Author: Jerry

Over the last few weeks I have attempted to outline the many ways that we have been programmed to accept the concept and practice of struggle. I’ve highlighted how we get initiated to it from watching our parents and grandparents struggle to survive. From there, how the awkwardness of puberty and adolescence can leech the joy of moving our bodies out of us. This week I want to focus on how our relationship to sports and athletics has taught us to bring the practice of struggling into our workouts and everyday life.

When I was a student at the University of Colorado, I did an internship as a student strength and conditioning coach. During this time, I was in the weight room on a daily basis with some of CU’s all-time great players, guys like Kordell Stewart, Rashaan Salaam, and Ted Johnson, great college players who went on to play in the NFL.
When they were in the gym they would work out at an amazing level, fighting for every last repetition of every set. They would give their all everyday with the hopes of playing better on Saturday and eventually getting to play on Sundays.

I remember coming into the weight room late one afternoon after a physics exam. Ted Johnson was in for an extra training session. He was on a lifting platform doing a set of power cleans. He was hitting rep after rep with perfect form, and blood was running down his shins (when power cleaning you need to keep the bar close to your body in order to generate the most power). He finished his set and I chuckled and threw him a towel. He looked down, grinned and said “I have a couple of more sets to finish,” then threw the towel back at me. He played 10 years with the New England Patriots and won 3 Super Bowls. That’s the level of commitment a 3-time Super Bowl champion puts in as a junior in college.

Looking back, I would say that these players I mentioned gave their all, sacrificed health and well-being to chase a dream. They all achieved some form of greatness. Ted Johnson won 3 Super Bowls. Kordell Stewart re-defined the quarterback position and paved the way for guys like Cam Newton. Rashaan Salaam won the Heisman trophy and went on to play for my beloved Chicago Bears.

They fought, struggled and bled chasing a dream. There wasn’t any consideration of the future consequences of pushing their bodies to the limits. Right or wrong, they did what they were taught to do in order to get to play at the next level. You might be saying, “What does that have to do with me”? Well, the workout protocols that are the most popular among non-athletes today are based on the same training principles of those NFL hopefuls.

Every day I see people training like they are Heisman hopefuls. They are fighting for every rep, grunting and groaning like their livelihood is at risk if they don’t finish the set. They fight, struggle and bleed on a daily basis, and for what? My guess is because struggle is all they know.

So, why are you going to the gym today? NFL aspirations? To win the US Open? Or maybe to feel better and release some of the stress of everyday life? Now, take a deep breath and ask yourself this; does my workout mirror my goals?

Have you ever watched a baby learn to walk? They have this bouncy, rolling gait as its system learns about balance and movement. It’s not effortless, but there’s no sense of struggle either. It’s open and easy with a beautiful sense of flow. And then, at the first sign of trouble, they just sit down. You can almost see their brains processing the data, then they are up and moving again. Recalibrating and making corrections as they totter down the carpet. When did we lose that? That love of movement and willingness to explore? When did we become reluctant participants in physical activity?

For many, it goes back to middle school. As puberty began for some and not for others, our bodies began to look and function differently. Our ability to run, jump and play became as different as our complexions and voices. As we were becoming unique individuals, schools were busy teaching us conformity. And one of their greatest weapons in the battle for conformity was gym class.

Back in my day, we had those awful gym uniforms. Baggy shorts, school t-shirts and, believe it or not, jockstraps. We’d play sports, it didn’t matter if you could play or wanted to play. You were expected to play. If you couldn’t hit a softball, too bad. If you were slow and didn’t like soccer, too bad. Act out, and they made you run laps. For many, it became the most hated hour of the school day. Imagine that. For many kids, the most hated hour of the school day was going outside to play.

Probably the worst part was how they measured success: the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. It comprised the mile run, and two-minute sit-up, push-up, and pull-up tests. The more you could do, the higher your grade was. Physical maturity was never considered, nor was body type or any other thing that makes us unique. If you couldn’t do it, well, you didn’t pass. I still have a certificate of achievement for doing well on that test, signed by President Jimmy Carter. I have a similar certificate for maxing my physical fitness test when I was in the Army. Essentially, it was the exact same test. These are the tests that they use to determine the physical fitness of our military and it is nearly the same test they use to measure our children fitness level today.

For many of us, the struggle with exercise and movement that we develop in school follows us throughout life. For example, my daughter, who’s 23 now, received a C in gym class the fall semester of 7th grade. When I asked her why, it turned out that she couldn’t run a pass pattern. They were playing flag football and they were tested on the ability to run certain pass patterns. She couldn’t do it, and she received an F for that segment of class. She asked me why running a pass pattern was important enough to give her a C in PE? I really had no answer for her. I didn’t get it either. I do know that it really upset her though. I also know that to this day, she still hasn’t developed a healthy relationship with exercise and movement. It’s like a part of her said, If that’s what I have to do to fit in, then no thank you.

Overcoming a negative relationship to exercise and movement can be extremely challenging. Doing it with the current athletic model can make it nearly impossible. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be looking at the relationship of struggle and the athletic model.

Have you ever known someone who was good at everything? No matter what they did, they could do it well. It’s like they received a special blessing at birth and live a very charmed life. I used to have a friend like that. He was something special. I would feel better about almost everything when I hung out with him. It was like his sense of ease and grace was contagious. In my fifty years on this earth, I have only known one person like that. At the time, I didn’t realize how rare and special he was.

For most of us the tendency for struggle has been programmed into our psyche. I learned how to struggle from my parents. I am the middle of five children. Growing up, my father was a career soldier. He served 28 years in the army and retired as a Master Sargent. So we moved every couple years to some new place, rarely developed any kind of lasting friendships, and never had enough money for anything but the essentials. We rarely went without what was needed, but there was never a time when money wasn’t tight and a topic of loud discussions.

There is something to be said for growing up this way. I grew up willing to work hard for whatever I got and knew I would have to fight to get ahead in the world. When life got hard, I would put my head down and fight my way through it. Living this way builds lots of character and resiliency in a person. But it also leaves you somewhat jaded with a very peculiar outlook on life.

Now, it was not my parents’ intention to teach me the fine art of struggle. They were just living their lives and doing what their parents did before them. My mother was one of seven children in a small rural town in Ohio. Her grandparents were farmers and everyone worked the farm as soon as they were able to contribute. My father was the 14th of 18 children. His parents were immigrants from Italy. You can probably imagine the struggles of feeding, clothing and raising 18 children.

Now, I can’t say that I knew either set of grandparents very well. But I doubt that their intention was to teach their children and future generations how to struggle. In fact, my father’s parents came to America to offer their children a better life, like so many of our grandparents did.

I am offering up this brief look into my past to help make a point. Most of us have learned to struggle by watching those that raised us. It wasn’t their intention; they were just trying to survive. If you are reading this, you know that life is hard and will give you all the struggles that you can handle. For many of us, the ability to struggle through and overcome has become a badge of honor. Hey look at me, I survived!

Like the fine art of struggling, living with a sense of ease and grace is a skill that can be taught and learned over time. Whether the lessons come in a classroom, the weight room or a ball field as we learn to thrive in one arena we can transfer that ability to the rest of our lives.

The core idea behind the Training Tiger Woods project is teaching people how to thrive. How to use centering, balance and breath to walk the world with a sense of ease and grace, while unlocking the untapped potential that resides inside each of us.

Two weeks ago Ben wrote about his trip to Vegas to play in the annual soccer tournament. At the end of that piece he surmised that if he had to make the choice today, he would choose not to play next year. That it was hard on his body and just wasn’t fun anymore.

Last year, I went with Ben to the tournament. We had been working together for about six months at that point and one of our major focal points, prior to that trip, was how to play in a three-day competitive event, have fun and limit the negative repercussions associated with playing a tournament. So, I was curious on how things would go.

As a consummate team player and a highly competitive person, Ben seems to bring lots of stress and intensity to the pitch. He knows what the right play is and expects himself to make that play. He’s harder on himself than his teammates, but can get frustrated when this eclectic group of guys fails to play as a team. When we combine that with the stress of playing a minimum of three very intense games in two days, it’s potentially a recipe for disaster physically and energetically for any aging athlete.

In the year between the Vegas trip I went on and this one, Ben had made great strides in controlling the physical and energetic stressors while, increasing his level of fun when playing soccer. Before this trip, we talked about strategies to maximize fun and limit the physical and energetic stress of the Vegas event.

My conclusion after talking with Ben is that it went as well as it possibly could have. He did everything he could to limit the stress. He took care of his body and maintained his sleep schedule. He ate as well as a person can in Vegas, and yet if he had to make the choice today, he would not play in the tournament next year.

Now, I’m not judging my good friend Ben. Until a couple of years ago, I would do the same thing, except my game was racquetball. I would travel to these four-day tournaments and play as many as three matches a day. The stress would be high, I wouldn’t eat well, and I would be wrecked physically and energetically for up to a week after. No matter how accomplished I was in my energy and meditation practice, I couldn’t control the costs associated with playing these tournaments.

So why do we do it? Why do we go out and put our bodies on the line to play a game? Why do we put ourselves in these stressful situations knowing in advance what the potential costs can be?

The short answer is usually because we tell ourselves it’s fun! What Ben and I have both learned is that when you break it down and examine the reality of the experience, it really isn’t. It’s all cost with very little actual benefit.

Over the next few weeks, Ben and I will continue to look at the nature of struggle.

One of the major problems with pursuing fitness goals at this time of year is respecting the energy limitations of the season. One of the ways to do this is to work on your base fitness level. Another way is to work out so that you are actually building energy rather than burning it. Increasing flexibility does both of these things, while increasing sport performance.

Rather than talk about golf specific stretches, I am going to talk about the mechanics of stretching as a function of the Training Tiger Woods Program.

Establish Your “V”

In a post last year, I talked about establishing your “V” while centering. The “V” is the imaginary lines from your shoulders to your navel when you’re in the centered position. This position aligns your body and allows for an open flowing breath. When stretching, if you are centered and capable of an open flowing breath, you are certain to have perfect form and will be able to improve your overall flexibility.

Intensity

When stretching it is critical to limit the intensity to a 5 on the RPE (rate of perceived experience) chart below.

Rate of Perceived Experience - Stretching

1-2: Hardly feels like you’re stretching; breathing is normal and feels easy.

3-4: The muscle has slight tension. You could hold this position comfortably for a long time.

5: There is an awareness of tension in the muscle. You can hold this stretch comfortably.
Breathing is unrestricted and natural. As you hold the stretch, the muscles begin to relax and the RPE level decreases.

6-7: Muscle is tight. It would be uncomfortable to hold this position for very long. Breathing is restricted.

8-9: At this point the stretch actually hurts. The intensity will prevent you from focusing on the stretch and often causes you to hold your breath.

10: Here you are approaching the point of injury, with the range of motion being forced.

Duration

Stretches should be held for 5-10 centered breaths. By focusing on your breath you will be able to feel when the muscle actually releases.

Specificity

For now, don’t worry about golf specific stretches. Increasing basic flexibility improves overall fitness. Later, this will make sport specific stretches more effective.

Session Length

Begin by picking 4-5 common stretches that you like and know how to do. Hold each stretch for 5-10 centered breaths. Repeat 2-3 times for each stretch. This shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes per day.

Conclusion

I have added stretching 5-10 minutes per day as a part of my goals for the winter quarter. By following the guidelines that I have set here, I can ensure that I am protecting my energy expenditure while increasing my health and fitness levels.

Over the last few weeks both Ben and I have talked about the importance of respecting the energy of the season.

Since the first of the year, the gym where I have my office has been inundated with people who obviously have made New Year resolutions. They’re running, jumping, lifting weights, and doing exercises that are way beyond their current abilities. I hear them grunting and groaning and I watch them grimace in pain.

Because I’m there every day, I notice as they begin to miss workouts. Some get sick, while others get injured. Soon, they are gone. Just another failed resolution.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that 70% of people who make resolutions fail in the first 8 weeks. Ignoring the energy of the season is usually why.

If you want to successfully begin an exercise program, start slow. Build a foundation and increase the intensity of your workouts gradually. Possibly, seek professional help from someone who understands the principles that Ben and I have laid out in our Training Tiger Woods program.

Remember, whatever your fitness level is right now, it has taken you awhile to get there. It’ll take you just as long to get to where you’d like to go.

Last week both Ben and I talked about goal setting and the need to respect the energy demands of the season when setting and pursuing goals. In this week’s post I am going to share the method I use for setting and achieving goals that has been very successful and is applicable to almost any goal.

State Your Goal

It’s extremely important to verbally declare your goals aloud. Nobody else has to be present, but verbalizing your goals gives them power and brings energy to the process. While verbalizing your goals notice how your body physically and energetically reacts to the goal. If you feel strong and energetic during the process, your chance for success will be greatly enhanced. If you feel weak or uncertain when declaring your goals, re-examine them. There is something within your goal that is causing conflict and it will make them much harder to achieve.

Next, write down your goals and share them with someone else. This accomplishes a couple of things.

First, writing down a goal gives it life and creates a sense of energy around it. This is different than verbalizing your goal. When verbalizing it, you’re feeling how the energy of the goal flows with your energy system. At this stage, it’s still an idea or something you think you want. When writing the goal down, you are breathing energy into it and giving it life. It goes from being something you are wishing for to something that you’re working towards.

Second, by sharing it with someone else you’re not only accountable to yourself, but you now have to account for your successes and failures with someone else.

To illustrate the whole process, I will share a goal of mine and the process for achieving it.

One of my goals this year is to improve my overall fitness level. I had a series of abdominal injuries last summer and my fitness level and my weight isn’t where I like it to be. I have some measurable parameters of lowering my exercise heart rate and blood pressure while losing 15 pounds.

Start Small

Nothing kills progress like a goal that is impossible to reach. I like to set very attainable, relatively short-term goals that act as stepping stones to achieving the larger long-range goal. Each step should be relatively easy to accomplish and should lead directly to the next logical step in the process. The plan should be flexible and allow for any necessary changes. It’s my experience that nothing gets in the way of achieving goals like too fixed of a plan early in the process.

My first stepping stone is to do four 30-minute exercise sessions per week. Notice that the number of sessions as well as the duration of each session is easily obtainable. I purposely leave the type of exercise and days I plan to exercise vague. This allows me to react to the energy of the day and the conditions in the gym without upsetting a rigid schedule.

Accountability/ Journaling

It’s important to be accountable for accomplishing each step that you have laid out. Give yourself a timetable to accomplish the step and journal the process. Journaling it on something you see everyday reminds you that you have made an obligation to yourself and keeps you aware of how you are doing.

I have a calendar set up in plain view next to my desk at work. Each exercise session gets logged onto the calendar. A notation might be as simple as 30 minutes of rowing or 20 minutes weights and 10 minutes of cycling.

Review / Restructure

The review process is critical for success. It allows you to determine what is and isn’t working in the process of achieving your goal. Reviewing should be done after each step is accomplished or the time set for accomplishing the goal expires. This is where your goal journal becomes important. By re-reading your journal, you can better understand what worked as well as what hindered your progress in accomplishing each step.

I like to set a check-in with myself two weeks into the process. I’ll look at the number of and type of exercise sessions that I have logged over the two-week period. Based on the results, I can plan the next step in the process. I might increase or decrease the goal for the next two-week period based on how I did previously.

Be Kind

When critiquing your results be nice to yourself! If for some reason you were unable to achieve one of the steps, it’s OKAY! Assess why. Too vague? Too much work? Needs more structure? Less? Did life get complicated? Now, based on your answers adjust the next step on the journey of achieving your goal.

Plan/Change The Next Step

After the review process, it is time to plan or make changes to the next step in the process. Keeping the plan fluid allows you to react to the ever changing circumstances of your life. When changing the steps associated with achieving your goal make sure you keep the overall picture of what you are looking to accomplish firmly in mind.

I am constantly changing and tweaking my step-by-step process to achieving the goals that I stated. If things are going well, I will accelerate the plan. If events have conspired to set up some road blocks on my path, I’ll adjust as necessary to keep my head up and keep myself moving forward.

Success Vs Failure

When pursuing goals in this fashion, the only way to fail is to quit. By reviewing progress and adjusting the next step forward from the results from the last step, we can continue the journey forward one step at a time. It doesn’t matter if there are 6 steps between starting and achieving your goal or 126.

Sometimes, you’ll achieve your goal ahead of schedule and other times you’ll get there but it’ll seem like it took forever. Whichever way it goes, you have achieved the goal and you’re ready for the next one.

I hope your holidays were safe, fun, and everything you were hoping for and more. Now that they are over, it’s time to get back to work.

A new year is a great time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’d like to go in the coming new year.

Resolution vs Goals

The idea behind making resolutions is great. When people resolve to make a change in their lives they have noticed a behavior or part of their lifestyle is less than they desire and “resolve” to do better. Having said that, the average life span of a health or fitness resolution is 6-8 weeks. That’s right. More than 70% of people quit within the first 8 weeks. The numbers only get bleaker after that.

Goals are like resolutions except with a plan of action behind them, and so are much more effective. Stating goals and periodically checking in and assessing the results keeps us moving on the desired path. Often, the goals that we started with will change based on new life circumstances that make the previously stated goals obsolete.

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to map out a process for setting and achieving goals that has been very successful in the past, both personally and for my clients, and is applicable to almost any goal.

When talking with Ben about setting goals for the coming year, it seemed appropriate to break it down into quarters. However, rather than follow the calendar year, we decided that setting goals based on seasonal changes made more sense for the Training Tiger Woods program.

The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, was on December 22nd this year. That was the actual day that our off-season started.

During the first quarter of this new season our collective and individual goals should reflect the energetic changes that the winter solstice dictates. Quite often, this is much harder than it sounds. What we’re doing here is very exciting and working on it is FUN. Ben and I enjoy the work and the camaraderie that we have created with this project. While slowing things down may seem counter-intuitive on the surface, following the energetic pattern dictated by the solstice will help us maintain balance as the energy demands of the coming year become greater.

Next week, I will share the specific goals that I have set for the coming quarter.

I challenge each and every one of you to take some time and set your own goals for the coming quarter. Whether or not they are golf-related doesn’t matter. Think about the energy that accompanies the winter solstice and set some goals for yourself.

As I mentioned in my last post, we are heading into our off season. In fact, this post officially begins the off season for Ben and myself. Now I’m not saying that I won’t swing a club or occasionally practice if the weather permits. I’m saying that my clubs will not be in the trunk of my car and Ben and I will not be at the driving range on a regular basis.

During the off season we will be working on our flexibility and improving overall strength and physical conditioning for golf. Ben and I will be creating stretching routines and looking at strengthening exercises that improve the body mechanics associated with golf. We’ll also look at the role visualization exercises and meditation can play in improving performance.

We will take a break for the Christmas Holidays after Ben’s post on the 18th. We will resume our regular Monday and Friday posts on the 4th of January.

I wish you and yours the happiest of holidays.

A couple of weeks ago, Ben shared a self-analysis of his current golf skills. As we get ready to move into the off season for golf, I thought I should do something similar.

Putting

I’m a fairly good putter. I’m comfortable within 3 feet of the pin, and generally I can 2 putt inside of 10 feet. I continue to work on controlling the speed of long distance putts. Ben is definitely a better putter from outside 15 feet. In fact, he usually wins our putting competitions when we are practicing.

Chipping

Since starting this project, most of our practice has been on the short game. For the first time in my life I am confident that I can keep the ball on the green within 2 putt distance. That’s really a huge improvement for me. Before we started this project, I could easily chip the ball back and forth from one end of the green to the other.

Short Irons (9i – 58 degree wedge)

Over the last few years I have usually been solid with my short irons. My struggles have usually been hitting to the right of my target. I’m not talking about slicing the ball; I struggle with my aim. With the swing mechanics that Ben and I have been developing, I have gotten better. I am usually hitting the ball within 10 feet, left or right, of my aim point.

I can still struggle with shots from 40-80 yards out. Typically, if I take a full swing with my 58 degree wedge I hit the ball round 100 yards. I will continue to work on accuracy when having to shorten my swing, but I also hope to improve my course management and leave myself more comfortable distances when hitting into the green.

Longer Irons (6i-8i)

I don’t regularly carry any irons under a 6i. Typically my favorite club to hit is my 7 iron. I can usually hit it about 165 yards with a comfortable swing. With the improved swing mechanics, my aim has gotten better and I am usually hitting in the direction I’m actually aiming. I have often thought that I would score better if the longest club that I played with was a 7 iron. But, the goal isn’t only scoring better, it’s also to be able to reach into my bag and feel confident with whatever club I chose to hit.

The rest of my clubs (Driver-3&4 hybrids)

Really, who the hell knows? Over the years, I've been really inconsistent. One day I might hit my driver relatively well, and the next it’s like I’ve never swung it before. Of my longer clubs, I’m most consistent with my 3 hybrid. Often I will use it instead of the driver off the tee, and sacrifice the distance for a more accurate shot.
Summary

My biggest challenge when playing a round is hitting the ball in the right direction. I usually hit the ball relatively straight, just off line 15-20 degrees. I also struggle with obstacles. I’m pretty good getting out of sand traps, which is good because I find myself in them quite often. In fact, if there is an obstacle between me and the flag, I usually find myself in it. It doesn’t matter if it’s sand, water, or trees, I seem to launch my shot as if hitting it was the goal. And god forbid if there is a person or cart in my vision. I have often said that they should make the distance markers and flags in the shape of people and carts. I seem to be able to hit them without too much trouble.

All things considered, I feel that I can be a solid golfer. I really need to improve my ability to think my way around the golf course while maintaining a centered swing. I look forward to starting fresh next spring and continuing to develop the ideas that Ben and I have put together so far.