{"id":514669,"date":"2025-10-20T15:12:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/514669\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T15:12:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:12:34","slug":"why-tiger-woods-thinks-running-did-him-more-harm-than-good-and-experts-agree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/514669\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Tiger Woods Thinks Running Did Him More Harm Than Good \u2013 and Experts Agree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tiger Woods<\/a> is largely credited for pioneering strength training among golfers<\/a>. Over the last three decades his own dedication to the gym has inspired some of the best players in the world to build both power<\/a> and robustness to handle the repetitive nature of the sport. But as the 15-time major winner’s injuries have racked up in recent years (he’s needed seven separate back surgeries in the last 10 years alone), his intense physical workouts have come under increasing scrutiny.<\/p>\n

His latest setback came at the beginning of October, when he announced<\/a> he had undergone ‘successful’ disc replacement surgery after experiencing pain and a lack of mobility in his back. The 49-year-old failed to provide a timeframe for his return, having missed the entirety of the 2025 season after surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon. <\/p>\n

However, it’s another aspect of his fitness routine that he believed caused him more harm than good over the course of his esteemed career, as Dan Rapaport \u2013 from the podcast, Dan on Golf<\/a> \u2013 revealed from a conversation he had with Woods:<\/p>\n

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‘I remember a conversation that I had with Tiger at one point where I was like, “When you look back on all your injuries, is there one thing that you would tell yourself not to do, one thing you regret?” And he said, “Yes, I shouldn\u2019t have run<\/a> so much”.’ ‘He used to run miles and miles a day and his knee<\/a> took a beating. That\u2019s another thing that\u2019s a huge issue.’<\/p>\n

Woods’ injury issues started in 1994 aged just 19, when he needed surgery to remove two benign tumours and scar tissue from his left knee. Since then, he’s had four more knee surgeries in addition to his back procedures, while also suffering from multiple neck and Achilles issues. A severe car crash in February 2021 then left him with multiple leg, ankle and foot fractures, limiting his ability to play consistently on the PGA Tour. <\/p>\n

Rapaport, though, is sure it wasn’t just running that exacerbated his ailments. ‘Tiger gets a lot of credit for inspiring golfers to get in the gym, and he\u2019s definitely a huge reason why,’ he says. ‘But if you talk to a modern strength and conditioning person, they would be like, “I don\u2019t know what the hell he was doing, because no one gets injured like this!”‘ <\/p>\n

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Ryan is a Senior Writer at Men\u2019s Health UK with a passion for storytelling, health and fitness. Having graduated from Cardiff University in 2020, and later obtaining his NCTJ qualification, Ryan started his career as a Trainee News Writer for sports titles Golf Monthly, Cycling Weekly and Rugby World before progressing to Staff Writer and subsequently Senior Writer with football magazine FourFourTwo.<\/p>\n

During his two-and-a-half years there he wrote news stories for the website and features for the magazine, while he also interviewed names such as Les Ferdinand, Ally McCoist, Jamie Redknapp and Antonio Rudiger, among many others. His standout memory, though, came when getting the opportunity to speak to then-Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher as the club won League One in 2023.<\/p>\n

Having grown up a keen footballer and playing for his boyhood side until the age of 16, Ryan got the opportunity to represent Northern Ireland national futsal team eight times, scoring three goals against England, Scotland and Gibraltar. Now past his peak, Ryan prefers to mix weightlifting with running \u2013 he achieved a marathon PB of 3:31:49 at Manchester in April 2025, but credits the heat for failing to get below the coveted 3:30 mark\u2026<\/p>\n

You can follow Ryan on Instagram @ryan.dabbs<\/a> or on X @ryandabbs_<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n