12.19.21

Welcome back, hope everyone had a great week. Here’s what I have been up to:

Golf Stuff: Golf activity was limited this past week, but fortunately not non-existent. I was able to get to my gym three times this week, and I am trying to gear my work outs towards improving core strength, explosiveness and mobility. I’m not saying I am going full Bryson, speed training, but I like having a functional goal in mind when approaching my workouts - in this case, a more powerful golf swing. Here’s an example workout:

Part 1 - Strength and Mobility

4 Rounds, Super Set:

Back squats, 4/3/3/2 reps, build up in weight

Pallof Press, 15 reps per side

Pallof Press - great for building core stability

Part 2 - Conditioning

As many rounds of possible in 15 minutes:

15 Hang power cleans

7 Pull ups

15 front squats

400 meter row

I keep the weights very light - in this case only 95 pounds, and really focus on quality of movement. I bookend this workout with 10 minutes of mobility - foam rolling, stretching, etc.

Since the baby came, I haven’t been as diligent as I normally am with my diet and exercise, so I really STRUGGLED the first time back. But I think it will come back pretty quickly.

I was also able to get to the driving range on Saturday afternoon. Here is what the swing looks like:

That was one of my better swings of the day - an 8 iron hit about 170 yards on a line. I’m really focusing on letting my lower body (specifically my hips) start my downswing.

I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at my driving range, to see that they have installed TopTracer monitors in every stall. They have sensors that are able to record ball speed, launch angle, carry distance, total distance etc. So I took it as an opportunity to go through every club in the bag to chart my “stock yardages”. It’s something I’ve never really done before, and since I recently bought new irons (TaylorMade P790s, love them), I am still figuring out exactly how far they fly. Here is what I got:

Honestly thought I had a little more pop in my driver. Maybe my “dad strength” hasn’t arrived yet. I guess I need to keep hitting the Palloff presses…

Baby Update: This past week was my first full week back at work and man it felt long. I’ve always been very routine oriented, so I am really thrown off when something as life-changing as a newborn enters my world. But I know I’ll figure it out pretty quickly. The good news, is that Julia has been sleeping pretty well for a 2 week old. We typically try and get her in bed by 10:30 or 11 and she can sleep about 3-4 hours before waking up hungry. We change and feed her around 2:30 and on a good night, she can sleep until 5 or 6. So I’m getting about 6 hours of sleep per night, which I am told by my friends and co-workers - is pretty good for a baby her age. So I won’t complain, yet…

What I learned this week:

1) It didn’t take long for me to go “full dad mode”. This Saturday was Santa-Con in our hometown Hoboken. For those unfamiliar, Santa-Con is a giant bar crawl, where participants dress up as Santa’s, Elves, Grinches, etc and spend the afternoon getting absolutely wasted in the spirit of Christmas. On multiple occasions, I caught myself referring to the patrons as “kids”. For example, “There were kids lined up outside McSwiggans at 11 AM this morning!!” or “I hope these kids remember to eat something, if they are going to be drinking all day…” For reference, the average age of the Santa-Con participant is probably somewhere around 24-25; I am 32. But here I am calling them crazy kids. I guess I was always an old soul, maybe having the baby has just allowed me to fly that flag in the open

Me, this past Saturday.

Obligatory Julia Pic.

What I am reading:

After the baby came, I took a week off from work to be home with Loral. We watched a TON of TV; I wore sweatpants for a week straight. The best thing I watched was the Peter Jackson directed, Beatles documentary - Get Back. First off, the documentary is an absolute must watch. I previously considered myself a casual Beatles fan, but I was completely enraptured for the entire 8 hour run time (it’s broken into 3 parts). I felt like I was the 5th Beatle, right in the middle of jam sessions, business meetings, rooftop performances. The only thing more mind blowing than Paul and John’s songwriting process was how they seemed to live on nothing more than cigarettes, tea and toast for weeks at a time. Afterwards, I found myself deep in a Beatles rabbit hole, so I picked up this book and haven’t really been able to put it down since. It’s a pretty easy read - it bounces back and fourth from the rise of the Beatles in the early 60’s to Lennon’s days in 1980 New York City, right before his assassination. Before I watched Get Back or read this book, I had this image of John Lennon as a saint; a man whose sole purpose was to promote world peace. The reality is that he was a complicated man, and the book does a good job explaining his motivations, what made him tick. If you are looking for a deeper understanding of Lennon, or find yourself in a Beatles rabbit hole like me, check it out.

I have a lot more thoughts on Get Back and the Beatles in general. Look for more to come on that…

That’s it for this week.