Check your ego at the door!

What revelation there is when you get out and experience new things in life. I completely understand now why my wife, and most women, are better than me, and probably most men, about getting out and exercising for health reasons. I am very competitive, and have always viewed everything as a competition. If I can't be the best, or at least beat me buddies, then my motivation factor falls off the chart.

So following my 8th day of becoming a more fit individual...I have realized that I am looking at this project from the wrong perspective. It is not a competition with anyone other than yourself, seeing the fact that the only losers are the ones that give up! It's not about doing the most crunches, lifting the most weight, or cycling your workout the fastest. It's about being there when you should be, and getting the most out of it possible.

My weight/training workouts went fairly well on Wednesday and Saturday last week, and I was confident about how I would perform this morning for my trainer. But, I brought my ego in the building with me and tried to speed through my workout like it was cardio session. I was fine through my first cycle of training, but ran into the wall of dizziness as I tried to keep the pace on my second cycle. Brian, my trainer, wants you to push yourself, but always tells me not to overdo at the same time. This is a fine line, especially for someone just getting started in a fitness program.

I think I stated in my third blog, that my Wednesday, 50 minute workout, went too fast and I needed to slow it down for a while. I need to put some time in between each set of exercises until my cardiovascular fitness catches up with my weight training. Brian and I talked about doing cardio everyday, at least 20 minutes, during this start-up period.

My point in today's blog is not to overdo or compete when you start a project like this. Take your time getting started, and listen to your body when it says to slow down!

Anyone watch KJ Choi win with ease in Hawaii at the Sony Open. To me his swing is one the best for average or beginning players to imitate. Here is a link to watch a slo-mo of his swing with commentary from Peter Kostis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXSw8wmqvxw

Notice the width of his downswing, many players try to narrow that angle as they start their downswing. The narrowing is what causes players to get inside too much and hit pushes and hooks. His arms are perfect as they stay in front of his chest through his entire swing...all of his momentum and power are generated through his legs and torso. Textbook in my opinion...a very straight and possibly long shot, depending of the strength of the respective player.

I have discovered http://www.youtube.com/ to be a great way to analyze different swings of many PGA Tour players. Give it a try, it's free! We will be talking about the new and popular Stack and Tilt golf swing theory being used by many successful tour players over the last couple of seasons. Kentucky native, Andy Plummer, is one the individuals responsible for the success of the supposedly new swing style. Andy and I played many junior golf tournaments against each other in high school. Hopefully he will allow me to ask him questions about his theories and its success on tour.

"PRO"