💪 What to do on “off days” 

Happy Wednesday, or for me, my busy gym day. I leave Thursdays open so I can take a step back, take all the good stuff we figured out in the gym over the past week, and share it with you and the rest of the Crew. But today is “lab” work. 

So piggybacking on yesterday’s email, here’s a problem I’ve been seeing with far too many of our guys… 

The days that you don’t work out are NOT “cheat days!” 

I understand you’re not training. And it’s a day to catch your breath. BUT, the urge to slack off, eat poorly, and not move can be strong – it’s a momentum crusher. 

Lest we forget, exercise is only 10-20% of the golf fitness equation. The rest of the pie is how we eat and rest. 

I’m just as guilty as the next guy. But what I’ve found that I am far less likely to eat like a garbage can when I’m doing something.  

The mental shift comes from eliminating “off days” from your vocabulary. And instead, “recovery days” is what you’re planning. Even more specifically, we do active recovery on those days. 

What is active recovery? Simply, it’s any light activity designed to help your muscles heal after training. 

Here’s the trick: we need to be active enough to increase blood flow to our muscles. But gentle enough to allow our muscles to heal. 

Over the last decade, we’ve gotten pretty darn good at it, so you’ll see the training programs in the 18STRONG App walk that fine line like a tightrope walker at the circus.    

Since we’re all trying to play our best golf, on your active recovery days, I would give yourself a steady dose of mobility training. Simply getting your joints moving is going to go a long way on the course. And just comfortably moving around the world. 

Neck circles, shoulder circles, ankle rotations…all great exercises for mobility. 

In a perfect world, you’d carve out the same time each day to keep your momentum going. But more importantly is to just do SOMETHING every day – even if it’s just for five minutes. 

If today is your recovery day, then just get moving. If today is your training day, then keep pushing a little harder each time. 

You’ve got this, 

Jeff Pelizzaro 

PS – If you’re ready to get your body back and need a step-by-step plan for training and active recovery days, then check out the 18STRONG App.  

The Activate program in the app is for the golfers who haven’t been in the gym in a minute. And are tired of being like every other frumpy golfer out there.  

And if you have any questions, just reply to this email. We’ve got you covered.