GOLFPUNK'S GETTING GOLF FIT

It’s often said that for brilliant break through musical artists that the second album is the difficult one.  So too has been the second week of our six-week GOLF.WOD designed plan fitness plan as the initial giddy optimism of the first week gives way to the brutal reality living a more virtuous existence and the need for hard work and sacrifice.

So, what has the week been like?

We’re not going to lie it’s not been as easy as week 1 as the training gets more intense and the closely monitored diet means we miss out on the morning bacon sarnies.  Perhaps the hardest part was realising that our Love Island inspired water bottles were about as close as we were ever going to get to the show when we saw the chiselled bodies of the latest bout of fame hungry contestants and realised what it takes to get bodies like that (please note we were never under the illusion we would get on the show!).

How are you getting on with the diet?

Aside from missing the morning fry up or bacon sarnie it’s all going pretty well.  We’re not going to lie and say that we have stuck religiously to task as there have been a couple of industry shindigs and one particular late night (or early morning…shhhh) finish but overall its amazing how many different ways you can make scrambled eggs interesting (key tip is chilli flakes, try them it’s a game changer).

Particular highlights include (after said shindig) incorporating a fasting period then starting the day with sirloin steak and eggs, which was not only cooked to perfection but was a great way to battle the ravages of the night before.  The tall one has also taken to slathering all vegetables with a good serving of hummus as his “good fats” and whilst it looks grim he assures its delicious!

The interesting thing is that we appear to be getting into a groove and are eating little but more often so yesterday after finishing our workout we both had little Tupperware (other brands are available) meals containing our protein and veggie mix to aid with recovery.

What about in the gym?

It seems that practice really does make perfect as we have seen both an improvement in quality and quantity as both our effort increases as does ability to do the exercises properly.  We revisited a work out from week one as a test and it seems that we were able to do more, more efficiently and in less time than the week before.  It may not yet be scientific, but it was definitely an improvement over last week and made us feel like we might actually be making those much talked about gains (to clarify other regular gym goers talk about this, we assume it means progress but are not entirely sure).

This week’s favourite WOD was our day three option.  As before we it was a split between quality, or not time focussed, and then an AMRAP session which we had to Google but which apparently stands for As Many Reps As Possible.  Our initial thought was that this would not be many, but we were reliably informed by one of the personal trainers at the gym that this means you have to try hard.

The quality work out was 4 sets of:

8 x Double Kettlebell Step Ups (4 per leg)

8 x Double Kettlebell Deadlifts

8 x Med Ball Slams

The AMRAP (remember As Many Reps As Possible) was 3 rounds of 2 minutes on and 2 minutes off, or lying on the mat as we like to consider it, of:

1 Minute Bike

1 Minute Max Effort Alternating Rotational Med Ball Slams

Our reason for picking this as our favourite WOD of the week is simple.  Med ball slams both on the floor and wall are great ways to get fired up.  They are a lot harder than they look, but they really get the blood pumping and make a lot of noise especially when on the final round one of the med balls split open and sand came out.  We like to think it was because of the sheer force we were exerting given our two weeks of training.  The person at the gym said it was because they were old, but we know the truth.

Where are we as we enter the third week?

So far, its looking good!  We will definitely never love the gym enough to have the sculpted physique of a standard Love Island contestant (or the patience to remove all our body hair) but it appears to be delivering dividends as clothes get looser and belts are having to be tightened.  How that relates to our golf swing will be the next test and we are planning to head to the range over the coming week to do a bit of early stage testing.

So sorry Jeff but you’ll still have to keep the café going without us!

And another thing....

Who will win the US Open