Hitting Bombs with The Driver and Getting In Shape
Ok decided to start a H&F thread to track my progress. Goals here are two over the next 6 months:
1) Lose Weight/Generally Improve Fitness
2) Increase Clubhead Speed with my Driver (and all clubs really)
Quick bit about each in reverse order:
Increase Clubhead Speed
Everyone looking for that increased speed which correlates into longer drives. I used to play pretty competitively but got burned out, have 2 girls that play competitive sports, life, etc. and basically stopped playing in ~2011. I still played a bit for shits and giggles with my buddies but lost the fire to grind.
At my best I was a +3 handicap and played in multiple USGA events, state events, etc. I was a dime a dozen but on a given day I could wheel it around pretty well. Now 8-9 years later I'm a pencil 3 handicap and just don't play that well. But I don't practice so therein lies the problem. I have no illusions of playing as competitively as I used to but I play with kids that play in college, etc. and them hitting the ball 40-50 yards by me is pretty tough. I think if I could add 20-ish yards that would make the game more fun and who knows may reignite my desire to sharpen up my game.
My goal is to spend the winter hitting in my club's hitting loft at least 2 times per week. I will be doing the following:
Overspeed Training (essentially working with lighter clubs to try and get comfortable swinging at higher speeds). There is a specific protocol for this and will be doing it at each hitting session. Happy to share what this looks like if there is interest. Goal is to increase Driver Clubhead Speed to 120 mph by May 1 from current 113-114
Weight Loss I'm 51 years old. 5'11" and have always been a fattie. After COVID lockdown I had balooned up to over 250 and July 1 decided to get back to what had worked best for me...counting calories. I now weigh 235. I eat Atkins-ish but don't kill myself if once a week I eat a slice or two of pizza. My caloric intake goal is 2,100 and that has equated to ~1 lb/week of weight loss. I realize I may have to reduce that as weight continues to drop. Goal is to lose another 25 lbs by May 1 which would get me to 210
Fitness I lift 3-4 days per week and do standard split with Chest Day, Leg Day, Shoulder Day, Back Day. Do the normal compound lifts with some bro lifts and complementary stuff in there just to mix it up. I'm not trying to bulk up or anything but would love to maintain my squat and DL lifts as best as possible given my weight loss goals. I have been inconsistent with DL and Squats of all the lifts.
I traditionally don't do enough cardio but have gotten in 2-3 Peloton rides per week the last month or so. Wife is a Peloton freak and I find it fine. Probably hate it less than other options. Once a week or so I'll just do a HIIT workout with kb swings, assault bike sprints and/or rowing on the Concept. Goal is to lift 4 times per week and get 3 cardio sessions in per week
Flexibility-I sit all day so hamstrings/posterior chain is pretty tight. I stretch but not with any consistency. Frankly tend to only stretch when something is sore or tight. I know there is a lot of question as to the efficacy of stretching but I'll take advice here.
Here are a couple of recent launch monitor summaries.
First is my baseline. This was after a standard warm up of probably 15-20 balls hit.
Important numbers are Clubhead Speed obviously. Also important is Smash Factor (not on these first two screens). Smash Factor is Ball Speed divided by Club Speed and essentially measures how effieciently the hitter is delivering energy to the ball. Smash Factor of 1.5 is considered optimal for Rory, Bryson, etc.
Then I did a SuperSpeed Overspeed Training workout (only takes 10-15 minutes) and hit more balls
Here is the best of that bunch post SST
I then did the same thing this week and here is the best of that session:
Small sample but seems to be trending in the right direction. These yardages likely don't correlate to on course distances yet. I suspect on course my yardages will be 15-20 yards shorter.
So that's the plan. Any comments are welcomed. i'll likely just update with my workouts and calories consumed. Also any interesting golf stuff I'll maybe post pics. Doing a quick overnight this weekend for probably the last golf of the year.
I'm also a huge music guy and in honor of one of my favorites, Depeche Mode being inducted into the RRHOF this weekend I present you with my favorite Depeche song.
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Trying to find a goal for 2024. Take any input.
I will do another Sprint Tri again and try and improve my time. I think I will also do an Olympic. But receptive to any ideas
Woke up on Dec 1st and decided to do 5k/day December so I'm 12 days into that. I run most of the way but there was one day where I walked probably 1.5k and ran the rest. Not hard.
Taking December off from golf training just to clear my head of it. Big year on the golf fron
Finished the bolded. Every day. Which I thought was pretty good. Most of it on a treadmill as I was doing it mostly in the evening and the weather sucks.
Continuing to workout without an actual plan in mond at this point for 2024. I have gained a few lbs since I last posted weight and was a titch over 220 this morning vs a low of 213 last spring/summer.
So I'm back on the diet grind trying to get back under 210 this time. Think I should be good to chase that down with a bit of a reset.
Signed up a few months ago as a mechanism to improve my fitness more than anything else. Anyway this was a pretty low key sprint actually in the community I grew up in so I signed up. Quick recap.
Weighed in the morning of at 215ish. Went outside to load the car and it was around 50 degrees at 6 am. Was concerned the swim and subsequent transition would be really cold.
I came in to all of this training knowing that my events would be Swim>Bik
Doing this race again this weekend. I'll weigh in 2-3 lbs lighter than last year's 215 and think my run pace should be better.
I did a mini BRICK workout yesterday which is bike into run and did an hour bike (little over 16 miles) and then hopped right off and ran 1 mile in ~8:45. So that is far better than I could have done a year ago.
Hoping my splits will all be lower. Almost assuredly my running will be. Feel like my bike fitness was maybe a smidge better last year so we shall see
Very interested to see how you do - good luck!
also looking forward to your next update
do you have sponsors for all three legs or just the walkathon part? 😃
Pic of your glistening body emerging from the swim leg or this didn’t happen
Thanks!
also looking forward to your next update
do you have sponsors for all three legs or just the walkathon part? 😃
I am slow poke
nope
Blah...shitshow
Woke up feeling ok. Weighed in at 212 and was a beautiful morning. My lower back has been pretty meh a few times for a month or so but I really wasn't even thinking about it.
Swim (7:56)
After last year I decided to move up to the middle of the sub 1:30/100 grouping and glad I did. Went much better this year and didn't really stack up at all other than my goggles filling up with 2 laps to go. Oddly only a few seconds faster than last year.
Probably could have gone a smidge faster but not really a needle mover.
Bike (36:16)
Got on the bike feeling pretty good. I was a little slow in this first transition as I couldn't get my socks on. But I wasn't too worried about it.
Fairly early there is about a 1/2 mile steady climb. Nothing too severe but definitely in lower gear. I got to the top feeling pretty good...heart rate maybe a bit higher than I'd like but not bad. Then I turned to a straightaway and my lower back just locked up. Not huge pain but very uncomfortable.
I was riding and trying to stretch on the bike, being smart about not going too hard, etc. But I had a feeling once I got off the bike I wasn't going to be in great shape. Bike time was ~45 seconds slower than last year though it was a bit more humid so that seems ok.
Run (35:13)
Here is the wheels coming off. My goal was to go at a 9:15-ish/mile pace and adjust accordingly. Again fairly flat run with one small uphill segment. So I started at my target pace and about 1/4 mile in I was cooked. Back just dunzo.
So I laid on the ground and tried to stretch out my back and upper hams. Got up went another half mile, rinse repeat. If it had been longer than 5k I would have bailed.
Basically I just sort of shuffled, walk/ran the whole run portion at essentially 11:30/mile pace. Pathetic but is what it is.
For as much golf as I've played in my life this is the first time I can recall any serious back pain. Fortunately, I don't think it's anything structural just muscles knotted up. Probably need to strengthen the lower back, hamstrings and glutes. Also be a bit more consistent with stretch routines.
Overall disappointing but whatever. I beat 4 of the old farts in my age group lol.
Taking a break from training to rest my back and assuming no issues move into golf stuff more aggressively with some maintenance run/bikes/lifts each week.
Good job on finishing.
Sounds like a nerve tweak - will probably relax itself in 3-4 days.
Then I turned to a straightaway and my lower back just locked up. Not huge pain but very uncomfortable.
This is still hanging around. Some days not too bad. Others pretty sore. Very odd. All lower back on the sides not really on the spine or anything. I'd imagine the golf practice/playing is not helpful.
I have not been running/biking very much. Maybe 1x per week.
I have been losing weight tho. My wife has been having some minor health issues that has required her to strip back her diet considerably. No dairy, gluten, sugar, etc. as a mechanism to see if that helped at all. It didn't really but that cleaner eating has improved her sleep and such a bit.
Since we pretty much eat the same I have essentially joined in and lost some weight too. I'm not closing in on 205 and can see being sub 200 in the near future. So that's good.
Golf has been hit or miss. I'll officially be a Senior on 8/20 (55) and have a series of Senior events I am scheduled to play through the remainder of summer and fall. I seem to be getting better each week off the tee which is a promising sign,\.
Golf has been hit or miss. I'll officially be a Senior on 8/20 (55) and have a series of Senior events I am scheduled to play through the remainder of summer and fall. I seem to be getting better each week off the tee which is a promising sign,\.
Golf has been dreadful this summer. Maybe worst I've played since junior golf. Really bad. Basically started hitting my Driver poorly ~July 4th and simply haven't found it. But I went back to the coach I used to see when I played my best and there are clearly some swing mechanic issues I need to iron out. So I've committed to doing that.
I am down consistently to 203-205lbs. Not doing a ton of running or biking. Supposed to do a sprint triathlon (the one I deferred last year) but have done zero training and it's in 2 weeks. Think I'm just going to let it pass.
I am back to lifting more consistently and doing a ton of mobility work primarily on hips, upper and lower back. Not lifting too heavy but more consistently.
I'm up in the air what my next steps are. Thinking I need to focus on this golf improvement particularly the mechanical sloppiness I have had slip into my game. I can't go through another summer playing as poorly as I did this summer.
We shall see
Unrelated to working out...had 2 pretty good trips this summer.
Took wife to Big Sky Montana for 5 nights in late July. She hates the heat and humidity and her birthday is late July so good excuse to get out of the weather for a bit. Also this was her 50th bday.
Trip report-Cool town. Not as busy or as much to do as some of the other western mountain towns like Jackson Hole, Tahoe, etc. But really beautiful and the weather is insane. 72-75 every day with zero humidity.
We did one good hike which was ~8 miles in roudtrip. Was called Beehive Basin and we did it on an absolutely perfect day. I also rented an ebike and did a long ride with it. I've come around on e-bikes particularly in mountains. Nice way to cover a lot of ground without killing yourself.
Overall I really liked it. I suspect it's better as a winter resort but would recommend if you want somewhere fairly quiet and without the hustle and bustle of some other busy mountain towns.
Then after the kids went back to college we went to London/Ireland. Flew in to Heathrow and had 3 nights there. We had a ton of Marriott points and so had the hotel covered in London for 3 nights. I booked us a W Hotel which in my mind was a JW Marriott when I booked it.
It. Was. Not.
Small rooms and on the edge of China Town/Covent Gardens. Pretty loud and in a partying area. Not great. Hotel was fine just not what we were expecting.
While in London I had arranged for my wife to do a live Peloton class at their studio and signed myself up for a run too. Was an hour run on Saturday morning. That was fun. Don't need to do it again but interesting. Wife is a huge Peloton person so she really loved it.
Then I took a train up to Manchester to see a City match. I started following them after the Aguero goal in 2012 when I randomly watched the game one Sunday morning in the states. Casually watched them for a few years watching a few games each season and then went all in on it 6 or 7 years ago.
Fortunately, I didn't pick Chelsea like dusty ass Feelers.
Anyway that was a good trip although lol England railways. I missed Haaland's first goal that day but saw KDB score and then a clincher by Erling in the 80th minute or so. Fun
Then off to Ireland. We did 3 nights in Galway and 4 in Dublin. We had been 20+ years ago while wife was preggers for the first time. But tbh didn't do things much differently. I drank zero Guinness. She had a friend meet us in London who now lives in Europe. So I got to do some stuff on my own while they shopped and went to the Coldplay concert.
Honestly it's a lot of driving in Ireland and I think I'm pretty over trips with a lot of driving. So Dublin was good but Galway was just fine. Probably won't be back there for a while unless for a golf trip or something.
I did play Royal Dublin golf club which was great. Private clubs are so much more open and available in UK/Ireland than in USA#1. And they actually treat visitors like members for a day
Anyway, London is better IMO since there is so much to do and easy to get around on the tube, etc. Driving is just the nut low when on vacation and for whatever reason really realized this on this trip.
Trying to figure out trips for 2025 at the moment.
we used to do a Summer training camp in Galway each year and there's not a huge amount to it tbh. wasn't always the greatest place to have an English accent back then.
countryside is nice all through that part of Ireland though. I also prefer Dublin.
most importantly though, you deserve enormous credit for randomly choosing to adopt and support the richest club that wins every year in your mid 40s. you really are citytilyoudie.
random surprising fact (to me at least) that I picked up through work. Apparently Harland's Nike deal is worth $40m US per season. I interviewed someone who produced the most recent global Nike soccer spot recently and his deal is more than Mbappe's. Mbappe apparently so furious about that fact that he won't be in the same room as the big scandy and it made it complicated when shooting the new spot
