School started, Routine has changed

You may have noticed that today is Friday, and i am just updating the blog. I am doing this because school has started and my new school schedule has forced me to adjust my training schedule. Not a big deal! My new training schedule will be Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday.
The actual training routine itself has not changed. I am still performing all the same exercises at all the same weights and intervals. My current PST's are still the same, although i will be traveling to Endicott in a few weeks to re-test and possibly change up my PST's. No date has been set up yet, it is still early.
As you may or may not know, the latest edition of JAGR is out. For those of you that are not familiar with the Journal of Applied Golf Research (JAGR), it is an international publication that provides peer reviewed research on the learning and teaching of golf. You can check it out at www.thejagr.com.
This particular issue features a comparative analysis between Zenolink and AMM3D technologies. It also features and interview with Chris Welch of ZenoLink and a case study of a students swing (mine).
This particular issue was the catalyst that really started my off season training and fitness. Consequently i started this blog to chronicle my progress. The article also features all of my 3D data from both the AMM3D system and ZenoLink, for all you numbers people out there.
In summary, the only thing that has changed in my training at this point is the move from Thursday to Friday. I am still waiting for a day without rain and some sunshine to get outside and take some pictures of me Performing the PST's. I will also be chiming in with my mid way report card. Thanks for following.

Another day closer to the golf season

Picture is from 10/19/11, 3D data collection day at ZenoLink in Endicott with AMM/TPI 3D and ZenoLink.

  As many of you have probably noticed, I did not post a recap of my week on Thursday. The reason for this was because my son was sick, and I had to do some work for the start up of classes at school. I return to college on Monday, so I am really looking forward to my classes and the new challenges it will bring both academically and with my time management (with regard to homework and my training). Speaking of my time management, it could be better as I regrettably report I still have not gotten a chance to take pictures and video of my PST's. My training space is pretty small and there is not enough room to place a camera in front of me while performing these drills. I will need to film these drills outside during the day time with adequate sunlight for my camera. Hopefully I will be able to do that shortly.
  Last week, I posted about collecting data for some swing speeds as a bench mark for my current training. I concluded that those numbers are not reliable and will need to seek out the use of a TrackMan to get a better idea of what my numbers are in reality and that will have to serve as my new bench mark.
The only stuff to report about my working out from last week is that I have increased the amount of weight for all my lifts by 5 pounds.
   This week it is more of the same. I am still doing all the same lifts. Bench press on a Swiss ball, Shoulder shrugs, bicep curls, Over head triceps press, Shoulder press, Bent over Rows, Squats and Mini band walks. My core workout is still the same. Planks, Right side plank, Left side plank, all for 1 minute, with 1 minute rest between sets, with 3 sets of each. Followed by 3 sets of 60 Russian twists with a Medicine ball.
 I am definitely feeling stronger. I am also noticing more things with regard to my diet. Specifically, if I eat processed food (fast food, or even from a nice restaurant), they tend to have higher levels of sodium and I will notice slight swelling in my ankles. Also I will feel very heavy while working out. Planking is much more labor intensive and I start to shake and get tired quicker, which makes for a really tough workout. I have dropped a few more pounds, and am down to 239lbs. My goal for the spring golf season is to get down to 225lbs. Although the weight isn't coming off as quickly as I would like, I do notice that it is looking like I am loosing weight. I have not measured my body to see how many inches I have lost, but I do have some numbers from the beginning of my journey recorded so I can compare my progress. This will be another thing I will need to do so I can report back to you the reader.
  Thanks again for following me. My golf coach Dan Parks' journal "The Journal of Applied Golf Research" also know as the JAGR recently published it's December issue which features the case study that has sparked my writing this blog and undertaking this new direction with regard to my fitness and golf fitness. For all that are interested in the science side of golf I highly suggest you check it out. There is a link on the right side of this website. But you can also link directly http://www.thejagr.com. The article also provides my 3D data from the swings recorded at ZenoLink in Endicott as well as previous swings we recorded on AMM/TPI 3D, so if you are a numbers guy you can check that out. Or if you are just interested in 3D and a 3D swing analysis, you can see what kind of information you will get from doing one.

Collected Data for swing speed study

Today I went out and hit some balls to collect data for my swing speed study.
It was a really nice day. The temperature was about 40 degrees and the sun out with not to many clouds.
There was a slight breeze. I didn't have any expectations for my ballstriking because i have not hit balls since the last time i collected data on November 20th. So my new swing speed data is...

Club                 Average Swing Speed (mph)                    Std. Deviation
 
 Driver                               103.8                                                 4.467
 5 Iron                                 93                                                  10.883
 9 Iron                                73.4                                                  4.501


I noticed an increase in club speed of 2.7 mph with the driver, an increase of 5.1 mph with my 5 iron and a decrease in speed of 6.2 mph with my 9 iron. My numbers were more inconsistant shot to shot this time around and I am not sure if the irons are so different because of hitting off of mats this time or not. Also with the driver I had a much larger spread of data compared to before. Unfortunately I dont have much confidence in this data and am going to try and get some time on a TrackMan to get a better idea of my swing speeds.

A trip to Endicott to visit ZenoLink and new PST's

Lot's of new exciting stuff happened this week. I went to visit Chris Welch at ZenoLink in Endicott New York on Wednesday. While there Chris looked at my technique while performing my current PST's and saw a lot of improvement. He decided to re-test me and look at the data. I had lots of improvement in the short amount of time performing my current set of PST's. I now have my shoulder and arm segments tracking at the same time, before they were not in sync and my swing was more inefficient. Now we have to get my arms to accelerate more and my club and arms to sync up better and produce a later release of the club head.
So to do that I have some new drills to do. Well actually we ditched one drill and added two.
I no longer do the core separation with swiss ball drill. My PST workouts now start right in with the towel snap drill. My new feeling to focus on is the core bracing but my arms separating from the body a bit, hands passing the hips. I then do a breif drill to get the right feeling before going on to the next drills. I will stay my golf posture with swiss ball between my knees and with my left arm extended out, i will rotate my arm directly across my chest and bring it back to right out in front of me without rotating the shoulders open or closed but staying perfectly square. After getting that feeling I then go into my 1/2 swing into impact bag with swiss ball drill. Again the focus is to feel the core brace and the shoulders stop square with the arms separating from the chest a little. Keeping the same focus I move onto the left arm pull, right arm push with swiss ball drill.
Now before going into the full swing with swiss ball I have two new plyo drills to do. The first one I take a half swing back and pause, keeping the arms relaxed and the core engaged I then start the swing with no momentum. The feeling i get when I do this drill is of my right foot really pushing into the ground, straight down, and then to the right. My front foot feels like I am really pushing down into the ground and driving my lead hip back. After doing one set of these plyo swings I do one set of full swings with swiss ball and try to keep the feeling of the hands beating the hips to the ball. After that I go back to doing a set of the plyo swings, followed by a set of the full swings until I have done three sets.
I am really looking forward to seeing more improvement and can't wait to get out and hit some balls. I am going to try and find some time to get out and hit some balls and take some swing speed measurements. I would be interested in seeing how much speed I have gained by my increase core strength and increased stability and sequencing. There will be another post shortly with some pictures of the PST's being performed and I will also get some pictures and or video up of the plyo swings being performed.
As far as my weight training is concerned. I am still performing the same lifts. I have not changed anything with regard to that. Everything is progressing nicely and I am very excited for this up coming season. Thanks for reading.