The 18STRONG Podcast

Curtis Christopherson has been an entrepreneur in the fitness industry since his late teens, and in less than 2 decades has built quite the portfolio including ownership in the largest personal training company in Canada (Innovative Fitness), a very successful chain of retail supplement stores (Reflex Supplements), and one of the fastest growing soft tissue/myofascial release product companies (RAD Roller).  Curtis has time and again been recognized for his business acumen, and ability to create, pursue and foster both a vision and culture of a very successful company in multiple brnaches of health and fitness. Not only a businessman, but a husband, and father of 2, Curtis has made it a priority to create time and systems that allow him to spend time with the family and not constantly be consumed with work.  In this episode, we stray a bit from the usual talk of golf, fitness, and performance to talk directly to those in the fitness and golf business (or any listener that owns a business or is looking to prioritize their life) about strategies to build the business you love, but also make sure that you are not getting swallowed but by the day to day tasks. How can you “fit it all in?” Curtis provides stories and insights from his own personal experiences, as well as some very helpful and actionable suggestions. Curtis Christopherson’s Background 2009 he received recognition as Business Person of the Year by the Surrey Chamber of Commerce. In 2007, Curtis co-wrote Swim Upstream Unsubscribing to conventional wisdom and together with his group of literary cohorts published 2 more books in 2008 & 2009. 2010 nominated as Canada’s Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year as he took the lead position in the organization position of Innovative Fitness to oversee the entire business operations that included 3 corporate facilities and 6 franchises at the time. Became a partner and owner of RAD which is a company based out of Denver, Colorado. At RAD he is responsible for many of the sales strategies, the international strategic partnerships, and all of the influential athletes, professional sports teams, or health professionals that use & support the products. Became a partner in Reflex Supplements. Since his involvement (in just under 2 years), the company has almost tripled in size (from 7 to 25 stores) and is now the most successful supplement retail chain in Western Canada. 2018, Curtis has gone on to take over and acquire the entire business of Innovative Fitness which included 3 corporate locations and 8 franchises with over 140 professional training coaches. Highlights from this Episode Curtis kicks off the show talking about his transition and growth as an entrepreneur; From growing Innovative Fitness and eventually buying the company completely while juggling his many roles with RadRoller and Reflex Supplements and how he attributes his successes to the importance of progressing when you’re fully ready to. How he goes about finding all of the time in the day to fit all of his responsibilities from work to family and advice he has for the up-and-comer His thoughts on breaking away from filling time with the small clients and projects and building towards investing in a business that can pay dividends in the long run. The importance of realizing that as a business leader, it is primarily about letting go of the reigns and empowering others that works for or with you. Why talented/intellectual people who are not aligned with your core values can severely cripple a business and creating a system for your business to follow is one thing, but without accountability to that, it all crumbles. The next steps to take after developing your vision; building out the system, hiring different personality types than yourself to fill out the necessary roles, and compounding on those teams to drive the business forward and expand. The 3 elements that he says you need to be great at; goal setting, time management, communication. Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack What would be your walk-up song to the 16th tee box of the Waste Management Open? Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G. If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? Jordan Spieth or Michael Jordan at Augusta Any parting advice for the 18 Strong Audience? Go and get it. Take chances, take risks, surround yourself with great people and create a great community. Find Curtis Christopherson at the following links: Innovative Fitness Radroller Reflex Supplements Instagram: @curtis_christopherson Be sure to check out Curtis’ Newsletter “Healthy Ambitions” Sources mentioned: Miracle Morning Moneyball Golf Body Blue Print Episode Sponsors RADRoller.com Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!

Former professional golfer, Mark Williamson, is now better known as The Golf Yogi. After overcoming his initial resistance to his wife’s request to join her in at a yoga class, once he experienced it, he was hooked. Mark Soon began studying and teaching yoga, but realized that he wanted to do more that simply teach classes. He started working on his own style of golf fitness, combining yoga with golf specific exercises, and “The Golf Yogi,” was born. When the word “Yoga” is even stated to some golfers, they immediately tune out or write it off as not for them, but Mark would say otherwise. With his experience as a pro golfer and certified yoga instructor, Mark joins us today to talk about how he tailors yoga to be beneficial to every golfer. The Golf Yogi’s Background Mark played professionally from 2002 through 2009. In that time, Mark played the Gateway, Tight Lies, Hooters, Pepsi, Golden State, and U.S. Pro Golf Tours, to name a few. Mark racked up four wins in his time as a professional, and also held three course records in that time. While playing the Gateway Tour in 2008, Mark was a member of the Tour’s Player Advisory Board. Mark worked with some of the great teachers in the game during his career including Jim Flick, Jim Dieters, and the creators of the “Stack and Tilt” method, Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer. Mark first started practicing yoga in 2004. After five years of consistently practicing yoga, Mark earned his Registered Yoga Teacher Certification from At One Yoga in Scottsdale, Arizona. Mark furthered his yoga knowledge by becoming certified to teach Katherine Roberts’ Yoga For Golfers classes. Mark is also a registered member of Yoga Alliance, yoga’s governing body. Highlights from this Episode Mark kicks off this episode talking about his reluctant introduction to yoga, how it became such an integral part of his life and fitness regiment, and his preconceived notions that kept him away from yoga. How Mark keeps golf first when it comes to the combination of yoga into the golf fitness realm. Mark’s approach is “a whole lot of little bottles make a big bottle.” If you can pick up a little bit of improvement from different fitness and wellness regiments, you will be better rounded in the long run. We talk about bringing it back to the basics. When it comes to fitness training, it’s not magic: it’s awareness. Mark talks about how when first introducing his clients to yoga, he is just showing them a different way of being aware of their body and how it moves. We talk the difference between flexibility and mobility: The important distinction between the two, and how yoga isn’t just a practice to make you more flexible. Mark also touches on aspects of traditional yoga that could be detrimental to golfers in general and things to look out for when planning on what you want to work on. Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack What would be your walk up song? Lose Yourself by Eminem If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? My dad at Augusta (or Royal County Down in Ireland) Any parting advice for the 18 Strong Audience? The more active we become, the more we become athletes. No matter if it’s stretching or going for a walk, just move more. Mark can be found at the following links: Thegolfyogi.com Golferstoolbox.com Twitter Instagram Episode Sponsors The Golf Body Blueprint SuperSpeed Golf If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!

Do junior golfers need to be more athletic?  Rene Cammarata, one of the premier coaches working with Junior golfers in Pennsylvania, believes they absolutely do. With more than twenty years of experience as a strength & conditioning coach, power coach, speed and agility coach, junior coach, golf biomechanics, and as a nutrition coach among others, Rene has noticed a concerning trend when it comes to a large number of junior golfers.  They simply aren’t very athletic. Rene joins us today to talk about some of the differences he sees in the junior golfer population vs some of the other junior athletes he has worked with.  Is there a difference in strength, coordination, stature, and even psychological makeup between these demographics, and if so, what should we be doing to bring more athleticism into these players. Whether you are a junior player, coach, or parent, we dissuss some ideas, concerns and solutions that might clear a few things up for you. Rene Cammarata’s Background Graduated from Temple University, Rene is a Golf Fitness Professional (Level 3), Junior Coach (Level 2), and a Golf Professional (Level 2) by the Titleist Performance Institute He is a K-VEST Certified Professional, a community of accomplished professionals that utilize 3D and 6D motion capture technology to fully understand how the body moves to create a repeatable and efficient swing motion. Although he has a unique skill set as a golf performance coach he also works with athletes from many other disciplines including swimming, triathlon, rowing, figure skating, ice dance, speed skating, lacrosse, football, etc., all competing at the highest levels of their sport. His Approach: In any sport you can have great athletes who perform and play at a high level, but they can still have imbalances and weaknesses in their kinetic chain. I find those imbalances and get them to perform at a level they never dreamed. Highlights from this Episode He kicks the episode off talking about the mindset of young golfers and the differences psychologically and physically between them and other team sport players We discuss how to approach shaping them into well-rounded athletes. Where he starts day one with his young athletes that exhibit some of these symptoms of trying to perfect their swing before mastering the basics following the PMRS Model (Position, Movement, Resistance, Speed,) and tapping into their energy systems. Why is athleticism important for golfers and how can we introduce it. The differences between sport-general training and sport-specific training A message to the parents about what is most important in the training. How confidence can make a world of difference in their performance. “Success breeds success” Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack What would be your “walk-up song?” Problem Child by AC/DC If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? Sammy Hagar at Kauai Any parting advice for the 18 Strong Audience? Think of developing the athlete first and becoming a golfer second. Where to Find Rene Cammarata: www.trainingincperformace.com Instagram: @Training_INC Episode Sponsors RADRoller.com The Golf Fitness Roller Coaster Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!

Today I am especially excited to bring on our very special guest, James Sieckmann. James Sieckmann has been deemed the “Master of the Modern Short Game.”  He is held in the highest regard among his peers, and golfers at the highest level.  , and recognized by GOLF Magazine and Golf Digest as a Top Teacher in America. This accolade extends to his peers through Gold Digest – as he is considered the 16th Best Teacher, but 1st among all short game coaches. Currently, he is the Short Game Coach to 13 fully exempt Tour players including Charley Hoffman, I.K. Kim, Smylie Kaufman, Ben Crane and Tom Pernice. He has shared his unique coaching with other teachers around the world including Golf Education Asia, The World Golf Fitness Summit, PGA Sweden, PGA Spain and the Federation de Golf Columbia. James Sieckmann’s Background Director of Instruction at The Golf Academy at Shadow Ridge Country Club in Omaha, Nebraska. A nine-time recipient of the Nebraska PGA Section Teacher of the year Recognized by GOLF Magazine as a Top 100 Teacher in America Golf Digest 16th Best Teacher in America, but 1st among all short game coaches Author of Your Short Game Solution: Mastering The Finesse Game from 120 Yards and In Your Putting Solution: A Tour Proven Approach to Mastering the Greens. He is the current Short Game Coach to Tour players including I.K. Kim, Smylie Kaufman, Ben Crane and Tom Pernice. Highlights from this Episode He initially talks about how he played professional golf for 5 years and how he worked with improper information to improve his skill. After caddying for his older brother, he started videoing all these great players because he wanted to understand what they were doing.  Some of these players included greats like Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, etc. James shares 3 pivotal components that he learned about the short game that were completely opposite of what he had initially been taught. He breaks down the process that he teaches his players to learn from their mistakes and be more intelligent about taking in the feedback from their practice. Mechanics on how to set up for a finesse shot, which is what propels you how to hit well. He talks about how set-up is critical. Post shot routine and why it’s important. James stresses that you have to “let the ball be your teacher.”  Learn from your failures.  Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack. What would be your walk-up song? Low Rider – War If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? Bobby Jones, Seve Ballesteros, and his older brother Tom at Cyprus. Do you have any parting advice for the 18 Strong Community? If you’re competitive, go out with a smart approach. If you’re not, go have some fun. Find James Sieckmann: website: www.jsegolfacademy.com Twitter: @jamessieckmann Episode Sponsors SuperSpeed Golf If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!

Kolby Tullier’s talent helps him identify the problem by simply watching a little bit of video. Whether he’s evaluating the way a golfer balances during a swing, or the way a football player cuts left while running the ball, Kolby is able to tell why an athlete moves the way he does. Even more importantly he sees how his performance can be improved. As a personal trainer, Kolby has worked with every type of athlete – from high school athletes and CEOs to those looking to improve their weekend tennis games. His portfolio of athletes he has trained has grown to include NFL players Matt Flynn, Steven Ridley and Terrance Toliver and PGA golfers John Peterson and Andrew Loupe. Kolby joins us today to talk about when working with such powerhouse athletes, what can be done to bump them up to the next level with their game. Kolby Tullier’s Background As a BioMechanics Specialist, Kolby Tullier has been in the sports performance industry for more than 20 years. His Stable of golfers includes top names such as Justin Thomas, Smiley Kaufman, Bud Cauley, Harold Varner III, Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wei, and many more. His Approach: In any sport, you can have great athletes who perform and play at a high level, but they can still have imbalances and weaknesses in their kinetic chain. I find those imbalances and get them to perform at a level they never dreamed. Highlights from this Episode Kolby kicks the episode off talking about “The Stable,” how he finds and works with his athletes, and what led to him moving to Joey D’s Performance Center. The difference between raw strength and functional strength. Stories of clients he has worked with demonstrating the importance of functional strength how subtle differences in training can make all of the difference. The key factor that you can’t have fluid mobility without stability. Similarities and differences between athletes from different sports and training levels. Kolby goes in depth with how on a kinesthetic level, all athletes need to master and overcome the same obstacles to progress their game. Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Happy Gilmore What would be your walk up song? Jump Around by House of Pain If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? My father at Augusta. Do you have any parting advice for the 18 Strong Community? It’s never too late to get in the best shape of your life. Kolby Tullier can be found at the following links: Joey D Golf Performance Center Twitter:  @KWAYNE_FITNESS Instagram: @Kolbywayne Episode Sponsors SKRATCH RADRoller.com Connect with 18STRONG Facebook Page       Twitter Profile       Instagram Profile Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!

10 Exercises for New Golfers In this episode, I wanted to break things down very simply for those of you that might be new to the game of golf or simply newer to the idea of getting in the gym to help your golf game.  Regardless of whether you are just learning how to swing a club or a kettlebell, mastering these basic exercises will give you more strength, balance, confidence, and awareness of how your body works.  All of this will absolutely transfer over to better control, endurance, and strength on the course. We’ve often talked on the podcast about the 5 main components that you should include in your workouts (Push, pull, squat, deadlift, rotate) but today, I’m going to share some of my favorite specific exercises to start with. (NOTE: If you would like to learn more about the 5 Main Components mentioned above, check out our 4 part video series “The Golf Fitness Roller Coaster” ) Remember, you don’t need to over complicate things. Until you are at a much higher level of training, you need to master the basics. There are tons of ex’s that could have been added to this list, but I thought 10 would be good to start. Is this a definitive “Best Exercise List?” No, I don’t think there really is such a thing, but being competent in these 10 exercises will get you started on the right track. One last note, you’ll often hear me talk about including mobility, sprints, swing speed training, etc.  For this episode, I’m not including any of that stuff.  To keep it simple, we are simply focusing on the strengthening exercises. Doing the following exercise properly can and will help mobility if you focus on posture, form, and full ranges of motion.  I don’t really worry too much about sprints and swing speed training until I know that the golfer has some of these tools in their box. 1. The Plank This is a great drill to teach the concept of tension. Keep the hands/forearms parallel to each other, NOT rotated inward. Squeeze the quads, glutes, pull shoulder blades down/back, tighten the abs to pull hips off the floor. (note: my elbows could be a little further forward, more under the shoulders to make this even a little more effective) I mentioned the Paloff Press in the episode, but it is not in the video.  I will include that at a later date. 2. Split Squats DB Squats are hard for many people. Splits squats are easier to start Less stress on the back Lots of variations (DB, KB, Bar, elevate a foot) 3. Goblet Squats KB (heels up 1st) Easier that barbell squat Great improving trunk/core activation (hold bell slightly away) Really opens hips (glutes, groin) Creates awareness of posture 4. KB Deadlifts (DB, sumo, single leg) Easier to get people in position Can start w/ bell on a box (height adjust) Find it easier to teach hip hinge (can go to wall if needed) Can add serious weight (2 KB) or progress to barbell Complete work for the back of the body (glutes, HS, shoulders, back) 5. 1-Arm DB Press (1/2 off the bench) Easier on the shoulder Great for reducing imbalances R/L Forces you to work the midsection When partially off the bench, really increases trunk activation and even hip mm/glutes 6. DB Row at Bench Everyone should know how to do a real row Great for showing you proper shoulder/shoulder blade mechanics When done right this exercise is great for creating trunk activation, true tension, grip strength, back/posture 7. Hip Extension/Hamstrings Curls on Ball Exercise that should be pretty easy, but almost everyone has trouble with Glutes and Hamstrings (underutilized in most people) A bit of an unnatural move – teaches you how to lock out the hips (“plankish”) 8. Low Pulley Row (anti-rotation and with rotation) We need more pulling in general Love using the pause in rows to teach lat and scap positioning/activation 9. Seated Shoulder External Rotation (“Costanzas”) Often an eye-opener for new clients as to how weak their rotation is Stabilizes the shoulder in the right position Easy to focus on the shoulder blade position and create real rotation 10. Trap 3 Great for the shoulders/shoulder blades (scapular muscles) Will show you your limitations in lifting your arm overhead Most people feel very restricted Emphasizes control of your low back and trunk   Conclusion You’ll notice a few things that you might be questioning. Why are there are not a lot of rotation or lateral motions? Remember, you need to build a base first. Where are all the ab and core exercises?  When you really learn how to create tension in your body during these type of exercises, there is less need for a bunch of auxiliary “core” exercises.   If this was helpful, then I would definitely encourage you to go check out the video series we put together on the essentials you need for your golf fitness program: The Golf Fitness Roller Coaster Episode Sponsors PGA Tour Mobile App SuperSpeed Golf Connect with 18STRONG Facebook Page       Twitter Profile       Instagram Profile Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected! PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: Jeff Pelizzaro: The 18Strong podcast, episode number 176: 10 Great Exercises for the New Golfer. Announcer: Welcome to the 18Strong podcast, where you get direct access to the world’s greatest experts on training harder, practicing smarter, and playing better golf. Now, here’s your host, Jeff Pelizzaro. Jeff Pelizzaro: What’s up, everybody? Welcome to the 18Strong podcast. Thanks for joining us this week, where we are talking about exercises this week. I know that there’s a lot of golfers listening, serious golfers. There’s a lot of fitness professionals, medical professionals, that might be listening to the show. But we’re going to scale it back a little bit this week, and I want to talk to those of you out there that might be, maybe, newer to golf, maybe newer to the training side of things, and aren’t quite sure where you need to go, where you need to start. Oftentimes, it can be really overwhelming. You get involved in something new, and you don’t know where to start. You don’t have anyone kind of guiding you and telling you what to do. And so, what we’re going to do today is go through some of the top 10 exercises that I would prescribe for someone that I’m seeing for the first time. You know, it could be somebody, again, that is pretty fresh to the game of golf, but more so even, a little fresh to the training side. I want to always start with very basic-level stuff, but it can also be very challenging. So it doesn’t mean that, because you’re starting with some of these, what some people would look at as maybe simpler exercises … Simple isn’t bad, simple can be good, and simple can get very hard, if done right. So, in the past, you’ve probably heard us talk about five main components that I like to put into a fitness program. And if everybody kind of abided by these five things, most people would be doing a lot more smart and structured programming when they’re in the gym. And those five things are: pushing, pulling, squatting or lunging, deadlifting or some sort of hinging activity, and then some sort of rotation. And then, depending on what else you have going on, you know, some other extra activities, corrective exercises, mobility work, other more isolated activities. But it’s a big philosophy here at 18Strong that you don’t need to overcomplicate things, and until you’re at a much higher level of training, you need to master the basics. And really, for most people, I find that sticking with the basics, maybe varying it a little bit, is absolutely golden when it comes to making sure that they’re functional. Making sure that things are working right. Making sure that they’re actually truly getting stronger, not just bouncing from one exercise to another exercise, to keep things entertaining. So, if you want any more information on kind of the philosophy behind the five things to put in a program, and really, what I consider to be the important pieces to go into a full-blown golf fitness program, we put together a video series called The Golf Fitness Rollercoaster. Because I know a lot of you are on this rollercoaster of getting into shape, kind of scaling back on exercises, maybe gaining a few pounds, and wanting to lose the weight, and getting serious about your training program, then kind of backing off, serious about your practice. I like to call that the golf fitness rollercoaster, so we put together a video series at 18Strong.com/rollercoaster. You can go watch that, it’s a four-part video series. You’ll get emailed different videos over the course of a couple of days. And it’ll kind of walk you through the basic premise of my philosophy and our philosophy here at 18Strong, if you want any more details there. But, in regards to today’s program. The following are exercises that you would most likely… If you kind of look through most of my programs that I’ve put together for newcomers or people that are kind of restarting at the beginning of the year, these are going to be exercises that you’ll pretty much always see either exactly, or some variation, in the programs that I design for these people. Oftentimes, when somebody is just starting, we would say that they have a low training age, or a low training IQ, meaning that maybe they don’t have a lot of experience in the gym. And the same would go for somebody out on the golf course, a high handicap, or somebody just starting. It would kind of be like they have a lower golf age, or higher handicap is a way to say that. But, there’s tons and tons of exercises that I could have put into this show, but I thought that just 10 would be good to start. So, it’s not that I’m saying, “These are my favorite 10 exercises, these are the only top 10 exercises I would ever do.” It’s definitely not a definitive. There’s some times that I’ll go with other exercises, depending on a possible client’s needs, or how creative I want to be that day. Or, you know, simply because I thought of something else at that moment when I was designing that program, that I felt would suit the needs of that person, and get them to where they need to be. So, again, these are not definitive, “You have to do this the first time you ever step into a gym, or the first time you start a golf fitness program,” but they’re definitely staples in the programs that I put together. Also, in other episodes, you’ll hear me talk about a lot of mobility drills. You’ll hear me talk about doing high intensity kind of activities, or sprints, and working on swing speed, using the SuperSpeed golf clubs to work on swing speed, and creating some power movements. I’m not necessarily including that stuff in today’s episode, because I want to start even more basic than that. I want to start with, simply, some strength exercises that you can use to help learn how to control your body, learn how to balance your body. Learn how to really go through proper movements, and be able to handle, and make your joints move in the directions that we really want them to move and to work. And to balance out what you have going on in your program. So, doing these exercises, I have found, with clients — even when I don’t have time to go into a lot of detail oriented corrective exercises or mobility drills with people, sometimes that situation just isn’t available — I find that, when emphasizing these strength exercises, or variations of, and really focusing on their posture, really focusing on their form, and really focusing on going through full ranges of motion with every exercise? I notice that that improves their mobility. That improves their balance. And I don’t worry so much about sprints and swing speed training until I know that somebody has these tools, and has these basic fundamentals, in their toolbox, and they’re able to handle a little bit of load on their body. You’ll also notice that I’m not going to include a whole lot of rotation in this list, because I feel that you have to, as my buddy Jason Glass would say, you have to earn the right to rotate. So, if I find that somebody can’t do a lunge, or can’t do a squat, or can’t do a deadlift, or hinge properly, I’m not going to go ahead and throw a bunch of load on them, or have them load or swing or rotate at very high speeds. Because I know that they don’t have the fundamentals, they don’t have the foundation built to be able to then really rotate with power, and rotate safely. Now, speaking of rotating safely, and preventing injury, our buddy Tiger Woods is back on the course at Torrey Pines this week at the Farmers’ Insurance Open, and you can keep track of what’s going on at that tournament with the PGA Tour mobile app. If you’re not using it yet, I suggest you go download it from the app store right now. You’ll be able to follow along, you know, whoever it is that’s your favorite: Tiger, Jordan, J.T., any of those guys that are playing this week. And scroll through, we’ve got guys from Web.com, you’ve got the Canadian tour, the Mackenzie Tour. You can follow all these guys on the PGA Tour mobile app. You can check the stats of each player, you can see even some social media stuff. You can see the layout of the course on the app itself. So, there’s tons and tons of new features that they unleashed last year, and has made the app so much better, so much easier to use. So I highly recommend going and checking out the PGA Tour mobile app. So, whether you have an iPhone, a Blackberry, a Samsung, whatever it is you use to make phone calls, check the internet, check scores, go get it on that device, and you will not be sorry. All right. So, let’s get into this topic of our top 10 favorite exercises. And I’m going to go through all these, and I know it’s a little difficult to kind of visualize exercises via podcast, but I think you’re going to get the gist. And also, I have put together some videos of the different exercises, over on the show notes page, which you can find at 18Strong.com/favorite-exercises. The very first one that I put on the list is one that you’ve probably all heard of: the plank. You’ve, most likely, you’ve done a plank before. But the reason I wanted to throw this in first, and even a variation of, kind of a standing variation, is because the plank really is one of the best exercises to teach you how to create tension in your body. And the more I learn from people that we’ve had on the show, from the courses I’ve been to, and just from the literature that I’ve read, the more you learn how to create tension, and understand what your body is doing during an exercise, the better off you’re going to be. Everyone needs to learn how to create some sort of tension in their body, in the joint that’s working, but also in the surrounding structures in their body, in order to get the most benefit out of the exercise. Pavel Tsatsouline and Dr. Andreo Spina are two guys that I have read quite a bit of, and have learned from. And they speak of the term “irradiation.” And irradiation is basically like, just tensing up everything possible in your body. And the more you tense it up, the more you’re teaching your body to neuromuscularly hold on to the contraction in your muscles, and recruit more muscle fibers in a given movement, or given area, during an exercise. So, when you’re doing a plank, I often find that people are not creating this irradiation of the body and the muscles. And what they’re pretty much doing is just getting in a position where they’re propping up on their elbows, and just kind of trying to hold that, without focusing too much on certain areas of the body. So, if you don’t know what a plank is, again, go to 18Strong.com/favorite-exercises, you’ll see the videos of the different exercises. But just to give you a description: it’s when you’re laying on the ground, and you’ll be basically on your elbows and on your toes, with your body in a nice straight line. And typically, that’s what you’ll see, is people will just kind of prop up into that position, and you might see their butt hiking up in the air a little bit, you might see their butt dropping down a little bit. But what I want you to concentrate, is on your setup first and foremost. So, I learned from our buddy Brian Bradley from Egoscue that a big component that people mistake is their arm position. So, when you’re lying on your stomach, and you’ve got your elbows on the ground, you’ve got your fists in front of you, most people kind of bring their fists in, and actually clasp their hands together. And what that’s doing, is it’s kind of rotating your shoulders inwardly, so internal rotation. But it’s kind of causing you to round your shoulders. So, again, it’s kind of like rounding out your posture, and kind of that slumpy position. We want the absolute opposite of that when we’re doing a plank. So, what I want you to do in your plank is, first, just lying on the ground with your toes on the floor, kind of like you’re going to do a pushup, but you can still have your body laying on the ground. You’re going to put your elbows on the ground, but you’re going to bring your hands, and you’re going to kind of rotate your hands outwardly, almost like kind of a windshield wiper motion, until they are straight out, til they’re parallel with each other, but they’re straight out from your elbows. So, your hands should almost be kind of resting a little bit in front of your shoulders. Your elbows will be on the ground, kind of a little bit below your shoulders. And that’s a proper position, where they’re parallel, or even twist your hands a little outside of your elbows. Again, for a better description, go to the videos. And what that’s going to do, is that’s going to kind of set your shoulders into a better position. It’s going to pull your shoulders back, it’s going to get your shoulder blades locked in. And this is a huge component for what we need to do when you’re golfing. You know, if you’ve ever thought to yourself that your shoulders are rounding, even just at your desk, or standing around, walking around, thought that your shoulders round forward, your head sticks forward? This is a great way to start to signal to your body how to keep those shoulder blades in a good position. So, you’ve got that set, you’ve got the shoulder blades set. Next thing I want you to do is squeeze your thighs as hard as you can, with the muscles themselves, I want you to squeeze your thighs, and your knees should kind of pull up off of the floor. And then I want you to squeeze your butt as hard as you can, almost like you’re pushing your hips, kind of thrusting your pelvis, into the floor. So, you squeeze the thighs, the knees come up off the floor. You squeeze your butt and your hips kind of press into the floor. And then the last component here. You’ve already got your shoulder blades kind of locked in, the last component is, I want you to tighten up your stomach, and feel yourself being pulled off of the ground by the contraction in your stomach. So you’re tightening up that stomach and pulling yourself up. What this is going to do is create a massive amount of tension in your body. So you’ve got your thighs squeezed, you’ve got your butt squeezed, you’ve got your trunk squeezed, you’ve got your shoulder blades locked in. And I even tell people, “Take your hands, and make strong squeezing your fists, or grab something to squeeze onto.” And you’re going to feel yourself start to shake nearly immediately. So, when I hear people tell me that they did a plank for a minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes? I just kind of shake my head and think, “Well then, you didn’t do a real plank, because you’re just kind of propping yourself up and holding that position.” If you’re doing it this way, and you’re squeezing as tight as possible, then you’re going to be shaking left and right, probably from about the 5-10 second mark, and you’re definitely going to be exhausted. So, this is kind of the basic baseline exercise that I want you to work on, to be able to create some tension. And then you’re going to utilize that in the rest of the exercises. The other kind of little add-on exercise that I would throw in here, that I love using, and it’s kind of a standing plank, is the Palov Press. And that’s basically where you’re standing up, you’ve got a cable attachment, and you pull the cable off with just a single handle, and you have your hands stretched out right in front of you. And you’re basically just, you’re kind of holding a plank position while you’re standing. So, again, you’re squeezing your butt, your thighs, your trunk, your abs, your shoulders are locked down, you’ve got your arms straight out in front of you, and you’re holding a certain weight, whatever that is on the cable machine that you can. And you can either do one of two things: you can press back and forth, and it’s just standing forward and pressing your hands from your chest straight out, trying not to let that cable pull you, and rotate you. So this is a great, what we would call “anti-rotation exercise.” And so, again, you’re learning how to create this tension. The other thing I really like to do, and have been using with players a lot lately, is simply getting them in that position, having them hold the arms fully extended outward, in front of them, and fighting that rotational piece, and holding for 20-30 seconds. And that really is kind of an endurance exercise, teaching you how to create that tension in the body, and in the trunk, and prevent rotation when you don’t want rotation. That’s a big piece of learning how to then eventually rotate more properly, when your body can stabilize like that. Okay, next on the list is one of my go-tos all the time, and that is the split squat. And typically, I’ll start people really with no weight whatsoever, but then I’ll go to dumbbells, just to work on some balance, and you know, make sure that they can get through the right range of motion. Look, squats are a great exercise. But I find that the split squats are a little easier for people to perform, and regular traditional squats, especially barbell, you know, backloaded squats, are not great for some people. I find that it kind of bothers my own back, it bothers a lot of people’s backs when they do them, and that may be a sign that they’re doing something wrong, obviously. It may be a sign that another joint isn’t working properly, and they need to work on that, and they need to fix that. I find that split squats are a lot easier for people, especially just kind of learning these motions, to get into, and to do with a little bit of assistance, if needed. You know, when I work with clients, it can range from the age of, let’s say, 14, 15, 16 years old, all the way up to in their 80s. And so, some people are going to need assistance, some people are not. And everybody starts at a different level. So, these are much less stress on the back. You can use the squat rack for a little bit of assistance in getting down. And if you don’t know what a split squat is, basically it’s … Kind of picture what a lunge looks like. You’re going to stand with one foot in front of the other, not necessarily in a straight line, kind of widened stance, just a little bit. You don’t want to go too narrow, you want to have a little bit of balance there. And you’re basically letting your whole body go down towards the floor. You’re bending the front knee, the back knee is dropping down towards the floor. And when you come down, you’re kind of letting the front knee go a little bit forward, and it’s basically like a lunge, but you’re pretty much staying in the same space. So you’re not alternating, or going back and forth. I like these also because there’s a lot of variations that you can use. Eventually, you can go to, like I said, the dumbbells. You can use kettlebells. You can do this with a bar on your back, and it’s much less stress on the spine, and it’s much less stress on the hips. So, I like this exercise because it suits so many people. You can also throw in variations of raising the front foot up, or raising the back foot up, and doing some different things to get a little bit different stretches, and you know, target a couple different areas, there. And, it also just simply works balance. So, balance is a huge key for many of you, and being able to stand just in this stance is going to challenge that a little bit. Going up and down in a split stance like this is definitely going to challenge it. And then it’s a unilateral exercise, which I think is very important to include, especially in a golfer’s routine, because there’s traditionally so many imbalances in your body. You know, you’re constantly swinging just in one direction. Typically we’re right-hand dominant, or left-hand dominant, right-leg dominant, left-leg dominant. So you’re going to find that there’s already imbalances between your sides. And this is going to help kind of, first, make you aware of them. But second, it’s a way where you can start to figure out how you can kind of equalize those a little bit. So, split squats are definitely one of my favorite lower-body exercises. It’s going to hit the quads a lot, it’s going to get the glutes, it’s going to get a little bit of hamstring. But again, when you learn how to create some of that tension that you were in the planks, it’s also going to create some of that core strength and stability that you’re not going to get from the knee extension machine, or some of these other, you know, leg machines, which I know a lot of people rely on because they’re easy to get into. The split squats are surprisingly more difficult than people realize. Many times, when I test somebody on their split squat, and they haven’t done it in years, or they’ve never done it, they’re surprised at how mad they are at doing this exercise. And so, if that’s you, I would recommend, check out the video, and try a split squat. See if you can do it with the same form that you see in the video. And if not, it’s something that you should definitely think about working on. Number three is goblet squats. And I especially like to use a kettlebell when I do a goblet squat, and typically I’ll start with the heels raised up just a little bit. So, a goblet squat is basically a squat where you’re holding a weight kind of up at your chest level, out in front of you. Some people will use a dumbbell, and some people use a kettlebell. I’ll use both, but as I mentioned, I kind of like the way that the kettlebell feels in the hand. You grab it by the horns, and hold it out in front of you. It’s definitely easier to do a goblet squat than it is a barbell squat, for most people, simply because of the way that the bell will kind of create a little extra stability and balance. But also, I find that you’re able to just position yourself and control yourself a little bit better than if you’re holding on to a bar, back behind your back. So, what you’re going to do is grab the kettlebell, you’re going to hold it in front of you, and I tend to have people turn their toes out just a little bit as they go down into a squat. The bell’s going to help keep you upright a little bit, and it’s really great for improving your trunk and your core activation, if you hold the kettlebell or dumbbell just kind of slightly away from you. Don’t rest it up against your chest, just hold it away from you a little bit and it really kind of turns everything on, gets the shoulders, gets the arms working. And as you go down, you’re going to feel this really opening up your hips. You’re going to feel it kind of working the inner thighs a little bit. And it’s going to create a lot of awareness of your posture. You can start as light as you want, and you can get pretty darn heavy with these things, depending on what kind of dumbbells and what kind of kettlebells you have. But you can end up using this as a pretty serious exercise. That’s why, all of these exercises on this list I like so much because you can use them at the beginner level, and you can use them at a high level. It just depends on how comfortable you are, and how much weight you want to then add on to these. But the goblet squat I think is a great way for helping to progress somebody to maybe a barbell squat, maybe a front squat, a dumbbell squat. I think it’s just a really simple way to kind of introduce the whole squatting motion, which is a lost art as far as I’m concerned, in our population. And especially in the United States. Getting down into a low squatting position is typically very difficult. If you find that this is hard for you to do, as I mentioned, raising your heels up an inch, even two inches, is typically going to make it easier ’cause it’s going to take some stress off of the ankle. So, if that’s the case, try to do it with the heels elevated a little bit. All right, moving on to number four, is the kettlebell deadlift. And I obviously love deadlifts. I think that they’re a very important exercise for golfers to learn, because of postural factors. Learning how to hinge from your hips, not bend around at your back, or over arch your back, because that’ll put a lot of extra undue stress on your spine in the golf swing. As well as, having that hip motion and being able to control that is going to allow you to prevent some of that early extension, and really just feel grounded in your golf swing. So, the reason that I like the kettlebell for the deadlifts is, first of all, it’s just easier to get people in position. So, a deadlift is basically, if you’re standing straight up and down, and you’re holding a weight either in front of you … In this case, it’s going to be holding a kettlebell, and I’m going to start with a single kettlebell. Two hands on the top of the kettlebell, in front of you. Your feet are kind of spread out, shoulder width apart or so. And you’re going to be hinging from your hips, so your butt and your hips are going backwards. You’re going to be kind of bending in half a little bit. Kind of an athletic stance with the lower legs, almost like you’re sticking your butt back to sit on a box, or kind of a higher box. But I like this because it allows you to get in the position a little bit easier than if you were using a barbell, or even using like a dowel rod. You know, sometimes we’ll start with something very light, a PVC pipe or something like that, to help with the motion. But I like the way that the kettlebell hangs in between the legs, and you can hold on to it. You can also start with the kettlebell on some sort of a platform or box, in between your legs, which limits how far you need to go down. It limits the motion, and really allows you to feel the posture and get a small range of motion working properly, rather than worrying so much about going down and getting the kettlebell to the floor. Many times when we’re doing a deadlift, the issue is that the person doing the deadlift tries to go down too far, and their body is not ready to handle it, so that results in rounding of the back, hamstrings are tight, and they just don’t know how to get into that position. So maybe putting a box or something in between the legs is good. It’s a great way to teach the hip hinge, and if you have to, you can adjust. So, like, if you have a barbell, it’s tough to move around the gym. But if you have a kettlebell, you can walk over to a wall, stand in front of the wall with your butt facing the wall, and slowly just kind of step out an inch or so, and try to push your butt back to touch the wall. And then, when you can touch, push, you know, walk out a little bit further, and push back, letting your upper body move forward, your butt goes backwards, your weight goes in your heels. So it’s a good way to be able to just kind of teach the deadlift, and work yourself into it. Again, with kettlebells, you can make this very, very heavy. You can end up going with two kettlebells, holding them in front of you, which can definitely increase the weight that you’re allowed to go to. You can progress to a barbell. I like to kind of move into what we would call a “sumo deadlift” with the barbell, where your hands are still kind of inside your knees, that seems to be a comfortable position for people. But again, the deadlift is complete work for the back, the back of the body, actually. So, the upper back, the shoulders. You’re holding that weight, you’re holding your posture. It’s a definite glute exercise, where you’re working on hip extension. It’s working on the hamstrings, allowing them to stretch a little bit while under tension, which is very important for your body to learn how to do. So, all of these things are pieces that we kind of miss in our daily life, so the deadlift is a huge piece. The fifth exercise that I really like is the one-arm dumbbell press. So, we’ve kind of touched on some of these things already, you know, the push, the pull, the squat, the deadlift, the hinge. So, we’re just kind of going down that list of those main things, and these are just exercises that you can just kind of plug into those. So, number five here is the one-arm dumbbell press. And a dumbbell press is a little bit easier on the shoulders than doing your traditional bench press. I don’t do a regular bench press with a whole lot of my clients these days, simply because a lot of the clientele that I work with, their shoulders are already kind of rounded forward, it’s hard for them to get a good proper position, and hands on the bar, without some sort of torquing of the back or of the shoulders. And so, I just find it to be unnecessary, when I can do the same things with dumbbells. And also, you get a little bit more of that stabilization factor of the shoulder, when you’re using a dumbbell, either single or double. So, it’s a little easier on the shoulder, and it’s great for reducing imbalances, again, from the left to the right, because you have to stabilize on just the one arm. You have to focus on just the one arm when you’re doing this. Another little trick that I like to do: once I see somebody is comfortable with doing a press, a single-arm press, I’ll take them and have them shift their body just a little bit off the bench, towards the side that they’re doing the lift with. So, if they’re getting ready to lift with their right arm, I’ll have them shift their body a little bit to the right. So the right shoulder blade is kind of partially off the bench, the right glute is partially off the bench, and they have kind of a wide stance with their foot. And this really creates some torque through the midsection. So, not only are you getting the pressing benefit — you know, the shoulder, the chest, and getting that motion — but it’s really forcing you to stabilize. ‘Cause if you let your midsection go weak, that dumbbell will kind of pull you and rotate you, and you’ll fall off the bench. So, you have to really kind of stabilize with the hip, the abdominals, the obliques, all of that. And so, it’s a great exercise to, again, kind of an anti-rotation exercise. So it really increases your trunk activation, and even your hip muscles. This can be done on a big exercise ball, as well, but I’m always a little bit leery. Once you start going a little bit heavier, you know … My rule is, when I get to 35 pounds, 40-pound dumbbells, I tend to go back to the bench. Because, unfortunately, I know a guy, a friend of mine, who was at the gym, pressing too much weight on one of those big exercise balls, and believe it or not, the ball popped, and he fell, and both elbows came crashing down with probably like 60-pound dumbbells in his hand, and he snapped both of his wrists. So, a little forewarning. Again, that whole risk versus reward thing. You know, you see guys standing on the big exercise ball doing squats, and on these balance discs, and all this other stuff. I just don’t get it, because the risk never outweighs the reward. And if you ask my buddy about doing presses on the ball with a 60-pound weight, that risk definitely wasn’t worth what he got out of it. So. All right, let’s take a little break here, and I want to say thanks to our sponsor for today’s episode, SuperSpeed Golf. As I mentioned, our exercises today, we’re talking about strength exercises, we’re talking about different pieces you can put into your program. But one of the big things that we do end up working on our golfers with is speed. And everybody wants more speed, you want to hit the ball farther. And I use the SuperSpeed Golf OverSpeed Training System, because it’s the best one out there. It’s three different weights of clubs, and you basically go through protocols on swinging both left-handed and right-handed, and it helps to basically take the governor off. Just like on a go-kart, if you were to take the governor off, and it just lets it go as fast as possible. These kind of do the same thing for your brain and for your body. At this moment, your brain and body only know how to swing as fast as you know how to swing. But when you use these clubs, and you use the different weights, the one that’s slightly heavier, the one that’s slightly lighter than a regular driver, your body is able to speed up, and go a little faster than it normally would with your own driver. And then, you’re able to teach your brain that, “Hey, I can swing a club much, much faster than I think I can.” And so, after you do these protocols, and you do it repetitiously, you’re going to start to notice a drastic improvement, not only in your speed, but in your balance, in your tempo. And you’re going to notice that you don’t have to try to swing as hard, to hit the ball as far as you want to hit it. So, go to SuperSpeedGolf.com, check out all their different products. I know they’ve got a couple different things on there, they’ve got the radar that’ll tell you how fast you’re swinging. They’ve got a new balance disc, to work on a little bit of stability when you’re doing some of these drills. And of course, they’ve got their different combo packs of the actual SuperSpeed golf clubs. So, go to SuperSpeedGolf.com and be sure to use 18STRONG to get your discount. Okay, so getting back into our exercises. The next one, number six, is your standard dumbbell row, with one knee on a bench, one leg on the ground. It’s probably something you’ve seen. If you haven’t seen it, this is a straight-up traditional exercise that I think is often done completely incorrectly, and it’s going to provide a huge amount of benefit. So, basically, you’ve got one knee on a bench, you’ve got that same hand on the bench, and then you’ve got a dumbbell in your other hand, hanging off the side of the bench. I want you to kind of spread your feet out so you’ve got a nice width, a nice balanced base of support. And then, the problem that I tend to see is that most people don’t stabilize their trunk in this position. So, if you’ve got a nice balance, you know, right to left weight, or pressure through the ground, and through the bench, then you want to basically square off your shoulders and kind of pull the shoulder blades down and back a little bit. So you kind of set the shoulder blades. And then you’re going to do your row from there. Typically, you’ll see people kind of rotating their whole trunk. And when I say that, I’ve done this with some rotation before, but typically I like to do this in more of a stationary fashion. Many people just use the rotation for momentum, so they can swing more weight. What I want you to do is: stabilize your shoulders, so they’re basically parallel with the ground, and then your arm is basically just driving up and back. Kind of the elbow is going up and back, keeping that shoulder blade kind of locked down. When this is done right — and you’ll see this in the video, if you go to the show notes page — it’s going to stabilize your trunk. You’re working on keeping a nice flat back. You’re not arching too much, you’re not rounding too much. And you’re not letting your shoulder blade kind of fall forward towards the floor, or rotate backwards. So you’re creating a lot of true tension in your body. You’ll feel your legs working, you’ll feel your trunk working. You’ll feel that arm on the bench working. But then, you’ve got that dumbbell in your hand — you could do this with a kettlebell, as well — and I want you to squeeze that grip as hard as you can. Again, creating a tension in your arm, as you’re pulling backwards. So this is working on your grip strength, it’s working on your back, it’s working on your posture. It’s working on all these very important pieces that you need to stabilize yourself during your golf swing. So doing just a simple row with these little tweaks will make all the difference in the world. Okay, number seven. We’re going to go into an exercise with the big ball. And this I call “hip extension,” or “hamstring curl,” on the ball. So, you’ve got the big ball. You’re going to lie on your back on the ground with your feet on top of the ball. And so, this is going to be definitely a hamstring exercise, and it’s going to be a hip extension exercise. The full-blown exercise would be you lying down on the ground, your feet and kind of, basically, your Achilles and the bottom of your calf are on top of the ball, and you’re going to lift your hips up in the air until your body’s in a completely straight line. So you’re again creating that tension, creating that tightness. You’ve got your arms kind of spread out on the floor for some support to start, and that’s going to give you a nice good base. So, once you get your hips up in the air, and I want you to really work on getting that straight line, basically from your shoulders down to your ankles. You’ve got a nice straight line. If you can’t do that, then I want you to just keep working on that motion there, until you can get those glutes to kind of pull you up. And it’s not an arching of the back, it’s a squeezing from the glutes, kind of like you’re pinching a coin between your cheeks. Terrible visual, but pulling your hips up towards the ceiling until you get that nice straight line. Once you’re in that position, you’re then going to try to roll the ball backwards, towards you. So, your body’s going to move up even higher, as your heels come back towards you. Now, the kicker here, and this is where most people go wrong, is when you bring your heels back toward you, I want you to keep that straight line at your hips. So, your hips are going to go up towards the ceiling even more while your heels come back. Your hips are not going to drop down or stay at the same level while you roll back. So, you don’t want to bend at the hips and see your knees going up. You want your hips going up in the air as well. So this is an exercise that really, guys, should be pretty easy, but almost everyone that I give this to, the first time, they have trouble with it. They start to notice their hamstrings are cramping, and they feel like … It’s almost an eye-opening exercise, because it doesn’t look like it should be that hard. It’s, you know, there’s no weights to it, there’s no real heavy lifting. But it’s all about the posture, it’s all about the form. It’s all about the tension that you’re creating, and how you’re doing these motions. The hamstrings very rarely are put in that shortened of a position under tension, and that’s where the cramping comes from. So the first time you do this, if you get some cramping, know that that might be normal, but we want you to work through it. Cramping, to me, is muscle confusion. It’s your muscle not understanding what the heck is going on, and when you get to that point, if you can fight through that … And be careful here, but if you can fight through that, or if you’re doing like an extended hold, I want you to know that you doing that is teaching your body how to then deal with it, and how to get better at that. So the more you do these, the less you’ll get that, and the stronger you’ll get that muscle in that position. It’s kind of like, if you were to perform a bicep curl, as hard as you could… And I encourage you to try this right now: perform a bicep curl as hard as you possibly can, squeeze your bicep as hard as you can. You’re probably going to notice that it’s going to start cramping up. That’s muscle confusion. If you did that on a regular basis, first of all, it’s great at teaching your body how to create more tension at the top of that curl. But, you’re going to get used to it. Same thing’s going to happen with your hamstrings. And it’s going to prepare your body to take up more stress. So, it’s a bit of an unnatural move, but if definitely teaches you how to lock out the hips. And again, it’s kind of a very plank-ish style exercise. I kind of like that word, “plank-ish.” So, using this is really going to help you create a lot of tension throughout the body. Number eight. I’m going to go with another rowing exercise. And again, the row is a big one because it’s kind of the back side of the body. It works the lats, it works the shoulder. It’s going to work a lot of the trunk. So, I’m going to throw in a low pulley row. So, if you took a cable machine, you’ve got the pulley all the way down to the ground. You’re using one arm, and you’re just basically performing kind of the same row that you did when you were on the bench, but this time you’re standing in a little bit of a golf posture. Main, I like to think, more like a deadlift posture, as you’re getting into that. But first I want you to try it as you row, to do it without any rotation of your trunk. So your feet are square, and you’re doing a row, and it’s just your arm moving. Everything else is stationary. You’ve created that tension, you’re pushing your feet in the ground. You’re almost feeling your glutes kind of tighten up, your stomach is tight. Your shoulders are down and back, and you’re pulling with just that one arm. Squeezing the handle as much as you can, creating that tension in your arm. Creating that tension in your back, creating that tension in your shoulder blade. And I want you to feel that, and I want you to feel the resistance of that rotation. So, don’t rotate with it. Then, once you get the hang of that, you can try the opposite way, and you can do it with a little rotation. And for this, you can do it either square-footed, where, again, the lower body is staying nice and stationary, and you’re in a very controlled motion, pulling on the rope, but rotating the upper body with it now. So the hips are staying, the lower body is staying fairly still. You can kind of rotate a little bit into that hip. If it’s your right arm you’re rowing, rotate a little bit into that right hip, kind of like you would in your golf swing. And then I like to have a pause at the end of my rowing motions most of the time, just to feel that squeeze. And then you can slowly let it out. Typically, you’re going to go back with a little faster movement, and then release with a little slower movement. And then you can even try it with your feet a little stagger stance, and you can play around with that, too. And, you know, work on rotating into the hip as you’re kind of pulling. But again, work on creating the tensions first. Create the stability of the lower body, and then work into the rotation, and really feel the control there. The last two exercises I’m going to give you are actually shoulder exercises. So, when we talked about the five big things to include in your workout, we talked about the push, the pull, the squat or lunge, the deadlift or the hinge, and then some sort of rotation. This would fall into a little bit more of that extra category that I mentioned, but I do think that the shoulders, specifically kind of the rotator cuff, the shoulder blade area, are definitely under-utilized in training programs, and often kind of overlooked when people look at, you know, what a body needs to be doing. And especially in our golf swing, we need to be able to rotate and utilize the shoulder and shoulder blade very well in the movements of the swing. If the should blade’s not doing what it needs to do — and it’s not really the shoulder blade that’s doing it, it’s the muscles around it, but to not get too technical here — if the shoulder blade and the whole shoulder complex are not working the way that you need them to work, that’s often when other things go awry. That can lead to, believe it or not, back pain. That can lead to elbow pain. That can lead to, you know, wrist and forearm issues. Because if the shoulder’s not working, something else has to give, or take up the stress. And so, in many, many situations where someone has golfer’s elbow, tennis elbow, a lot of times we end up looking up towards the shoulder to see what’s going on with the mechanics there. And most people don’t have a whole lot of great control over their shoulder blades, which you might notice in the Golf Fitness Rollercoaster series. When we go through the daily motion routine, we talk about just moving your shoulder blade in a circle every day. And the first time I do that with people, it’s often very clear that one side is more coordinated than the other, and it doesn’t surprise me when people often have pain either at their shoulder or at some other area on that less-coordinated side. So, just a little sidebar there. So, the first exercise here, number nine in my list, is shoulder external rotation. And I’m going to go specifically with a seated version of this, which many of you may have not ever seen or done. The first time that I did this, or saw this exercise, I was kind of like, “Whoa, that’s kind of different. It’s kind of a weird posture that you’re getting into.” And we have affectionately referred to these as the “Costanza exercise,” for all of you Seinfeld fanatics out there, because there’s an episode where George is kind of on the couch in a provocative position, taking some pictures. And it just kind of reminded me of him on the couch, the way that you have to sit for this exercise. So, you’re sitting kind of sidesaddle on a bench, with one foot up on the bench, and that same arm is going to be, that elbow is going to be resting on your knee. You’re going to sit in a real, real tall posture. Again, this is a great one to go check out the video for. Sitting up in a real tall posture. The elbow is kind of resting on the knee, so it’s stabilized there. And then you’re going to work into a rotating motion, where you’re basically starting with the hand straight up toward the ceiling. You’re going to let the hand drop down towards the floor, so the arm is rotating and you’re letting the shoulder rotate. What you have to do here, the reason I like this so much, is: first, it’s an eye-opener for new clients, as to how weak their rotation is, and how much control they don’t have over it, which is actually a very, very big deal when it comes to other exercises and your golf swing. But having the arm stabilized there on the knee is good because it allows you to simply focus on the rotation. And then it’s really easy to focus on your shoulder blade position and create true rotation. So, the natural inclination is, as you let your hand fall forward down in front of your body, for your shoulder blade to kind of raise up and to kind of round out that shoulder. And that’s not what we want. We want your shoulder blade to stay down and back, and we want that arm, and the upper arm, and the hand, to rotate forward without that shoulder blade really moving, to create kind of that isolation there. So, it’s a great way to really isolate that. Again, it really works on your posture, and you can really focus on creating some of that tension throughout that whole exercise. If you’ve ever struggled with the chicken wing in your golf swing, this might be a really good exercise for you, because it helps with that rotation, and helps prevent that flying elbow when you’re either rotating through the ball. Or if you have kind of a weird elbow move in the backswing, this is a definite strengthener for those muscles that help to rotate, and get you into a better position. All right. And then the last one, number 10, is kind of a strange name. We call it a “trap three,” and this is again kind of an upper shoulder, shoulder blade exercise. And the way that I’m going to have you start this one is on a bench that’s inclined to about 45 degrees. So this would be a trap three prone on a bench. You can do this standing up, without a bench. You can do this on the floor. You can do this many different ways. And it’s a surprisingly hard exercise. Usually, when I first have somebody do this, I don’t use any weight. And as any client of mine can attest to, anytime I start an exercise without a dumbbell or a kettlebell, or something, they know that it’s going to be uber hard, because I’ll either go with no weight, or grab one of the powder blue dumbbells, which is always kind of a shot to the manhood of anybody using that. But, you know it’s going to be a hard exercise when there’s no weight in your hands. You’re going to lie flat on this bench, which is inclined to 45 degrees. Your head’s going to be off the top of the bench, so you’re not resting your chin, and you’re just going to kind of get in a nice, tense posture. You’re going to tighten up the abdominals, you’re going to kind of press your hips into the bench a little bit. And you should feel like you’re almost standing, and kind of just lying on the bench, not squatting or sitting on the bench. And what you’re going to do is pretty much raise your arms — and you can do this either both arms at the same time, or just one arm at a time — you’re going to raise your arms into kind of the YMCA position, and I like to keep the thumbs up towards the ceiling. And you’re going to go up as high as you can, you’re going to pause there, and then you’re going to come down nice and slow. The whole time, I want you holding your shoulder blades back, holding them down, and just kind of keeping that tension there, making sure that you can hold that position. And then you’re going to slowly raise the arms back up as high as you can get them without arching at your chest, without coming off of the bench. You’re going to keep the abdominal muscles nice and tight. And you’re going to notice whatever limitations you have in this motion. It seems pretty easy, it seems like you’re just supposed to be raising your arm over your head. But you’re, most of the time, you’re going to feel like you’re not going hardly anywhere. And that’s a sign that you need to start working on, first of all, just motions that are moving backwards like this. But that your shoulder blade may not be working very well. That your rotator cuff might not be working very well. That you just don’t have the strength in some of the muscles that hold the shoulder blades. And it can even be that your upper back, your thoracic spine, is not moving the way that it needs to. And so, working on this is definitely going to help improve some of that stuff. So, most people are going to feel really restricted when you do this, but the great thing is, it emphasizes a lot of the control of your lower back, emphasizes control of your trunk. And again, it teaches you how to create that tension in your body. So, those are the top 10 exercises, or at least a list of 10 phenomenal exercises that I like to keep in, or put into, a lot of the newer programs. Especially for a newer golfer, especially for somebody that doesn’t have a lot of background in training. You’re going to be surprised at how well this stuff works to simply get you understanding what your body’s doing. And I’m a big believer that if you are able to control your body better, if you’re able to understand what your body’s doing, control it, make adjustments in these exercises? It makes it so much easier when you’re trying to control these things in your golf swing, or you’re trying to feel balanced in your swing, or you’re working on different postural issues that you might have, you have back pain. All of these different things that relate to your golf swing can be definitely improved. And I’ve seen it, firsthand, with myself, with golfers that I work with. That we don’t touch anything with a club, we simply do some of this type of stuff, and they come back and they report huge improvements, simply because of the awareness of the body. They started working muscles that they didn’t realize needed to be worked, or didn’t realize could be worked, throughout some of these things. So again, just a quick recap on the exercises. Number one was the plank. I also threw in the variation of the Palov Press, which is more of the standing version of plank with some resistance into rotation from the cable. Number two was the split squats, starting with dumbbells or no weight whatsoever. Lots of variations you can do there. Number three was goblet squats. Specifically I like using the kettlebell, but the dumbbell works just fine as well. Number four is the kettlebell deadlift, to start getting you in nice good position, and progressing eventually maybe to the sumo deadlift with the barbell. Number five is the one-arm dumbbell press, and when you’re ready, you can kind of shift slightly off the bench. And be aware, if you’re using a big ball for this exercise, not to go too heavy there. Number six was the dumbbell row at the bench, one leg on the bench, one arm on the bench. Really working on the posture and stabilizing, and on the tension. Number seven is the hip extension, slash hamstring curl, on the ball, where you’re basically bridging up into the air and rolling the ball underneath you. Number eight is the low pulley row, both in a stationary square position, an anti-rotation movement, as well as a rotational movement. You know, kind of progressing and trying both of those variations. And then, number nine and 10, the shoulder exercises. The first is the seated shoulder external rotation, or the Costanza, as I like to call it. And number 10 was the trap three, where you’re lying prone on a bench, and you’re doing the YMCA motion, with a very light dumbbell if anything. Really, I rarely see anybody progress up past the five, eight, maybe 10-pound mark when doing it with a lot of great control. All right, this episode actually went way longer than I was anticipating. I was hoping to kind of bundle all this up quick, but there were a lot of details in there that I realized you guys needed to have. And so again, I really encourage you to go over to the show notes page for this episode, which is 18Strong.com/favorite-exercises, or episode number 176. You’ll find it over there. But what I want you to notice, and a few things that you might be questioning regarding this list, is that: first, there’s not a lot of rotational or lateral motions that I put into this list. And that’s done by design. I don’t like to get people doing a lot of rotational stuff until they build a base, until they build the foundation, the platform, that I know that they can rotate on. So, you know, we talk a lot about the OverSpeed training, we talk a lot about power exercises. But first and foremost, I want to make sure somebody can control a split squat. I want to make sure that they know how to do a deadlift. Now, does that mean that I won’t have somebody go and try to swing, and do some SuperSpeed clubs? No, not by any means. I mean, they’re already swinging a golf club, so it’s not like that’s going to be a detrimental factor. But as far as what I’m concerned with, is getting them stronger, getting a big foundation built. You’re also going to notice that I didn’t throw in a lot of core and abdominal exercises. And that’s by design, as well. When you really learn how to create the tension in your body during these types of exercises? You know, when you’re doing a deadlift, you’re doing a split squat, you’re doing a row, you’re doing some of these other presses. When you really learn how to create tension in your body, and you can target the trunk and the midsection, you’re going to get a lot more effective core stabilization than if you go and you do 100 crunches. Now, there are certain times, and oftentimes, when I’ll put — again, in that extra section in a workout — I’ll put some sort of a trunk or abdominal exercise in there, or something that relates to how they work their hips and stabilize with their hips. But, it’s not necessarily for, you know, getting better abs, and getting the six-pack. It’s more, “What’s going to be functional for this person?” And many times, it comes from teaching them the proper way to create the tension in these other exercises. Now, quick caveat is that, if you were to talk to 10 different fitness professionals, golf fitness professionals, strength coaches, whoever, and you ask them what their 10 most important exercises are, you’re going to get 10 different answers from all 10 people. And that’s cool. That’s, there is by far no single way for everybody to agree on one way to do something or another, and that’s the beauty of this show, is we get to bring in all these different experts to teach us what’s working for them. This is what I find has worked for me, has worked for my clients. And they’re movements that I find a lot of people do improperly, need some extra instruction on. And I’d like to keep it as simple as possible and get them started with this stuff, before jumping into anything crazy and breaking out all these different super minuscule different exercises, working on all these different little pieces, when I know that they can’t do some of this basic stuff. So, I probably sound like a broken record by now, but this stuff doesn’t have to be overdone. It doesn’t have to be overcomplicated, especially for the majority of the population. Unless you’re that 1% uber super elite athlete that has a very extensive training background, I don’t see the reason for creating super detailed and overblown programs, when most of us just want to feel better, move better, hit a ball further, and feel stronger at the end of 18 holes. So, let’s focus on the important stuff. Again, if you’re looking for something fancy, something golf-y, but you’re not good at these exercises, you’re putting your efforts in the wrong place. To me, this stuff is like working on your short game. You know, it’s very important to do. But let’s face it, it can be boring. It can be hard. You’ve got to put the work in. It’s not sexy like going to the driving range and banging drivers, or breaking out the rubber bands and pretending to swing a golf club with resistance attached to it. It’s just, it’s not the cool stuff that you’re going to see on Instagram, but it’s the stuff that’s going to take you to that next level. If this was helpful, then I would definitely encourage you to go check out the video series that we put together on the essentials that you need to create a great golf fitness program, and to get yourself off of this whole rollercoaster of, “I don’t know what to do. I want to work out, I’m good with my workouts, and then I’m off my workouts. I’m eating well, I’m not eating well.” All of that stuff to kind of create a little more clarity around this whole, what can be a confusing topic, if you let it be. So we want to kind of break that down and simplify it. So again, go to 18Strong.com/rollercoaster to check out that video series. It’ll ask you for your email, and then you’ll be emailed the different videos over the next few days. Again, guys, thanks for showing up on the 18Strong podcast. Hopefully you learned a few things today. And we’re here to just basically provide as much information that we’ve been able to gather over the years with clients through the professions that we’ve had on the show, and we want to just continue to bring the boiled-down info to you. I want to say thanks again to the PGA Tour mobile app. If you don’t have that, go download that now, so you can keep track of everything going on this weekend. And again, thanks to the guys at SuperSpeed Golf, which is by far one of our greatest tools in the toolbox. So go to SuperSpeedGolf.com, and don’t forget to use the code 18STRONG. All right, that’s all I’ve got for you guys this episode. I’ll catch up with you next week. Train hard, practice smart, and play better golf. Announcer: Thanks for listening to the 18Strong podcast, at www.18Strong.com, and remember: train hard, practice smart, and play better golf.  

Trent Wearner is a 3-time Colorado PGA Teacher of the Year and often rated as the #1 Teacher in Colorado by his peers and Golf Digest Magazine.  He has been on The Golf Channel and Morning Drive several times as well as regularly on Altitude Sports Television’s Golf@Altitude. He has taught side-by-side several top instructors including Keith Lyford and other Top 100 Teachers. He works with players of all ability levels and spends his time equally between Adults and Juniors, many who are considered the state’s top amateurs, juniors, and mini-tour players.  With 80+ students playing or having played college golf, he is the most sought-after junior coach in the region and joins us today to talk about proper practice and re-introducing the term “scrimmage” to golfers across the world.   Trent Wearner’s Background As a young golfer, Trent played a lot of competitive junior golf and continues to play in Colo PGA Section Professional events. Throughout his career, Wearner has received numerous awards and accolades, both locally and nationally, such as the Top 25 Master Elite Junior Golf Coaches in the U.S., Three-time Colorado PGA Teacher of the Year, and Player Development Award Winner. 32 of Trent’s students have played in National USGA Events, and he has 12 Individual High School State Championships as well as 11 Team High School State Championships under his belt. Highlights from this Episode He kicks the episode off talking about the background experience of growing up with sports that fueled and brought the inspiration to his book, “Golf Scrimmages: Realistic Practice Games Under Pressure” and his interactive website. Why it can be so hard to take your game from the practice range to the golf course and how to both mentally break that down, as well as tips to try to bridge the gap. He talks about different tips and aspects to focus on through some common games to make their practice more meaningful. Trent talks more in-depth on his website and the scoring mechanics/leaderboards. Scoring plays such a crucial role in the real world of golf, why not practice like we play? Finally, Trent raps up talking about the future of GolfScrimmages.com and how a user-friendly environment is his number one priority with it.  Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack What would be your walk-up song? Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? Payne Stewart at The Home of Golf in St. Andrews. Do you have any parting advice for the 18 Strong Community? When people are looking for a coach, it’s extremely important to do your homework and interview them. Be an informed consumer and know to ask the right questions. Find Trent Wearner: Facebook:  Trent Wearner Golf Academy Twitter:  @TrentWearner GolfScrimmages.com TrentWearnerGolf.com Book: Golf Scrimmages Episode Sponsors PGA Tour Mobile App RADRoller.com Connect with 18STRONG Facebook Page       Twitter Profile       Instagram Profile Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected! PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: Jeff Pelizzaro: The 18STRONG Podcast episode number 175 with Trent Wearner from GolfScrimmages.com. Trent Wearner: We need to be creating a training environment, or training environments, that are cognitively faithful to the demands of the real game. Announcer: Welcome to the 18STRONG Podcast, where you get direct access to the world’s greatest experts on training harder, practicing smarter, and playing better golf. Now here’s your host, Jeff Pelizzaro. Jeff Pelizzaro: Hey, what’s up? Welcome to the 18STRONG Podcast. This week we are talking all about practice, and typically the golfer thinks driving range, bucket of balls, putting green, but today we’re going to change gears a little bit, and we’re going to talk with Trent Wearner from Trent Wearner Golf and Golf Scrimmages about that word exactly, scrimmages, and what that means. Just to give you a little background here on Trent, he has been voted the Colorado PGA Teacher of the Year three times. He’s been voted number one teacher in Colorado by Golf Digest multiple times, and he’s also been featured on The Golf Channel many times over the years, so he has definitely proven the fact that he knows how to get his clients, his students to practice better, to play more effective golf, as it’s showing in his results. Most of us grew up playing some sort of sport. You’d go to practice, you finish your practice with a scrimmage, and you know that it’s all about playing the game while you’re practicing, learning the ins and outs, learning techniques, making stuff up, being creative. And so Trent has really dedicated the last 11, 12 years of his coaching to teaching golfers how to practice better. So if you’ve ever said to yourself, “Why is it so hard to take what I’m doing at the range and take it to the course?” or “Why is it so hard to improve when I’m under pressure?” this episode is exactly for you. What Trent has done with his book, with his website is give you a realistic way to practice and play games and mimic the situation, mimic the pressure, or find ways to come closer to that pressure that you’re going to feel on the course, so when you get out there you don’t crumble, because you don’t get to hit five balls in a row, or you don’t get to roll the same putt three times. So I think you’re really going to enjoy this. There’s a great resource at GolfScrimmages.com to check out the different videos and check out the membership site, which we’ll get into some details in the episode itself. Real quick, want to say thanks to our sponsor, PGA Tour Mobile App, for sponsoring the show and this episode. If you haven’t jumped on the PGA Tour Mobile App, you don’t have it on your phone yet, you’re missing out. You are not able to stay up-to-date live with what’s going on on the tour. As we’re kind of getting ramped up, back into the golf season here in 2018, you want to know what the guys are doing. Pretty soon, Tiger’s going to be playing again, you want to see what Tiger’s score is. You can check all of the stats, you can check every shot, you can even get highlights on the PGA Tour Mobile App. So if you don’t have it, go to whatever device it is, look up in your app store on Android, iPhone, Samsung, whatever it might be. Blackberry, if you still carry one of those. You can find the PGA Tour Mobile App. So go ahead and download that now. All right. Let’s get into some scrimmage talk with Trent Wearner. Trent Wearner, welcome to the 18STRONG Podcast, and thanks so much for coming on. Trent Wearner: Jeff, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. Looking forward to it. Jeff Pelizzaro: Absolutely. Me too. The topic that we’re going to talk about that you’re the expert in is how golfers practice, and in our communication before, or actually, I think it was in the video on your website, I heard the line that golf is the worst-practiced sport in the world. And I think you’re probably right when you say that, and so you actually have devoted a lot of time and effort to helping kind of educate golfers on better ways to practice, and one of those is through your book, “Golf Scrimmages: Realistic Practice Games Under Pressure”. First of all, what made you finally decide to write that book, and how long has the book been out in publication? Trent Wearner: Sure. When I was a kid, I grew up playing a lot of sports, and probably only golf, soccer, baseball, and basketball are kind of the only organized ones, but we did everything outside in the street, like I think a lot of us our age kind of tended to do. There weren’t any helmets, and we just stayed out till dark, and nobody cared. Just growing up in the game atmosphere and street games, whatever it is, we just played games, and regardless of the technique, we had a blast and we competed and we learned to, whatever the sport, get the ball in the hole, as it’s dubbed in golf. Through that and playing a lot of games with friends growing up through the years at the golf course, we just made them up and had a blast doing that all day long. So I had that idea for quite a while, and I put things on paper the old-fashioned way. I kind of like have to lay things out and see them before I write them, so I would do that. It took a few years to get it all down, but I committed to doing it, and the book came out in … it was near the end of, like August of ’06. It’s just been the neatest trip for the last 11, 12 years now, getting to meet so many great people around the country, college coaches, players, successful amateurs or professionals that contact me about it. It’s just been really, really fun. Jeff Pelizzaro: I love the word “scrimmages”, because when I think … because I grew up playing soccer and every sport, basketball, baseball, and all of those, at the end of practice, you scrimmaged. You just went out to the street and played, or the alley or wherever it was, up to the playground. And you just got your buddies together and you goofed around. Now, I didn’t grow up playing golf and didn’t have the experience to go out and just hang with my buddies and play on a golf course, but I would imagine that that’s what we would have done. We’d go up to a little par 3 course and goof around a little bit. And so I love the fact that you’ve taken kind of what we did as kids, and what I think a lot of kids should be doing all over the spectrum of sports still, and you’ve taken that and kind of put into a package. So then you wrote the book, you’ve been teaching students for a long time, and then you decided to turn it actually into an interactive website as well. Is that correct? How did that process work? Trent Wearner: That’s right. While I was putting the book together, I was like, “Man, there’s got to be some electronic way that people can enter their scores and do this.” That was back in ’06 or so, and you think about spreadsheets you did in college or whatever, and that’s pretty boring, but it took a while and a few tries, and just a couple years ago, yes, we put it in together into an interactive website. There are leaderboards, there are a whole bunch of games, obviously, and people can play them. We’ll get into the benefit of them and whatnot. As you alluded to, some of the whiteboard videos that we have on there are really fun, I think, and enlightening for people to look at. There’s three of them, and they’re short, and hopefully resonate with people with regard to maybe making a new resolution for 2018 and not just working on mechanics solely, but incorporating all those and having a place where, whether you’re just an avid golfer who understands this and wants to jump on the website and do it. If you’re a high school or college coach, you can have your team, and your team will have their own private leaderboard. Or say a golf academy or even a private club can get some or their interested members, or all their members, together and do that. It’s all-encompassing for groups like that or just individuals that want to jump on. It really is the worst-practiced sport in the world, and our industry … You know, if you just Googled “golf drills”, you’d get a whole bunch of mechanical drawings, and if you do that in other sports, you tend to get plays. Like the players have got to go X’s and O’s. You get some situational practice. And so it’s interesting how that word is different in golf compared to other sports, but that’s why we wanted to use the word “scrimmage”, because people know that. For the most part, yes, you have to learn how to shoot the basketball and putt and have a certain amount of skill in golf to get it airborne and have fun, but there also needs to be a place and a time where you cut it off and you move into what’s called transfer practice. One of my greatest mentors has been Dr. Rick Jensen, and he has something called the four steps of mastery. What’s so great about those is it really lays out … and four is not a lot, it’s pretty simple and pretty easy … but the first one is just that you’ve got to understand what it is you’re doing so that you … Why is my ball doing what it’s doing, and what do I need to do to get it better? Pretty reasonable common sense. The second one is just intentional supervised practice. So when you go work on whatever it is that you’re going to work on from your lesson, with your coach, you have to know that you’re doing it. So you need some sort of feedback. But what people do, is they only go that far. They work on their swing, they hit a bunch of drivers, they hit a bunch of 7 irons, whatever it is, and then they expect to be that proficient, or as proficient as they were on the range, when they go to the course. And it works the opposite manner. You’re practicing in an easy environment with none of the things that we experience, feel, or sense on the course, and when you go to the golf course, you’re going to get punched in the nose. You’re going to lose every time to this wonderful game of golf, not because you can’t do it, not because you don’t have the skill, but because you’re just ill-prepared. You’re not doing what basketball coaches and players do, and football coaches and players do. So that third step is transfer practice, it’s practice that helps you transfer your game to the course. And the fourth step is obviously playing and being able to deal with hazards and obstacles lurking. But when I present these to a lot of people, coaches or just golfers, I ask them, “What do you feel on the golf course?” They often say, “I get too mechanical. There’s a consequence if I hit a bad shot. I only get one try, for heaven sakes. There’s a whole bunch of different lies, and I’m thinking about score all day.” That’s what happens, and all of that is encompassed into one thing called pressure. If you’re not ready for that, you are doing yourself a disservice when you go out and hit balls or practice. And that’s why you’ve got to get outside. There are a lot of great facilities around the country, and indoor lessons are going to grow and grow with the decline or, I guess, the not so many golf courses being built anymore in the US, or even North America. So we’re going to see a lot of that, and frankly I believe that there’s some great teachers that work indoors, but long-term-wise, the golfer has got to get outside and experience all of these different elements. And I can’t say that enough to, I guess, the golfing public, that you’ve got to put yourself in an environment. No one would go to a golf course … no one would go do anything … You don’t go a basketball practice and just work on set shots from the 3-point line, let alone with no basket, and that’s what we do indoors to a net. So short-term-wise, absolutely there’s a benefit. You can work on your technique and improve that skill, but sometimes I get a little afraid that we’re removing the golfer from the actual issue even more. So the issue is, and every coach will agree with this, probably the top two things they hear is, “I’m inconsistent. I want to be more consistent. And I can’t take my game to the course.” Well, a lot of people have a tough time taking their game from the range to the course, and by moving it indoors, it makes it even another step, which is a little bit challenging for some people. So you’ve got to be able to get outside and do it, and put yourself under a lot of those tough, pressure-packed elements. Jeff Pelizzaro: Why do you think it is that we tend to stop at that second level, and we never move on to that transfer level? I mean, it seems like every golfer, they think of practice as going to the driving range and just hitting balls, and maybe going to the putting green and rolling some putts. Trent Wearner: That’s a perfect question. That’s really good. It really comes down to … sports psychologists call this false confidence. You stand there with whatever club it is, and we tend to hit it over and over again, and sooner or later you’re going to find it. Like okay, there, I hit a good one, and you get on a roll. You get in the car, and you drive home, and you feel good about yourself. But that term “false confidence” comes from, you just hit 30 set shots from the 3-point line. Nobody’s in your face. You’re not coming off a pick. You’re not flying through the air sideways. You’re not doing anything realistic, and so it’s fake, basically. And yet, it’s a big lure. Ah, it’s awesome, I’m hitting it great. And everybody loves hitting it solid, and there’s research on what people want to do is lower your handicap, shoot these scores, or hit it solid. People want to hit the ball solidly, and I get that, but that’s why they stop, is that it’s awesome to hit the ball solidly. But there’s a total difference between being able to do that one try. You know, we’ll commonly say to people, “The goal in golf is to hit consecutive shots well. That’s what we’re trying to do. His a pretty good drive, pretty good approach, pretty good putt or two, or chip if we have to.” But we need to do that on the range. We need to do the exact same thing, and it doesn’t take rocket science, and there’s a lot of research to back this up, but it’s kind of a “duh” statement. If you’re not incorporating these things, alternating clubs, putting yourself under pressure through some scoring system, alternating the lie, creating some sort of mental environment, basically, then you’re going to have a very tough time taking your game to the course. Or you might get lucky a round or two or what have you throughout the course of the summer, but you’re not going to be as consistent as you’d like. Jeff Pelizzaro: I think we’ve all experienced it, where you hit a shot, it’s terrible, you drop another ball down, you hit the perfect shot. Well, that’s great, but that’s the second shot, it didn’t actually count. On the driving range it’s easy, if you hit five in a row, for three out of those five to be pretty decent. Trent Wearner: I think that’s where the term “breakfast ball” probably came into play. Like well, I get to do another one. I hate that. I hate a mulligan, and I hate a breakfast ball. It’s like no, we’re going to go learn to deal with it. I don’t care if this is your first shot and you didn’t warm up. That’s your fault. We’re going to learn to deal with this, and if I make a bogey on hole 1, I make a bogey, but teeing up another one is doing more damage and not allowing you to take the skills that you need to get over bad shots, because that’s part of golf. It’s about how you react and recover when the ball doesn’t go where you had intended. And the way we practice doesn’t set us up for learning and accepting that skill. Jeff Pelizzaro: Let’s talk a little bit about kind of your global coaching philosophy then. When somebody comes to see you, what does a lesson, maybe, look like, or a group of lessons, if that’s more appropriate? And how do you then kind of create that pressure for them, or allow them to create that pressure for themselves? Trent Wearner: Sure. We basically like to kind of break things into three parts, and we start off with an interview. We have a two-page questionnaire that really gives us a big insight into the person and what they feel or think of their golf skills and the shots that they hit and their ability to manage themselves around the golf course. But when it comes down to it, it’s a three-part scenario, the first being what within your technique do we need to get better so that you can become more consistent? And that, whatever it may be, what’s causing the person the most grief, is it the short game, or is it your driver, whatever it is. We’ll take a look at the technique so that we can control the ball better, move it from point A to point B more successfully. The second aspect is really just learning to practice effectively, so some sort of training environment that they are, when they go practice, they know that they’re doing it. So back to Dr. Rick Jensen’s, one of his steps, is just giving them proper feedback so they can acquire what it is they’re trying to work on in the fastest way possible. And the second topic of practice has two parts. It also has the other part to it, which is this competitiveness, the game-like, the scrimmages that we’re talking about. We will dance between working on technique and working on competitive environment, depending on how severe their bad shots are, depending on if they have tournaments coming up, depending on where they are in mainly those facets. What they have coming up, is it winter, is it summer, what are they doing? And then the third aspect is just on-course time. We try to be on the course as much as we can. We’re at a great golf course here in Denver at Meridian Golf Club. We’ve got an 18-hole course and three practice holes, so if there’s ever a time we can’t get on the course, we can head right over to these practice holes and do anything, throw balls down in the weeds, or sloping mounds, and simply just make it real. Jeff Pelizzaro: That’s pretty cool. I think that’s a piece that I know here in St. Louis there’s not a lot of availability as far as facilities for somebody that maybe doesn’t belong to one of the high-dollar clubs or doesn’t have some of those resources. What would you suggest to somebody that they’ve basically got a driving range and a pitch and putt? Where does somebody like that, what should they kind of go and focus on? Trent Wearner: Yeah, that’s where I think they can simply just incorporate some of the games into their practice, and I can go over a few easy ones with you, or common ones that really have, I guess, a little bit of a flip to them that make it more meaningful. Let’s say a person is just at a driving range, and there’s a common game that people talk about, which is just trying to hit an imaginary fairway. There’s a purple flag on the right and a green flag on the left, and I’m going to try and hit some drives in between it. That’s all great, that can put some pressure on you. It’s like just trying to make 10 putts in a row, but there’s another level of that where if you were to make 10 putts in a row from different locations, that’s better than just 10 putts in a row from the same location. But back to the driving range scenario, let’s say I’m going to hit 10 drivers, and I tee up the first one and I hit it in between the flags, so I hit it in between an imaginary fairway, don’t tee up another ball. Just grab some other iron and aim somewhere else on the range, and hit that 8 iron, and then go ahead and tee up another drive. Go through your routine, of course. Be engaged in this. Make it matter. Make it count, and hit it down the fairway again, and just alternate between driver and some iron, driver and iron. That’s where, if I’ve got 10 minutes at lunch, I grab my driver and a 6 iron, and I just alternate. It is very, very challenging for all of us, myself included, when we hit a bad one. Like, “Oh, I’m going to re-tee that one.” But no, you can’t do that. That’s part of it. What happens is you hit a bad drive on hole 6, say, when you’re out playing, and then you finish out hole 6 with a few approach or chips and putts or whatever, and then you go to 7 and your brain’s like, “Oh, I just hit a really bad drive on the previous hole.” Well, you can work through that by setting up that same scenario on the range, like we just talked about, and learning to get over it, and not letting some of those negative thoughts creep in. But by putting some time in between the shot that you just hit, so while we hit a drive and then we walk or drive in a cart for a seconds or minutes to get to it, we can’t necessarily do that on the range, but we can turn around and grab our 7 iron, and take a sip of water, and aim at some other flag at some cockeyed angle on the range, and then hit it, and then go back and grab your driver. So we’re putting a little bit of time in between, and just mentally and, I guess, emotionally there’s a lot to that, that really helps you transfer to the course with more success. Jeff Pelizzaro: Let’s jump in here real quick to say thanks to our buddies and sponsor of this episode, RAD Roller. RAD Roller makes some great products, soft tissue myofascial release products that you can take with you anywhere you go. I know that a lot of the pros listening to this, coaches listening to this are going to be traveling down to the PGA Show next week, and what better way to make sure that you’re sleeping well, that your body’s moving well, than taking a RAD Roller, either Helix or RAD Rod or one of the different tools that they have to get your body moving a little bit better when you know you’re stiff after your plane ride, maybe waking up in that hotel bedroom and you don’t quite feel so good? That’s where these products are perfect. They’re very easy to travel with. You can fit them in your bag, but you can use them in the hotel room on the floor, kind of work out the knots in the shoulders, work out the legs a little bit, roll around, and you can hit some of those tough spots to make sure that you’re either able to walk all day at the PGA Show or whether that be you’re on a business trip, or whatever it might be, getting ready to play a round of golf, which most of the golf pros will be doing while they’re down there at the PGA Show. So be sure to go to RADRoller.com and check out all the different products that they have. They’ve got tons of education there. They’ve got education platforms for the trainers and coaches that are out there that want to learn more about it. They’ve also got education on how to use the products. They’ve got their YouTube channel where you can go and look out how you can use each individual product. I personally love the original RAD Roller, the Helix, the RAD Ball, and have been playing around with the new Adam and the Sphere at our gym, and loving every bit of it. So go check out RADRoller.com. Use the code “18STRONG” to get your discount. Before we jump into another game, something that I noticed in some of your videos, going through some of the games … And everybody, go to GolfScrimmages.com and click on the games tab, and you’ll get to see some of the videos and get a couple of these tips … what I noticed was a lot of times you preference the video with “I want you to get mentally prepared for, in this situation you’ve been striking the ball really well all day, you’re in the middle of the fairway all day.” Or there’s another one, I think, “You’ve been striking the ball terribly today. You’re off the side of the green.” You put a lot of emphasis on getting mentally sharp and really honing in on what your mental state is before starting the game. What’s the thought process behind that? Trent Wearner: Precisely. The second one you’re referencing there is just another simple one like imaginary fairway that we’ve all heard of, but the short game one is just a game of up and down. We’ve all heard it, we’ve all played it. It sounds pretty boring and pretty blah, but yes, when you preface it with, “You have missed every single green in regulation today. It’s your worst day of ball striking ever. Let’s see how good you can do,” it’s a totally different scenario. I’ll come back to that in a second. What that reminds me of is we’ll get on the golf course with students, and they hit a bad drive, and they’re in the … where we are, we have more native grass than trees … so they hit one in the native, and they’re pouting all the way up there, and their shirt tail’s out, and their hat’s backward, moping around. They barely whack it out of the native or what have you and end up with a double bogey. So we go to the next hole, and I say, “We’re just going to skip the drive here on this hole, now let’s drive up here to the fairway.” And instead of dropping one in the fairway, I stick one over in the native, and I say, “Okay, if you make par, I got lunch.” The whole attitude changes, like, “All right, Trent, you jerk, you just threw my ball in the native. Watch me make par, or at least a better decision so that I take double bogey out of the equation, and I’ll walk away with a bogey.” Simply, we as golfers have a tough time forgetting how the ball got to where it is. So they hit the drive in there, life’s over. I throw the ball in there and challenge them, it’s game on, and they’re excited and pumped. It’s those sort of things that just by doing the games, a light bulb goes off, you know? Someone hits you on the head and says, “Wake up. This is what it’s about. You’re going to miss it, and it’s about your attitude.” Same thing with that game of up and down. Let’s just say you’re playing nine holes of up and down, and you’ll obviously vary your location around the green, because you don’t want to stay in the same spot. Change clubs, change holes, whatever it may be, but you throw a ball down somewhere, and you chip it up, and you go putt it out. If you make a two, that’s basically a par, so you would have made a four, basically. You do that for nine holes, you pick it out of the hole, and you chuck it somewhere else on the other side of the green, and you chip up, and you see how well you did. You realize … Within the website, we actually encourage people, you have to enter the score based on a nine-hole score. So let’s say you got up and down five times, and you failed to get up and down the other four. You shot four over, and in our system, par is 36, so you enter your score as a 40. Look, you missed every single green in regulation, and you just shot a 40. That may or may not be good for whoever’s listening right now, but you can equate that to your ability level, and it’s like, “Yeah, okay, and I certainly don’t miss every single green in regulation.” It’s just how hungry you are and how you perceive it. It’s huge, your mentality. Jeff Pelizzaro: Yeah, it gives a totally different framework around what that score is, or like for me, yeah, 40, that’s pretty good. I’d be happy with that in most situations. And then knowing that I missed every single green in regulation. For sure, I love that. Give us maybe two more games that people can use when they go out to the range this next week, or hopefully, if it’s warm enough. Trent Wearner: You bet. Yeah, it’s 62 degrees here in Denver and probably snowing, I think I saw, in Florida or something, so it’s crazy what we have going on. Wherever you are, some putting usually is a good one. My favorite putting game is called “Drawback”. Some people know it by “Pullback”. Again, it’s how it benefits the golfer. Basically, how this works is you … whatever length putt, we spell it out on the website, but let’s just say you start with hole 1, you can play nine holes of this, and you’ve got a 20-footer. You putt it, and wherever it ends up, let’s say it ends up two feet to the right of the hole, say like three o’clock if we can imagine that, then you pull the ball back a full putter’s length in line with the hole, so you’re kind of extending out farther from three o’clock. So instead of having a, what did I say, two-footer, now you’ve basically got a five-footer, and you’ve got to try and putt that one in. Now, a two-footer compared to a five-footer is a lot different, and the odds are a lot less that you’re going to make it from five compared to three. If you make that putt, great, you made a two and you go on to the next hole. If you miss that putt, you have to draw it back again, wherever the ball ends up, always in line with the hole and the ball, and draw back another putter’s length, or three feet. So if you leave one on the edge, you’re going to be left with a three-footer still. That’s pretty much your shortest putt you can have. You can play nine holes of this and tally up your score. It’s tough. It’s challenging. This is a very tough game, but that’s the whole idea is that in other sports … Games felt easy to me in basketball because we ran sprints like crazy. We over-practiced. We did all these things. We knew what these other teams were doing. And so by practicing something more challenging, the game is more fluid, it’s more easy or more focused, and it seems simpler. That seems really strange to people that the actual on-course can feel simpler, but that’s just the way you practice. The benefit to that game is that when your mentality changes, Jeff, if you’ve got a 20-footer, now that you know the rules to the game, instead of having like oh, let me just cozy it up, instead of that being acceptable to you, you’re going to say hey, let’s just try and make this. Now, the odds of making a 20- and 30- and 40-footer are not great, but the point is your mentality changes. You’re trying to just roll it up there and see if it drops. So I’m trying to make it. So that’s the first benefit. The second benefit is odds are you’re not going to make a lot of those, and you’re going to have a lot short putt, pressure-packed practice from four, five, six, seven, maybe even eight feet, and those are tough when you know you still have to draw it back, and then the game’s not over. The third aspect is that when you get to the course and you actually hit the ball one or two or three feet away, hey I don’t have to draw it back anymore. I’ve played the game so much that I’m in this habit of drawing the ball back. Now this one- or two-footer, the real game seems easier, is massive. And it’s just enlightening. It’s fun. Jeff Pelizzaro: I love that. Yeah, I can just picture after playing so many times, hitting the ball up to two feet and thinking oh, I’ve got a five-footer, and then you walk up and you’re like oh wait. It’s like finding money in your pocket, kind of. Trent Wearner: Bingo. Exactly. That’s a good one, yeah. Jeff Pelizzaro: Let’s talk a little bit more about the website, and kind of the scoring angle, because I think that so many people, they’ll go out, they’ll practice a little bit, maybe they even start playing the games, but I think the scoring is a very key component here. Why would you say it is so important for them to actually tally this stuff up? Trent Wearner: Yeah, you know, I think that’s the toughest thing with golf, is that a lot of coaches, sports psychologists, whatever, we’re talking about the routine and the process a lot, and to get engaged in what you’re doing in your pre-shot, and what you should be feeling or thinking about, or imagery, what you should be seeing or visualizing. But at the end of the day, it’s all about the score you got, so it’s a tough one, but I equate that to juniors. I talk a lot about juniors or adults who give a speech or doing a presentation, it’s your preparation. And so for kids, if you’ve got a math test coming up, well, let’s start with did you go to class, did you listen, did you take notes, did you study? Let’s look at those things first to see how those impacted your end result. We’re trying to certainly be in the process more when we practice, and that’s that we all need to be in, but by having an outcome, in other words, the score that we have on the website, yeah, you’re going to enter your score. It’s going to matter. You can post it. There are leaderboards, so if you’re doing well, it can get posted up there. If you’re just within a small group, say your own golf academy or high school or college team or what have you, there are private leaderboards, so just your own student base or college team or what have you will have their own private leaderboard with their logo and everything. That’s what happens in the real world. This stuff is posted. Every college coach can go online and find on the net any scores from everybody. So that part matters, and that’s the part that does put a lot of pressure on us. And so you have to involve score, and yet you can’t think about it. We’re trying to get into that process. So it just incorporates the exact same scenarios that we have when we’re playing, and all the games are scored differently, as you can imagine, as we alluded to already with regard to putting ones or chipping ones or up and down or driver ones. They’re all different, but we also track or show the person … Say they play a particular game. The website will show them their best score that they ever shot, so maybe the team or the coach can have a little contest throughout the whole season. Like all right, let’s see who gets the lowest score in this game, and we’re going to play it every other practice session, or every Wednesday, or whatever it is. It also tracks your most recent average, so your trending average, and that’s just an average of the last three scores you’ve submitted for that game. So basically, how am I doing lately? Am I improving? You can see some trends. And then it also, the third aspect of score that it tracks is your lifetime average, which I think is a neat stat, because it really shows like hey, when you go out and you play this game, let’s really take a look at your lifetime average, this whole summer, because that’s going to tell us how focused you are when you’re practicing. It’s going to give us a better gauge for how well you have stayed with it and worked through it and worked on it and really tried to make it matter and make it count. So those three, I think a coach or anybody can really use in a number of ways, and they’re all beneficial in some way, shape or form to the productivity of this person or their student. Jeff Pelizzaro: Anybody that has that competitive edge in them, being able to look back and see what your score was, or maybe more important, what your buddy’s score was or your teammate’s score, and being able to kind of challenge that every single time, I think that’s cool. That takes me back, again, to my earlier days in practices. You know, you want to beat the other team. You want to beat the other guys and have fun with it. It’s not all about just cutthroat competition, but it gives you something to shoot for and a little reason to take it a little bit more seriously every time you go out there. I love that. Trent Wearner: Exactly. There’s certainly a lot of merit that it is more fun. It’s very, very productive to just that transferability. You know, I heard that there’s a gentleman named Todd Beane. He runs a company called TOVO. It’s basically … His father-in-law is Johan Cruyff, which the soccer players may know, a famous coach who’s Dutch. Todd runs this TOVO soccer academy in Barcelona now, basically based around all the things that his father-in-law Johan believed in and did. I heard him talk online the other day, and he talked about all these antiquated learning environments and how seriously inadequate they are. And something I took away, he used the phrase that we need to be creating a training environment, or training environments, that are cognitively faithful to the demands of the real game, and that one’s pinned on my computer screen, because it’s just fantastic. It’s what we’re missing so much. There are so many different media outlets and ways that we can find out how I need to fix my slice, or I’m hooking it, or I’m chunking it, or I’m casting it. It’s overloaded. We’ve done way too good a job, and frankly, if a person can’t get online and have a little bit of information on how to fix their slice or what have you, then they should be paying triple for a golf lesson, because the information’s out there. But being able to take those other steps and understand that … I mean, cognitively faithful to the demands of the real game is just outstanding to me. We need to be doing that. Todd talks about when all these kids come to his soccer camp, that he says, “You’re going to go home, and your coach is going to say how well your skills, your foot skills, have improved.” And sure enough, they go home, and that’s what the coach says. But what happened was, they learned more about the game. They learned to be in space in soccer, like running to the open space, being in the appropriate area. When they learn to run to the correct areas and be in the correct places on the field, or the pitch, as they call it, their skills get better, because they’re gaining more time with their ball. They’re not rushed with a defender right on them. So they’re just learning things, and we talk about that with golf, too, like that’s not a really smart pin to aim for right now, because there’s no room for error. If you hit it in the bunker, it doesn’t mean that you stink at hitting shots, you just stink at decision-making, and it’s those sorts of things. That’s why it’s so fun to get in these games and get on the course with students. It’s imperative that the golfing public spend more time in that environment. Jeff Pelizzaro: Fantastic. So what’s the future for GolfScrimmages.com? Trent Wearner: That’s great. Right now there are … In the book, we’ve got … The book’s 230 pages, and 200 of the pages are all games, and it’s all broken up: putting, chipping, bunker, pitching, full swing, even a few on-course games. So we’ve got well over a hundred games in the book. Online, we have a couple dozen that the person can truly enter their score and participate on the leaderboards, or just their own stats. By stats, I mean their own scores. They can just see how they’re doing and progressing. We are going to be adding a number of just game videos, so it’s basically just another place that, if we add another 20+ videos to it, where they can just see, and they may not be able to use it and enter their scores, but they just need some fresh game that they can go out and play, or that their coach can require. You know, hey, let’s go out and play this pitching game today, or play this five times in the next two weeks. The coach can see their scores. But just some more games so that everybody … That’s one thing people wanted, was just a few more games, and we’re going to give them a bunch more games, so they can make it fresh all the time when they go out and practice. Jeff Pelizzaro: Perfect. Just give the audience … tell them where they can go find it, and then also, if it is a coach that’s looking to get in touch, maybe, for his team, can they just go straight through the website, or do they need to contact you as well? Trent Wearner: The website is GolfScrimmages.com, and they can purchase the book there, they can take a look at the membership for the website. And yes, it is all laid out on the … basically, there’s a log-in page, and underneath that, it lays out all the pricing, whether you have five students or a hundred students. So again, if you’re just a coach, like you said, for a high school or college, and some really, really inexpensive pricing. We want people to do this. We don’t want this to be any financial barrier. If you have any sort of membership, you’re used to maybe $15 a month or something, this is five, and if you’re an individual and want to do something, for a yearly membership, it’s $5. So we want to make it brainless, and we want to encourage people to do this and not have an excuse not to. Jeff Pelizzaro: Awesome. I love it. All right. Before we finish up, I got a couple quick questions that I got to ask you that I ask everybody that comes on the show. First one, “Caddyshack” or “Happy Gilmore”? Trent Wearner: Both great. I watch them both when they come on TV. I’d probably like some “Caddyshack” a little more. Jeff Pelizzaro: Excellent. If you could pick a walk-up song, going to the first tee box, something that would be playing over the loudspeaker, what would you pick? Trent Wearner: Let’s see. Might depend on the hole, but I’m a pretty big Buffett fan, so I don’t know if you’ve ever had “Margaritaville” as an answer. I’m sure they’re more like Metallica or what have you, but I’ll go with “Margaritaville.” It might just boost the spirits a little, make you smile. Jeff Pelizzaro: You’d be surprised. I’ve had Metallica, Frank Sinatra. We’ve had a little bit of everything. Trent Wearner: That’s good. That’s good. Jeff Pelizzaro: All right. If you could play 18 holes of golf with anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be and where would you play? Trent Wearner: A lot of tough ones there, but part of the reason why I’m in this game is I grew up really admiring Payne Stewart, and so I’d have to choose Payne. Every time he was in a magazine, I’d cut out his picture and paste it on my wall. Thankful that my parents let me collage my wall with whatever I wanted. He was a big influence, and really being able to … I don’t know, we’re all missing that guy, I think. It would be great for the game. His character, his flair, being able to see him be a Ryder Cup captain, and certainly be able to play golf with him anywhere would be great. The home of golf would be a great place to play, in St Andrews. I haven’t done that one yet, but he’d be my choice. Jeff Pelizzaro: Solid. Any last piece of advice for the 18STRONG community here? Trent Wearner: You know, I think when people go out to look for a coach, they need to do some pretty good interviewing. They’re looking for a transformational relationship. I’ve heard this phrase the last few months, and that’s great. It’s about transforming your game and learning character and cognition and other skills, and it’s not just about a transaction, like I want a lesson, and I want to get better. We actually have a page on our website. Our Golf Academy website is just TrentWearnerGolf.com, and on there, there’s a great piece of information we call the informed consumer, where they can just look at some things that would probably be important for them to know and to ask, so that wherever they are around the world or country, they can ask the right questions and really find the best coach for them or their son or their daughter. Jeff Pelizzaro: That’s great. All right, my friend. I really appreciate you taking the time today, and I love what you’re doing with Golf Scrimmages. I can’t say how much. First, I just learned going and watching some of the videos and some of the games that I’m going to take away, and go get my membership as well, at that $5 price point. That’s awesome. But just want to say, you’re doing an amazing job, and I think that you’re really kind of filling a hole that is needed with the education that you’re providing. So many people don’t understand how important it is to practice the way that you play, in any sport but especially golf, the worst practice sport in the world. So thanks for your time today, Trent. Trent Wearner: That’s great, Jeff. I appreciate it. You know, through the last 10 years or 11 years since the book came out, I have seen a growing number of coaches have this discussion, so it’s neat to see the topic grow. I hope it really takes off and continues, because it is important, and, I guess, one tiny thing that comes to mind is we often talk to our students about like, name a golfer you love, whose swing. Adam Scott, Justin Rose, those come out all the time. Tiger. And they don’t win all the time, so to add one more piece of advice, it’s we can’t be robots. Those best swings duck hook it in the trees, hit it in the ocean. They too miss shots, so get your skill to a point, but don’t overdo it. Look at the other aspects of the game, and I don’t just mean putting and chipping, but the other aspects of the philosophy, as far as incorporating the realistic nature to your practice sessions, and as Todd Beane says, you know, just making it cognitively faithful to the demands of this great, great sport of golf. Jeff Pelizzaro: Perfect. Thank you, sir. We’ll be in touch very soon. Trent Wearner: Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate you having me. Jeff Pelizzaro: All right. Thanks for joining us this week on the 18STRONG Podcast. If you want any more information on Trent Wearner and Golf Scrimmages, just go to 18STRONG.com/TrentWearner or you can go to episode number 175, and that’s Wearner, spelled W-E-A-R-N-E-R. We will have links to the websites, to his book, as well as some of his other content and his social media profiles, so definitely go there. It’s kind of the hub of everything from this episode. Also, don’t forget to get your PGA Tour Mobile App to stay up on track of everything going on on the PGA Tour on the weekend, as well as your RAD Roller products from RADRoller.com. All right, if you’re not in the private Facebook group, the 18STRONG Movement, we’d love to see you over there. Jump on in and join the conversation, and we will catch up with you next week with another great guest. Train hard, practice smart, and play better golf. Announcer: Thanks for listening to the 18STRONG Podcast at www.18STRONG.com. And remember, train hard, practice smart, and play better golf.

Kirk Adams has more than 15 years of experience working with collegiate, professional, and Olympic athletes in more than 30 men’s and women’s sports.  He works with a number of professional golfers on the Web.com and eGolf Tours and he joins us today to talk about how to “winterize” your body for a better golf game this year. Kirk Adam’s Background He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Kinesiology from Penn State University, and is a Titleist Performance Institute Certified Golf Fitness Instructor, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and a Youth Fitness Specialist through the International Youth Conditioning Association. Adams was the Head Olympic Sports Strength & Conditioning Coach at Penn State from 2005-2013, where his teams won more than 20 Big Ten Championships and four National Championships. He also was responsible for the physical development of the men’s and women’s golf teams. In 2011, Adams founded Nittany Golf Fitness in State College, Pennsylvania, where he brought Tour-quality training to recreational golfers of all ages and abilities. Highlights from this Episode He reflects on what led him to Golf and Body Fitness in NYC and the awesome facility they have there; from the tech to the specs. Kirk goes into both how we can improve our golf game in the down season, how we can look at this time off as a good way to check in with your overall health, and the top things the golfers neglect that can cause a rocky start when you pick up the clubs again. We talk Strength vs. Endurance vs. Power: What factors play into each and how to use those to help tailor your workout and your golf game. Kirk talks about how inactivity can be part of our daily routine from sitting in the car to sitting at work, so an important aspect of the workout is doing something fast. Kirk explains how he uses and why he loves kettle bells when programming for his golfers, including when he uses certain lifts and how he how he fits them into his training sessions to get the most out of the client depending on their level of skill. Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack What would be your walk up song? Walk by Pantera If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? My dad at Augusta What are you excited for in the upcoming year? We have a lot of new programs we are talking about implementing at Golf and Body from Yoga, Pilates, to Meal Delivery. Do you have any parting advice for the 18 Strong Community? Keep a good community to help push you to reaching your goals and don’t be afraid to take that next big leap. Find Kirk Adams: Instagram: @kirkadamsgolf @golfbodynyc Websites:  Golf & Body NYC Par Four Performance Blog Episode Sponsors SKRATCH SuperSpeed Golf Connect with 18STRONG Facebook Page       Twitter Profile       Instagram Profile Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!

Tyler Ferrell, named one of Golf Digest Top Golf Fitness Professionals 2018, Best Instructors in Texas 2018, and Best Young Teachers 2017, is a leading expert in the application of 3D motion biomechanics. His background as both an instructor and a trainer give him a unique ability to communicate how the body works in the golf swing. He joins us today to give us a glimpse into his recent book The Stock Tour Swing: Use Science to Uncover Your Version of the Tour Swing. In his book, Tyler breaks down 3D research and his experiences in coaching that have identified the major differences between the swing of elite golfers compared to the amateur golfer.  With this knowledge, Tyler has created a system to help you “decode” your swing. Tyler’s Background Tyler graduated Summa Cum Laude from Towson University with a degree in Marketing and E-Business where he played two years of collegiate golf. Tyler had the privilege of learning from some of the most recognized names in golf fitness and golf biomechanics. Two of his main influences were Dr. Greg Rose and Janet Alexander. He is currently studying the work of Dr. Guy Voyer, a world leader on how the fascial system influences movement. He is also a trainer of other golf coaches through seminars and programs. He has given lectures in a number of PGA Sections as well as a 2-day training program for the Danish National Team coaching staff. In 2016 he presented at the World Golf Fitness Summit, presented by the Titleist Performance Institute. Prior to the book, Tyler created Golf Smart Academy, a website for do-it-yourself golfers and coaches to find answers to their most difficult questions related to golf. At current, Golf Smart Academy has over 750 videos helping golfers all over the world understand how to apply the latest golf science to their game. Highlights from this Episode How his career has evolved from being a Division 1 Golfer, getting into the fitness side of training, and eventually the Director of Instruction at La Rinconada in San Jose. How his neck/shoulder injury, and the healing of which led to the inspiration for the writing of his book “Stock Tour Swing.” We dive into different pieces and aspects of the book and what it means to develop your own Tour Swing. He also talks about “Decoding your swing” and choosing the best swing for your situation. The difference between what we feel in our swing and what we are actually doing in our swing and the importance of that awareness. He also goes into a quick synopsis of the ELDOA Program and its influence on his teaching technique. Feller’s two big things the amateur player should focus on to see improvement in their swing and understanding the way their body moves.   Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore? Caddy Shack What would be your walk up song? The Piano Guy’s cover of Coldplay’s “Paradise” If you could play 18 holes with anyone, who would it be and where would you play? Ben Hogan at Agusta What are you excited for in the upcoming year? Building on momentum from the previous year and to keep learning and improving on my teaching. Where to Find Tyler Ferrell Website: Golf Smart Academy Book: The Stock Tour Swing: Use Science to Uncover Your Version of the Tour Swing   Episode Sponsors PGA Tour Mobile App RADRoller.com Connect with 18STRONG Facebook Page       Twitter Profile       Instagram Profile Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!

Today, I am taking a beat to reflect on the past year of 18Strong; both where we have been and where we are going come 2018. We had a lot of amazing guests on from PGA Professionals to leaders of the fitness industry to former NFL Players. We launched our Online Training Program and our Apparel Shop. But this episode isn’t just about what we have been doing or what we have in the works for 2018. I also dive into what you can do to better yourself and your golf game in 2018. My big question to you is: What are you committed to in 2018? What are you going to change?  What has been holding you back?  What is one big thing that you can commit to in 2018 that will either propel you further forward or maybe completely change the direction you are heading in your fitness, golf, diet, or whatever it might be that you want to impact? 5 Points to think about:  1. Create Your Manifesto Figure out what your goals are and begin to define yourself by those standards. All change takes time but the first steps are figuring out which direction you want to go and the best route to take to get there. Brett McCabe – Ep. 122 Anthony Trucks – Ep. 126 Tony Soaib – Ep. 140 Own Your Body Mastering better movement and taking control of how you move in simple daily activities will help you facilitate better exercises and quality of movement. Invest work on correcting your movements on the smaller scale to see vast improvements throughout your workout routine. Andrew Hannon – Ep. 137 Frank Duffy – Ep. 152 Kelly Starrett – Ep. 143 Make Things Stupidly Simple There are an infinite number of ways to better your game and your fitness/diet routines, but execution hates complexity. The simpler you make these programs, the more likely you are to be consistent and compliant. Kelly Starrett – Ep. 143 Mike Boyle – Ep. 156 Damon Goddard – Ep. 171 Minimize Your Mental Mistakes Pay more attention to your “mental thermostat” rather than the technical mistakes. You can beat yourself up over the small stuff all day and night, but seeing past that with a clear head is the number one way to maximize your efficiency and consistency on the course. Will Robins – Ep. 159 Eric Davis – Ep. 124 Enjoy The Process We often end up treating fitness and our golf game like a chore. We say we don’t play enough golf, but when we do get out there we end up more frustrated then before. Enjoy the game for what it is. Enjoy your mistakes and relishing in the fact that it is part of the process of advancing your game. Enjoy your personal process of getting into shape, whatever form that takes. Michael Breed – Ep. 134 Webb Simpson – Ep. 129 Episode Sponsors SKRATCH SuperSpeed Golf PGA Tour Mobile App RADroller.com Connect with 18STRONG Facebook Page       Twitter Profile       Instagram Profile Join The 18STRONG Movement! If you listened to the very end of this episode, then you know that there is a movement happening in golf and fitness.  To join, simply follow this link to the private Facebook group and ask to join!  Once you’re accepted, you are officially part of The 18STRONG Movement!  Introduce yourself to the group and let’s get connected!