telling me that the Journal was getting its facts wrong. You mean their interpretation? No, the basic information. Granted, it was a crazy time, especially at our office in the financial district, and tensions of all sorts ran high as banks were failing, the market was plunging and legislators were weighing the appropriate intervention against the political effect on their careers, but it’s the Wall Street Journal. Wasn’t that supposed to be right in their wheelhouse? And if their information seemed sound to me as a layperson, but it perhaps was not, what did that mean about everything else?

http://online.wsj.com/articles/are-pro-golfers-too-bulked-up-1408147800

That episode came to mind recently with this article. It’s hardly news, but in today’s world media outlets must work very hard for entree to the average reader’s limited time and attention span, and so front and center is a contrarian idea: Maybe all this exercise stuff is bad for you! We’ve been lied to again, just like with salt and butter! And of course, just like with salt and butter, folks will use this as an excuse to avoid working out, aided by quotes like the one from surgeon Joshua Dines: “every time you do a push-up or a lat pulldown or a biceps curl, you are risking an overuse situation.” Perhaps theoretically there is some truth to that, except where is the real risk to the average person, working out too much or not enough? If you’re a couch potato, the answer is the one you don’t want to hear. That quote was runner-up for the worst quote of the article. Here’s the worst, from Gary Player: "In the past, there were very few injuries because there were fewer professional golfers exercising." He redeems himself later by being a little bit more specific: “You have to understand is that many of these professionals today are becoming injured because they are exercising incorrectly.”

The article goes on to cite a few other possibilities for a recent spate of injuries among pros, including early specialization and a longer and more rigorous tour, but what’s the headline? Is it the quote from TPI’s Greg Rose’s that “working out has kept many, many more golfers on the course than it’s kept off?” “Seek appropriate advice and supervision with exercise?” “Play other sports as a kid to develop all-around athleticism?’ or ‘Make sure that you are giving yourself enough rest from a high velocity, fully asymmetrical sport involving end-range spinal rotation by not constantly competing?’ Nope. The thematic message this article sends, not with any real evidence (saying that Rory Mcllroy, “though still sound could easily have problems down the line” because he recently discovered the performance benefits and enjoyment of strength training is hardly scientific), not to educate, but to simply catch eyes by offering a faux-intellectual challenge to the conventional wisdom is that exercise is bad.

Are Pro Golfer's Getting Too Bulky?