I don’t generally make New Year’s Resolutions but this year I have decided to perform a case study on myself.

I recently fell off the wagon if you will with my training, my eating habits and my golf practice.  This fall from the wagon was started by the birth of my son in August and continued on with a minor surgical procedure and a bout of low back pain both taking me out of activity a couple of weeks each at the end of the year.

I finished it all off with the holidays enjoying way too much food and drink. Therefore it has been about a month since I have been under the bar and have only played on average once a month since August. I tell you all of this because it is important to remember that his happens to everyone even those of us that are in the profession of health and fitness.

In that time frame I have gained 10-12 lbs. and around 3 inches around my waist.  I lost 4-5 mph on my driver Swing speed and my golf scores in the few times I have played have been way up.

Lastly I have lost significant strength on my 4 basic lifts: squat, dead lift, overhead press and bench press. With all that being said, now that the holidays are coming to an end I am ready to get back on track.

I feel healthy from the surgery and back pain and my son has gotten on a good enough routine so now seems like a good time to run this case study. I will be enlisting the help of a Precision Nutrition certified nutritional coach to guide me along the way with my eating habits but will not be following any particular diet.

Always Measure

I want to highlight the importance of having some kid of assessment before making any type of change to your golf swing or your body.  You have to know where you are starting in order to set goals and track progress.  I will be measuring and tracking the following items every 4-5 weeks for a total of 3 months:

• K vest swing testing
• Driver swing speed 10 swing avg.
• 7 iron swing speed 10 swing avg.
• Waist measurement
• Body weight
• Standing Long jump
• Squat 3 rep max
• Deadlift 3 reps max
• Bench 3 rep max
• OH press 3 rep max
• Max set pullups
• Handicap

My Training Plan

My training will consist of 3 days of week lifting with the following alternating cycle Week 1 A-B-A Week 2 B-A-B. It will focus on building back my strength base which is important for speed and power as well as building resiliency to reduce risk of injury.

Workout A

• Warm up: 5 minutes bike f/b 5-10 minutes movement
• Back Squat 5 x 5
• Bench 5 x 5
• Barbell Rows 5 x 5
• SL Quad dominant 10-15 x 3
• Single arm KB sings 10/10 x 5
• Loaded Carry 3 rounds

Workout B

• Warm up: 5 minutes bike f/b 5-10 minutes movement
• Front Squat 5 x 5
• Oh press 5 x 5
• Pullups 5 x failure
• Deadlift 5 x 3
• SL hip dominant 10-15 x 3
• Single arm KB sings 10/10 x 5
• Loaded Carry 3 rouds

Off Days

Off days will consist of 3 days of sprint training via bike or running and super speed stick protocol. I will be focusing on proper recovery as well  with proper nutrition, good sleep hygiene and stress management all which are as important if not more than the training I will be doing.

I will be commiting to 3 hours a week minimum working of golf game consisting of 50% short game and 50% full swing based on my k vest evaluation and subsequent guidance for James Leitz P.G.A. whom I work alongside.

Goals

It is important to have measurable and attainable goals  I always like to set my big goals in 90 day blocks based off of the measurements I am taking. I will have weekly goals of meeting my workout and nutritional plans each week as well.  My 3 month goals will be:

Improved K vest numbers:  proper transition sequence hips torso arms club, pelvic bend WNL at address, WNL upper body turn and side bend at impact. Decreased back bend at top of backs wing

• Driver Swing Speed: 106 mph
• 7 iron swing speed: 90 mph
• Body weight: 175
• Waist around belly button: 33 inches
• Squat 3 rep max: 225 x 3
• Deadlift 3 rep max: 315 x 3
• Bench Press: 205 x 3
• OH press 3 rep max: 135 x 3
• Max set pullups: 10 repetitions
• Standing long jump: 74 inches
• Handicap: 8

Measurements Week 1 Week of 12/25-12/31

K vest: Transitional sequence Hips, club torso arms, Pelvic bend at address 7 deg. WNL 12-27 deg, Upper body turn at impact 17 degrees WNL 26-34 degrees, upper body bend at top of back swing 3 degrees extended WNL 2-15 degrees forward bent,

• Driver Swing Speed: 101 mph
• 7 iron swing speed 88 mph
• Waist around belly button measurement: 37 inches
• Body weight 185 lbs
• Standing Long Jump: 70 inches
• Squat 3 rep max: 185 x 3
• Deadlift 3 rep max: 275 x 3
• OH press 3 rep max: 120 x 3
• Bench press 3 rep max: 165 x 3
• Pulllups max set: 6 reps
• Handicap 10.5

Conclusion

These numbers are a significant drop from where I was in the summer where my Driver speed was 105-106, my DL 1RM was 345, my squat 3RM was 225, my bench 3 RM was 215 and my OH press 3 RM was 135.  Therefore my initial goals are just to get back to that point.

I will be updating every 4-5 weeks on my measurements and progress.  I will be tracking all workouts in my workout journal and progressing within workouts as well as workout to workout based on an RPE scale.

In this scale I will use a number between 1 and 10 to determine the intensity of each set to help guide within workout progressions as well as workout to workout progressions.

I personally look forward to this challenge as well as getting back on track with both my health and fitness and golf game. Also the idea of putting this out to the public will help hold me accountable throughout this process.

Cheers,

John Paul Guidry DPT CSCS TPI

Cover Image via Flickr