I’ve completed my eleventh week of 4 Hour Body. This was my fourth week attempting to gain muscle with some of the Occam’s Protocol stuff. If you want to read previous posts about my journey, use the links in the table at the bottom of this post or browse the 4 Hour Body tag archives of my blog.
Day 64 – Sunday, March 20, 2011
I started the day with a strawberry protein shake. A bit later I made a turkey bacon and spinach scramble. Walked 5.07 miles playing 18 holes of golf and ate a protein bar on the golf course. For lunch I made baked salmon, brown rice, and baked beans. Drank creatine + water and then did the A workout. I completed 8.6 reps (5/5) of close grip pull-downs with 120 pounds and 9.2 reps on the shoulder press with 110 pounds. Then I also did 10 myotatic crunches and 10 cat vomits. Drank more creatine + water and chocolate protein + milk.
I measured my blood pressure and pulse on a machine at Walmart and everything looks good there. My blood pressure was 122 over 78 and my pulse rate was 60. I forgot to take pictures of breakfast and lunch, so I’ll add the picture of the results from this test. I did a 25 minute easy run (2.66 miles) as part of duathlon training and walked 0.58 miles. Ate another protein bar for a snack. For dinner I had 3 fried eggs, green beans, pinto beans, and a glass of milk. I had a chocolate banana protein shake before bed.
Training for the duathlon has upped my mileage dramatically from the last two months. I’ve done quite a bit more golfing too. Overall March was a good way to end my 4 Hour Body experimenting (will be finished after Saturday) and get ready for my first duathlon.
32.6 miles running
110.1 miles cycling
62.2 miles walking (nearly all was on the golf course)
14.7 miles hiking
That’s a total of 219.6 miles for the month, which is more than January and February combined!
This is not an April Fool’s Day joke. Check my RunKeeper profile for full details.
My game feels better and better each week. Since lesson 9 I’ve been to the course for a few practice sessions working on my short game. Chipping and pitching still need a lot of work and I’ll need to put in some solid time to get more comfortable with the putting changes. Baby steps.
A lot of the changes to my swing have become natural. I no longer need to think about limiting my hip and shoulder turn on the back swing, which is something I’ve always struggled with. I could limit my shoulder turn even more, but it’s not too much of a turn to be a big concern when I have other pieces to work on.
Yesterday I had my 10th and final lesson inside GolfTEC. Below is my first swing during the lesson.
Here’s my swing at the end of the lesson.
My coach went over a couple of review points and some final keys to work on.
Imagine a box starting at the ankles and going straight up. At address the lower body should be relatively centered and the upper body tilted to the right. My lower body was leaning to the right with the upper body.
I started to sway to the right with my knees on the back swing again. Keep a stable lower body.
In order to keep from missing iron shots off the toe, get the hands ahead of the club more at impact. Make sure to rotate the wrists here to square the club face otherwise the ball can only go to the right. Short game work on keeping the hands ahead should help this.
Watch out for the cupped left wrist at the top of the back swing. This can lead to the slices with the driver.
In addition to yesterday’s lesson I went out and played 9 holes with my coach this morning. It was a casual round and not an official playing lesson or anything, but I was able to get some tips out on the course. It was the first time he was able to see my ball flight, so it was a great opportunity to learn even more. I had to wake up for a 6:45 tee time but it was well worth it.
With the driver I have a tendency to have my shoulders open at address. I can also have my feet aligned more to the right of where I think I’m aiming. These two things can lead to a slice or a double cross.
Make sure not to get flippy on chip and pitch shots.
Square the club face with shorter full shots like the wedges. I had short shot usually means the club face was open at impact.
When the ball is below the feet tendency is to have an open club face at impact. Closed club face when ball is above the feet. This is more the cause for hitting left or right than a slice/hook in those lies.
I really wish there was a GolfTEC in the Saginaw area so I could continue working with them this summer. It’s been great taking the lessons and now it’s up to me to put in the practice time when I get home.
I’ve completed my eleventh week of 4 Hour Body. This was my fourth week attempting to gain muscle with some of the Occam’s Protocol stuff. If you want to read previous posts about my journey, use the links in the table at the bottom of this post or browse the 4 Hour Body tag archives of my blog.
